Thursday, September 28, 2006

Camping Opportunity with Christian Groups Across Campus!

Dear Friends,

 

I just wanted to let you know of this exciting event that will be happening soon – like October 20th!  Having Christian students from various organizations get together and just fellowship has been a burden on my heart since I got to Western.  We have done it in small ways, but I believe God is opening doors for us to really connect and celebrate what, or WHO rather, that we all have in common . . . Jesus!

 

Here is the info from Kaelin:

 

Hello Everyone

 

Just wanted to say Praise God for all that he is doing and is going to do and has done on Western's Campus! My name is Kaelin Vernon and I am working along side of you for our Father and Lord Jesus Christ ! God has placed it on my heart to bring unity to our campus so that the world would see a unified body in Christ and not a divided one. I have spent many months praying over Jesus words on John 17 and feel that we have done a poor job of showing Jesus through Unity here on earth! Last spring with the help of a few students we started a Unity council on Monday mornings at 9:00am in Fresh Food in DUC. In this time we have prayed together we have poored our hearts out to one another and we have planned to do things together during the semester.

        

  We had a successful spring semester with Water Wars  but now we are in the Fall and our event this semester is an All Campus Ministry Campout. Your student leaders who have been coming to the meeting on Mondays have gotten their sign up sheets to bring back to your groups so that we can get a head count and know how much food and other arrangements to plan for! The campout is Friday October 20th we will meet at 4:00pm in front of Diddle arena and go to a farm here in Bowling Green. This will be an over night event so sleeping bags are required anything else that can be donated to helpout will be appreciatted. The cost of this campout is a whopping $5.00 per person and their name and money is due October 16th at the Unity council meeting at 9:00am. If some of you do not have a sign up sheet or need more information please call me or email me. We will have lots of fun stuff planned for the evening also dinner and breakfast will be provided. This event will end Sat. morning at 9:00am. Please encourage your students to come and get to know each other!

 

The Habitat chapter on campus is building a home here in town and our students thought it would be a great idea to help out more in our community. So we are planning a All Campus Ministry Habitat day in November where we can all get together and help build a house and tear down some spiritual walls.(Acts 17:24) 

 

Again I want to thank you to those of you who have sent your student leaders to the Unity council, I have had an awesome time getting to know them and  it strengthens my faith when we are about our Father's business.

 

If you have any questions or would like to talk and pray together please call me or email me, what ever way to get in touch with me please do so.

 

I love you all and am very Thankful for your work

 

Grace and Peace

 

Kaelin Vernon

Merge Ministries

270-535-1232

kaelin.vernon@gmail.com

 

 

Come and join us tonight for free food and a movie!--Methodist Student Center, Weekly E-Letter

Dear Friends,

 

Hope your week is going well and you are getting a chance to enjoy this wonderful fall weather!

 

Solid Rock Café Tonight:

 

Tonight we are being hosted by St. James UMC (United Methodist Church) for dinner.  We will meet at the Wesley Foundation at 6pm and travel from there to St. James (which is located on Fairview Ave.). 

 

If you would like to meet us there instead (about 6:30), here are directions:

 

Coming from campus, turn right on the 31-W Bypass.  Stay on this road until you reach Fairview Avenue.  (It will be right past the Gatti-Land, Dollar Tree shopping center.)

Turn right on Fairview Avenue.  St. James UMC will be on the left.

 

Afterwards we will return to campus to watch our Movie on the Lawn which is “RV” starring Robin Williams.

 

Tailgating this weekend!

 

Meet us on the lawn in front of the valley (Rodes, McCormack, Gilbert) this Saturday for tailgating 3pm-6pm.  We will have free food and generally have a great time hanging out!

 

 

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

The theme of our worship time on Tuesday night was “Discovering Who We are in Christ.”  I had chosen a particular verse to focus on as a reminder that we are vessels filled with God’s power.  It comes from 2 Corinthians 4:7:  “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”  As people who belong to Christ, it is important to remember that we are vessels of something powerful, wonderful, beautiful, so beyond ourselves.  But what has lingered with me since Tuesday night, the thing that has not let me rest, is the next part of the scripture.  It goes on to say this:

 

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.   2 Corinthians 4:8-12

 

This is one of those bad news/good news things.  When we follow Christ, we can expect to be afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.  Yeah, I know.  That sucks.  It would be nice if we could read the whole “but we this treasure in clay jars” part and just stop there.  But there is a reason that that particular sentence is followed by the ones which come after it.  It’s just part of life.  Life doesn’t stop being life just because we stop belonging to the world and instead belong to Christ.  Yet acknowledging this truth, also seems to take its power over us away.  Especially when we consider the difference Christ does make in our experience of the “this sucks” parts of life.

 

The promise is that when we are afflicted, that affliction cannot crush us.  It will push us just so far, and then the presence of Christ pushes it back.  When we are perplexed, we may not know the answers, but we cannot be driven to despair by the not knowing.  It is the factor that makes our faith stronger (you know, the whole walk by faith and not by sight thing).  And when we stand in faith, Jesus is able to work in ways we cannot imagine.  We may be persecuted, but we are never forsaken.  Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ that is in Christ Jesus.  And even if our very best friend in the whole world was to suddenly leave, Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us.  Sure we can be struck down, but we can always get up again, because the resurrection power of Christ picks us up, every time.  So no, we cannot be destroyed. Jesus always has the last and best word.  Nothing and no one who belongs to the world can promise any of those things.  The world can just promise the affliction, perplexion, persecution, struck down part. 

 

It is one thing to read these promises.  It is another thing to accept them.  It is one thing to accept these promises as fundamentally true.  Another thing to believe in them.  And it is one thing to believe in them, and quite something else to live them.  How do we go from that place of just reading words off the page to really digging deep and living them into real life?  The truth of my own life is that I forgot.  I used to know what it meant to live them.  And then I got busy and went to something more along the lines of accepting them as true, maybe believing, but not really living them.  And God is calling me back again to the place of digging deep.

 

Here’s the challenge.  Can we dig deep into the presence of Christ?  He is with us always.  And the way we know the power of His presence, not just the fact of His presence, is to spend TIME with Him, allowing Him to speak to us, sitting in the realization of His promises, and then mentally applying them to all those situations that make us feel afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.   The question we must ask ourselves is this:  Have I given Jesus any room in my life to show me that He is greater than the challenges I face?

 

Know that I am on the journey with you.  But more importantly, Jesus is there too.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Come get encouraged tonight! Worship with the Methodist Campus Ministry in DUC 340!

Dear Friends,

 

Just wanted to let you know we have a very special service planned tonight.  Worship will begin in room 340 at DUC at 6:30 pm.

 

Our theme tonight is on discovering who we are in Christ.  Maybe you haven’t ever “accepted Jesus into your heart” and you’re curious about why anyone would want to.  Maybe you’ve been a Christian a while and are feeling burnt out by the whole faith thing, and you really need to be refreshed and reminded of the gifts that come with belonging to Him. It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to forget to find my identity in Him. So come and join us for an evening of worship and refreshement.

 

This is why we call it Soul Feast,it really does feed the soul!

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

Methodist Campus Ministry

842-2880, sami.wilson@wku.edu

www.wkywesley.org

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

"Polishing Off Rough Edges" Weekly E-letter, Methodist Campus Ministry

Dear Friends,

 

It’s been a beautiful day!  Hope you have had a chance to enjoy the sunshine!

 

Here’s our activities this week:

 

Soul Feast:

 

Woship tonight @ DUC, room 340 at 6:30pm.  We will begin to gather around 6pm.  Tonight we are being led in worship by Lee Young from State St. UMC.  We will be doing a Taize’ worship service.  This is a prayer service filled with meditative singing, community prayers, and a silent meditation on the names of God.  This is in preparation for next week when we will focus on what it means to discover who we are in Christ.  First we have to understand who Christ is, who God is.  Please join us!

 

Solid Rock Café:

 

Free Meal and Bible Study on Thursday, 6pm @ Wesley Foundation.  Our program will focus on what does it mean for us to have a second chance.  This is the theme we are looking at from the movie “Walk the Line” which tells the life story of Johnny Cash.  Afterwards (8:30 PM) join us on DUC South Lawn for a showing of “Walk the Line.”  Remember to bring your own blanket!

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Yesterday I got to go to my ladies prayer group at the local church I attend.  As I spent time in prayer I began to get a sense that God was asking me to look at different circumstances in my life differently.  While on the one hand it was a frustrating thing, on the other it really gave me a sense of freedom.  As I prayed for different circumstances, I began to sense that God was using those circumstances as a tool in His hand to bring forth a quality in my life that I haven’t been able to produce on my own.  I began to also get a sense that He really is in control of my circumstances, that He is actively engaged, and that He is not nearly as freaked out about stuff that comes up as I am.  It was almost as if the Holy Spirit was saying to my own spirit (in that wordless way that just kind of happens, call it a nudge I guess): “Don’t fret about this, the conclusion is known.  You just trust that my purposes in these circumstances are bigger than the obvious ones you see.  I am working ALL things for good, and there is some good I am producing in this for you too.”

 

Here is a scripture that rings so true:  “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Phillipians 1:6).  And also this one:  “…it is God who is at work in you, enabling you to both will and to work for his good pleasure”  (Phillipians 2:13).  And then this one:  “To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

I want you to get a hold of this.  (Believe me, I’m tying a knot and holding on myself!)  It is God who is working to produce something glorious in us and through us that we cannot even see yet.  Think of those people you admire, who have that Christ-like quality of surety, a strength that cannot be tempered or robbed, a joy and peace that exists in the midst of turmoil, a solidity that no one and nothing can destroy.  Wow!  That is what God is doing in us!  And often-times He uses things we don’t understand to produce the qualities of character that the world tries to copy but ultimately cannot comprehend.

 

So hang in there with Him.  He is doing a good work!  And you are the work He is most proud of, especially as He sees the face of His beloved Son reflected in character He is developing within your life.  This is what it means to grow in grace.  Grow boldly my friends!

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Weekly E-Letter: Making a Difference (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hope you are all staying dry today.  The rain is so . . . . wet!  I knew I should have worn my boots instead of tennis shoes, but I opted for cute outfit instead of dry feet.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

 

This is what’s on the schedule this week:

 

 

Soul Feast

Worship:

 

Tonight @ DUC (Tuesday).  We will meet in room 308, since 340 is occupied.  We’ll start at 6:30pm, but feel free to come and hang out at 6pm.  Faith UMC is coming to lead worship this week.  Our message will center around what it means to “Create a Safe Place for Students to Meet Jesus.”  This is part of our mission statement.  So come and find out more about who we are and why we do what we do!

 

Solid Rock Café

 

Free Meal and Bible Study:

 

Thursday @ Wesley Foundation.  We’ll begin gathering at 6pm and then eat and have our program.  This week we are looking at how friendship shapes our lives, especially friends who have the common bond of faith.  Then we’ll travel down the hill and set up our Movie on the Lawn @ DUC south lawn.  We will be showing “Napoleon Dynamite” at 8:30.  Bring a friend!

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I’ve been thinking lately about what I want to say to those brave souls who took me for University Experience.  (Yay!  I’m teaching two classes this semester!)  I want to tell them to live their lives fully, to “be all that they can be,” to discover what they are most passionate about and then do it with all their heart.  As freshmen, it’s a good time to hear that message, because so much of their college careers are still before them.  They can shape their time here into anything they want it to be. 

 

But I think about this message for all of us, whether we are freshmen in our first semester of college or not.  It is so important.  Because each of us can make a difference.  Even if we’ve never lived passionately before, we can do it now.  We can invest ourselves in excellence.  We can give the best of ourselves to this life and live it well.

 

I love that scripture that says, “Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women” (Ephesians 6:7).  If I were to make a gift of my life, I would want it to be a life that was lived with lots of heart.  I would want it to resemble the same single-hearted devotion and expression and enthusiasm for living that we usually associate with famous animal actors, like Lassy, Flipper, Black Beauty, Sea Biscuit, and Old Yeller.  I believe Jesus did that.  He lived His passion.  And His passion was people.  And He expressed His passion for us in a way that defies all human (I want to hang on to life at all costs) reason:  He gave up His life so that in His death we could see the love of God that sacrifices everything to save us.  His passion became the Passion, displayed on a cross.  If He did that for me, couldn’t I do something with excellence, for Him?

 

I’ve determined that the only things we can really make a difference in are those that we are passionate about.  Where is your passion?  Are you living in some way connected to it?  Are giving your all to it?  It may not be what you do all the time, but hopefully in some part of your life you feel fully alive.  Hopefully you sense that you can express something of yourself to the world you live in with enthusiasm.  And hopefully you can render this living life to its fullest as a gift to God who has already given you His everything already.  Just think of it this way, that thing you are passionate about is really God’s way of doing something awesome in the world.  And He chooses to do it through you:  “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”  (Romans 12:1).

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

Monday, September 11, 2006

VolleyBall Tonight! (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Just wanted to remind you of volleyball on Monday nights at Christ UMC on Cave Mill Road at 8pm.  Call 842-2880 if you need a ride.  Or meet at the Wesley Foundation @ 7:45pm!

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Wesley Foundation Weekly E-letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

I am so excited to be sending out this, our very first e-letter of the year.  Thanks to those who made our Master Plan and First Week activities a huge success.  To those who are new to campus—Welcome!  To those who are returning—Welcome!  To those who simply have a heart for campus ministry and like to know what we are doing on the hill—Welcome!

 

Here is a rundown of this week’s activities:

 

Soul Feast

Tonight we are having worship on campus at DUC (Downing University Center) room 340 at 6pm.  We will be joined tonight by the praise team from Broadway United Methodist Church who will be leading our worship.  Our message will talk about what it means to experience God’s love in a truly personal way.  We will explore the first of our core values at the Wesley Foundation, what it means to “Put a Human Face on God’s Love.”  These next for weeks are a great opportunity to come and learn exactly what we at the Wesley Foundation stand for.

 

Solid Rock Café

Thursday night we will have our free meal and Bible Study/Program at the Wesley Foundation at 6pm.  Call 842-2880 for a ride if you need one.  We will be looking at what it means to live your passion in a Christ-like way, lifting up the themes raised by the movie “School or Rock.”  Afterwards we will be going down to DUC South Lawn to watch “School of Rock,” projecting it onto the outside wall of Academic Complex.  We’ll begin the movie about 8:30pm.  Which reminds me….

 

Movies on the Lawn

Every Thursday night for the next few weeks we will be showing a different movie on DUC South Lawn.  This is a great time to invite a friend, pull up lawn chair (or blanket), and experience one of the finer past-times of American Culture:  Cinema.  You will notice that before each movie we will meet at the Foundation for free food and a program that looks at how to live the themes raised by the movie in a faith-filled way.  Youth groups, church groups, whatever groups are also invited.  Here is a line-up:

 

September 7—“School of Rock”

September 14—“Napoleon Dynomite”

September 21—“Walk the Line”

September 28—“RV”

October 12—“Glory Road

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I don’t know about you, but these last two weeks have been on the absolutely crazy side.  I am just thanking Jesus I survived them.  Don’t get me wrong; they were good weeks.  But they were also full of physically demanding tasks, needful of organizational genius, and spur of the moment creativity.  I know that getting through had more to do with God’s grace (and willing hearts who were there to help out) than my own strength.  So I am sending up a big woo-hoo to Jesus.  Thank you so much Lord.

 

Beginnings are always hard.  It could be because we often don’t know what to expect and the shock of what is happening catches us off-guard.  It could be because we’ve been there, done that before (as in all you returning students and professors) and we know how difficult things can be.  As a result we go through physically and mentally prepared for world melt-down and waste tons of mental and physical energy when it doesn’t happen.  Or maybe it does happen and we go into the rest of what follows filled with fear.

 

The temptation is to believe that the beginning of something determines the rest of an endeavor’s history.  NOT TRUE!  The Bible says God’s mercy is new every morning, that His faithfulness is great (Lamentations 3:23).  And this morning in my devotionals I read these words:  “The Lord is on my side to help me” (Psalm 118:7).  The temptation is to believe that we should give up because we believe we know what the outcome will be.  The truth says that we have no idea what will happen, that we are upheld by a God who loves us, is there to help us, and who does new things with great mercy and faithfulness every morning.  WE might give up on our circumstances, but God never does.  We might give up on ourselves, but God never does.  God is always working to bring forth good from simple human lives.

 

So be encouraged.  God is with you today, and tomorrow, and the next day.  Be encouraged.  Tomorrow is not bigger than God is, and God will give us every strength we need to face the challenges it holds.  Be encouraged.  You have someone bigger than you on your side to help you, to hold you up, and to handle the things that make you want to give up. 

 

Need more encouragement?  In person even?  E-mail me back and we’ll go to lunch.  My treat.

 

Blessings,

 

Sami

 

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

 

www.wkywesley.org

sami.wilison@wku.edu

842-2880