Don't dismiss what you can't see...

Interesting time at Kean today.... 
....Especially consider I had just told my directors that "nothing is happening at Kean". Literally. I said that. (Now if you're a Kean student, please remember I'm fallen!) I mean with all things considered I guess I shouldn't say "nothing" because God is always doing something whether we we see it or not. However, in my defense, this Fall started off very slow because despite the best efforts from the Kean Cru leaders to plan for "freshmen week" (where freshmen get all of our attention & love), nothing happened. We couldn't book rooms for our events, freshmen were already so busy with moving in and attending seminars, and none of the upperclassmen were on campus yet to help promote things. Needless to say, I was growing discouraged.

Problem? Pray!
When I'm feeling low, I remember our verse of the year: 1 Thessalonians 5:17 which says "Pray without ceasing". So I began to pray... A lot. Every day that an event was cancelled, I prayed. I prayed at home. I prayed in the car. I prayed on campus. I prayed with the students. I prayed with faculty. I prayed with my staff team. I just prayed. Today, September 12th, is the 3rd Wednesday residents are on campus and the second week of classes. Wednesday nights are the new times for our weekly meeting/Bible study where all the students get together for a little worship, opportunity to hear from each other and from a speaker who speaks from scripture. Even though we are two weeks into the semester, we have not been able to book a regular room for our events or meetings and so students have a difficult time finding us on campus.

Lost? Seek Vision!

Leaders pray at Kean

This week, I decided to have a leadership meeting with all the Kean Cru leaders to help cast vision for them, encourage them, and give them a bit of training that will help them better plan outreaches in the future. :)  I sincerely enjoy this part of my job so much! I want to see students "get it"! I want to see students grow deeper in love with Jesus and understand the honor and opportunity they have to respond and then execute well the plans God has for their lives! Out of 13 leaders, 8 were able to make it to the leadership meeting today while others were in class or work. Towards the end, I was confident that some may have been convicted while others were motivated to see change. We started the meeting with 35 minutes of prayer and then talked about the need and their roles on campus (this was mainly in preparation for Friday's statewide planning meeting at Rutgers University). At the end of this meeting, I asked how and when was this evening's activity/outreach happening. The September flyer they created earlier said there would be man-hunt tonight. One student responded with a mellow tone that he doubted anyone would come, so we should just cancel and no one else said anything, so that's just what was decided. - Nothing Happening.



So do something!!

Although I'm their staff coach, I had been working since 9:30am and it was already 7:30pm.... I was tired! I was not about to take on their responsibility just to "save face" and I knew that their motivation to do it should not be "because coach said so". So we prayed out and some left while a few stragglers decided to go get frozen yogurt. On the way out we called Liscet, a recent graduate and newly grad student, to join us. She had been in classes all day and work after so she was confused when we said "man-hunt is cancelled, so we are getting fro-yo." Upset for those who would never get a chance to engage in healthy and safe fun, Liscet, known for her love for others became upset to the point of tears. Convicted, another student leader said "what are we doing?! Are we just assuming people aren't going to come and giving up before there is even anything to give up on?" He then called the student president and said "Listen, we are having man hunt. We shouldn't just assume people don't want to show. Some of the Resident Assistants told their residents to come and I think we should wait to see what happens." (Interestingly "see what happens" is on our Jersey Metro strategic plan. :)

Jon and Christa determine teams

So to make a long story a bit shorter, tonight Kean Cru had about 30 people, including 9 leaders, show up to the man-hunt meet & greet. At the end of the night, we announced that next week is an Ice-Cream social to which they are all welcome! Prayerfully by then we will not only have a calendar, but we will have a place to meet regularly!

Please pray for the Kean community to continue to grow as the leaders seek God's will and trust in Him rather than their circumstances.