You may have heard it on the news. You may have heard about it from others.Yes, it's true: This week, the UTSA campus organization "The Atheist Agenda" is indeed running their "smut for smut" campaign in which they encourage students to trade in one form of smut (from their perspective) for another form of smut. Specifically-they are encouraging students to turn in Bibles in exchange for pornography.
It is heartbreaking. It is also a snapshot of the "New Atheism" that is springing up in America-aggressive and confrontational. It outrages the senses of Christians. And the Atheist Agenda does this solely for this purpose: To get under the skin of Christians and to provoke an angry response so they can point at screaming Christians and say to their peers: "See-they are angry, self-righteous, judgmental people." The last time they had this campaign, tensions were quite high on our campus. This year the tensions are exceptionally high. I do not know what to expect this week.
As you can imagine-emotions are high this week on our campus. As students saw the posters for the campaign last week, many were upset, offended, angry.
Groups have been forming in response. Some groups are addressing the administration, others are forming to establish a 'counter movement' to 'fight back.' Some groups are starting prayer groups. Others are planning protests. Tensions are indeed high.
I've never seen a person won to Christ through legislation. If legislation could change the human heart, then we could be saved by keeping the Mosaic Law. Do I hope they change school policy when it comes to this matter-yes. However, even if the policy is changed, hearts are not changed.
I've never seen a person won to Christ through anger or arguing. All that is accomplished when spiritual forces are addressed in fleshly means is the further calcification of the position of the person outside of Christ.
And, I've never seen prayer as political or protest rally anywhere in Scripture, nor have I seen it change the hearts of lost humanity.
I am blessed by the students in BSM. They are intentionally missional. We have students investing their lives and relationships with Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindu's. We have students intentionally befriending the lost, praying for them, investing in them and God is using our students to profoundly impact lost humanity.
This past week, I challenged our students to re-consider Christ's words on ridicule, opposition, even persecution and what it means to take up our crosses and follow Jesus, to share in His sufferings, to pray with fervency on our faces, to intercede and engage in spiritual warfare. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. We too, apart from the Grace of God and the Redeeming Blood of Christ were lost once-just as the Atheists are now. We are praying for our campus, for other followers of Christ and yes, even for the Atheists.
I share this story with you to encourage to you please pray for our campus. At the same time, I share it with you because this is a snapshot of what is to come. We are now a land of many gods and no God. My heart breaks when I consider how much of our attention is spent on ourselves while we are surrounded by lost and broken humanity.
So please pray for us--and please continue to read (following two entries). There is GOOD news to report! Please read prayerfully. The enemy is at work, but our GOD reigns and HE is working in powerful ways!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Mission Trip Needs
For the third year, the BSM at UTSA will be going to Los Angeles (our 'ends of the earth') on mission trip. We will be leaving mid-May for a one week period of service in the roughest parts of Los Angeles: Skid Row and South Central (also known as "Gangland").
God has used these mission trips to profoundly impact and influence and shape our students and the ministry at UTSA. Every trip has been nothing short of transformational. Students are stretched (as am I) to the limits, and the lessons learned in that context are taken and applied to San Antonio-to our campus and to our city. This trip is not 'spiritual tourism' and not for the faint of heart. Each year we go, we pray specifically for only the 'called out ones' to go with us. We recognize that if a student were to go on this trip just to 'see Los Angeles' they will be highly disappointed (because we're not seeing the glitz and glamor of L.A.) and will crash and burn because the experience is quite intensive.
He has used this trip to transform lives in Los Angeles, our students' lives and as a result, our campus and city. Missionaries are birthed on this trip. Students come back forever changed.
These are tough economic times. The past two years God has faithfully provided for the called out students to go. We are trusting Him to do the same this year. The challenges this year are the tight economy and the 'giving fatigue' that many individuals and churches are experiencing. We are taking 22 students and the cost per student (airfare, lodging, meals, transportation) for the week is $900.00.
This year, students are finding it particularly difficult in raising support. We are taking a mixture of students who are returning for a 2nd or 3rd tour of duty in LA and freshmen who have never experienced this trip and what God does in this context. Our students do not come from the wealthy or privileged families-many of them are working to help get through school and are doing their best to save money and to raise funds to go and serve in Los Angeles. Many are reporting just how difficult it is to gain support. We are blessed in that many are covenanting to pray for and with us. We also need the provision only He can provide.
I am asking (and this is something I have not done before) in a very straightforward way if you or your church or a Sunday school class or a missions team would consider giving to help our students go. We will gladly do all we can to give you reports and information on the trip when we return. These students are passionate for Christ and are eager to go where most people would not want to go. They do have that sense of 'calledness.'
Any amount is greatly appreciated. We see this mission trip as a faith venture from now through our return. We can do nothing of value in our own strength. We do not have the personal or financial resources. All must be from Him and come from Him.
If you feel so led to give, please know that your gift is going to change lives-literally. Your investment in our students will leave an indelible mark on their souls as will the work they will be doing in some very difficult places.
If you are led to give, you can send a check to the San Antonio Baptist Association,, 5807 I H 10 W, San Antonio, TX 78201. Checks would be payable to San Antonio Baptist Association. In the memo section of the check, you may write: BSM L.A. Mission Trip Gift. All donations are of course tax-deductible.
There are over 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles has the greatest economic disparity between the 'have's ' and 'have nots' in the U.S. The darkness there is great-but there is also a Great Light shining Hope in midst of despair. Would you pray about and consider supporting our students as they prepare for one of the greatest and most challenging experiences they will have in their young lives?
Your prayers and consideration are greatly appreciated.
God has used these mission trips to profoundly impact and influence and shape our students and the ministry at UTSA. Every trip has been nothing short of transformational. Students are stretched (as am I) to the limits, and the lessons learned in that context are taken and applied to San Antonio-to our campus and to our city. This trip is not 'spiritual tourism' and not for the faint of heart. Each year we go, we pray specifically for only the 'called out ones' to go with us. We recognize that if a student were to go on this trip just to 'see Los Angeles' they will be highly disappointed (because we're not seeing the glitz and glamor of L.A.) and will crash and burn because the experience is quite intensive.
He has used this trip to transform lives in Los Angeles, our students' lives and as a result, our campus and city. Missionaries are birthed on this trip. Students come back forever changed.
These are tough economic times. The past two years God has faithfully provided for the called out students to go. We are trusting Him to do the same this year. The challenges this year are the tight economy and the 'giving fatigue' that many individuals and churches are experiencing. We are taking 22 students and the cost per student (airfare, lodging, meals, transportation) for the week is $900.00.
This year, students are finding it particularly difficult in raising support. We are taking a mixture of students who are returning for a 2nd or 3rd tour of duty in LA and freshmen who have never experienced this trip and what God does in this context. Our students do not come from the wealthy or privileged families-many of them are working to help get through school and are doing their best to save money and to raise funds to go and serve in Los Angeles. Many are reporting just how difficult it is to gain support. We are blessed in that many are covenanting to pray for and with us. We also need the provision only He can provide.
I am asking (and this is something I have not done before) in a very straightforward way if you or your church or a Sunday school class or a missions team would consider giving to help our students go. We will gladly do all we can to give you reports and information on the trip when we return. These students are passionate for Christ and are eager to go where most people would not want to go. They do have that sense of 'calledness.'
Any amount is greatly appreciated. We see this mission trip as a faith venture from now through our return. We can do nothing of value in our own strength. We do not have the personal or financial resources. All must be from Him and come from Him.
If you feel so led to give, please know that your gift is going to change lives-literally. Your investment in our students will leave an indelible mark on their souls as will the work they will be doing in some very difficult places.
If you are led to give, you can send a check to the San Antonio Baptist Association,, 5807 I H 10 W, San Antonio, TX 78201. Checks would be payable to San Antonio Baptist Association. In the memo section of the check, you may write: BSM L.A. Mission Trip Gift. All donations are of course tax-deductible.
There are over 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles has the greatest economic disparity between the 'have's ' and 'have nots' in the U.S. The darkness there is great-but there is also a Great Light shining Hope in midst of despair. Would you pray about and consider supporting our students as they prepare for one of the greatest and most challenging experiences they will have in their young lives?
Your prayers and consideration are greatly appreciated.
Awakenings, Revivals and the God of This City
Since I was a child, I remember the talk about our need for revival. I remember the revival meetings and prayer meetings. If you grew up in the church I'm sure you do as well. There was this collective sense we needed a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God, that ultimately we needed God Himself.
I was blessed as a child to actually grow up in a church that experienced an authentic awakening and revival. Growing up in that context and seeing such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for years shaped my thoughts on what happened in church life. I thought what was happening in the church we attended was the 'normative' experience in every church. It was not until years later that I came to realize that the authentic revival that broke out at Castle Hills First Baptist Church under the pastoral leadership of Jack Taylor was not the 'norm' but rather a Sovereign visitation of the Spirit of God on that church.
As the years have passed, in every context where I have served (youth minister, church planter, pastor) in each church there was that prayer for revival, that talk of revival and awakening-but we cannot bring about revival or awakening in and of ourselves. It cannot be manufactured, programmed or scheduled.
We are seeing something on our campus that I can only describe (and I use this term carefully) as the beginnings of a potential awakening on our campus and revival among those who belong to Christ. It is a holy time. We are seeing Christian students thirst and hunger for greater intimacy with Christ, desiring for His Glory to be known and acknowledged on our campus and in our city. We are seeing young people praying with a sense of desperation and brokenness before Him over our need for Jesus Christ to be known and worshiped.
We are seeing young students who just 'show up' at our events, hungry and thirsty for something they cannot identify or name, but we know what it is-a longing for the Transcendent. God is moving. Please pray for UTSA. Please pray for the BSM on our campus. God is working in ways I have not seen Him work for so many years.
I believe that this movement of the Spirit is not limited to our campus. I see Him working and calling His people to pray across the city. I see a longing for Him that I have not seen for so long.
I do not know what is taking place in your church, among your people. Perhaps you are going through a difficult time. Perhaps your church is going through a challenging period. Perhaps the words 'awakening' and 'revival' seem like a distant dream in your context. I encourage you to join the growing number of people in our city who are on their faces crying out for the Lord to renew His works in our days. You are not forgotten. He loves you deeply. He is working.
Perhaps your church is experiencing the blessings of growth. I encourage you to give all glory to Him and to always be wary of the idea that we can somehow, in and of ourselves, 'grow' our churches or communities. Unless He is doing the building, we labor in vain.
In these tough times, more people are recognizing there must be something 'more' to life than the 'American Dream.' God is calling out to His people to return to Him wholeheartedly. He is calling out to lost humanity to find life through Jesus Christ, His Son. His Spirit is moving in remarkable ways. I pray that our city is awakened. I pray for revival in our churches. I pray that we humble ourselves before out King, crying out to Him because we so desperately need Him.
If you sense Him leading you to pray specifically for revival in our churches and an awakening in our city, I encourage you to join with others to specifically pursue Him in prayer. There is no better place for us to be than on our knees before our King.
I was blessed as a child to actually grow up in a church that experienced an authentic awakening and revival. Growing up in that context and seeing such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for years shaped my thoughts on what happened in church life. I thought what was happening in the church we attended was the 'normative' experience in every church. It was not until years later that I came to realize that the authentic revival that broke out at Castle Hills First Baptist Church under the pastoral leadership of Jack Taylor was not the 'norm' but rather a Sovereign visitation of the Spirit of God on that church.
As the years have passed, in every context where I have served (youth minister, church planter, pastor) in each church there was that prayer for revival, that talk of revival and awakening-but we cannot bring about revival or awakening in and of ourselves. It cannot be manufactured, programmed or scheduled.
We are seeing something on our campus that I can only describe (and I use this term carefully) as the beginnings of a potential awakening on our campus and revival among those who belong to Christ. It is a holy time. We are seeing Christian students thirst and hunger for greater intimacy with Christ, desiring for His Glory to be known and acknowledged on our campus and in our city. We are seeing young people praying with a sense of desperation and brokenness before Him over our need for Jesus Christ to be known and worshiped.
We are seeing young students who just 'show up' at our events, hungry and thirsty for something they cannot identify or name, but we know what it is-a longing for the Transcendent. God is moving. Please pray for UTSA. Please pray for the BSM on our campus. God is working in ways I have not seen Him work for so many years.
I believe that this movement of the Spirit is not limited to our campus. I see Him working and calling His people to pray across the city. I see a longing for Him that I have not seen for so long.
I do not know what is taking place in your church, among your people. Perhaps you are going through a difficult time. Perhaps your church is going through a challenging period. Perhaps the words 'awakening' and 'revival' seem like a distant dream in your context. I encourage you to join the growing number of people in our city who are on their faces crying out for the Lord to renew His works in our days. You are not forgotten. He loves you deeply. He is working.
Perhaps your church is experiencing the blessings of growth. I encourage you to give all glory to Him and to always be wary of the idea that we can somehow, in and of ourselves, 'grow' our churches or communities. Unless He is doing the building, we labor in vain.
In these tough times, more people are recognizing there must be something 'more' to life than the 'American Dream.' God is calling out to His people to return to Him wholeheartedly. He is calling out to lost humanity to find life through Jesus Christ, His Son. His Spirit is moving in remarkable ways. I pray that our city is awakened. I pray for revival in our churches. I pray that we humble ourselves before out King, crying out to Him because we so desperately need Him.
If you sense Him leading you to pray specifically for revival in our churches and an awakening in our city, I encourage you to join with others to specifically pursue Him in prayer. There is no better place for us to be than on our knees before our King.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)