Baptist Student Ministries experienced an amazing year! God blessed us tremendously and we are seeing incredible things happen!
1) God has raised up a strong core group of students who are the most mission minded young people (or adults for that matter), that I know. These students are actively and intentionally engaging their campus, developing friendships with the lost, and going out of their way to serve the lost on campus. Our students have grown immensely. They no longer see Baptist Student Ministries as a "bubble" where they can hide safely from a lost campus-rather they see our organization as a place to be equipped, to worship, to be built up and re-energized so they can go out into the mission field that is the University of Texas, San Antonio.
2) Lives are being changed. I recently received an email from one of our students stating how significant Baptist Student Ministries was to her in her life. In her words, "I was heading down the wrong path when I came to the university, and God used BSM to change my life." This young girl is one of the most vibrant believers I know. She is actively serving others and sharing Christ. There are many stories like hers.
3) The lost are responding. We have been spiritually mapping our campus. By that, I mean we have been surveying students on campus to gain a better feel for the spiritual climate at UTSA as well as to help us understand our mission field and people's perceptions of Christianity, the Church, Christian organizations and their receptivity to further conversation and exploration. We have found students surprisingly open to talking. We have encountered Neo-Pagans, Atheists, Agnostics, Satanists and people from other religions and alternative lifestyles. Interesting: While many are open to talking about Jesus, many have negative views of Christianity and the Church. Even more interestingly-after listening to their stories respectfully, these students are open to exploring Christianity with BSM.
4) We are growing. The students have been faithful to till the spiritual soil, to work the ground, to plant, to sow, to water, to continue to do good, to not grow weary, and we are seeing the first fruits of a potentially tremendous harvest. We have outgrown our rooms for luncheons as well as our worship time. God blessed us in that next year we have two larger rooms for both meetings. It is amazing to see how God has and is using our students for His Glory.
Please continue to pray for BSM! We look forward to our summer mission trip and to spending time this summer preparing for an incredible year next year!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Los Angeles and the Least of These
They have a name for it: "Compassion fatigue." It is a recent phenomenon. We hear so much about the needs of others, here and around the world, that we become desensitized to appeals for help. Whether it is the displaced child in a refugee camp in Darfur, the children without parents in AIDS ravaged Africa, or the plight of the homeless and urban poor in America, we are bombarded with images and requests to help. Over time, we become weary of it all, and we stop feeling responsible. "It's someone else's job" or "I'm only one person...what can I do?" or "I just can't handle any more. I have enough stress in my own life."
It is understandable. We live in a hurting world. Fifty years ago, we did not have the Internet, there were not news agencies across the globe covering every tragedy. Now, we are bombarded with images and stories and needs. We want to make a difference, but at the same time we are overloaded.
As I have shared about our Los Angeles mission trip over the past few months, no doubt for some, compassion fatigue was the default response. I've been there and understand.
I am reading a fascinating book that I strongly encourage you to read: "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Rich Stearns, CEO of World Vision. Stearns makes a powerful case for the Gospel (as presented by Jesus, the apostles) being Good News for the poor-and that as Christ-followers, our relationship with Christ leads us to care for the least of these. I strongly encourage you to read it. Going back to God and Israel, Stearns points out quite powerfully and convincingly that God is supremely concerned with the least of these and demands that His people who are called by His Name take responsibility for the poor in their midst. Stearns shows in Scripture how proclamation of the Good News is accompanied by demonstration of the love and kindness of God.
In Los Angeles, we will be working with and serving some of the most destitute, the most 'least of these' in the U.S. . Skid Row is a real place. Thousands upon thousands of people have given up on life, given into despair, feel abandoned by God and by humanity. As one person said of Skid Row in an interview: "Skid Row is where people go to die." We saw that last year-this tangible sense of hopelessness and despair. With over 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles, Skid Row is a city within a city where darkness and despair are tangible. It is the "end of the line" for those who end up there.
Women are at particular risk. A woman (and many women are on the street with their children) has a greater than 80% chance of being sexually or physically assaulted if she is on the streets for longer than 2 weeks. We are ministering with agencies that are doing everything they can to get these women and children off the streets.
Stereotypes of the homeless are shattered in Los Angeles. I must confess my stereotypes often included the ideas such as: 'This is a life they chose,' or 'These are people just working the system,' or 'drug addicts' or 'people with mental illnesses.' While there are certainly people who fit into these categories, they are still loved by God and He desires for them to be set free. There are the 'others' though-thousands and thousands of 'others,' individuals or families who were barely making it paycheck to paycheck. People who were downsized (laid off), or had medical emergencies, and suddenly found themselves unable to pay mortgage or rent. It is a progression: Living in a car while trying to find work. If no work materializes, then being on the streets.
The "drop off point" from having a roof over your head to being out on the streets is a fine line in Los Angeles. The greatest economic disparity between the 'haves' and 'have nots' exists in L.A. Thousands are on the streets asking themselves, 'How did this happen to me?' Jesus cares for these people as well.
And many are on the streets having long given up any idea or hope that things would change. We met a young man last year and after talking with him, it was quite apparent that in his mind, there was simply no more hope." Jesus cares for him.
So we are going to Los Angeles because we sensed Him calling us to go. We won't be spending our time with the 'haves'-or hanging out on Rodeo Drive. We will spend our time on Skid Row and among the urban poor.
And Jesus cares for these people. He cares for this city that so many look at as the "land of fruits and nuts." He cares for them all.
I am blessed by our students. They have prayed and sensed His call to serve in a very challenging context. I would ask for you to pray for them. I would also ask, if you sense His leading, to support them, partner with them in the Gospel. Yes, "compassion fatigue" can desensitize us to many things. I would humbly ask that you consider the twenty students going, and the work they will be doing, and the thousands of people we will be interacting with, and join us in making a difference in the lives of people who experience a sense of abandonment, pain and hopelessness most of us cannot imagine.
Jesus cares for the "least of these." I'm proud of the students going who heard His call and are going in faith. We leave in less than a month. There are still needs to help these students go. We have seen this as a faith venture from beginning to end. We trust Him to provide. If He impresses on you to be a part of that provision, you may send any and all gifts to:
San Antonio Baptist Association
Attn: Baptist Student Ministries/Kevin Prather
5807 I-H 10 West
San Antonio, TX 78201
It is understandable. We live in a hurting world. Fifty years ago, we did not have the Internet, there were not news agencies across the globe covering every tragedy. Now, we are bombarded with images and stories and needs. We want to make a difference, but at the same time we are overloaded.
As I have shared about our Los Angeles mission trip over the past few months, no doubt for some, compassion fatigue was the default response. I've been there and understand.
I am reading a fascinating book that I strongly encourage you to read: "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Rich Stearns, CEO of World Vision. Stearns makes a powerful case for the Gospel (as presented by Jesus, the apostles) being Good News for the poor-and that as Christ-followers, our relationship with Christ leads us to care for the least of these. I strongly encourage you to read it. Going back to God and Israel, Stearns points out quite powerfully and convincingly that God is supremely concerned with the least of these and demands that His people who are called by His Name take responsibility for the poor in their midst. Stearns shows in Scripture how proclamation of the Good News is accompanied by demonstration of the love and kindness of God.
In Los Angeles, we will be working with and serving some of the most destitute, the most 'least of these' in the U.S. . Skid Row is a real place. Thousands upon thousands of people have given up on life, given into despair, feel abandoned by God and by humanity. As one person said of Skid Row in an interview: "Skid Row is where people go to die." We saw that last year-this tangible sense of hopelessness and despair. With over 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles, Skid Row is a city within a city where darkness and despair are tangible. It is the "end of the line" for those who end up there.
Women are at particular risk. A woman (and many women are on the street with their children) has a greater than 80% chance of being sexually or physically assaulted if she is on the streets for longer than 2 weeks. We are ministering with agencies that are doing everything they can to get these women and children off the streets.
Stereotypes of the homeless are shattered in Los Angeles. I must confess my stereotypes often included the ideas such as: 'This is a life they chose,' or 'These are people just working the system,' or 'drug addicts' or 'people with mental illnesses.' While there are certainly people who fit into these categories, they are still loved by God and He desires for them to be set free. There are the 'others' though-thousands and thousands of 'others,' individuals or families who were barely making it paycheck to paycheck. People who were downsized (laid off), or had medical emergencies, and suddenly found themselves unable to pay mortgage or rent. It is a progression: Living in a car while trying to find work. If no work materializes, then being on the streets.
The "drop off point" from having a roof over your head to being out on the streets is a fine line in Los Angeles. The greatest economic disparity between the 'haves' and 'have nots' exists in L.A. Thousands are on the streets asking themselves, 'How did this happen to me?' Jesus cares for these people as well.
And many are on the streets having long given up any idea or hope that things would change. We met a young man last year and after talking with him, it was quite apparent that in his mind, there was simply no more hope." Jesus cares for him.
So we are going to Los Angeles because we sensed Him calling us to go. We won't be spending our time with the 'haves'-or hanging out on Rodeo Drive. We will spend our time on Skid Row and among the urban poor.
And Jesus cares for these people. He cares for this city that so many look at as the "land of fruits and nuts." He cares for them all.
I am blessed by our students. They have prayed and sensed His call to serve in a very challenging context. I would ask for you to pray for them. I would also ask, if you sense His leading, to support them, partner with them in the Gospel. Yes, "compassion fatigue" can desensitize us to many things. I would humbly ask that you consider the twenty students going, and the work they will be doing, and the thousands of people we will be interacting with, and join us in making a difference in the lives of people who experience a sense of abandonment, pain and hopelessness most of us cannot imagine.
Jesus cares for the "least of these." I'm proud of the students going who heard His call and are going in faith. We leave in less than a month. There are still needs to help these students go. We have seen this as a faith venture from beginning to end. We trust Him to provide. If He impresses on you to be a part of that provision, you may send any and all gifts to:
San Antonio Baptist Association
Attn: Baptist Student Ministries/Kevin Prather
5807 I-H 10 West
San Antonio, TX 78201
Missions Here or Abroad? A Both/And Approach
Early in my ministry, I had a somewhat jaded view of many 'mission trips' which I saw as little more than sanctified spiritual tourist trips, or vacations. As such, I was not the most popular youth minister when, at my first ministry post, I broke ranks with the annual "youth choir mission trip" and took the group to Houston's 9th Ward. Prior to my arrival, the youth went to "fun" and "interesting" places to sing, do a backyard bible club, and then do a lot of sightseeing. Somehow, this idea of missions didn't resonate with my understanding of the New Testament pattern of missions. At Mildred McWhorter's Mission in one of the toughest parts of Houston, there was little to see in terms of "sights" unless gangs, people standing in line for sacks of potatoes, vegetables and bread were "sights."
The daily work in Houston was typically long and hard. Have to love that Houston humidity, sleeping on the floor and unloading food from 18 Wheelers from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
As I continued in the ministry in the local church, I believed it important for the church to be on mission both in the community and outside the community. I remember hearing (more than once), something to the effect of: "Shouldn't we focus our energies here when (fill in the blank of the city or town I served in at the time) there are so many needs here instead of going somewhere else? On one level, it seems to make sense. Why go to Houston when Dallas has so many needs? Why go to Los Angeles when San Antonio has so many needs?
When I look at Scripture, I see something else, however. I see Jesus calling His people to not only make a difference where they are, but to go to the ends of the earth. If we all adopted the mindset that said "We'll go elsewhere when everything here is fixed"-we would never leave. Poverty, lostness, hopelessness exist everywhere. The question we must ask is: "What role does Jesus have for us in His Missionary Enterprise? What is He calling us to do, to be?" The Great Commission certainly is not confined by geography.
Missions is not a "here or abroad" issue-it is the very nature of God's people to continually be on mission-both where we are and open to wherever He leads us-and He does lead us out of our geographical locations.
The wonderful thing about mission trips-and by mission trips I am referring to those trips that focus on sharing the Gospel in word and deed, as well as ministering to the 'least of these' is that they expand our vision of the King and His Kingdom, stretch us in ways that can only take place out of our comfort zone, and prepare us for more effective ministry in our city/place of origin. Mission trips also allow us to partner in the Gospel with other believers, strengthening the work they are doing.
As a church planter in Wisconsin, I was blessed when a group from Dallas came to our city to help with the work. Their help allowed us to accomplish in one week what would normally take our church over 2-3 months to accomplish. The benefit was mutual-they were stretched and we were strengthened.
We are partners in the Gospel with believers both here and abroad, and it is in that partnership that we are able to do more together than we could ever do alone. It is in the context of that partnership that we learn more of what it means to be the Body of Christ, working together, each one looking out for the other, not looking out merely for ourselves.
The economy of the Kingdom is different from that of this world system-the more we give away, the more we receive. The more we live for the blessing of others, the more we ourselves are blessed. I'm not referring to receiving material blessings, but rather the blessing that comes with following Christ wherever He leads. May we follow well...
The daily work in Houston was typically long and hard. Have to love that Houston humidity, sleeping on the floor and unloading food from 18 Wheelers from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
As I continued in the ministry in the local church, I believed it important for the church to be on mission both in the community and outside the community. I remember hearing (more than once), something to the effect of: "Shouldn't we focus our energies here when (fill in the blank of the city or town I served in at the time) there are so many needs here instead of going somewhere else? On one level, it seems to make sense. Why go to Houston when Dallas has so many needs? Why go to Los Angeles when San Antonio has so many needs?
When I look at Scripture, I see something else, however. I see Jesus calling His people to not only make a difference where they are, but to go to the ends of the earth. If we all adopted the mindset that said "We'll go elsewhere when everything here is fixed"-we would never leave. Poverty, lostness, hopelessness exist everywhere. The question we must ask is: "What role does Jesus have for us in His Missionary Enterprise? What is He calling us to do, to be?" The Great Commission certainly is not confined by geography.
Missions is not a "here or abroad" issue-it is the very nature of God's people to continually be on mission-both where we are and open to wherever He leads us-and He does lead us out of our geographical locations.
The wonderful thing about mission trips-and by mission trips I am referring to those trips that focus on sharing the Gospel in word and deed, as well as ministering to the 'least of these' is that they expand our vision of the King and His Kingdom, stretch us in ways that can only take place out of our comfort zone, and prepare us for more effective ministry in our city/place of origin. Mission trips also allow us to partner in the Gospel with other believers, strengthening the work they are doing.
As a church planter in Wisconsin, I was blessed when a group from Dallas came to our city to help with the work. Their help allowed us to accomplish in one week what would normally take our church over 2-3 months to accomplish. The benefit was mutual-they were stretched and we were strengthened.
We are partners in the Gospel with believers both here and abroad, and it is in that partnership that we are able to do more together than we could ever do alone. It is in the context of that partnership that we learn more of what it means to be the Body of Christ, working together, each one looking out for the other, not looking out merely for ourselves.
The economy of the Kingdom is different from that of this world system-the more we give away, the more we receive. The more we live for the blessing of others, the more we ourselves are blessed. I'm not referring to receiving material blessings, but rather the blessing that comes with following Christ wherever He leads. May we follow well...
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