Education and IBS

These letters may be confusing to you if you're not up on the Campus Crusade for Christ lingo. :) Starting this past Monday, I am taking 4 weeks of seminary courses with the Institute of Biblical Studies (IBS) by Cru.

Eliza graduating Monroe College

Last month, my sister graduated from Monroe College with her Culinary Certification as a pastry chef one week after my father graduated from New York School of the Bible with his advanced education certificate in Biblical Studies! :) Even Gia, my 5 year old niece, is ready to read and will start in an advanced Kindergarten class this Fall! So proud of my family seeking to be good stewards of the time, money and skills God has given them.

My 5 yr old niece, Gia, READS!

One way I'm trying to do the same thing this summer is through IBS. Experienced full-time staff and professors from other seminaries around the United States put together various courses that Christians going into full-time ministry typically study and create them as a two week summer class for the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ around the world! - IBS. Next week I will be finishing my first two courses in Biblical Interpretation and Old Testament Survey.

Dad graduating from NYSB with Liberty U.

So far I've really enjoyed them both. Biblical interpretation is something I've learned growing up in a Reformed Baptist Church and with a father who loves "choppin' up" the scriptures. Although it's something I have a heavy background in, it's great to receive organized instruction and learn specific methods of how to best dissect the Word of God. It's also really encouraging to learn the terms to describe the scripture within it's historical, narrative and redemptive context.

Growing up in a Reformed Baptist Church, I knew the importance of properly dividing the Word and so I was slightly intimidated when I found out my professor for "Old Testament Survey" would be Dr. Futato from Reformed Theological Seminary. His lectures are wonderfully detailed and designed for hearers of all backgrounds but I KNOW his exam will NOT be easy. He is a God-fearing man, excited about the knowledge of the scriptures as it pertains to our living to glorify God; he reminds me a lot of my father. I just hope and pray to be able to retain the massive text we have to read and his daily 3 hour lectures! : /

Please continue to pray for me as I study to discern God's Word properly and return with greater ammunition for the spiritual battles on campus in NJ. Please also pray for me to finish raising the support I need to pay for these courses, dorm-life and meal plans.

Anxious much?

In Matthew 6:26-34, Jesus is nearing the end of His sermon on the mount, His first sermon recorded in the book of Matthew, and He talks about anxiety.

This summer I will be attending the Institute of Biblical Studies, taking four classes in 4 weeks. I don't typically struggle with anxiety, but everything about this summer assignment seems to encourage anxiety. Financially speaking, I need to raise $3000 more than usual to pay for this summer. Regarding time, I need to spend it very wisely since I will be in class Monday-Friday 8-4 daily for four weeks. Socially, I will have the opportunity to meet and form relationships with the new staff class of 2012 and the older staff taking classes like me.   As a matter of emotion, I will be away from most of my friends, family, students & church.

Seems like a lot to be concerned over to me. In fact, I'm really scared to do it. However, last night I was listening to a lecture by Tim Keller where He quotes an author who says "If your actions don't match your spoken beliefs, then they are not your beliefs". Convicted, I immediately began to apologize to God for once again not trusting Him, despite His perfect record of faithfulness.

He will come through...even if I have no idea how.

May Updates

Missions Trips?

In his Introduction to the New Testament Epistles, J. B. Phillips writes:

There is a vast difference between the Christianity of the first century and the [Christianity of today]. To us, Christianity is all too often a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, a standard of performance, but to those first-century Christians, it was a new quality of life altogether, and they did not hesitate to describe this as Christ living in them. Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we could achieve what they achieved.

Bill Bright writes:

The first-century church rocked their world. Filled with the Spirit and compelled by the love of God, the early church took the Good News of God's love and forgiveness to the entire known world. Never before had any small body of ordinary men and women made such an impact on the world. Those Christians were a group of ordinary people, like you and me, who knew the love and forgiveness of God. Controlled and empowered by God's Holy Spirit, they reached out in love to people living under the tyranny of an evil empire.

This Saturday:
Some of the NJMetro staff team will be joined by 40 students from around the state to take a 20 hour bus ride to Daytona, Florida.  
Why? 2 words every college student loves to hear: "Spring Break".
Every year the US National Campus Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ puts on a weekly conference for students from around the country in Panama City Beach, Florida. This isn't just a vacation though; This trip has purpose. Hundreds of students each week in March are trained to shrewdly and un-apologetically share their faith with college students who've come down to Florida to find life in things of this world that are fleeting and not fulfilling.

Prayer walking the beach in PCB, FL -2008

So why not join the National Conference? This year there were so many Christian college students excited to share their faith on the beach for Spring break that the conference registration had to close early! There was no more available housing. Having had already gathered 40+ NJ students ready and excited to go and preach the Good News, the Jersey Metro staff team PRAYED and listened carefully for the Lord's leading. Through lots of prayer and internet searches, we found a great deal at a hotel in Daytona, Florida. So this year, we will have our own training conference and time to share our faith with "Cru" movements from across the state of NJ on the Dayona beach. Some students from Kean University started to call this trip "DAY-Break" in reference to a "Reilly Band" song called "Sunlight" and of course it's also a pun for being in  DAYtona on Spring BREAK. :)

Please be praying for us as we prepare to take this trip this Saturday March, 12th. Pray that our staff and students would be motivated by love and compassion for the many seeking a fulfilling love and purpose in this life. Pray that this compassion motivates them to be bold for Christ! Pray that our students would make this a way of life and not just something to do on a trip.