A Life Worth Losing

We've Moved!!!

2007-11-08T20:19:00.000-06:00

Well, technically not until next weekend. But our blog has moved. TrumanAndAmber.wordpress.com This is mainly a message for the 5 people that actually check this blog out, but hopefully over time, we'll get some more traffic at the new site. So check it out, leave a comment, tell your friends!

Deja Vu

2007-10-31T23:20:00.001-05:00

Tony Scott. The director that brought us great profound movie lines like "I don't like you because you're dangerous." "That's right! Ice....man. I am dangerous." Or good mind numbing action dramas like "Crimson Tide" or "Enemy of the State". "Deja Vu" did not disappoint. I enjoyed it for several reasons. Denzel. Enough said. The movie was filmed and released in New Orleans while I was living in the city post Katrina. And the never-gets-old idea of time travel. But something that really stuck out to me was a simple dialogue exchange that happened twice in the movie.

Being a follower of Christ, my desire is to know Him and love Him as best as I can. Integral to that is to love others as best as I can. And in loving others as best as I can, it would only make sense to share with them that which is most important to me, that which promises a fullness of life, that which promises hope and freedom.

In my line of work, talking to students about Christ inevitably yields a wide range of responses. More often than not, students choose to pursue their own "god", be it their success, material gain, social acceptance, etc. When I wrestle with our responsibility in evangelism, or challenge the students involved in our ministry with evangelism, a common thought always comes up. My friends just don't seem to be responding to the gospel. I'm afraid I might offend them. Should I keep sharing?

Tony Scott has directed his fair share of movies and definitely knows how to entertain. But one thing he showed me in "Deja Vu" was that he understood another simple truth that so many Christians often forget.

"What if you had to tell someone the most important thing in the world, but you knew they'd never believe you?"

"I'd try."

Hearing God

2007-10-21T22:04:00.000-05:00

Prayer is an interesting thing. What is it? How does it work? Does it work? Growing up, I was taught that prayer is talking to God. But that's hardly a recipe for depth and intimacy in a relationship. Imagine if all I did with Amber was talk to her, never once stopping to hear from her. Well, a little later, either in high school or in college, I remember hearing that the way it works is that you talk to God through prayer, and you hear from God by reading the Bible. Is that it? Is that the formula?

Hearing God's voice has been something I've been trying to understand better. And thanks to Can You Hear Me? by Brad Jersak my thoughts on prayer and hearing from God has really been challenged.

As it turns out, the other day while I was driving, a name pops into my head. And it must have been from God, cause I don't see any other reason why my friends name would have come to mind while I was listening to sports radio. So, I decided to give him a call. After catching up for about 30 minutes, we both realized how much we both needed that call. We were able to pray for each other and really encourage each other through our similar circumstances. God knew I needed the encouragement. God knew my friend needed the encouragement.

If I had ignored that little voice that said my friends name, we would have both missed out on how God wanted to bless us that day. A friend of mine once said - "delayed obedience is disobedience." Well, as I'm learning more about prayer, if you hear from the Lord, even the faintest whisper, you best respond!

The Light...

2007-10-11T12:21:00.001-05:00

...at the end of the tunnel. Yes, I can finally see it. After being "homeless" as newly weds for the past 5 months, Amber and I finally have a date set to move into a house. Well, assuming everything goes well from here on out. After looking at all our options to renovate the house I actually own, we decided it was best to sell, and find a house that was move-in ready. With much thankfulness, and full of praise, I gladly report that as of Sunday, we are now under contract to buy our first home and to sell my first home (not suitable for a married couple).

There have been many lessons I've learned since being married. But the one that has been the most "in-my-face" (one that I've been learning since I put my trust in Christ), is ironically how to trust Christ. In this case, it's trusting Christ with providing for my family. Especially with my wife's sickness (she has fibro), my tendency to control and provide is more apparent.

God sometimes speaks to me through my dreams, and recently, I don't think I've been listening. Since we've been back in Austin, when we first started looking to remodel, to most recently looking for and selling a home, I haven't slept well. Pretty much every night is filled with stressful dreams. And it continually got more and more intense. Pretty much a sure message of "HEY! You need to ease up. Stop stressing about things and trust me. Know that I am God and have rest!" But I didn't listen.

This past Sunday was the Chicago marathon, in which our friend Jen successfully finished. She decided to pray for someone different each mile, and we were mile 6. When I first learned that she wanted to pray for us, I was thinking, "Wow! That's a really cool idea, and really nice that we made the list." I had no idea how important mile 6 was really going to be.

If you're reading this, I don't know what your take on prayer is, but at least consider that God really does hear our prayers and responds. After waiting a week of negotiations on the house we were trying to buy, and listing our house for just a few days, on SUNDAY, God heard the prayers during mile 6, and the sellers accepted our offer, and we received a full price offer on the house we're selling.

God knows the very number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12). God is intimately involved in our lives, every detail he cares for us, and will love us. Will I finally learn that I truly can trust Christ?

A Different Beginning

2007-09-05T18:35:00.000-05:00

Every fall for the past 8 years have been marked by a new group of incoming freshmen, their hearts a blank slate ready to be written on by the influences of the college campuses. As a collegiate missionary, my prayer and hope is that every freshmen that steps foot on the campus will have an opportunity to hear the message of Christ. They will decide to surrender the lordship of their lives to Jesus, and experience the fullness of the joy and blessings of being a child of God.

But this fall is different for me. Instead of getting on campus and meeting these freshmen. Instead of meeting with staff and planning on how to plant on grow spiritual movements on these campuses. Amber and I are busy raising our financial support. It's an odd fall for me not being in the thick of all the high momentum of the start of the school year. But it's also been a blessing.

Amber and I have been on the road since we got married back in May. Yeah, that's four months of living out of a suitcase, staying in a dorm, sharing space with other people. Not counting our honeymoon, we've had maybe 2 weeks total that we weren't sharing space with other people. Through all this transition, however, we've had to learn quickly how to communicate well. We've had to learn how to still find rest and joy in the Lord even when everything is less than ideal.

The transition continues as we are finally back in Austin. In addition to working on raising our financial support, we are having to settle into our house. Unfortunately, that's not without some challenges. I know I've made my mistakes in the past, but forcing my wife to move into a flea and rat infested house will not be one. So, until we can rid the house of those pests, and gut and redo the kitchen and bathroom, we will be sharing space yet again. This time, with my cousin and 2 little boys who apparently only have two voice volumes-loud and louder.

Stay tuned as our journey towards normalcy continues.

yeah, this hole in my home actually opens up to the outside

Conference update

2007-03-17T14:48:00.000-05:00

(This update was taken from a friend and fellow epic staff from Oregon...with his permission, of course)

Thank you so much for laboring with us in your prayers for the EPIC conference [Feb 16-19]! It was so awesome to fellowship with about 150 students and 50+ staff from all over the country. It was such a momentus and historic time. And as you know, this conference was not without obstacles & opposition. Sherry Slaughter's [staff woman] house flooded just as she was leaving to drive up and set up registration on Friday, Jaeson Ma [one of the main speakers] got intense abdominal pains on Saturday morning and almost headed to the ER instead of coming to San Jose for the conference, Tommy Dyo [Epic national director and speaker] (who was still recovering from fever/sick symptoms) delivered his first talk to the EPIC movement with incredibly loud and distracting party music next door making it nearly impossible for students to concentrate on what was being said, Sunday morning we woke up to find some kind of convention next door to our main meeting involving tarot cards, sensual dancing, palm reading, & the like. Strange things were happening, and indicative of the spiritual warfare & deep strongholds that are engrained in AA communities. But despite all this, the reality of spiritual warfare brought people more to their knees in prayer and more proactively attentive to what God was doing in our midst. We prayed and were reminded that He who is in us, is greater than he who is in the world.

Students were challenged by Vivian Mabuni (who saved the day big time and delivered the first 2 talks when Tommy was sick), Tommy & Jaeson to connect with our Father in an entirely new way unlike how they'd been treated by earthly fathers, to realize our uniqueness of being bi-cultural & how God wants to use us to reach out to others through this new understanding of our identity, and to be committed to prayer & a passionate love for God. Students were challenged to take the gospel to our partnerships throughout the world on summer projects, STINTS and internships. Students were trained in seminars to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, to make wise/godly decisions for their futures, to plant spiritual communities, and more. Students who had never been hugged by their parents received hugs from their "spiritual" family during a powerful session Sunday night, which then ended with an awesome last worship set with students literally rushing the stage to dance, jump, and shout out in praise to our Father. Students & staff celebrated the Lunar New Year with a festive party filled with egg rolls, rice crackers, karaoke, boba tea, Asian candies, & more.

On our day of outreach, we went to the Vietnamese New Year festival (which was expecting over 60,000 people & represents the least reached subculture in the Bay Area) and saw:

323 spiritual conversations/exposures initiated
164 shared the gospel with
16 people accept Christ
81 people prayed on the spot for
8 people rededicated their life
Praise God!

Jaeson Ma said that we can't be passionate (& in love) with God until we realize just how much He is passionately in love with us. We love because He first loved us. What a great take away for all of us as we leave this conference. Please continue to pray for our EPIC students as the story is just beginning for many of them.

Pray:
- that the things the students learned will take root in their hearts
- that many of them will decide to be on a summer project
- that many of them will go back as missionaries on their campuses

A little overdue

2007-03-08T15:12:00.000-06:00

For those of you that have not had a chance to hear, I figured I'd post the story (from Amber's perspective). I’ve added a few comments in [ ].

From Amber:
He is here for our December visit and he asked me last week before he came if he could plan a day of our time together. I asked if he had a preference of what day and he picked Saturday. He came in and woke me up around 7:30 and we got ready and headed out. Our first stop was Michaels, to pick out a scrapbook for "us" since I haven't started one yet. [Amber loves to scrapbook, and I love taking pictures] Then we went to Peaberry at Colorado Mills and had some coffee and breakfast. Tru told me that since we weren't together for our 6 month anniversary, he thought we'd celebrate our 7 month anniversary, which was
Thursday. (I totally fell for the 7 month anniversary explanation and was clueless all day!) We read through some of our first stages of communication on eHarmony [yup, we meant through eHarmony]...a lot of that beginning communication took place while I was at a coffee shop. Then he gave me the first of 7 cards....one for each month we've been together. They were all handmade cards with paper cut out's/folded images on the front (hard to explain) that represented something written inside. He wrote memories of our time each month or significant points in our relationship that month inside each, and each also had pictures inside from our visit that month or representing that month in our relationship (to add to "our" scrapbook.) Along with the first card was another card that listed "7 things I like about you." Around 10:30, we headed West...I knew we were going into the mountains but didn't know where...and he took me to Vail. [Vail was a place she’s always wanted to go. And I knew it had a very European feel to it, which I knew she would love.] We had lunch at a little local pizzeria then wandered around Vail village, took some pictures, and just enjoyed the afternoon. All throughout the day, he gave me the cards. Truman suggested later in the afternoon that we take a walk down a little trail that went along the creek in front of Vail Village. We walked for awhile and found a spot with a bench tucked away beside the creek, snow all around, trees overhead. We sat and chatted for awhile, then he asked if I wanted the last card. It reviewed our Nov. visit, then he said, "I lied, I have one more card." He read it to me, and it was a list of "7 Reasons I Can't See My Life Without You." The last one was I Love You, which we hadn't said yet. I was all thinking, oh, that's so sweet, he said “I love you” and I can finally say it back. We were just enjoying that moment and I completely thought that was it! Then he said, "would you like one of your Christmas presents early?" [which was supposed to clue her in on what was happening, since I was quoting the movie we watched the night before] Still not thinking a thing, I said sure! He gives me one final card to "go with" the last gift and when I opened it, it had a picture of a guy on his knee proposing to a girl. At that moment, I realized what was going on and he was on his knee with the ring. I was completely shocked!! I had no idea. I was not expecting it for a few more months and he did a great job of keeping me in the dark. (We watched Miracle on 34th St the night before and there is a proposal in it. After the movie he said "don't get mad at me, but when it comes time to get a ring, do you want me to pick it out on my own or do you want to help and give me input? We talked about it and he suggested that we go ring shopping this weekend and look together. That was a perfect way to throw me off!!!) He was normal all day, didn't act anxious or weird or not himself. I was shaking and teary and of course I said yes!! He had made dinner reservations for us at a really nice restaurant in Vail village, so I got changed and we went to dinner. Then we walked around Vail village to see the lights, and called family and friends to share the news on the way home.

Epic Conference 07

2007-02-17T09:27:00.000-06:00

It's the first morning of the Epic Conference: Chosen 2 Proclaim. That's the theme for this year as we challenge students to consider who they are in Christ - that they have been "chosen". Not just chosen to be in His kingdom, but also chosen with a purpose. That purpose being chosen to proclaim.

I've had the privilege to be one of the directors (the program director) for the conference. We have about 150 students and 52 staff who will be part of this conference. And I am coveting your prayers for the weekend.

Please pray for the students. Pray that many of them will be filled with passion for God's kingdom. That they will go back to their campuses and be so filled with compassion for the lost...that they be compelled to plant spiritual movements that will shake this world when they get home. Some of the students attending may not even know Christ as their savior yet, so pray for these students' salvation.

Pray for the staff. For many, this is their first foray into Epic and Asian American ministry. Pray that this will be an eye opening and heart opening weekend for them. Pray that this will be life changing in their perspective in understanding what it's like for a minority student to have to live in a majority culture other than their own.

Lastly, pray for the logistics of the conference. The speakers, the seminar speakers, the day of outreach (we're sending all the students out to the Lunar New Year celebration in downtown San Jose on Sunday...projected to have about 60,000 Vietnamese in attendance), the worship through music, etc....

The Holy Spirit will be moving mightily this weekend. Please join in praying that happens. Thank you.

Fall Retreat

2006-10-13T08:14:00.000-05:00

Faithful supporters and readers-
Please pray for our team as we head out to our fall retreat this weekend. We have 25 students showing up, which is awesome. We've been trying to reach these campuses in New Orleans for less than 2 months, and we already have 25 coming to a retreat!!! Pray that it will be a great time of fellowship and growth for the students. Pray that it will be a time for them to really catch the vision of what God can do in their lives, and through them as they trust God to reach their friends and their campuses. Thank you for your partnership.

Big Wed and Thurs

2006-09-27T17:09:00.000-05:00

From one of my teammates

"Wednesday and Thursday of this week will be two significant days for our ministry here in New Orleans/South LA. As I wrote earlier this month, we have been approved as a student organization at Tulane and Southern University. Each of these universities are very prestigious, and aside from LSU, they are two of the most visible universities in the state. Tulane, in the past, has been less than accommodating to Campus Crusade. It is a campus comprised of mostly out of state residents, a lot from the northeast, and it also has a large Jewish representation on their campus. Southern University is a prestigious African-American University in Baton Rouge. At this point, Tulane is, at best, reserved at our being on campus while Southern seems to be very excited. In fact, getting recognized at Tulane was a pretty long drawn out and very intentional process that took a couple of weeks. By God's provision, it took a couple of weeks less than expected. On the other hand, Southern was excited about us coming to their campus to start an organization. In fact, the drive from New Orleans to Baton Rouge took longer than it did for us to be a recognized student group there!

I am excited about both of these campuses for several reasons. One reason is because of personal ties to both universities. My grandmother worked for Tulane Medical Center for years, and several of my friends went to school there. And, one of my roommates in college was the starting quarterback for Southern.

Tomorrow we will be setting up tables at both universities. At the tables we will be handing out FSK's (Freshman Survival Kits). What that is, is a laundry bag w/ apologetic books, a Bible, a CD, a DVD, and other evangelistic materials. Scattered throughout the materials are links to an evangelistic website (if you want to check it out go to www.everyneworleansstudent.com). As we hand these bags out, students fill out spiritual interest surveys. Our desire as we hand out FSK's is two-fold. In our ongoing effort to reach lost students for Christ, our main desire is that the contacts we get from these FSK's would result in numerous appointments and conversations where we get to share the Gospel with students on these campuses. Our other desire is that we would find a few student leaders. As we look to work on 10 campuses this year, we need help. We need to find students who are committed to serving Christ and who have a heart to reach their campus for Christ. As we find those students, we have committed to coach and disciple them in ministry skills in order for them to help us reach their campus for Christ. So please pray that God would provide contacts for us to engage in spiritual conversations, but also that He will provide the student leaders we need to effectively reach these campuses.

Another reason I am so excited about these universities is because they are predominantly made up of out of state students. What that means is that as we win these students to Christ, build them up in their faith, and send them out in the world to have an influence for His Kingdom we will not only be sending these students back to scattered cities in Louisiana, but we will literally be sending these students, equipped with the Gospel, all over the country, and all over the world. We know that not everyone is called to full-time ministry, but we know that everyone Christian will have a ministry wherever they end up for their future vocation whether it be as a pastor, missionary, or even a doctor or engineer.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for your prayers for us here in New Orleans!"

Couldn't Have Scripted it Better

2006-09-22T00:44:00.000-05:00

Events happened two days ago...

Typical day. Wake up and head to campus. Except today, instead of hitting campus alone, my director called and invited me along on one of his appointments. When I get to campus, he informs me that the guy we were supposed to meet ended up having to reschedule. In my mind, I'm thinking...it's going to be one of those days. Things one after another are probably going to go wrong.

Oanh. We decide to catch up a little (I just returned from a week long conference in Colorado) and to spend some time prayer walking on campus - praying that God would raise up laborers and student leaders on this campus. After we prayed, before he had to run off for a conference call, we decided to approach some students and do a few spiritual interest surveys. We talked to this one girl, wasn't expecting a whole lot since we were a little short on time. Turns out, she seemed to be a pretty strong believer, a freshman, and very interested in being a part of epic!!!

Saul. I come back to UNO at 2 to meet up with the guy that we had to reschedule with, and proceeded to have the most "textbook" evangelistic appointment ever. He's a student from Honduras (UNO apparently has some kind of partnership with Honduras since there's an insane number of students at UNO from there). He tells us about his spiritual background - grew up going to church, but was never really "into" it. He even made a distinction that he believed in God, but didn't have a relationship with Him. He also tells us that his father became a believer a couple years ago, and has seen drastic life change, which has caused him to be a lot more open. We go through the gospel, and what do you know, he prays to receive Christ as His Lord and Savior!!!!

Demetris. After that appointment, me and Antonio (one of my teammates) meet up with another contact we made from when we tabled. We've been praying that we would find a key Impact (African American ministry partnered with CCC) student to lead at UNO...and as we met with her, it seemed very apparent that she was the leader we had been praying for. After we shared the vision for reaching the campus, we asked her if she would consider being a part of it, and possibly leading...to which she replied, "I'm glad you asked, cause as you were talking, I was already thinking of ideas"!!!

God is at work!!! It's such a privilege to be a part of what He's doing!

Thank You

2006-08-30T20:55:00.000-05:00

The eye is doing a lot better. I'm still having to do eyedrops, but the doctor says it should all be cleared up by the beginning of next week. Thank you to everyone who called me, emailed me, and prayed for me.

But the battle continues. The original plan this week was to launch our ministry at Tulane and at Loyola. But we ran into road blocks at both schools. In fact, it doesn't look like we're going ot be able to be at Loyola at all this year. The administration has specifically stated it doesn't want Crusade presence at its school for now. Please continue to pray against the strongholds in the city. Please continue to pray for the lives on the students on these campuses, and that God will open the door somehow for us to bring the gospel to the campus.

I still can't believe that a uear has already passed since this city was hit with Katrina. The city is still devastated and there is so much work yet to be done. Click here for a perspective from one of my teammates (who is originally from Louisiana).

I had the opportunity to attend the Presidential address to New Orleans yesterday. And it accomplished two things. It caused me to develop a greater respect for our President, and more importantly a greater compassion for the people of New Orleans.

Strange Things...

2006-08-23T19:33:00.000-05:00

strange things keep happening...

BUT before we get to those, here's an update on how our first week of launching on campus has been going. We spent the first two days passing out FSKs (Freshmen Survival Kits - laundry bags filled with a New Testament, a DVD, a CD, and a book...something like More than a Carpenter or Blue Like Jazz, etc) The purpose is two folds, we want to sow broadly (each kit also has a link to NOLAstudents.com), and to surface potential student leaders who have been called to reach their campus.

I have to be honest, as I've been praying this week, I've realized that I don't truly believe that God has raised up students who can start movements on these campuses. But as I've continued to pray, I sense the Lord giving me greater and greater faith.

Yesterday, we had a meeting for all those who were interested. We had 12 students show up to be potential leaders!!! I don't like to read into things, but as I was praying with one of the students who is interested in starting epic, the thought occured to me that Jesus started with 12 disciples!

But as we continue with our starting up on all the campuses, I'm continually reminded of the spiritual war that we're in. I'm not one to quickly attribute things to spiritual warfare, but I can't explain these things in any other way. In hte past couple weeks, we had two different people on our team fall down some stairs on different occasions. The little 2 year old girl of one of the families dislocated her arm. People are having technology problems with their computers and their cell phones. Monday night, both my roommate and I have really bad headaches. And then yesterday, halfway through the day, my eye started hurting really bad. I could barely keep it open. It was really sensitive to light, was really red, and kept tearing up. I managed to get an appointment with a doctor to find that somehow, I developed a really bad eye infection. And because of that, I had to miss being on campus today, and I won't be able to travel with the team to Southeastern Lousiana University (about an hour away) tomorrow...the doctor wants to see me again tomorrow afternoon.

Satan is trying to discourage us and will stop at nothing to keep us off campus and away from these students. PLEASE join with us in praying. We desperately need your prayers cause we must be doing something right, and satan is not excited.

A Call to Arms

2006-08-21T06:56:00.000-05:00

definition - A rallying term used by proponents of a cause.

***warning***
this entry is a bit long, but continue reading if you desire to respond to the "call to arms". We need people to join with us in prayer!!!!

After being in New Orleans now for about 3 weeks, most of it spent in meetings with my new team discussing team values, vision, dynamics, and planning for the year, we are finally hitting the campus today.

I wanted to ask each of you to consider joining our team in ministry over the next three weeks through your prayers. When Campus Crusade initially started at UCLA, it began with a prayer chain. We are asking staff and friends to join us in prayer. Today is our first official day on campus and for the next three weeks, all of our our major campuses will begin. The first few weeks of the fall are some of the greatest time of momentum and to gather student leaders. The spiritual battle is still very evident here in New Orleans. We need your prayer support. Here is a list of things you can be praying for us:

Our launch days (those are days that we try to launch ministries) - that God would open doors and bring us committed students to lead movements all over campus. For the University of New Orleans we have tables set up for the 21st - 23rd. Pray for key leaders with Epic (the Asian American ministry) , IMPACT (African American ministry) and regular Crusade. We hope to launch the next week at Tulane and Southeastern Louisiana. For every campus but UNO, we still need to get permission to set up tables. Pray that God would open doors.

Loyola - we were denied as a campus ministry at Loyola even though the summer project had many interested students - pray that God would give us favor there!

Tulane - our petition to become a recognized organization is out - we think Tulane was denied in the past (5 years ago)so pray that God would give us favor now

New Believers - pray that we would get to share the gospel a lot and see many new believers.

The Relief Team - they are helping us with campus ministry and we are trying to incorporate the efforts - pray for wisdom and lots of student involvement.

Pray that we would get connected with other believers in a prayer network.

Pray for our team to continue to get along well and work well together. For good relationships in the community and wisdom.

Lastly, pray against any forms of spiritual attacks. New Orleans is a very spiritual place. Its history includes many forms of spirituality that is very much against what the gospel represents. Many have come through the city and sensed spiritual strongholds. Strongholds that can be broken through only through prayer. Just a few days ago as I was spending time in the Word, praying for the semester, I was reading in the gospel of John. I distinctly read the words "do not pray to God". It caused me to stop and reread the paragraph several times thinking...there's no way what I just read is really in the Bible. And of course, those words weren't really in the Bible. But those words had come into my head so loud and clear that I knew that the evil one was trying to feed lies into my head. Satan doesn't want our team to share the gospel on these campuses. Satan doesn't want us to help usher in movements of believers that will transform the culture of these campuses and the culture of the city. And so we must pray. We must fall to our knees and pray!!!

Please join with us in praying for these next three weeks.

Another summer project came and went

2006-08-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

Life has been a bit crazy. I got back from project on July 23. Flew into Houston, spend the afternoon and evening with my parents. Drove back into Austin late that night around 2:30 am. I then had about a week to pack up my house to move to New Orleans. I still can't believe I moved. But before I get into my move to New Orleans, I feel I still need to wrap up summer project.

This summer was another one of my more enjoyable summers. Eight students and 11 staff participated on the project. Four days out of the week, we did ministry on college campuses - trusted God for new simple movements to start up in our short 4 weeks there. Each Saturday, we headed up to San Francisco and participated in more mercy/compassion type ministries. And to be honest, these days were a lot more stretching for me. God really used the days to grip my heart for those that are different than me. One day, we ministered at a place like a "half-way house". We passed out lunches and prayed for those staying there - many of whom were strung out on alcohol or drugs. Through my interaction with them, I was reminded of the hunger and thirst of the woman at the well in John 4. Another day, we ministered at a youth center for trans-genders. I must admit, I didn't know what to expect, not having interacted with trans-genders before. But I must say, it was one of my more enjoyable activities of the summer. The whole time I was there, God continually reminded me that He died for them as well. That He loved them and that though they may be different, they are people too. It's such a simple thing. And even as I write about it, I think, uh...duh, but it really was a profound experience for me.

I could go on and on with the stories, but check out some of these links to others blogs:
http://www.xanga.com/Truongalong/507700598/wow.html?nextdate=last
http://denchen.blogspot.com/ (read the epic bay area project posts - there are 9 of them)

Okay, more about my transition to New Orleans later.

from the eyes of a student...

2006-07-13T00:44:00.000-05:00

from the perspective of a student on project...he sent this out a few weeks back. We're actually in week 3 now.
Truman

HELLO from san jose

it is day 3 of week 1 here on the missions field.

these past 2 days have been jam packed with God and missions stuff.

on friday i got acquainted with the team in an official meeting, total
there are 20 people (i think its 20). we went around the group and
shared a brief testimony of our lives and what brought us here to san
jose. it was such a blessing to see how God has worked in all our lives
to bring 20 people from around the US to one place for a specific purpose.

attatched is a picture of the main team leaders, from left to right -
Carita and Dennis (they are married) and Truman (Carita's brother).
please keep them in your prayers, that god would them grant them wisdom
and a servant's heart. Also, Truman has a broken collar bone that is
taking a long time to heal. Essentially the bone is broken and one part
is resting on top of the other. please pray that God would heal Truman.

after the team meeting, Cenia (a campus crusade staff member from Boston)
gave a brief history of the bay area and san francisco and then split the
team into smaller teams for each car and sent us out to the surronding
area to explore. the three college campuses that we will be focusing
upon this summer is De Anza, San jose State, and Evergreen. Our team
went to Evergreen, however when we pulled into the parking lot we saw
that there were only a handful of cars in the empty lot. Our goal today
was to go out and just measure and get the sense of the campus' spiritual
atmosphere and I was discouraged to see that there was such a small
amount of people on the campus. We walked onto to campus and didn;t
encounter a single student, but i began to pray to God asking him to show
us a place where students congregated. What happened? God answered! We
found the library and went inside and there our team of 5 encountered and
talked to many different people. two team members, Abe and Lo-Ling,
encountered a buddhist and hindu student who were both very opened to
Jesus and God. The buddhist student was so open that she even wanted to
meet up and do a bible student, praise the LORD! Abe got to share the
gospel with hindu student (please pray for both of them) and even got to
pray for her (she was sorta taken aback that someone asked to pray for
her). For Lo-Ling, this was the first time she went out to share her
faith but afterward she told me how awesome and easy it was to share.

I got to talk to some people but most were christian, but i did get to
talk to to young vietnamese ladies and even share the gospel with them.
Evyette and Michelle, juniors in high school, were very open to the
gospel but did not accept jesus, however when i was praying for them my
teammate, truman, said that evyette was taking in every single word i was
praying. i know god is pursuing both girls and loves them both.

please pray for the people we met at evergreen, especially the buddhist
girl Amy tran, the hindu girl - Sachim, evyette, and michelle.

AND THAT WAS ONLY FRIDAY!!

saturday was a cool day. we met in the morning for teammeeting and then
went out to san francisco to visit CHINATOWN! it was an awesome to get
to walk around and see the city in all 5 senses. we learned that day
that today - sunday june 25 - there was going to be a gay pride parade.
in my heart and head i knew that a gay pride parade is going to attract
those 'christians' who preach a message of hate. it hurt my heart to
know that God pursues every single person in SF and its so called
christians that really blur and distort the love, grace, and message of
God, Jesus, and the gospel.

Today we went to GRX - the great exchange - a New Song church plant. it
was your average contempory young professional church filled with asian
people (not that that's bad or anything).

its a long email i know and if you got this far i'm happy for you because
i want to share something God has taught me recently.

in luke 5 Jesus asks Peter to cast his net into the water even though
peter told jesus that the he and others had fished all day and night but
had caught nothing. nonetheless peter obeyed and in when he did he had
net caught such a large number fish that net began to break. When he got
to shore he fell at jesus' feet and said "go away from me Lord; I'm a
sinful man!"
this is probably one of my favorite stories because peter has the chance
to say the savior of the world anything or any question, but instead
because he saw the power of God and knew his own sinfulness he tried to
push God away. But what is wierd Jesus donesn't forgive his sins or say
something profound he just says "Don't be afraid; from now on you will
catch men." Jesus wasn't interested in Peter's sins or what he had done
in the past. he didn't tell him to forgive those who wronged him. but
what jesus did say seemed to impact peter in such a profound way that he
left everything to follow jesus.
it seems that sometimes i really acknowledge my own sinfulness to much to
acknowledge jesus' love and desire for me to become a fisher of man.

thanks for reading this long email and thanks for praying for me.

with peace and thanksgiving
Enoch

What it's all about...

2006-05-08T12:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was baptism Sunday at our church (soon to be Vox Veniae) It so easy for us dusty, experienced, "mature" Christians to forget or not even know what it looks like to "know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10)

But for the 8 that got baptized yesterday, the joy of crossing that line...having passed from death to life and now making that a public proclamation....there's a fresh understanding. Check here for pics - my roommates blog.

What was so beautiful about yesterday was the stories...not about the individuals, but about God and how He pursued each one of them in such a unique way. Some grew up with a Buddhist upbringing, some an atheist background....but each person was pursued. Either through friends, or through finally breaking down and having to pray...and God clearly speaking saying "Trust me".

This is what it's all about...praising God as He pursues humanity to shower his grace and mercy upon individuals. For those that got baptized and for all that claim to follow Christ, I pray that Paul's words will be true for our lives..."that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

A Whole New World

2006-04-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

I've gone almost a whole week now with limited use of my left arm due to a broken collarbone. It's definitely given me a whole new appreciation for my arms. The first night, I actually had to have someone pretty much tuck me in to sleep. I haven't had to require help showering, but needless to say, it's a chore.

It's frustrating going through this whole process. I feel like there's so much to do, but my life has slowed down tremendously cause of this injury. Now I'm wrestling through how one continues to be thankful and consider all things joyful.

Epic Retreat Recap

2006-03-08T10:50:00.000-06:00

Beyond my expectations. God definitely heard the prayers and wanted to bless this retreat. The impact of the retreat was most evident the last morning we were together. We ended our time in prayer. The prayers that morning consisted of honest pleading that God would use them greatly back on their campuses; that they would see radical change in their own lives as they pursued to have more passion for God. No longer was it just about school and tests that occupied their minds, but it was about God and His kingdom. I thought it would last about 10 minutes and I would have to close out the time of awkward silence...but the prayers just kept going, until I eventually had to end it so they wouldn't miss their checkout time.

One student, the week after the retreat was a little bummed wondering what exactly she got out of the retreat. But as she continued to pray, she realized that more and more, she felt a burden for the lost.

God is still answering the prayers. I pray that we will see a rippling effect - as these students' hearts are transformed, their peers in epic will be changed, and the friends who don't know Christ will radically be changed.

Desperate Need for Prayer

2006-02-22T23:08:00.000-06:00

This weekend is our epic retreat down in San Antonio. Originally, we had an Epic conference planned for Jan 13...a full blown conference, flying in a speaker, bringing in a band, having hired guns to give seminar talks, etc. But we had to cancel. Can't really have a conference with only 5 students attending.

Thus the epic retreat was born. This weekend, we will have a "small scale" retreat with students from Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. It's nothing huge, but I'm praying that the impact will be huge. It'll be a time of reflection and renewal for the students. All the "talks" will be given by staff.

Pray that we will be able to communicate God's truth in a way that will impassion these students for the Lord like never before. Pray that this simple weekend will lead to a stirring revival back at their schools.

I'm currently having a really hard time working on these talks, and it's only a couple days away. So, please be praying for me.

New Leaders

2006-01-26T16:32:00.000-06:00

We started the new semester the only we knew how...over some food! Last Monday, we had our existing leaders and our new ones over for a vision casting time. And of course food - taught them all to make their own spring rolls. It's been really exciting seeing the Lord's hand at work. Having our leadership team grow from 3 to 8 is definitely indication that students are beginning to own the vision.

2006-01-18T15:53:00.000-06:00

"Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."
William Law

Come Thou Fount

2005-11-30T02:28:00.000-06:00

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

How many times these words have struck a chord within my soul? And yet, often it's easy to relate to the man who penned these words (Robert Robinson), who one day as he was riding in a stagecoach a lady asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming. He responded, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then."

May I never leave my First Love.

Say a little prayer for me...

2005-11-17T16:17:00.000-06:00

Heading out to our annual regional staff conference this weekend. I always have mixed emotions about the conference. It's a fun time of connecting with staff from around the region, but it's also easy to feel somewhat lost in the mix. Everyone seems to know everyone and has all these close friends to be around, except for you. Walking into the meal times is like walking into the cafeteria as a sixth grader all over again.

But my real concern as we head into the conference is that this retreat usually marks the end of the semester. After we get back, it's Thanksgiving break...then one or two more weeks with students, then they get lost in the mix of their finals. So essentially we only have 2 weeks left with students before the Christmas break...and with the planning of the Epic Conference still very much unsettled, and the number of students that might come is very unknown, I'm very VERY overwhelmed as the conference direcctor.

It's hard to capture how overwhelmed I am, but to give you a taste...the epic conference is less than 2 months away, and I've yet to secure a speaker. SO, please pray for me when you remember. I can't do this on my own.

A Simple Prayer

2005-11-11T01:08:00.000-06:00

The prayer of one of our students during our core team meeting tonight..."God, I'm tired of being just like any other student going through a normal routine. I want to be used by You. Help me to be effective in reaching my friends and making an impact for You."

God, thank you for how you are working in the lives of students. I pray that you would hear his prayers...use him to reach his friends. May this be the start of a multiplying movement of students who will change the landscape of the students at UT.

A Quickie...part deux

2005-11-10T01:28:00.000-06:00

quick update before I hit the sack...San Antonio was awesome yesterday. Originally, I was thinking Brandon and I would just be meeting up with David. We'd maybe talk about plans for the end of the semester and how we could really jump start things for next semester to really see Epic take off at UTSA. But when David showed up at 2 o'clock, he wasn't alone. He walked up with this girl, then another one showed up, and then another guy...and another guy. Next thing I realized, I was sitting down with 6 freshmen all fired up and on board with seeing epic take off at UTSA. I shared the vision and heart of epic with them and they were excited to start planning and meeting on a weekly basis to pray towards reaching their campus with the gospel. I never imagined that by this point in the semester, there would be at least 6 freshmen ready and willing to lead an epic movement at UTSA. Can't wait to see what God's got next!!!

A quickie...

2005-11-08T01:27:00.000-06:00

It's been way too long since my last post...and there's nothing impressive about this one. Just a quick note for any who happen to stumble across this. Please pray for Brandon and me as we head down to San Antonio Tuesday to continue our Epic launch at UTSA. Pray for a good appointment with our key student (David). And pray that we would have opportunities to share our faith and possibly surface more leaders.

What a good day looks like

2005-10-09T04:01:00.000-05:00

sunny and clear skies, uppers 70s, low 80s with a cool breeze

Longhorns 45, Sooners 12

Astros 7, Braves 3

Couldn't have asked for a better day!!!

except that maybe I wish I'd actually be sleeping and not wide awake at 4 in the morning.

This is your life

2005-09-19T17:59:00.000-05:00

Switchfoot had it right when they asked "are you who you want to be?" Our staff team has been going through this book together ("Renovation of the Heart"). It's been really challenging my thinking. I've been a believer for 20 years...how much have I really changed? Am I really being formed into more Christ-likeness at the core of who I am? or am I just getting better at restraining from things I don't want to do? Am I just learning how to be patient or am I really becoming a patient person...Am I just learning how to do loving things or am I really becoming a loving person? It's not about what we do (career, ministry, deeds, etc) that matter, but who we are becoming.

Another question...when we talk about God and share our faith, what exactly are we offering people?

Am I a peddler?

2005-08-31T16:16:00.000-05:00

There were some moments today and yesterday I felt like I was some random street peddler trying to sell something to college students (freshmen). As I approached students with a flyer, several of them would try with all their might not to make eye contact with me...as if that would somehow make me believe that they really didn't hear me talking to them.

Yesterday was the freshmen organizational fair. We had our epic table out there along with all the other groups vying for the attention of freshmen. What struck me most was that freshmen are searching. They are searching for a place to belong, a community. They are searching for significance through relationships or a career (as they madly signed up at every table that had any relation to what they were studying). And whether they knew it or not, their souls were thirsty to be satisfied by "something."

Am I a peddler? Yes I am, but I'm not peddling something that'll just collect dust on someone's shelf. I'm peddling a message of hope, freedom, and satisfaction that only Christ can give.

"Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

Past couple of days, we passed out about 1250 flyers for an ice cream bash tonight. When they come, they will receive a Bible, a copy of Blue Like Jazz, a CD, and some free music downloads. Tomorrow night, we will have our freshmen Bible study. We are trusting that students will come out to both to find the goods that we're peddling.

Death By Turbo

2005-08-23T04:01:00.000-05:00

A big juicy ribeye, a platter of sashimi and sushi rolls, a big plate of number five no flour on rice (if you've never been to santong snacks, you haven't fully lived), and of course, texas bbq. When things get crazy in life, these are the constants that can always keep you coming back for more. Let's get back to bbq...Bert's BBQ. A local joint in Austin that has some decent bbq...nothing compared to Rudy's or the Salt Lick...but hey it's Texas bbq. One thing Bert's has that no place else has is the Turbo. A big helping of brisket, sausage, chopped beef, and baked beans smothered in sauce and served over fritos...instant heart stopper. When it comes to food, there are some that are good purely rated on how incredibly bad they are for you...the hawaiian local favorite loco moco - crazy good. Bert's Turbo - insanely good, but only safe to eat maybe once a year. Problem is though...I failed to prepare my body for the Turbo. I've been eating pretty healthy these days so the Turbo proved to be a shock to the system. It's now 4 in the morning and I can still feel the sodium and fat coursing through my veins as I lie awake watching infomercials waiting for the sun to come up.

Idolatry

2005-06-22T15:25:00.000-05:00

Training started on Monday. BUT, before we got into leadership principles, the whole first day was spent on getting our hearts connected with the Savior. I really appreciated the attention the trainers gave to this - stressing that as leaders, our main concern was to be Christ-centered leaders.

During one of our sessions of personal contemplative times, I was reading an article entitled "Whom or What Do We Serve, Fear, Trust or Desire?" The artice focused mainly on the idea of idolatry. We often think of idolatry as something made out of wood or stone and fashioned into an idol. OR something that we've made as a replacement to God.

I really liked the article's definition - An idol is anything we believe we need apart from Jesus to make us happy, satisfied or fulfilled. An idol arises when we desire something moe than we desire Jesus; when we fear things rather than God; when we worship ourselves rather than Christ; when we put our trust in anything other than God, when we serve any other thing rather than Jesus.

We serve, love, desire, trust, fear, worship other things apart from God to give us love, joy, peace, freedom, status, identity, control, happiness, security, fulfillment, health, pleasure, significance, acceptance and respect. Sometimes our idols are obviously wrong. However, the things we desire are often good in themselves, but even good things become idols when they start to rule in our lives.

Talk about a gut check...how many times in a day do I commit idolatry?

Almost There

2005-06-11T04:06:00.000-05:00

One more week till I head off to Colorado for the summer. I don't know what to expect really. Directors' training...what all will it involve? I'm sure it will be a great learning summer for me - ministry, relationally, and personal growth in the Lord. Well, at least, that's what I'm praying for.