Vision Week

This week we took a week “off.” We transformed the basement of CCH (where we usually have chairs set up to listen to Brad on Wednesday nights) into a place students could get out of their ordinary routines and encounter God. The building was open so that students could come anytime that worked with their schedule.

We hung sheets to separate the space into different stations. Each station had a different theme. Some were review about what we have been studying in David, while others were new, we had a station where students could give $1.20 and package 6 meals to be sent to Africa through Something To Eat.

This year there were several new things we added to vision week. Every night at midnight we had worship, some students fasted for one, two, or three days, and for the first 36 hours students were praying continually in the prayer room upstairs.

Thursday night we had our wrap-up. It was laid back with worship and some sharing of what God had revealed to us.

One of the coolest things for me was the Intro. It was based around John 13:1-17 when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. At this station there were washable markers where you could sit down and write your sins on your foot and then step into a tub of water and the marker would disappear from your foot as a picture of Jesus making you clean. If you don’t know, I have a tattoo of a cross on my foot, so when I was writing sins on my foot I was writing them on the cross, and when the marker was washing off my foot it was an awesome picture of because Christ died on the cross is the reason my sins are being cleansed.

A day in the life of...ME

I realized while talking with my family last night that many of you may get to hear me tell stories of exciting things going on here at the campus house or you may receive my monthly newsletter and read about the highlights from the month, but most of you may not know what I do on a daily basis. So I thought I would share with you what my day usually looks like.

First off, I need to say that no two days look the same. So I will give you an idea of what I have done and still plan to do today.   

For our upcoming Grow Trips I am creating a daily devotional. When I went to Haiti this past summer the mission sent me a booklet containing a daily devotional  and it changed my experience of the trip. Coming into this year I knew I wanted to provide something similar for the students of CCH. This morning I worked on it a little more. I am designing the booklet in InDesign. I’m not completely satisfied with the cover yet but it is coming along. I am laying out the text as well. I asked the staff and some students for some input on what they thought students needed to know and be intentionally thinking about on a mission trip.

I am leading the Grow Trip to Kansas City over Christmas break. I emailed a few more people trying to finalize our plans for the week. I also looked up each of the places we are for sure going to on a map and none of them are more than 30 minutes away from each other. So that’s great because I don’t want to spend the entire trip driving from place to place. God is working everything out, just a lot more slowly than what I would have wanted.

I took a break and did some reading in I Once Was Lost by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp. One of the students I meet with weekly and I are reading through it and discussing it.

I worked on a few things for vision week, which is coming up in two weeks. Vision week is a time we set aside and cancel all our activities. We transform the basement into a place where students can come and meet with God through different means. Last year a few places we created were a place where students could let go of their worries, a place to pray for the world, and a place to reflect on beauty. This year the areas will be different and all centered on the picture of Shalom. Shalom being wholeness, completeness, rightness, the way God intended.

Usually for lunch on Tuesdays I go to Planet Sub ($2.50 turkey on Tuesday) with one of the girls on the leadership team. We share life together. We talk about everything. Hopefully I am able to answer questions she has about school or relationships or whatever is going on in her life.

This afternoon I will meet with another girl on the leadership team. We usually sit outside on campus since it has been so nice but soon we are going to have to move inside to the Union or something. Her community group meets on Tuesday night so we go through what she has prepared and I give her any thoughts I have. We talk about anything and everything as well. I love the time I get to spend with these girls.  

I hope this gives you a better picture of what I do here at the Christian Campus House.