Posted by: Andrew | January 17, 2010

Helping Hands

As you can tell, the hope of writing many posts yesterday did not come to fruition.  Jetlag got the best of me.  I’ve gotta say, it’s a formidable opponent.  Anyway, here’s one of the things we did in Athens.

Greece in general, and Athens particularly, is a hub for refugees.  On their journey to Western Europe or America, Greece is the first stop for many from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Northern Africa.  These people are there for many reasons, but the tragedy is that Greece refuses to do anything to help them.  There are refugee centers in Greece, but their location makes them undesirable to these people because they are far from… anything.  As a result, many refugees live in extreme poverty.  They are without homes, without jobs, and without countries.

Helping Hands is a Christian NGO that offers many services for refugees.  Some afternoons they serve hot tea at their center, providing a place for conversation and relaxation.  Other days they open the center up for showering and a place to brush teeth.  They offer English classes, Bible studies, and many other educational opportunities for refugees.

We went on “tea day.”  After a brief orientation, we participated in a devotional with the staff their, assigned jobs (child care, serving tea, etc), and the doors opened.  Rather than having a particular job, I spent the afternoon mingling with the people that came, simply talking and playing chess.  I’m not joking when I say I lost more games of chess in that 4 hour period than I’ve played in the last two years.

The people that come to the refugee center know that those that work there are believers.  Gospel conversations are inevitable as they spend time there, but much of the time these people need to be reminded that 1) they are loved, and 2) they are, at least by some, seen as people and not problems.  To that end, most of my conversations were simply about how long they’ve been in Athens, why they left, whether or not they have family there or at home, and where they’re headed or hope to go.

I discovered that one man I spent a fair amount of time with, Vitturi, is a believer.  He has been in Athens for 20 years, and through the ministry of Helping Hands, was baptized 3 years ago into the church.  Since then, he has attended Bible Studies, been to church, and genuinely tried to grow in the Christian life.  His brothers are those he lives with in the streets of Athens.  It was a pleasure meeting him, and getting beaten into the ground multiple times over the chess board.

Vitturi has very few possessions.  Because they have nowhere to call home, refugees must carry everything they own with them.  All of Vitturi’s fit into two relatively large bags (considerable, compared to most refugees).  He brought them in with him, and kept them close throughout the afternoon.  Once, around 3 o’clock, some kids that were playing came a little too close (in Vitturi’s estimation) to his belongings.

Have you ever seen The Fellowship of the Ring?  About halfway through the movie is a scene where, after Bilbo gives Frodo his coat of mithril armor, Bilbo gets his first glimpse of the ring of power, a trinket that formerly had a hold on him stronger than he could have predicted.  When he sees it, he lunges at Frodo’s throat, his face changing from that of a warm old hobbit to a lecherous thief in an instant.  Almost shot for shot, that was Vitturi’s reaction to this perceived threat to his possessions.

It got me thinking about the way we put our confidence and security in things rather than in the blessings that are already ours in Christ.  Furthermore, we put our hope in our possessions rather than the blessings still awaiting us in Christ.  Vitturi’s possessions came under a brief threat, and his entire demeanor was changed because what he held as most valuable was, in his mind, jeopardized.

What are the things that, when threatened, we would turn into greed-controlled monsters to protect?

Posted by: Andrew | January 16, 2010

Greece Overview

This is the first of (hopefully) many posts today about the Greece trip, but the way jetlag is treating me, I can’t say for sure.  While it’s only 1 PM here in Virginia, it is 8 PM in Greece.  Furthermore, I woke up suddenly at 4 AM this morning (11 AM there), and haven’t even been a little bit tired since.  Seriously, don’t underestimate jetlag.

Our time there was a flurry of activity.  After flying from Roanoke to Washington D.C, then to Vienna, then to Athens, I met up with our team from Virginia Tech (they had arrived about a half an hour earlier), and after relaxing with them for a while, Texas A&M arrived.  From the airport, we took a bus to the Athens Scripture Union, our home for the week.  While not often with them during the day, it was good to hang out with and get to know them each night over dinner, games, and just sitting around.

We did many things in Greece.  In no particular order, we spent a day working with a ministry called Helping Hands that reaches out to the surprisingly large refugee population in Athens; some of us went to a nearby university and simply talked with students there, trying to help the church get an idea of what college students are like to aid their college ministry; others spent time working with Nea Zoi (New Life), a ministry to women in the red light district; we traveled to Volos, a town 4 hours north of Athens, and worked with their youth group; and we took a vacation day to Corinth, hiking and exploring many of the ruins there that have been uncovered.

Those will be expanded in future posts, but this post is a little more focused to general things (is that an oxymoron?).  First of all, Greece.  In a country of 11,000,000, over one third of them live in Athens.  The city is enormous.  Buildings literally cover the ground like snow.  From Mars Hill, you can look out over the city: white and yellow stucco, flat roofs with patios, and plants hanging from nearly every window and balcony stretch to the foot of distant mountains.  There is never quiet in a city like that, filled with buses, cabs, trains, stray dogs, street vendors, mopeds, and a million other distractions.

Religiously, most Greeks belong to the Greek Orthodox church,  I don’t know how many, but less that 0.1% of Greeks are protestants.  In a culture where religion is so closely tied to nationality, ministry is… tricky.  In the words of Pastor Miletus, a pastor in Volos, the Greek soil is like concrete.  Instead of a plow, it takes a stick of dynamite to break the ice.  You really have to think about demographics thoroughly and intentionally to do ministry.  It reminds me that I should keep who my students are in mind.

University students are a whole different story.  They are wholly postmodern, and throw off the “constrains” of religion and family without much thought.  Paul’s description of the Athenians in Acts 17:21: “For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.”  But one of the many insightful comments that Giotis (Yo-tiss), the pastor in Athens, made was that Postmodernism is a blessing in disguise.  It is still an obstacle for the truth of the Gospel, but at least it’s an open door to an otherwise closed mindset.

The church in Greece is, against difficult circumstances, persevering.  One of the largest struggles in being a minority is, in Miletus’ and Giotis’ words, having a minority mindset.  You begin to see persecution everywhere and begin to trade the inconvenience of the Gospel for non-confrontation.  Pray for the church in Greece, that it would continue to grow, that Christians would enjoy the boldness of the Gospel, and that they would be blessed by fellowship with believers, both Greeks and missionaries such as our team.

Posted by: Andrew | November 15, 2009

Sunday in Virginia

As the title may suggest, today was a perfect Sunday.  It was a beautiful day in Western Virginia (got up to about 68 today, which doesn’t happen in November!), and that’s just the beginning.

We (my co-tern Mary Katherine and I did all this together) drove to Roanoke to worship at Christ the King.  Ed Dunnington is the pastor there, a long-time RUF Campus Minister, and the service was great.  Good music, good sermon, and it’s always a pleasure to celebrate communion with believers, strangers or friends.  Afterward we enjoyed a potluck lunch with the congregation!  (Potlucking seems to be a hobby of mine: when I visited Holy Cross PCA in Staunton, they had a potluck that Sunday too!)

From there, we drove to Lexington and hung out with John Pearson and his family.  John is our RUF Area Coordinator, so I’ve met him a couple times in the past, but it was great to get to know him better, meet his wife and kids, and enjoy the beautiful afternoon playing kickball in his backyard.  Great family, great backyard (there’s a creek that runs through it!), great afternoon.

The drive back to Blacksburg was breathtaking.  This time of year, 81 South points directly into the sunset, and it was amazing to see the blue afternoon sky melt into the fiery glow of the sun setting behind the mountains.  At the same time, we were listening to Nickel Creek, Phil Keaggy, and Andy McKee: all groups and individuals that are truly gifted at creating music from the void of wire and wood.

And now, I’m sitting back at home, relaxing to The Avett Brother’s new CD (I and Love and You), enjoying the dwindling hours of my day of rest.

Posted by: Andrew | October 19, 2009

In the Middle of Nowhere

In a small college town, such as Blacksburg, there are students everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  It makes interacting with students easy and natural, but one of the struggles I’ve had is separating work time and social time and rest time, and that definitely stems from the town being… overrun with students.  So last Friday, when students scattered for Fall Break, I took the opportunity to get away from Blacksburg for my first real break of the semester and do a little backpacking.

MK (my co-tern) and I headed up to Harrisonburg, where we met Matt and Libby, the UVA interns, and Kathryn, a Maryland intern.  We piled into one car and headed to the Skyline Drive and our trail-head.  After gearing up, we plunged into the wilderness.  5 miles later, including an 800-foot ascent in under a mile, we found ourselves on top of Rocky Mount, overlooking Massanutten and a little bit of Harrisonburg.  We set up camp, ate dinner, and enjoyed the sunset and conversation around the fire.  We hiked the 7 miles out the next day, and spent the afternoon lounging at my grandparent’s house, watching football and resting our sore… everythings.

Posted by: Andrew | October 19, 2009

Fall Conference – ‘09

October has certainly been a busy month!  Fall Conference (pictures below), football games, backpacking for Fall Break (pictures on the way), and this weekend, I leave for a wedding in Lenoir, NC, and more RUF training in Atlanta.  And all this on top of the “normal” intern week!

Ed Dunnington, a former campus minister and current pastor of Christ the King Roanoke, was our speaker at Fall Conference.  He gave four great sermons on sanctification: what it is, two divergences along the way (legalism and lawlessness), and how it happens.  Many deep conversations with students have stemmed from his talks, and more than that, I was reminded of and encouraged by the truth that God, who has begun a good work in us, will not give it up.  In sanctification, God will make us into what He has already declared us to be in Christ.

In addition to Ed’s sermons, there was plenty of time to relax in the sun, throw some frisbee, go hiking, and participate in the 80’s night festivities.  The campus ministers kicked off Air Band-a-palooza with an intense rendition of Spinal Tap’s “Gonna’ Rock You.”  All of the schools present brought their own distinct understanding of the 80’s (ironically, by many people who weren’t even born in the 80’s…), and Saturday night was capped off by cooking s’mores around a campfire and an 80’s dance party.  Much fun was had by all.

Posted by: Andrew | September 23, 2009

Two Steppin’ the Night Away

Friday night was our first annual Hoe-kie Hoe-down!  It was a fantastic night of square dancing, cricket spitting, BBQ, plaid, straw hats, live Bluegrass music, and more fun than you can carry in the back of a pick-up truck.  It was a great time for new people to get connected to RUF in general, for freshmen to meet and hang out with some of the upperclassmen, and for the whole group to get over that “high-school dance” awkwardness and just have a good time.  Particularly exciting for me was watching some of my freshmen come out of their shells, boogie (I’m sorry, two-step), and man up and ask girls to dance!

Check out the RUF @ VT official site for many many more photos, but here are some of my favorites:

Posted by: Andrew | August 27, 2009

Everything Is Broken

We all feel the effects of the fall, whether we choose to recognize it or not.  We don’t know why we do the things we do.  We’re hurt by others, both close friends and family.  Mosquitoes exist.  Every day we are confronted by the fact that things are not the way they were meant to be.

Today, two Virginia Tech students were murdered.  I didn’t know them, having only been here for two weeks, but nevertheless, I believe that this will be a largely significant even for me.  Inevitably, I will run into people that knew them in various capacities.  My job is to meet with students, some of who will have had classes with them, lived in the same dorm, or been involved with them in Campus Crusade.  More directly, I live with three guys who are all involved with campus crusade: one as a student, one as an intern, and one on staff.  If they didn’t know them, much of their energy over the next weeks and months will be spent helping others wrestle with this tragedy.  Although removed from this event in many ways, I don’t doubt that this will be a frequent topic of conversation for the foreseeable future.

So what do I do?  How do I bear the burdens of others in this context?  What does the Gospel of grace say to this situation?  How is God at work in the hearts of students, whether RUF or not, whether they knew the students or not, whether believers or not?  These aren’t questions I’m necessarily looking for an answer for, but want to try and keep in mind over the next weeks and months as people try and make sense of this in a million different ways.

Please be in prayer for this situation.  For the families of the students, for friends of the students, for people on campus that didn’t know them but are shocked by it, for people that remember the shootings on April 16th years ago and wonder why God would let yet another tragedy befall the campus, for the counselors at Tech, and especially for those on the campus that are there to bring the light of the Gospel to students, whether the RUF staff, Crusade workers, BCM, IV, FCA, or anyone else who has a heart for students and a heart for the Gospel.  Pray that we, as people who are still being remade, would minister well to broken students at a broken campus in a broken world.  Praise God that we have the hope of the Gospel that God is making all things new.

Posted by: Andrew | August 24, 2009

God is at Work

It’s been too long since I’ve posted on here.  And what better time to post than the day before school starts for students here at Virginia Tech!

One of the presuppositions of RUF is that God is at work.  In essence, it’s a summary of reformed theology. It gives us confidence as we go forth to do ministry on college campuses: God is great, and He is at work in us and in our students.  It gives us consolation: my justification is not based on whether or not I think I’m successful.  God has already worked in me.  It give us hope: God will accomplish His purposes.

I’ve found it a useful reflection the past couple days to consider how I’ve seen God at work and where I need to trust more that He is at work.  I’ll share some of that here, but would encourage you, whether you’re a fellow intern, supporter, friend, or some random person that stumbled on this post, to consider how God is at work in your life and look for areas in which you need to say “Father, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”

God’s grace to me and His work in my life has been most clearly seen the past three weeks (and especially this past week) through others, especially in hospitality.  I’ve received encouragement, beds to sleep on, meals, a place to do laundry, and most important to me, fellowship.  In addition, I’ve been blessed by several other first-year interns checking in on me.  This has come in the midst of moving troubles and my first week in a new town where I only know a handful of people.  Thank you to all of you who have provided, called, and more.

An area where I’ve been having trouble remembering that God is at work is in anticipating relationships with students.  I’ve been oscillating between “how am I ever going to find students?” and “wouldn’t this be a great way to connect with guys!”  Between hopelessness and self-reliance.  I need to remember that God is sovereign, and He has ordained who I will know, how we will relate, and the ways He will work in both of us over the year.  Not that God’s planning means that I don’t have to work, but I can and should take heart in the fact that His grace renders my work effective.

Posted by: Andrew | July 31, 2009

The Lord Who Provides

The Lord is King! Lift up your voice,
O earth and all ye heav’ns rejoice!
From world to world the joy shall ring,
“The Lord omnipotent is King!”

I just hit 75% support!  Now, you college professors out there might be thinking, “He shouldn’t be excited about that.  Why, 75% is a C!”  And you high school teachers are thinking, “A C?  Man, college has gotten easy.  In my book, that’s a D!”  And while yes, I still have more support to raise to meet budget for the year, 75% is a huge milestone.  It means I get to move my stuff to Blacksburg… and stay there!  Get settled, get familiar with the area, get to know the church, and hopefully make some friends!  God certainly has provided for me abundantly and graciously.  I literally laughed (and I’m not talking just a chuckle here, I’m talking red-in-the-face belly laughter) for 15 minutes when I heard about the support that put me over the edge.

Many of you know this, but as people have asked how they can pray, I’ve consistently asked for prayer that the 75% mark would be reached by August 1st.  As you may see at the top of this post, it is currently July 31st.  The call that put me over the edge came at 9:00 PM, just an hour ago.  I sincerely believe that it is no small coincidence (or rather, no coincidence at all) that, with the fervent prayer of family, friends, and strangers all over the country, I hit the 75% mark a mere 3 hours before August 1st began.  Thank you.  Is our God not great?  Does He not hear and answer prayer?  Is He not loving, providing, and generous to those who don’t deserve it but He loves anyway?

I implore you, please join with me in praising our great God.

The Lord is King! Who then shall dare
Resist his will, distrust his care,
Or murmur at his wise decrees,
Or doubt his royal promises?

Posted by: Andrew | July 25, 2009

On the Road

Support-raising has certainly taken me around (and around and around) this summer.  After having lived in Raleigh for 5 years (with brief stints in Charlotte for holidays and Clemson for summers at camp), I have quickly become a man on the move.  June brought Atlanta, Clemson, Raleigh, Grand Rapids, and Charlotte, and July took me from Charlotte back to Raliegh, then to Harrisonburg, Waynesboro, Blacksburg, Raleigh, Charlotte, Clemson, and next week, Atlanta.  After many hours on the road and many miles put on Carter (I finally named my car, short for Carter-Finley, the NC State football stadium), I’m ready to park it in Blacksburg.

Thankfully, I’m close to being able to do that!  I’m currently $2,700 short of the 75% that I need to be able to stay in Blacksburg, and hope to have it by the end of training next week.  Thank you for your prayers for me, and please continue to pray that God would provide and that next weekend, after I move my stuff to Blacksburg, I would be able to stay there with it.  Also, as I transition to Blacksburg, pray that I would quickly get to know the church well, become familiar with the area, and connect with my roommates and others in Blacksburg so that we become friends.  Pray that Blacksburg quickly feels like home.

To conclude this update, here’s a story from my little time out at camp last week.  It’s funny because it’s true:

I sit down to dinner in the cafeteria, and two Pumpkinseed girls (10-13) and two Bowfin girls (7-9) join me.  The sixth seat at the table was then occupied by another counselor, Kayla Edwards, a friend from NC State.  Dinner progressed, and eventually one of the campers (who had been there before) asked what I had been doing all summer.

“Short version: asking people for money.”

Then, Kayla pipes up with a “He’s a beggar.”  (#1)

“Why are you asking people for money?”

“Well,” I said, “I’m trying to move to Blacksburg, VA, to work with the church there, but I need support before I can move.”

“He’s a hobo,” Kayla contributes.  (#2)

Finally, Pumpkinseed asks, “So why weren’t you here on Sunday when all the campers got here?”

“Well, I was actually in Raleigh, NC on Sunday morning and didn’t get here until late Monday afternoon.”

“Oh.  Is Raleigh where you live?”

“It used to be, but I don’t really live there anymore.”

And then Kayla’s gem: “Yeah, he lives in his car now.” (#3)

Like I said, it wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t sorta true.

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