the scholarship fund

I’d like to write a little about our wonderful little bank account we call the scholarship fund.  Mostly, I want to put it all in one place, for the public, how we get money in the account, and how it goes out of the account.

Money In: this part gives me some joy, some trepidation and generally costs a lot of time and energy, except for the last couple options which you should really check out.

1.  Asking for donations: I’ve only done this twice and have had a couple of good friends and family members respond generously, but haven’t tried asking my bigger network.  Ideally, ODU IV alumni would be quick to give to this, even consistently.  Someday I will formulate an “ask” to them to send checks made out to ODU InterVarsity to my home address so I can deposit them in the BB&T account.

2.  Work Days:  my friend Kelly taught me about this W&M custom one day on a bike ride through Larchmont, and since then we’ve been able to help out a couple of widows, some church families, and others with their yard work, moving and other needs.  The best is when they respond super generously and just give a couple hundred dollars instead of trying to be fair about it with labor wages and such.  But no matter how much they give, it’s a great opportunity for students to feel a sense of ownership and investment.  Most of them don’t like asking for “free” money and scholarship help, so this gives them a chance to help earn it.

3.  GoodSearch: this is an amazing website, the charitable side of Yahoo, that created a search engine that would give away a small portion of the advertising proceeds they make with each search.  The idea was then expanded to include GoodShop where donations are given from many online purchases, and my recent discovery of GoodDining which gives a percentage of some dining out purchases.  May I invite you to participate?  The best thing about these are that they do not require any extra work or effort, after the initial launch.  With GoodSearch you simply choose which charity you search for (ODU InterVarsity of course!) and the computer remembers that each time you return to the site.  You can also customize your little search bar in the top right corner of your Firefox or Explorer browser (http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/mode/firefox-plugin).  Easy.

4.  GoodShop is almost as easy, whenever you are considering buying anything online.  If you go to the site from a link on the GoodShop homepage, it recognizes the charity you chose (ODU InterVarsity of course!) and directs a percentage of what you spent, directly to us!  The easiest way to do this is to download the toolbar, which then will throw up a little yellow flag whenever you are on a site that gives money to the charity.  It will also tell you about coupons and discounts at that site for your online purchase!  Amazon, Ebay, Apple/iTunes, buy.com, Expedia, Target and a hundred or so other retailers!  EASY money for a good cause.

5.  and finally, GoodDining.  I just discovered this today… I’ve been ignoring the chocolate cake photo they’ve been luring me to click for a couple weeks now, then just now decided I wanted to figure out how it works.  It seemed like it might be a stretch… but you know what?  It’s EASY.  You have to trust the website and be comfortable with the whole idea of customer relationship management.  In other words, the system that Amazon uses to give you suggestions for purchases based on what you’ve viewed or bought, or the grocery store VIP card, which sends your data to the store managers to help them decide what to put or keep on sale, highlight on endcaps, print personally relevant coupons, etc.  I personally am fine with this, I think I need the help finding products some times, and knowing that they tailor their marketing to me challenges me to stay strong.  All that to say:  register your debit or credit card with GoodDining and they will be able to track your dining purchases at select restaurants.  Those restaurants will exchange the information of how often I came and how much I spent, for a donation to the charity of my choice (say it with me now, ODU InterVarsity of course!).  For Norfolkians, the restaurants I recognized as popular that participate are D’Egg (both locations), University Pizza, La Bella Ghent, Pasha/ Pasha Mezze, Ynot Pizza, Tortilla West, Bier Garden, Broken Egg Bistro, Macaroni Grill

There is also a tax-deductible option for donations to the scholarship fund.  This fund is specific to area and regional InterVarsity conferences only, but that is actually quite a nice thing since those conferences are usually more expensive anyway.  Simply put, you donate to IV and specify the designation.  You can give to fund a staff worker’s cost for ministry (in my case, 40 hrs a week= salary, benefits, training, office costs, etc).  You can also give to a school-specific scholarship fund!  Like Old Dominion University!

I might have saved the best link for last.  I really like that link… you should check it out and give me some feedback- how does it look and sound?  Does it make you want to give?

 

Coming soon: Part II  of “the scholarship fund” postings… Money Out.  Where does it go?   What’s the difference between the BB&T account and the InterVarsity donation? And what does “scholarship” really refer to?

tell your story

I think this is the second post I’ve written in response to/ after reading one from a thoughtful brother and co-worker, Patrick.  His tagline is “extroverts need to blog sometimes” and that simple phrase reminds me that in my search for health and wholeness, I need to blog sometimes.  I don’t need to get carried away with who my audience is and how my story sounds, I just need to tell some stories. 

This morning Kenny Bryant talked to us about how evangelism is about knowing and teaching the gospel message, having a goal in mind (or in other words, you have to care that someone would be persuaded, and pray for the Spirit’s persuasion), and telling your story.  His self-proclaimed “un-clever phrase” was A Message to Teach, a Goal to Reach, a Story to Preach. 

The idea that stirred me up most today was that when Jesus said “You will be My witnesses..” he was really telling us that evangelism is about telling your story.  A witness tells what they saw and heard and experienced.  We have a story to preach- and it’s not “the gospel story,” it’s actually my story and your story.  As witnesses, we tell what we have seen, heard and experienced about God. 

Of course we tell the “gospel story,” and my challenge from that point was that I need to “get into the Word” (read: Christianese for reading the Bible/ time in prayer, usually in the morning), so that “the Word can get into me” (read: Jesus becomes the motivating force, the definer and impetus for my thoughts, words and actions).  We have to know the message we’re supposed to teach.  Know it well. 

Alright, now it looks like I’m just outlining the sermon, so I might as well finish with the other point- a Goal to Reach.  I liked this point, because if you don’t actually care what someone does with an idea, thought, challenge or personal statement that you make… you don’t actually care about them.  To unselfishly care about someone else would be to desire that they be persuaded by the Holy Spirit to change.  If we don’t have that goal in mind, with patience, then our evangelism is half-hearted, nay, pointless.  I’m sure I will have many more thoughts about that after a week with IV staff at Rockbridge talking about conversion. 

how the flowers can teach us

My heart aches in certain moments.  In a video I saw yesterday, Phileena Heuertz describes what her heart breaks for, and her description of the moments when we feel and sense, taste for a moment that “we’re all sustained by the life and energy of God, the love of God”

For her, and for me, those moments are often when in the midst of the created world– not inside, in the air conditioned room with the leather chair and window– but outside, under the sun, air full of pollen or dust or what have you.  I really love this video, it reminded me of some of my “moments,” and then it went on to talk what Sara Groves calls “the fine art of being who you are.”  In so many ways, I think I’m just now figuring out who I am made to be.

http://altervideomagazine.com/2011/08/01/old-soul/

“there’s so much beauty & life & energy cooperation going on in the created world and I’m inspired by that and I see that those creatures bring so much glory to God, how much does God delight in the created world.  The flowers out there being all that they can be as a flower…”

Reminds me of how Jesus taught us through flowers and sparrows.

mind dump

Cannot sleep!  I have been using so many words today that my insomnia is taking its form in trying to produce clever phrases– status updates and tweets.  I could possibly entertain my friends and followers in 2 min intervals for the next couple of hours.  Somehow I laid here and convinced myself that the world needs to know, needs to understand, perhaps empathize and definitely be entertained by these thoughts of mine!

-Eyes are closed but… Mind racing, foot tapping… evidence of my 2pm Mocha.  I just can’t handle caffene.

-it’s the mocha!

-I’ve been thinking about Europe some today, and now I’m craving Nutella toast

I’m brainstorming my new diet regimen, wondering if I should put in my retainer, or go downstairs for a snack.

By the way, my “new diet regimen” just means that I’m going to start taking probiotics for digestion.  Hopefully that’ll cure the tummy rumbles. The above statement makes it sound like I’d like to eat less… nope.  I like eating at the amount I do. Just wish it would go through less grumpily.

 

I’m dreaming of chai lattes (this coming Monday I’ll introduce a friend to how to make your own at home), which made me think of my cousin’s awesome concoction that we discovered when staying with her in Oregon the summer we got engaged.  She freezes espresso and sugar mix into ice cubes, then uses those in her iced coffee in the morning.  I need to write and get more specific instructions, because that would be smart to do for Tyler.  Once his shop opens up I’m afraid he’ll be tempted to partake in some of the more yummy and caloric treats (iced and blended coffee drinks).  Then I thought about a pep talk to him, saying that something there is a weekly treat… or a monthly treat… and wondering how often should he let himself eat a donut?  Donuts are a sometimes food.  Like Cookie Monster says.  Question: does Cookie Monster truly eat vegetables now, on air?!?

Tonight I saw a post that if you have insomnia you should think through your day, from the moment you wake up, and try to remember each detail.  I tried this.  I like it!  It reminds me of how I used to journal at the end of every day, running through what happened and asking God where He was in it.

Another thought I had today, spinning off from thinking about a friends’ blog.  I think I worry too much about the people who might read this liking it or not.  I mean, that’s not even a real sentence, is it?  Anyways, a blog should have a purpose, and I get that.  But I don’t think it needs to be tailored to an audience.  The audience will choose itself– that’s sort of the point.  So instead of running through and wondering how whatever will sound to whoever, or who I should tell about my blog… I should just write.

This is sort of inspired by my friend Brian Sun whose blog not only looks nice (simple and bright), but has its purpose clearly and unabashedly stated at the top: “Hi, I’m Brian Sun. This is my personal blog for the .00000001% of the world that cares about what’s happening my daily life. Everyone else can just go away.”

Just now I tried to find that blog (different computer than when I saw it yesterday) and man, that guy has a lot of online presence!  Anyway.  I may adopt that as my blog motto.

Someone told me that listentokristen is sort of bossy/ pretentious sounding.  So maybe I’ll brainstorm… or maybe someone who reads this will comment… a new alias for me!

I forgot! Here’s to Rememberance

Today, a sweet friend was praying for me and said “Lord, you knew that this summer was going to be crazy for them, and you ordained it for Tyler and Kristen…” and I felt a little surprised!  Somehow I had forgotten about God’s good sovereignty, and in the back of my mind was feeling like a martyr for all of our travels and time apart this summer.  I’ve been taking credit/blame, or giving Tyler credit/blame, for the decisions we made to take certain trips or drive long distances to see each other.  I forgot to factor in God’s plan, His provision and goodness in knowing ahead of time what things are coming for us.

Inadvertently, she helped me build a memorial to what God did this summer already.  The time He gave us in Charleston is a sweet gift, not just another week to be listed off as “crazy” or “not normal”.  (Though it does fit nicely in those categories).

I’ve had several conversations recently about making memorials.  The Israelites built altars to remember certain events and these tangible, physical reminders become meaningful because of what they represent.  The obvious correlation, to me, is that photographs are tangible representations of events or memories.  Sometimes they are symbolic but serve as great “triggers” to thankfulness and memory.

For example…

is this the end? Or only the beginning…

I wrote an email to my aunt this week and found myself easily updating about the ministry.  “I’ve been wrapping up the semester on campus.  It has not been an easy year but I do feel the Lord’s presence and know that He is caring for these students and the chapter as a whole.  There is always at least one or more encouraging stories at the end of each week as I look back and think about the ministry.  It also helps that the sun is out & warm again!”

Tonight my encouragement is clear:  We had about 75 people gather for our last Monday night of the semester, and 12 of those were Seniors or otherwise leaving the chapter.  Most of them went up front to share, a truly a vision-casting experience as we heard them say things like “I was just going to class, then work, then home and I really needed some friends my own age” or “I had been praying for real relationships to grow in college” and then the story unfolds of how the community of InterVarsity became that to them.  Most people’s first interaction was with a friend inviting them to Crash. They talked about the life-long friendships that formed, realizing God’s love for the first time, exploring scripture, being discipled and learning to get uncomfortable, then challenged the rest of us to continue doing those things.

I prayed for all of our departing seniors and other folks who are leaving, with full confidence that God has used their time in college to develop them into world-changers.  These students are equipped to grow in their leadership development and love for God.   A tidbit of where these world-changers are going? Newport News Police force, Kenya Global Project, Grad school, InterVarsity staff, teaching in inner city Richmond, and some into the great unknown.  Pray with me for them during these transitions!

Here they are!

http://vimeo.com/22876126

I spent all day pulling photos off of facebook and teaching myself how to make a fancy slideshow.  I am proud of myself!  I know Mac is intuitive, but still.  Let me show off my day’s work.  (And possibly, let it show off my 3 year’s work…?)

ideas, ideas.

I’ve been laying in bed for a while now, mind racing.  If you’ve ever seen “Laugh your way to a better marriage,” clips you’ll recognize the metaphor I’m about to put into play: I can’t possibly tie my thoughts together coherently for this blog post, since everything is connected in one way or another.  One thought I had was “what if I could go write down everything I’m thinking and categorize it into blocks?” Like, an 8.5×11 sheet of paper for each category of life.  “Housekeeping” would be one, “Work” and then I confused myself.  Would “Relationships” be a category? Or “Friendships”? How would one of my friends feel to walk into my office and see their name on a sheet of paper?  The idea I was pondering, and came to my computer to think through was that of service- what can I be doing to actively care for the people who live around me?  I kind of want to host a block party.  More on that later.  I also think I should exercise or do something active, regularly.  Do all my thoughts fit into categories? What about the overlap?

So, screw the categories thing.  I spent too much time reading about (and implementing) Google’s priority inbox and lifehacker advice on to-do lists tonight.

Here’s my thought.  Ash Wednesday is tomorrow.  I’ve already committed to observing Lent, corporately with my church family as we journey through the theme “How does Death lead to Life?” alongside some other churches globally.  I’ve had some interesting conversations about Lenten habits,  I’m remembering how much I grew spiritually while observing Lent in college- giving up sugar, implementing times of solitude and silence, my first Seder meal, and that magical midnight Easter service…

In conjunction with the challenge from Steve on Sunday (“Serve somewhere this week.”), Tyler’s suggestion that we could go play and sing at my Great Aunt’s nursing home, and the beginning of Lent, I wonder is it possible and beneficial to give 1-2 hours a week doing an act of kindness towards a senior citizen? I can think of a few options- bring flowers to Mary, invite Alvin and Mary over again (it’s been a year since that sweet dinner), go over and show photos to Alvin, visit Aunt Leora at her place, think of something intentional to bring to her or talk to her about when having dinner at my parent’s, go visit Granddad in his part of the house, stay with Grandmother so that Mom and Granddad can have a day off, take Granddad to breakfast… I have a lot of senior citizens in my life right now.  They are so time-consuming.  Lord, give me patience even as I think about these things.  It’s not something that I can just “stop by” for 15 minutes and do.  I definitely have enough ideas to cover 6 weeks, once a week events.  And enough people to spread it out to!

My other idea was a block party.  We know a good handful of neighbors, and it could be a simple enough thing.  Print out invitations, buy plastic cups and have cold water in our water cooler, bring Krispy Kreme, get a huge kickball (or a regular sized kickball), pick a date and time, and go knock on doors to invite folks who live on the street.  Boom. Block party.  I do things like this all the time on campus, it’s not that hard.  Pick an activity and a food or drink and that’s the name of your awesome event (e.g. Kickball & Kool Aid… 4 Square & Capri Sun… volleyball & watermelon).  This will be “kickball & krispy kreme block party”  It even sounds epic.

So, I’m excited!  I love ideas and dreaming up things to do.  The question is now, should and will I do them?

numbers of the day

1: number of parking tickets earned at ODU today

8: the number of buttons on our new blender

7: the number of attorney letters I’ve gotten since they released information on who got $177 tickets in NC this weekend (2 days worth of mail).

6: the number of different batteries Tyler is charging for a very important and secret photography assignment tomorrow (it involves a diamond ring…!)

7: the number of students I ran into today in the dining hall of ODU who had just received applications for leadership.  They had big smiles.

I realized something about Tyler today– as soon as he gets something new, he wants to use it right away.  Hence the 10:30pm smoothie

fighting for the Kingdom?

Pray with me… for some reason, God loves it and honors us when we pray.  Our prayers go up like a sweet scent to Him.

I need wisdom and spiritual discernment in several things right now.  Pray for me as students are asking about spiritual warfare, wondering if they are under attack, how to know, and what to do about it.

Pray for students who are making big decisions this week!  Robert is going to interview for InterVarsity staff.  Leaders are nominating new folks for leadership of next year’s small groups, worship and Crash team. Younger or new folks who are nominated will decide whether to apply for leadership!

Pray for my current leaders- they are such special people, and they all have a place in the community.  But as they look towards next year, it can be fuzzy what the next step is.  For some, they will continue to lead in the same position.  Others will move into different places of serving and leading in IV, and some might step down from that role.  Pray for loving, honest conversations about these things.

John Piper on prayer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KzZJChhtvY

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done

I just had one of those whirlwind moment/ days on campus.  I’m typing this in the lounge area of Batten Arts & Letters building, realizing just how real this campus ministry thing is.

It’s real when I have my weekly meeting with a student, but started late so we decided to walk over to the place where his class would start and meet there instead.  Sitting and hearing about the past week having a friend ask big questions about prayer, hearing a sermon about prayer, and realizing he had signed up to lead this week’s prayer time (oh yeah, it’s called TGIF).  After he went to class, I ran into 4 students who were on their way to a World Religions class.  I have heard about this class, these students, their frustrations in the class, their commitment to pray with each other before the class.  I just happened to be standing there, talking about praying for the Kingdom to come on campus.  So I joined them… in prayer!

“Lord, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”