My New Ministry Toy... I Mean "Tool"

I've been waiting for some time to get my hands on a professional digital video camera that I could begin using and experimenting with as a helpful ministry tool. Well, I finally found a great deal on a used Canon XL1s that I couldn't pass up! Over the past two years of launching a new campus ministry in Wellington, I've begun to dabble a bit with video cameras and editing footage in order to better recruit laborers from universities in the United States to come help in our mission here. It has also proved helpful in trying to more accurately depict our local movement to family, friends, and ministry partners who stand behind our work here. I've seen that having soome quality video footage of our surrounding environments along with team members' and students' testimonies have gone a long way to really bring people a clearer picture of the ins and outs of our mission here in New Zealand.



The Canon XL1s is a fairly well known and respected camera. If you're curious, you can read more information on it here: http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/canon-x%20l1s-body-only/4505-6500_7-6751315.html

Not only will this camera be beneficial to use for recruitment and documentaries regarding our mission, but I'm also eager to find more ways to use it for "creative outreaches" on our campuses. This could simply be interviewing students about their opinions on important topics and spiritual interest or producing short films that speak to spiritual & purpose of life type themes. At least people will probably know I mean business with this baby!

A Special Visitor from the States

Below are some pictures taken at a local New Zealand blueberry farm, where we took our boys and their Nana to go blueberry picking and eat a yummy blueberry/brownie/ice cream sunday.

Action Groups :: Putting Faith into Action

Action Groups are the small group Bible studies on our campuses. These groups of 3-5 men or women are about three things: A real relationship with God, A real relationship with each other, and a real impact on campus. Ultimately, we want these action groups to be a source of deep friendships that challenge them to actively live out our faith in Jesus Christ. I have the privilege of leading two such groups at Victoria University. One group (pictured above) is made up of two 1st year students and one 2nd year student. We have been going through the book of 1John and learning about some key foundational truths of our faith. It’s such a joy to see these young men grow spiritually, act in faith, and live out their relationship with Jesus. Jeremy (a 2nd year student) just recently went with me to share his faith on campus for the very first time! We ended up meeting with a student, William, that Jeremy has a media class with. While asking William questions from an Influence Questionnaire, he told us that he celebrated Christmas and Easter with his family, but had never heard about why Jesus had to die. We shared with him the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. William clearly understood the Gospel for the first time! Although he was not ready to commit his life to Christ, he appreciated us talking to him and at least telling him what we knew of Jesus life and testimony. Jeremy hopes to have future opportunities to talk with William more about Jesus as they interact in their media course.

The Greatest Miracle Ever

Over this Easter holiday, the Lord drew my attention to a few significant verses in Luke 10 where the disciples had just returned from a “mission trip” and came to share with Jesus about what they witnessed. “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’” [Luke 10:17-20]At first reaction, it would seem that Jesus just rained on their parade, downplaying the miracles and wonders they had both seen and took part in (Gee, thanks Jesus!). But upon more reflection, I think Jesus’ desire was to get his disciples to move their focus and source of joy off of the “minor miracles” and onto the “greatest miracle”. Jesus was reminding them that Satan had already been cast out of heaven (he saw it happen) and only has the power and authority that God has allowed him. Therefore, Jesus is not shocked at the disciples’ ability to drive out demons… this seems to be a “no-brainer”. Instead he points them to the greatest miracle that they have experienced for themselves and have seen others take part in… ETERNAL LIFE!How often I struggle with wanting to see God perform little miracles all around me—to see someone's sight restored, cancer thwarted, health regained, or hand healed before my eyes. Yet, over and over, I have seen people enter into a relationship with the Living God and inherit eternal life! That’s a MIRACLE! “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” Jesus says later in Luke 15:10.I hope that you (like me) will be able to reflect more on the amazing gift of salvation so graciously lavished on us by Jesus’ death and resurrection well beyond this Easter holiday. Let’s not lose sight of the miraculous work that God has done in each of our lives and the lives of others by granting us faith in His Son. Happy Easter!

2009 Tune In Results

Students Surveyed :: 434
Affirmative Responses :: 253
Decisions for Christ (Wellington) :: 3 [so far]
Decisions for Christ (All NZ Campuses) :: 49 [so far]

Another Chance to "Tune In" :: Our Initial Campus Outreach 2009

For the fourth year in a row, Student Life has conducted the ‘Tune In’ evangelistic outreach on all the universities in the nation. As in previous years, the message we want to help students come in contact with is the one God has for them concerning His son Jesus Christ.
After a great deal of evaluating and praying, our staff team in Wellington decided to take a slightly different approach to how we presented ‘Tune In’ on our campuses. In previous years, the campaign was designed to give away multiple small ‘spot prizes’ as well as a grand prize of an i-pod nano, We kept the i-pod grand prize, but decided it was important to show students that we are willing to look for opportunities to provide a positive and lasting change on campus and around the world. So, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on candies and other goodies, (which students could get from pretty much every other table there) we gave away $200 in the amount of $4 cash prizes. In conjunction with these cash prizes, we simply let students know that we were partnering with World Vision to raise funds to fight against child labor (children who have been enslaved in to the work force or sex trafficking industry) and that we as Student Life would match up to $500 of whatever students give.
Regardless of where students stood spiritually, many thought it was really commendable that we were creating both an awareness and opportunity for students to give toward a growing issue in our world. This, along with our billboard statement, led to many great conversations with students about how our faith has impacted not just our lives, but our actions as well.
We have yet to finalize the total amount raised as we are also giving our students within the movement an opportunity to give, but we will at least be donating over $600 to World Vision to help fight against child labor!