The band sets up before our large-group meeting, Turning Point, last Friday.
Simon, Tim and Andrew are on time and ready for the meeting to start.
Afterwards, we went to the bowling alley for a traditional beginning-of-the-year social.
Also last week, members of our staff team (Simon, Stacy, Daphne and Sandy; John was the photographer) visited the nearby Penn State Altoona campus to survey students about their spiritual interests. Could the Epic Movement take root at Altoona?
Today marks the end of the first full week that students have been back on campus, or, for new students, the end of their first week at Penn State.
It’s an exciting week for everyone. I enjoyed walking around at lunch time, seeing students reading their schedules, looking at campus maps and looking up at buildings to see if they’ve successfully found their classes. Our students designed and distributed handbills that advertised Community Groups, which are meeting for the first three weeks of this semester to provide a place for students to get to know each other and learn a little about Asian American Christian Fellowship, and Turning Point, our weekly large-group meeting that features worship, a message from the Bible, and social activities.
Staff and student leaders met and surveyed 81 freshmen moving in to East Halls, asking them about their culture and faith backgrounds and offering them the Freshman Survival Kits, which are gift bags that include a laundry bag, water bottle, school supplies, toys and some Christian literature. We are emphasizing the three components of the Epic Movement, of which Asian American Christian Fellowship is a member: culture, community and faith. It is our hope that students will pursue depth of knowledge and passion in each of these three areas. The Asian American culture is unique and wonderful; students in that culture, however, are often taught not to appreciate it and struggle with the conflicts between Asian culture and American culture without necessarily embracing the combination of the two. Community–real, deep, nurturing community–is important to everyone, and is emphasized so much in the teaching of the Bible. Lastly, we want students to explore matters of faith. The Bible tells us there is eternal life, and it is found in Jesus. Everyone should investigate this claim.
Today, the students organized a picnic at a nearby park, just to relax and enjoy some burgers and dogs on the grill. It was a nice ending to a crazy but somewhat typical first week in AACF at Penn State.
Often when people update their blog software, they post about it. Why? I think it’s just to try out the new blog software. That’s what I am doing. WordPress 2.8.
Same old simple theme, though there seem to be a great number to choose from. I might venture out and change my image a bit.
How about a ministry update? Summer AACF has consisted of weekly meetings for worship and Bible study, with the students taking turns leading praise songs and leading the group in Bible studies. It’s an opportunity for some people to learn these leadership skills in the more comfortable atmosphere of a small, friendly group. Kester and Cathy have taken on the roles of “social coordinators,” planning and organizing fun activities for the weekends. It’s been a relaxed time with continued spiritual growth.
I think that one of the hardest, or most forgotten about, parts of ministry is reporting on it.
There’s a strong desire when experiencing good ministry, seeing God at work, to keep pushing forward. God’s working here; let’s not waste any time; let’s go!
But it is honoring to God to reflect on His goodness and what He’s doing in our midst, as well as to take time to thank Him before moving on to the next thing.
I’ve neglected writing online and writing to my supporters about the semester. With God’s help, I want to be more reflective as appropriate.
March
Four AACF students, one alumna, and two staff members went to Panama City, Florida for Big Break during the week of March 9. This is a conference and outreach event hosted by Campus Crusade during the month of March for students to attend on their spring breaks. During this time, the students receive intensive evangelism training and then put that training to work, talking to spring break-ers on the beach. An unlikely audience? The Holy Spirit works in ways that we can never expect. As a result of the initiative by the AACF group over the course of the week, five students indicated decisions to follow Jesus Christ.
On March 28, we held a praise and prayer night. This was a time for the fellowship to come together lifting thanksgiving and praises to God and interceding for the needs of the group and the Penn State campus in prayer.
April
The spring retreat was held the first weekend of April at Camp Blue Diamond, about 45 minutes drive from Penn State. Pastor Peter Wang spoke to the group on the topic of work–a biblical perspective. Too often we see work as a chore or as a means to make money, but God has made work our calling–a core part of our lives. With our work we honor Him and use the skills He has given us. A familiar worship team from the Pittsburgh area led us in worship that weekend. Around 70 students from AACF attended.
On Sunday, April 19, Pastor John baptized four believers who wanted to publicly declare their faith. One man spoke in his testimony of a past filled with wild partying and drug abuse. A young woman testified that she had tried Asian religions and Mormonism before deciding to follow Jesus. Everyone’s path is unique and the way that God transforms people is amazing!
The staff and student leadership met on April 26 for our fall planning meeting. We had a productive time of reflecting on the semester behind us and organizing our strategy for fall 2009.
May
At our spring banquet, we celebrated with 18 seniors who would be graduating in a couple weeks. This large graduating class will be going all around the US, a few out of the country even, to begin their careers. We send them out with much gratitude for what they brought to AACF and with much thanks to God for His work in their lives.
What’s next?
Several students are going on summer missions to places like New York City, East Asia, (Northern California) Bay Area, and Hawaii. Here at Penn State, we will continue to have smaller, less formal meetings and a whole bunch of fun social events throughout the summer!
On Thursday, February 26, AACF held its first “Asian Night Market” at the HUB, our student union building. The Night Market was a setup of booths with Asian-style crafts, food, and games, similar to a nighttime market that might be found on a city street in some Asian countries. Students from AACF and a couple other Asian American clubs on campus set up roughly twenty booths and other entertainment around the room. Aside from the entertainment value, the goal of the night was to educate visitors on Asian culture. Some learned about Asian American Christian Fellowship for the first time as well and were invited to hear more about our meetings and what we believe.
Last weekend was the Epic East-coast Conference in Philadelphia, a meeting of many of the Epic movements from schools along the east coast. This year’s conference was extended by a day, taking advantage of Martin Luther King Jr. day when the students had no classes.
Pastor Kenji Adachi of Ambassador Bible Church in Virginia gave our main session talks, exploring how we can share the gospel of Christ not just with the Bible and through what we say but throughout all the areas of our lives.
A highlight of the weekend was the day of outreach, a day where staff and students went out into the city of Philadelphia and used various conversation starters to share their faith with whoever might listen. My group of eight paired up and used questionnaires designed to help us understand the spiritual climate of our location (in our case, the University of Pennsylvania campus) and the specific person we were interviewing. After we finished the questionnaire with someone, we’d ask them if we could share what we believe. Many are open to at least hearing about this. For some students, it was a new experience to share their faith in this way; others have done this kind of outreach many times.
We had a record turnout to the conference this year from Penn State with 55 students and staff attending. Praise God for this! Thank you for your prayer and financial support that helped pay for scholarships for all of our attendees.
It’s hard to believe that the fall semester is already coming to an end.
In November, the Asian Tea House drew a crowd of over 150 students who were interested in free bubble tea and discussions on Asian American culture. AACF’s student members were there to facilitate and, in some cases, engage patrons in spiritual discussions as well. After all, AACF is not just Asian American but Christian.
A Thanksgiving dinner in mid-November was a good time for everyone to come together, eat well, and share about the blessings God has given us.
The last two weeks of class after the Thanksgiving holiday break are a classwork and project sprint for most students, followed by intense studying and final exams. Right in between the sprint and the studying, we’re observing a long-standing tradition: senior pie-in-the-face. At our last Turning Point meeting this Friday, we’ll finish off the night by inviting our graduating seniors to stand in front of a small “firing squad” armed with whipped-cream pies. Each launch of a pie raises about $20 for the fellowship, some of which helps pay for the senior banquet. On Saturday, we’ll have a more formal sending-off of the seniors–eating, not throwing the pie–with the underclassmen giving performances to glorify God and edify the graduates.
In the midst of all this, we are raising support for AACF’s members to attend Epic Conference 2009, January 16-19 in Philadelphia. This conference unites Epic ministries all along the east coast and features powerful main sessions and seminars from excellent speakers. Also during the conference we promote summer missions. Students who have gone on summer missions projects remark that their lives have been changed by such experiences. So far 46 Penn State students have registered and we are praying that even more will attend.
We had a great time at Camp Mount Luther in mid-October at our fall retreat. I was blessed to serve with our praise team throughout the weekend. I should mention that much of what happens at the retreat, like most other aspects of AACF, is student-run. Our students take care of the set-up, tear-down, logistics, activities, worship times, registration, and probably a number of other things that happen without incident and escape notice. Students in AACF develop leadership skills by taking on the role of servant-leader.
Small group Bible studies, outreach, and the weekly large group meeting, Turning Point, have continued throughout the month. The students have been planning outreach activities for the next couple months. Eunice, a senior in our group, introduced the idea of a cafe outreach. We will be renting a cafe space for the evening of November 13 and holding an Asian Tea House, hosting discussions about various topics relevant to Asian Americans, over boba tea and other refreshments.
Another outreach that the Bible study leaders are heading up is AACF participation in Operation Christmas Child, a program to collect and send gifts to children in developing countries.
We’re starting to think about and plan for the Epic East Coast Conference, which will be held in January. Penn State has participated and often had a large role in the Epic Conference since the first one in 2006. More on that soon.
We are quickly approaching our fall retreat, coming up this weekend, October 10-12. We’re heading about an hour east of Penn State to Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg. We’ve been to this retreat site before. It’s in a beautiful wooded setting on the slope of a ridge and has good, modern facilities. The staff are wonderful and so friendly to us.
Please join me in praying for our retreat. 80 people will be attending, including students and staff from Penn State and ten students from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, where an Epic movement has been growing for several years. Our own staff will be presenting keynote talks, seminars and workshops focusing on issues of identity: who am I / how has God crafted me? And how is God calling me to live my life? AACF’s praise team will lead the retreat weekend in musical worship.
The retreats are exciting times when many who attend will connect with God in new ways, sometimes for the first time; for others it will be a weekend away from the regular to refocus their minds on the God they have known for years. I pray that God will move in a mighty and special way at Camp Mount Luther this weekend.
One of our favorite Friday-night socials that we organize every semester is bowling. Thirteen lanes were reserved and got plenty of bowling action last Friday. Bowling really brings everyone together, probably because there are only a few high-scorers in the whole group and so we laugh for hours at our inability to knock down those frustrating pins.