GroshLink

Today, the C. S. Lewis Seminar begins it's noontime gatherings for Penn State Harrisburg faculty and staff. The group will pick up last year's discussion of Lewis' The Screwtape Letters (we ended in Chapter 6), seeking to separate fact from fiction regarding the Christian faith. Pray for last year's crew to return eager for conversation and for newcomers to become part of the mix. 

All I could say was Wow! when I turned on the radio to hear Sarah Palin's vice-presidential acceptance speech (and I thought the choice was going to be Lieberman). Check out Andy Crouch's post The best thing about Sarah Palin | Culture Making, it's excellent!

The choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has all sorts of interesting political implications, which are being diced and parsed as I write. But I’m more interested in the long-term cultural ...

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We're in the midst of our staff conference, which runs August 12-15.  Pray for a deep, refreshing time of spiritual renewal as our team digs into John 14-16, reconnects with one-another, and prepares for the fall mission.  Pray for clarity in our fall schedules, details regarding our Graduate student winter retreat (e.g., date, location, topic), which I will once again be directing. For me in specific, pray for connections with undergraduate field staff in order to coordinate campus visits with faculty and for feedback on the InterVarsity Press conference kit which I've worked on as part of InterVarsity's Staff Advisory Team for InterVarsity Press.

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A few years ago InterVarsity held a Graduate and Faculty Ministry Winter Retreat at Roxbury Camp, Roxbury, PA.  Today, I return with some members of Elizabethtown and Manheim Brethren in Christ congregations for Roxbury Holiness Camp Meeting's Missions Day.  I'm looking forward to meeting a number of missionaries, hearing their stories, and being encouraged regarding in pressing on with the Gospel mission. 

Historical Note:  Roxbury Holiness Camp Meeting is an annual gathering birthed in 1935 when revival meetings were held in an old dance hall.  The Camp Meeting birthed Roxbury Camp.

Dwight and I had a very profitable site visit for the Mid-Atlantic Grad Winter Retreat. In particular, we appear to have found a cheaper location which covers the basics while providing more regional flavor and the flexibility to better partner with our International Student Ministry colleagues. Praise God!

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Pray for Wednesday's visit to Messiah Village and the surrounding area during which I'll make a number of connections with retirees and pastors of local congregations.  In particular pray for budding opportunities for partnership in the Gospel.

Prayer request for Tuesday:  Pray for safe travel, keen insight, and good questions as I evaluate several possible 09 Grad Winter Retreat Sites with my supervisor.  Pray for the family as I'm out of the house early in the morning and not available to help with a various tasks which have become habit over the past several weeks.

Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to give significant time to prayerful consideration of next steps for faculty ministry in central PA.  In particular, pray for discernment for how this work will tie into the Emerging Scholars Network, Following Christ 08, local events (e.g., conferencing, fund development, partnerships with local congregations, speakers), Pittsburgh commitments, and InterVarsity's Mid-Atlantic Ministry as a whole (i.e., connecting across the spectrum of undergrad, grad, and faculty on a variety of campuses). 

Note:  InterVarsity's Mid-Atlantic Regional Staff Conference will occur the 2nd week in August.  This gathering provides a strategic opportunity for focused prayer, intense Scripture study, deepening friendship with brothers-and-sisters-in-Christ, short/long-term planning, and training.  Pray for God to impress upon me with whom I should be connecting and sharing in this context. 

Please take a few minutes to read over, reflect upon, and email a friend the link to Melinda Mae’s Missiology.  To tease you here's the conclusion which found deep resonance: 

We would never profess to be solely responsible for building the Kingdom, though honest introspection may reveal more of Melinda Mae’s Missiology in us than we thought. What we need is a Christo-centric missiology, along with a bit of Adam Smit’s conviction which pushes us toward Jesus’ carism and his thorough addressing of people’s needs; a bit of Melinda Mae’s resolve, where we live as if we could eat the whole whale in eighty-nine years; and a bit of Romero’s sobering perspective that rightly sees God as the master builder. Perhaps then this movement will lead to serious renewal for the Church as well as for the world who observes it happening.

May it be so in my way of life as a follower of Christ part of the people of God called engaged in pioneering Faculty Ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship ... my current focus being Central PA and Pittsburgh.  AND how about the Emerging Scholars Network as a monstrous whale to be eaten by a tiny group of friends ;-)  BTW, we now have 2,965 members!