Some of what I learned at NSC '08

For the past week I have been at the National Student Convention at the University of Southern Indiana. This conference was incredible, I have a fresh vision for the kind of stuff that God wants to do on our campus. It was incredible to go to all of the workshops and worship services at the conference. I learned a lot about different perspectives on the poor and poverty stricken in our community. Mother Teresa said that the greatest poverty in America is loneliness. This has lead our campus ministry to really look into the loneliness of the international students on our campus and what we are being called to do about it. We don't want to reach out to these students as a project or something to do, but rather, a real friendship that results in lasting relationships and changing lives by caring genuinely for people. It's about talking to God and seeking His will for our relationships with people and then obeying what He tells us to do, both on an individual basis and as a group. Something like this has to be deeply seated in prayer and community. If you are reading this and are not part of our community, please be praying for us to be faithful in this practice. If you are in our community, please talk to me or others about it and get involved. I'm incredibly excited to see some of the things that God wants to work out on our campus and in Greenville this upcoming year. If anyone has an idea of other ways that we can reach out to lonely people on our campus or to anyone for that matter, please let me know and I will do everything I can to find ways for our ministry to put that into play.