A little more from Big Break

We mentioned Big Break, Campus Crusade's spring break conference in Panama City Beach, FL in our prayer letter (see below) but I just happened across a few more details about this year's conference that I was encouraged by.  Big Break is unique in that its a national conference. Clearly all colleges in the country do not align their spring breaks, thus Big Break happens four times (four different weeks) throughout the end of February through March.

Here are some statistics I just found about two of the weeks.  Praise God with me for what He did during that time!

week of March 6-11 (this is when the Minnesota State students were in attendance)

• 3260 spiritual conversations initiated
• 1036 people heard the gospel
• 115 people made decisions to trust Christ
• 164 people heard learned about living a Spirit-filled life

week of March 13-18

• 5900 spiritual conversations initiated
• 2332 people heard the gospel
• 209 people made decisions to trust Christ as their Savior

Praise God for how He worked at one of the top spring break destinations this year.  Pray that these new believers would be built up in their faith as they return home - that they would connect with ministries at their respective campuses and churches in the towns where they live.

March update

Just click on the image to read.

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40 days of worship & seeking the Lord together

Campus Crusade leadership is initiated a call to staff, students, and ministry partners to join together in 40 days of prayer and worshipping the Lord together.  Here are some thoughts from Steve Sellers, the U.S. National Director, on this 40 days:

I'd like to worship the Lord with you. I'd like us as a movement to worship Him together.

Over the last several months I've been impressed by several things. First, I hear and see all that God is doing throughout our ministries. We're experiencing increased fruit in evangelism as you step out in faith to share the gospel. We're seeing an increase in the number of people who want to join our staff and we're mobilizing partners in new and compelling ways. There's much to be thankful for.

I'm also impressed by the challenges that lie ahead and the reality that God must produce the results at every point in this missionary endeavor we share.

As I talk with the Lord about both our successes and our challenges, I'm compelled to worship Him. He is glorious and any words I use to describe Him are inadequate. We are both much-loved and needy -- and each of those makes us want to draw near to Him.

So, as we approach the Lenten season, I'd like to call us together to a time of focused worship and seeking the Lord's face beginning March 17. It's an incredible promise that God is simply waiting for His people to draw near to Him so we can experience Him drawing near to us. I look forward to doing it together.

We would love to have you join us as we pray and worship God in the coming 40 days (March 17-April 25).  Matt and I have both decided to set aside an hour each day just for prayer and worship.  We're excited to see how the Lord will grow us in this time.

The timing is especially significant to us as we'd decided to trust the Lord to complete our team of ministry partners by April 25.  This is a God-sized goal. One we can't imagine completing on our own effort.  Whatever the coming 40 days might hold for you, we'd be grateful if you'd remember us specifically in prayer during this time.  

Please let us know how we can lift your needs up to the Lord as well. What a privilege to bring our needs before the living God together!

Here's a link to CCC's guide for the 40 days.  You can also follow the devotional on facebook. 

a little blessing

As I (Kristin) in our office working today, I can see the snow coming down outside (thankfully only 2-3 inches!) but as I watch the sky, I can't help but notice the buds on the tree branches, just waiting to burst out their little leaves as soon as the weather warms.  What a great promise of new life on the tale end of a long winter!

Just wanted to share...when you're feeling spring fever, look up. :)

A Praying Life

I (Kristin) was recently challenged by a friend to join her in setting aside an hour a day for prayer for 40 days.  I took the challenge, excited to grow in my consistency and depth in prayer.  As I entered into that hour each day, it quickly became apparent that I have a lot of hang ups in my prayer life.  Wondering if things would just happen whether or not I prayed.  Wondering how my small prayers could really turn around the dark spiritual climate of some middle-eastern country.  Wondering if I was being selfish...or too petty...or not experiencing enough connection or emotion regarding the Lord.  Maybe you've experienced some of these things too?

As the days went by, I often found myself starting out asking the Lord to show me how to pray, how to focus on Him alone and not the other tasks of the day.  After a few weeks, I stumbled upon a book review of a book called A Praying Life, by Paul Miller.  The subtitle was "Connecting with God in a Distracting World". Seemed about right.  Now, I'm not going to say that this book has removed all my doubts and fully resolved all my hang ups, but it has addressed all of the issues I listed above and has given me refreshing perspective on connecting with God in our modernized world.

Here's a teaser from the first section, "Praying Like a Child":

'The difficulty of coming just as we are is that we are messy. And prayer makes it worse. When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We don't know how bad we are until we try to be good. Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer.' (pg. 28)

I haven't quite finished the book yet, but I know the last section is called 'Praying in the Real World'. I'm excited to see what other insights Miller has to offer as I continue on the journey of trusting and knowing the Lord more through prayer.  If you want a challenging and refreshing read on prayer, I'd highly recommend this book.

On a personal level, Matt and I have decided to trust the Lord through prayer to complete our team of ministry partners by April 25. This would enable us to attend our region's annual staff conference as well as receive a summer assignment and start on campus in the fall.  We're trusting God with this date and would be grateful if you would join us in prayer, as well.  Blessings to you!

Why we're not on campus, yet

If we wrote up an FAQ about our ministry, I think this would be one of the most commonly asked questions...so I thought I'd just write up a blog to respond to this question we often hear from people. So here's the question: 'Why can't you report to campus now?' or 'Why can't you report to campus and keep working on support at the same time?'

Well, several reasons. One is that it is Campus Crusade for Christ's policy as a ministry that all staff must reach 100% in raising their initial support (after joining staff) before starting on campus full time. Not all missions organizations have this policy, which can add to the confusion. Others set various levels that their staff must reach before reporting. The reasoning behind Campus Crusade's policy leads into the other factors.

Stewardship of our lives. Missionaries can burn out for many reasons - hard team relationships, lack of training/care, spiritual warfare, and high on the list is poor financial support. Financial worries in addition to the rigors of full time ministry lead to burn out. Campus Crusade's hope is that staff with healthy financial support will be able to stay in the field longer, once reported, without a constant worry of receiving short paychecks. A healthy level of financial support might increase a missionary's duration in service.

Attrition. Its common (and I don't know specific statistics) especially in the first 6-8 years in full time ministry to have partners leave our ministry team for various reasons: economy, job changes, feeling led to give elsewhere, etc.  We expect that and only challenge our partners to support us for as long as they feel the Lord is leading them. To be prepared when someone has to leave us, it's healthiest not to teeter on the brink of not having enough support, but to maintain 100% of the goals Campus Crusade has set for us. If we reported to campus before reaching 100%, attrition could put us in a dangerous place financially. This leads to the last reason for this policy.

Being on campus is more than a 40 hour/week job. Raising support involves a lot of traveling and flexibility. I've personally tried to do both for a semester and found it hard to focus on either.  When I was on campus, I was worried about financial support. When I was traveling to meet with people, I found it hard to tell students I couldn't meet with them consistently.  Of course, our financial support is an ongoing process even after we reach 100% and we have to work to maintain it as part of our job.  With the level of financial support we still need to raise, however, we wouldn't be able to make the proper connections while also working on campus full-time.

These are the main reasons for Campus Crusade's policy. I hope this helps clarify why they've set these standards in place.  Please comment or email Matt or me (matt.odland@uscm.org or kristin.odland@uscm.org) with any questions about what I shared.  

I love taking pictures....

And I (Kristin) just got some snowshoes for Christmas! Here are a few pics I took while we were in Alexandria over New Years. Isn't winter beautiful? Enjoy and blessings as this new year of 2011 begins!