To make it easy I will tell you the state is west of the Mississippi and east of the Great Salt Lake. Remember you can’t win if you don’t play – and guesses are free.
Our featured staffer is a real song and dance kind of woman. Here she is at a jam session with her older sister Carolyn at the age of 3. Can these girls party or what?
Twenty-five years later Monica grew up, but due to a rare genetic mutation her sister Carolyn stayed the same size.
Actually that is Carolyn’s daughter Camryn with her favorite aunt Monica.
"I’m not entitled to anything I am blessed with and won’t be removed from difficulties. God wants to use all the good and bad to conform me to His character. Every day is another opportunity to glorify Him and no second is insignificant. I can know Him better because of difficult things He allows in my life as I remember that life is about His glory. He cares more about my character than my comfort and I pray for the grace I need to embrace all He brings my way!"
Monica Schaeffer
Missouri State University Campus team
Multiplication is the key to a healthy movement. To have movements everywhere will mean that our ministry will have to multiply everywhere. The crucial question is what are we multiplying? What is at the core of our movement that other people are attracted to and being asked to commit to? Is it a message, a method, a strategy, a philosophy?
I went back to the first recorded Christian movement that multiplied in John’s Gospel. In the second half of the first chapter we see “instant multiplication and movement” in less than three days.
Andrew and John were disciples of John the Baptist. They were already spiritually interested and kingdom motivated. When John calls Jesus the Lamb of God, they don’t waste a second before they begin to follow after Christ. The result is an invitation to spend the day with Jesus at His place.
That time spent relating with Jesus compels Andrew to go to his brother Simon and bring him to Jesus. This brotherly connection makes Andrew the first disciple to multiply and a small movement shapes up.
The following day Jesus finds Phillip and gives the “follow me” challenge. Whether it was the simplicity of the call or the connection to Andrew and Peter (who were from the same town) Phillip not only throws in his lot but also seeks out his friend Nathanael. Though initially reluctant, Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus overcomes his personal cynicism and skepticism and draws him into this movement that would continue to multiply and change the world.
What was at the core of this movement? It wasn’t a strategy or ministry philosophy- it was a person. The person of Jesus Christ and the very personal yet intentional way He related to 5 men in their hopes, strengths, and weakness.
When asked to share a ministry lesson God has taught her in her years on staff Monica wrote: “Real ministry flows out of a deep walk with God, not just doing stuff, but being closely connected to Christ. I want to love students, encourage and challenge them, and see the lost come to Jesus. But at the end of the day, I have to remind myself that it’s about God’s work in them-not about me. I don’t want to own their growth or their failures. People are messed up (me included) but there’s hope for all of us because of the power and grace of the Gospel. And that is good news.”
At the end of the day I’ll amen that!
-Bert
1 comment:
I'll also say "Amen to that!" at the end of the day!
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