That's right, we convinced Greg Jao to come to RPI to speak. Many of you already know Greg Jao, so you'll look forward to his coming to RPI as much as I am. Greg Jao (pronounced "how") is the regional director of Intervarsity in New York and New Jersey. He attends the retreats we go on, like the Expedition and Basileia, and even Urbana, where he was the MC.
Greg is a very skillful speaker. He is humorous, although I won't hold that against him. He's great at engaging a crowd and getting them to think. He understands people well, even people at RPI, although he always marvels at the way we are.
He's also careful when he speaks. He chooses his words well and can address important issues without offending. We spoke with him when exec was debating whether to focus on spiritual development, or reaching out to the campus with large groups. He doesn't argue, he invites thinking and discussion.
If you want to see him speaking, he's on YouTube, and if you want to be his friend, he's on facebook. And If you want to hear him in person, he'll be at RPI on Monday, October 15th, and possibly hanging around at other times.
-JR
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Reaching out
So, this summer has been very exciting. There have been some additions to the events of last year, and sadly enough, some subtractions. But there are many cool and exciting things to look forward to, invite your friends to, and even expand your bubble. The outreach team has come up with the idea of having smaller events in which we'll be having more often, like the addition of sports days where we'll get some people together and play football, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, and the like. Also, there will be LAN "parties" or game parties that will include getting your laptop out and playing a cool first person game with a bunch of people. Finally, something for those girls out there that like to sit, relax, put some make-up on for fun, or just watch movies and have some girl time, we're going to have girl's night out/in, where the girls can get together and talk about boys, God, and the like. Not that I'm comparing boys to God, which they're so far apart it's not even funny, but that you can go there and talk about whatever you'd like without having boys around. So, keep an ear out for some awesome wickedly fun activities.
Brett Mace
Outreach Coordinator
Brett Mace
Outreach Coordinator
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Large Group, and Groups!
It's that time of the year again! Small Groups are about to start up!
"What are those?" you might ask, and I'm going to tell you. Small groups are awesome. Period. They offer the opportunity for a few people (hence 'small') to gather around God's word and explore it together. They are tight-knit groups where anything is up for discussion, any question can be asked, and no one will be ignored. Small groups offer Christian community and accountability, and are a part of our that we can always turn to. Members should challenge one another, and strive for growth in their relationship with God.
A full list of this semester's SGs will be available online (rca.union.rpi.edu) as soon as I can get a hold of our webmaster, and the groups will be starting up Saturday the 15th of September, right after the Men's Retreat.
One of my visions for SGs is to have a Small Group Newsletter, kind of a "What's Happening?" email sent out to all of RCA every other week. I am hoping this will make all the members of RCA aware of how God is working in small groups, and encourage inter-SG prayers and edification.
Still confused? Shoot me at email (shaffe@rpi.edu)
All for Him!
-Eric
"What are those?" you might ask, and I'm going to tell you. Small groups are awesome. Period. They offer the opportunity for a few people (hence 'small') to gather around God's word and explore it together. They are tight-knit groups where anything is up for discussion, any question can be asked, and no one will be ignored. Small groups offer Christian community and accountability, and are a part of our that we can always turn to. Members should challenge one another, and strive for growth in their relationship with God.
A full list of this semester's SGs will be available online (rca.union.rpi.edu) as soon as I can get a hold of our webmaster, and the groups will be starting up Saturday the 15th of September, right after the Men's Retreat.
One of my visions for SGs is to have a Small Group Newsletter, kind of a "What's Happening?" email sent out to all of RCA every other week. I am hoping this will make all the members of RCA aware of how God is working in small groups, and encourage inter-SG prayers and edification.
Still confused? Shoot me at email (shaffe@rpi.edu)
All for Him!
-Eric
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Large Group Ensues
Hey everybody!
If you had not known, our Large Group meetings have started up again! They're typically in Sage Labs Room 3510, but if they're elsewhere, there'll definitely be posters. Worship starts at 7:00PM, and then the rest of it start at 8:00PM.
It should be an exciting semester- we're planning on exploring a lot of topics that will expand what and who we think about, and also the ways in which we think about them. If you have any ideas for a topic that either you want to know more about, or you think people in general should hear more about, let me know! My contact information is on the RCA website (http://rca.union.rpi.edu- I'm trying to avoid webcrawlers).
There's not a whole lot to say here right now- come on Friday if you want to know more! One of our goals is to meet more people and hear more viewpoints, so invite your friends!
-Dennis
If you had not known, our Large Group meetings have started up again! They're typically in Sage Labs Room 3510, but if they're elsewhere, there'll definitely be posters. Worship starts at 7:00PM, and then the rest of it start at 8:00PM.
It should be an exciting semester- we're planning on exploring a lot of topics that will expand what and who we think about, and also the ways in which we think about them. If you have any ideas for a topic that either you want to know more about, or you think people in general should hear more about, let me know! My contact information is on the RCA website (http://rca.union.rpi.edu- I'm trying to avoid webcrawlers).
There's not a whole lot to say here right now- come on Friday if you want to know more! One of our goals is to meet more people and hear more viewpoints, so invite your friends!
-Dennis
The Presidential Letter
Yes Hello,
I'm back. Man, so summer was really sweet and relaxing and to be honest, Exec didn't communicate too well over the summer. But we're making up for lost time like crazy at the beginning of this semester. A LOT is happening RIGHT NOW! New Student Outreach has been incredible this semester thanks to Taylor Lehman and his team. We have had events coming out our ears! Our First Meeting (this past friday night) we had around 100 people show up and most of them played Hodgeball afterwards which was pretty sweet to see happen.
This semester is also going to look a bit different than ones in the past. Our theme is Expand Your Bubble and we are going to be pushing ourselves and the chapter to start to look beyond our own comfort zones are start to look out for those around us (this concept is also the definition of love defined by God himself). We really want to start engaging our campus and drawing more people into our group since there is so much going for our group this semester. Still a little confused? Feel free to shoot me an email at deamec@rpi.edu or even give me a call and we'll chat. Thanks for reading!
~Cd (el presidente)
I'm back. Man, so summer was really sweet and relaxing and to be honest, Exec didn't communicate too well over the summer. But we're making up for lost time like crazy at the beginning of this semester. A LOT is happening RIGHT NOW! New Student Outreach has been incredible this semester thanks to Taylor Lehman and his team. We have had events coming out our ears! Our First Meeting (this past friday night) we had around 100 people show up and most of them played Hodgeball afterwards which was pretty sweet to see happen.
This semester is also going to look a bit different than ones in the past. Our theme is Expand Your Bubble and we are going to be pushing ourselves and the chapter to start to look beyond our own comfort zones are start to look out for those around us (this concept is also the definition of love defined by God himself). We really want to start engaging our campus and drawing more people into our group since there is so much going for our group this semester. Still a little confused? Feel free to shoot me an email at deamec@rpi.edu or even give me a call and we'll chat. Thanks for reading!
~Cd (el presidente)
Prayer
So first of all, daily prayer has started up again (woo-hoo!). I encourage all of you to experience it at one time or another. If at any time you feel you could just use prayer, stop by Union 3510 at 4 pm Monday through Thursday and someone will be there. If they're not, let me know, and I'll hunt them down. We can pray for anything we feel led to or that has been on our hearts: ourselves, each other, our campus, the world.
Now, you say, "I don't have any desire to go to daily prayer". (We'll talk later) That's fine, the idea of praying in a group didn't interest me for a long time. However, I do encourage you to pray. Our theme this year is "Expand Your Bubble" - be ready for God to answer your prayers, but also expect Him to require something of you, that you may not be comfortable with. You may even consider making prayer a part of your daily life (more often than before tests): between classes, before eating in the dining hall, saying grace when eating with a bunch of friends, talking to God about your plans, etc.
Now, as a group, we pray a lot. Why? "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing..." (John 15:5)
If we try to do all the things we've planned this year without God, it's nothing. All our amazing NSO events, our large groups, our outreach events, and even the mysterious unnamed Week coming up would all be chasing after the wind without God. With that in mind, I leave you.
-jon
P.S. I still pray for you all.
Now, you say, "I don't have any desire to go to daily prayer". (We'll talk later) That's fine, the idea of praying in a group didn't interest me for a long time. However, I do encourage you to pray. Our theme this year is "Expand Your Bubble" - be ready for God to answer your prayers, but also expect Him to require something of you, that you may not be comfortable with. You may even consider making prayer a part of your daily life (more often than before tests): between classes, before eating in the dining hall, saying grace when eating with a bunch of friends, talking to God about your plans, etc.
Now, as a group, we pray a lot. Why? "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing..." (John 15:5)
If we try to do all the things we've planned this year without God, it's nothing. All our amazing NSO events, our large groups, our outreach events, and even the mysterious unnamed Week coming up would all be chasing after the wind without God. With that in mind, I leave you.
-jon
P.S. I still pray for you all.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
More of Karen's Thoughts
There would be little point in my writing a blog post about my VP duties - stuff hasn't heated up for me there yet - so instead I think I'll write about the mentoring program, and why I think it's important enough to start up again even though I'm not convinced I'm the best person to lead it up.
When I came to RPI there were two women trying to start up a mentoring program that ended up not lasting more than that year - perhaps even that semester. But that mentoring program got me through a difficult freshman year and in a community that could help me along and support me while I also got involved. My mentor Amelia knew the people I could ask for rides when I needed them and what RCA stuff was happening, but she also showed me how to be genuine in who I was and not afraid to be less than perfect when other people were watching.
We can't be so involved in our own worlds that we fail to help others along in what can be a difficult college journey. I know I don't have it all together by a long shot, but I have different problems than some others (as well as some of the same). Part of being a community is having other people to support you and supporting others. The mentoring program is just another way of doing that.
Mentoring as an RCA program has been tried and failed many times as RCA has taken different forms and been led by different people. But in all honesty, programs don't matter. All the programs and planning that we do could be summed up entirely by a group of not-so-perfect people following after God in different ways - whether it's through Bible studies, prayer times, praise nights, or fellowship. If mentoring can happen without a mentoring program, then I'm all the more happy. But lately in our fellowship it hasn't been happening nearly as well as it could. The need is there, and the best way I can see to encourage us to meet that need for everyone who could benefit is to set up a program to match people up in deliberate mentoring relationships.
When I came to RPI there were two women trying to start up a mentoring program that ended up not lasting more than that year - perhaps even that semester. But that mentoring program got me through a difficult freshman year and in a community that could help me along and support me while I also got involved. My mentor Amelia knew the people I could ask for rides when I needed them and what RCA stuff was happening, but she also showed me how to be genuine in who I was and not afraid to be less than perfect when other people were watching.
We can't be so involved in our own worlds that we fail to help others along in what can be a difficult college journey. I know I don't have it all together by a long shot, but I have different problems than some others (as well as some of the same). Part of being a community is having other people to support you and supporting others. The mentoring program is just another way of doing that.
Mentoring as an RCA program has been tried and failed many times as RCA has taken different forms and been led by different people. But in all honesty, programs don't matter. All the programs and planning that we do could be summed up entirely by a group of not-so-perfect people following after God in different ways - whether it's through Bible studies, prayer times, praise nights, or fellowship. If mentoring can happen without a mentoring program, then I'm all the more happy. But lately in our fellowship it hasn't been happening nearly as well as it could. The need is there, and the best way I can see to encourage us to meet that need for everyone who could benefit is to set up a program to match people up in deliberate mentoring relationships.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Karen's Thoughts
Howdy all!
Yes, after reminding the team of our goal of posting before the end of May, your VP finds herself behind and failing to meet that goal. So my apologies for a late post. Basileia was, as ever, a refreshing time apart from school to focus on God, a lesson I continue to attempt to apply to my daily life even as I switch gears for summer work.
So something that has been continuing to come up for quite some time now is RCA's lack of a mentoring type program anymore, and I'm looking to start that up again starting this fall. When I got involved in it my freshman year, it had a huge impact on getting me involved (more due to my mentor than the system) and active in RCA, but after that year it basically died down. It's an important aspect of getting people into close relationships in our community, and even just providing "underclassmen" with community and support that I'm sure will end up being reciprocal. I'm excited about it, so naturally you should be too! (Which means y'all should volunteer to be mentors by shooting me an email at downuk@rpi.edu).
Thanks!
Yes, after reminding the team of our goal of posting before the end of May, your VP finds herself behind and failing to meet that goal. So my apologies for a late post. Basileia was, as ever, a refreshing time apart from school to focus on God, a lesson I continue to attempt to apply to my daily life even as I switch gears for summer work.
So something that has been continuing to come up for quite some time now is RCA's lack of a mentoring type program anymore, and I'm looking to start that up again starting this fall. When I got involved in it my freshman year, it had a huge impact on getting me involved (more due to my mentor than the system) and active in RCA, but after that year it basically died down. It's an important aspect of getting people into close relationships in our community, and even just providing "underclassmen" with community and support that I'm sure will end up being reciprocal. I'm excited about it, so naturally you should be too! (Which means y'all should volunteer to be mentors by shooting me an email at downuk@rpi.edu).
Thanks!
Large Group Musings
Hey all!
Dennis here! For all you who may not know, I am your friendly neighborhood Large Group Coordinator, if your neighborhood is RPI. If your neighborhood is Sage College, that post is taken by Heather Allen. However, there is a little secret, which is that we work together, since the Large Groups are done with both schools attending. So we're sort of both your friendly neighborhood Large Group coordinators, whichever neighborhood you may be from.
That aside, in a display of terrible teamwork, I haven't talked to Heather about what I'm going to post here. It should be okay, as I don't think there has been many further developments since Basileia. But now she has plausible deniability if she wants it.
As a small side note, the spell checker on this blogamathingy is awful- so far it has been thrown by such obscure vocabulary as "okay" and "deniability". Well, deniability is a bit uncommon, but I wouldn't call it obscure. I won't fault it for highlighting "blogamathingy," though. I did just make that up.
So, Large Group! We discussed many an issue that was brought up at the discussion that we had at the end of last semester. Without the notes in front of me, I don't think I'll be able to definitively hit every issue that we talked about, but I should be able to address the main points. If you have further questions, feel free to email me at berrid@rpi.edu and I'll do my best to give you a proper response.
First things first. In the past, Large Group has been almost like church, with a format very similar to many Protestant services and nearly entirely Christian attendees. We've decided that this is not really the best way to do things. InterVarsity's vision is about engaging the campus as a whole. Church services on Fridays aren't really going to do that at RPI or Sage.
To that end, we're changing the format so that it doesn't feel like church. Chelsea Sweet, our Worship Coordinator, suggested a format that we're going to start trying in this coming semester. Large Group proper will be starting later, at 8:00PM. However, we'll be having worship starting at about 7:00PM and going until 7:45PM. People can attend both, or whichever one they would prefer. To make this work, we're going to have to be prompt about the start times, which is something that hasn't really been happening. This is your heads up that if you come late, you'll get to walk into a Large Group already in progress.
This format has the benefit of giving us a lot more flexibility as to what we do in worship as well as the rest of Large Group. Plus, now anyone who would like to attend who isn't Christian isn't forced to sit through a Christian worship service- that's rather a nasty thing to do to someone.
A main intent for our Large Groups this is semester is going to be making them open and attractive to people from any faith. This doesn't mean we're going pluralist- it's still going to be a Christian atmosphere. But it does mean that people who are Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or anything else should be able to come and join in the activities without feeling too much like an outsider. Their views will be heard and respected, just as Christians would expect their views to be heard and respected.
What are the Large Groups going to look like, then? We're looking at several different things that we could do- discussions similar to the AI discussion we had, small group discussions, games nights, movie discussions, and others that I'm having a hard time remembering right now. There should be a significant amount of variety from week to week. If you have an idea for a topic or a format, please let me know!
Another issue that we're trying to figure out is location. Sage 3510 has served us well, but it is a classroom far away from the places people live and hang out. We'd like someplace free of oppressive memories of tests and sleeping through classes, a bit closer to where people actually are. However, it's been difficult figuring out just where that might be. This means there will probably be a significant amount of moving around over the semester. I would appreciate suggestions about this, as well.
Those are, I think, the main issues. When I find out what I missed, there is always the ability for me to post again! Huzzah for the intarwebs!
Until then, keep on keepin' on, and send me suggestions!
-Dennis
Dennis here! For all you who may not know, I am your friendly neighborhood Large Group Coordinator, if your neighborhood is RPI. If your neighborhood is Sage College, that post is taken by Heather Allen. However, there is a little secret, which is that we work together, since the Large Groups are done with both schools attending. So we're sort of both your friendly neighborhood Large Group coordinators, whichever neighborhood you may be from.
That aside, in a display of terrible teamwork, I haven't talked to Heather about what I'm going to post here. It should be okay, as I don't think there has been many further developments since Basileia. But now she has plausible deniability if she wants it.
As a small side note, the spell checker on this blogamathingy is awful- so far it has been thrown by such obscure vocabulary as "okay" and "deniability". Well, deniability is a bit uncommon, but I wouldn't call it obscure. I won't fault it for highlighting "blogamathingy," though. I did just make that up.
So, Large Group! We discussed many an issue that was brought up at the discussion that we had at the end of last semester. Without the notes in front of me, I don't think I'll be able to definitively hit every issue that we talked about, but I should be able to address the main points. If you have further questions, feel free to email me at berrid@rpi.edu and I'll do my best to give you a proper response.
First things first. In the past, Large Group has been almost like church, with a format very similar to many Protestant services and nearly entirely Christian attendees. We've decided that this is not really the best way to do things. InterVarsity's vision is about engaging the campus as a whole. Church services on Fridays aren't really going to do that at RPI or Sage.
To that end, we're changing the format so that it doesn't feel like church. Chelsea Sweet, our Worship Coordinator, suggested a format that we're going to start trying in this coming semester. Large Group proper will be starting later, at 8:00PM. However, we'll be having worship starting at about 7:00PM and going until 7:45PM. People can attend both, or whichever one they would prefer. To make this work, we're going to have to be prompt about the start times, which is something that hasn't really been happening. This is your heads up that if you come late, you'll get to walk into a Large Group already in progress.
This format has the benefit of giving us a lot more flexibility as to what we do in worship as well as the rest of Large Group. Plus, now anyone who would like to attend who isn't Christian isn't forced to sit through a Christian worship service- that's rather a nasty thing to do to someone.
A main intent for our Large Groups this is semester is going to be making them open and attractive to people from any faith. This doesn't mean we're going pluralist- it's still going to be a Christian atmosphere. But it does mean that people who are Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or anything else should be able to come and join in the activities without feeling too much like an outsider. Their views will be heard and respected, just as Christians would expect their views to be heard and respected.
What are the Large Groups going to look like, then? We're looking at several different things that we could do- discussions similar to the AI discussion we had, small group discussions, games nights, movie discussions, and others that I'm having a hard time remembering right now. There should be a significant amount of variety from week to week. If you have an idea for a topic or a format, please let me know!
Another issue that we're trying to figure out is location. Sage 3510 has served us well, but it is a classroom far away from the places people live and hang out. We'd like someplace free of oppressive memories of tests and sleeping through classes, a bit closer to where people actually are. However, it's been difficult figuring out just where that might be. This means there will probably be a significant amount of moving around over the semester. I would appreciate suggestions about this, as well.
Those are, I think, the main issues. When I find out what I missed, there is always the ability for me to post again! Huzzah for the intarwebs!
Until then, keep on keepin' on, and send me suggestions!
-Dennis
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Outreach
Hello everyone,
I am the new outreach coordinator for RCA, the RPI chapter of IV. My name is Brett Mace, some of you know me, and some of you may not. I attended Baseleia this year with the intentions of encountering Jesus. (for those who weren't there, it was one of the tracks offered.) We were reading through mark in a new type of way that was very comforting to me and opened my eyes to many of the different things that Jesus did while on earth. It was amazing to see him in his journey through the land and how he commanded his people and how they didn't listen which brought him great strife along the way. Then two days before the week ended, the exec team came to me asking if I could take over Lauren Turrell's position as Outreach Coordinator because she had to step down due to personal issues. I looked at this as a wonderful opportunity because I have had some thoughts as to what I could do to better serve RPI and Sage through outreach. I prayed about it and was led to take the position. So, now for my thoughts on what outreach will look like for the fall semester of 2007.
I would like to implement many different ways to reach out to the students of RPI through ways in which they would want to build relationships. In my life, what has brought me closer to God and to know Him were the relationships that I had with older more mature members of my home church. As i was able to look at them and see what they did on a daily basis and how they showed God's love to everyone, I saw what God really was like and how gracious and wonderful He is. I would like to set up a few events that would repeat through the semester that would be exciting for the students of RPI to attend, such as LAN parties, sports days, and sewing and knitting (for the girls, unless the guys want to attend also.) This will give opportunities for you to invite your friends to what they would like, and then we could have some wholesome talk about life, God, and school. Through these events, relationships will build and people will see what the glory of God is through our actions and our speech.
If you have any other ideas as to what we could do as a chapter to reach our university, please let me know, my email address is maceb@rpi.edu. Any helpful thoughts or suggestions will not be overlooked. Also, if you'd like to head up and of the ideas put forth already, please contact me.
I cant wait for the semester so that I can better serve you and our chapter.
In Him,
Brett Mace
Outreach Coordinator
I am the new outreach coordinator for RCA, the RPI chapter of IV. My name is Brett Mace, some of you know me, and some of you may not. I attended Baseleia this year with the intentions of encountering Jesus. (for those who weren't there, it was one of the tracks offered.) We were reading through mark in a new type of way that was very comforting to me and opened my eyes to many of the different things that Jesus did while on earth. It was amazing to see him in his journey through the land and how he commanded his people and how they didn't listen which brought him great strife along the way. Then two days before the week ended, the exec team came to me asking if I could take over Lauren Turrell's position as Outreach Coordinator because she had to step down due to personal issues. I looked at this as a wonderful opportunity because I have had some thoughts as to what I could do to better serve RPI and Sage through outreach. I prayed about it and was led to take the position. So, now for my thoughts on what outreach will look like for the fall semester of 2007.
I would like to implement many different ways to reach out to the students of RPI through ways in which they would want to build relationships. In my life, what has brought me closer to God and to know Him were the relationships that I had with older more mature members of my home church. As i was able to look at them and see what they did on a daily basis and how they showed God's love to everyone, I saw what God really was like and how gracious and wonderful He is. I would like to set up a few events that would repeat through the semester that would be exciting for the students of RPI to attend, such as LAN parties, sports days, and sewing and knitting (for the girls, unless the guys want to attend also.) This will give opportunities for you to invite your friends to what they would like, and then we could have some wholesome talk about life, God, and school. Through these events, relationships will build and people will see what the glory of God is through our actions and our speech.
If you have any other ideas as to what we could do as a chapter to reach our university, please let me know, my email address is maceb@rpi.edu. Any helpful thoughts or suggestions will not be overlooked. Also, if you'd like to head up and of the ideas put forth already, please contact me.
I cant wait for the semester so that I can better serve you and our chapter.
In Him,
Brett Mace
Outreach Coordinator
Jon here.
It was requested that I post a paragraph to this online message board- "blog" - by midnight, May 31st, with specific instructions to "express my thoughts". It may surprise you to learn that I am not always the talkative and outgoing type, and thus publicly detailing the inner workings of my mind causes no small amount of trepidation of my part. Just so you know.
Anyways, I'm the prayer coordinator. It was mentioned that daily prayer is perceived as being boring. Those who regularly attend daily prayer say it is well worth the one or two or six hours a week that they spend in prayer and fellowship with others there for the same purpose, but that is no surprise, since they wouldn't be regular attendees if they thought it was boring. However, I understand completely how it could be viewed as boring, or a waste of time. I felt much the same way in the past, and viewed the only acceptable corporate prayer as that which took place around the dinner table and lasted no longer than fifteen seconds. However, it was only once I experienced the power of prayer (and consequently, God) working in my life and that of other people, that I realized that maybe praying with other people was a good idea. The first suggestion for changing the reputation of daily prayer was to have people tell other people about what God has done for them. As one of my friends put it: "I assume God is working enough on our campus that we can find someone once a month whose life has been impacted by prayer." I believe he is right. Has God done something with your life? Tell us.
More ideas to follow on what will be done with daily prayer itself. As always, I welcome your ideas.
-jon
P.S. I pray for you all.
It was requested that I post a paragraph to this online message board- "blog" - by midnight, May 31st, with specific instructions to "express my thoughts". It may surprise you to learn that I am not always the talkative and outgoing type, and thus publicly detailing the inner workings of my mind causes no small amount of trepidation of my part. Just so you know.
Anyways, I'm the prayer coordinator. It was mentioned that daily prayer is perceived as being boring. Those who regularly attend daily prayer say it is well worth the one or two or six hours a week that they spend in prayer and fellowship with others there for the same purpose, but that is no surprise, since they wouldn't be regular attendees if they thought it was boring. However, I understand completely how it could be viewed as boring, or a waste of time. I felt much the same way in the past, and viewed the only acceptable corporate prayer as that which took place around the dinner table and lasted no longer than fifteen seconds. However, it was only once I experienced the power of prayer (and consequently, God) working in my life and that of other people, that I realized that maybe praying with other people was a good idea. The first suggestion for changing the reputation of daily prayer was to have people tell other people about what God has done for them. As one of my friends put it: "I assume God is working enough on our campus that we can find someone once a month whose life has been impacted by prayer." I believe he is right. Has God done something with your life? Tell us.
More ideas to follow on what will be done with daily prayer itself. As always, I welcome your ideas.
-jon
P.S. I pray for you all.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Eric's Thoughts
Hello all! This is a new concept for me, I've never done this 'Blog' thing before. But, I decided it would be a cool thing to start. So, first I'll give a summary of my experience at Basileia and then some thoughts about RCA , specifically for Small Groups in the fall.
Basileia....was cool. like, really cool. Now, for those of you who don't know or are too lazy to read Corey's post below, Basileia is a 5 day retreat during which everyone spends every minute with God. Naturally we're supposed to be doing this every day of our lives, but usually we suck and don't. God really convicted me of this and I set a goal this summer to have an hour long quiet time with God each morning (reading/prayer/meditation) and then be able to think about what I learned throughout the rest of the day. So far I've only have done half an hour due to my living arrangements (I'm sleeping on the floor at my friend's place because I can't move into my apartment until next weekend). But God is definetely on my mind more now, which is really cool. 2 Timothy 1:8 was also a big verse for me at Basileia. No compromise, don't be ashamed of the Gospel. This has gone well so far. My birthday was during Basileia (turned 20, woohoo!), and it turned out to be a very humbling experience, which was good. I'll let the pictures on facebook explain why it was humbling....
Anyway, so Small Groups. They're cool. You should join one. Now. We have one going on during the summer, so if you're around let me know. As I hope you've read in Corey's post, we have a new outreach-focused large group vision. We want to engage our campus in more ways and encourage spiritual discussions (Dennis will explain more about that later). Now, in order to do so, we ourselves should be used to spiritual discussions, and we should know what we believe. That's the role of Small Groups. They're a place where any question can be raised and any topic discussed. The members are like family and truly care about each other.
Some small groups dig really deep into a particular topic or book of the Bible, while others cover broader terms of what our faith is about and what it means to be a Christian. Each has its own purpose and both are awesome. If you've taken SGLAP or have led a SG before and are interested in doing so again, email me at shaffe@rpi.edu. If you're new and are interested in co-leading let me know, too. We can always use more small group leaders!
Peace,
Basileia....was cool. like, really cool. Now, for those of you who don't know or are too lazy to read Corey's post below, Basileia is a 5 day retreat during which everyone spends every minute with God. Naturally we're supposed to be doing this every day of our lives, but usually we suck and don't. God really convicted me of this and I set a goal this summer to have an hour long quiet time with God each morning (reading/prayer/meditation) and then be able to think about what I learned throughout the rest of the day. So far I've only have done half an hour due to my living arrangements (I'm sleeping on the floor at my friend's place because I can't move into my apartment until next weekend). But God is definetely on my mind more now, which is really cool. 2 Timothy 1:8 was also a big verse for me at Basileia. No compromise, don't be ashamed of the Gospel. This has gone well so far. My birthday was during Basileia (turned 20, woohoo!), and it turned out to be a very humbling experience, which was good. I'll let the pictures on facebook explain why it was humbling....
Anyway, so Small Groups. They're cool. You should join one. Now. We have one going on during the summer, so if you're around let me know. As I hope you've read in Corey's post, we have a new outreach-focused large group vision. We want to engage our campus in more ways and encourage spiritual discussions (Dennis will explain more about that later). Now, in order to do so, we ourselves should be used to spiritual discussions, and we should know what we believe. That's the role of Small Groups. They're a place where any question can be raised and any topic discussed. The members are like family and truly care about each other.
Some small groups dig really deep into a particular topic or book of the Bible, while others cover broader terms of what our faith is about and what it means to be a Christian. Each has its own purpose and both are awesome. If you've taken SGLAP or have led a SG before and are interested in doing so again, email me at shaffe@rpi.edu. If you're new and are interested in co-leading let me know, too. We can always use more small group leaders!
Peace,
Monday, May 21, 2007
Basileia and the New Face of RCA (InterVarsity)
Basileia.
So much to say about Basileia! Basically it was just awesome and there's no great way to communicate how great it was so I'll do my best.
What it was: an InterVarsity retreat for the NY/NJ region. There were 270 people there representing about 15-20 different schools. There were several tracks in which you could chose from and of which your week was focused around: Engaging God's World, Encountering Jesus, Transforming Prayer, Small Group Leaders, and Servant Leaders.
Since the exec team members are the only ones to participate in the Servant Leader's Track, I would like to let you know what exactly goes on. This is biggest planning time for Exec so that we can plan everything that happens for the coming semester. Everything from Small Groups to Prayer, to Large Group and Outreach. So we sat down and prayed for a long time about what was missing from our chapter and what was the purpose/vision of each of those areas listed above. And we decided that we were not focused on reaching out to the community half as much, no, a tenth as much as we should be. So we decided that a bunch of things needed to be changed in order to see that happen. [i will let each of the respective exec members tell you exactly what these details will entail relating to their positions]
Oh and we got to do so many fun things!: high ropes course, parasailing, wake boarding, hot tub, large viking canoe, sports of all kinds, pool and foosball, surprise birthday fun, eat, worship, talk to other chapters, learn things we never knew, etc.!
The New Face.
So first off, Exec officially has a new member! Who is it you say? Well, drum roll please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett Mace! Brett will be taking over as Outreach Coordinator for the semester since the previous one had to step down. So please let Brett know all about your Outreach ideas for the semester so we can begin really fulfill our theme for the semester.
And what is that theme?? Well, the theme for this coming semester is going to be: Expand Your Bubble.
I think that all too often we live in our own separate worlds and are afraid to reach out into our community and make an impact. We are too worried about ourselves and our own needs that we ignore the needs of people around us. So we all need to learn how to Expand Our Bubbles and be a little more community minded. Prepare yourselves over the summer for an RCA/InterVarsity that will make you rethink what your purpose is on this campus and in this chapter. Keep an open heart. Trust.
~ President - CD
So much to say about Basileia! Basically it was just awesome and there's no great way to communicate how great it was so I'll do my best.
What it was: an InterVarsity retreat for the NY/NJ region. There were 270 people there representing about 15-20 different schools. There were several tracks in which you could chose from and of which your week was focused around: Engaging God's World, Encountering Jesus, Transforming Prayer, Small Group Leaders, and Servant Leaders.
Since the exec team members are the only ones to participate in the Servant Leader's Track, I would like to let you know what exactly goes on. This is biggest planning time for Exec so that we can plan everything that happens for the coming semester. Everything from Small Groups to Prayer, to Large Group and Outreach. So we sat down and prayed for a long time about what was missing from our chapter and what was the purpose/vision of each of those areas listed above. And we decided that we were not focused on reaching out to the community half as much, no, a tenth as much as we should be. So we decided that a bunch of things needed to be changed in order to see that happen. [i will let each of the respective exec members tell you exactly what these details will entail relating to their positions]
Oh and we got to do so many fun things!: high ropes course, parasailing, wake boarding, hot tub, large viking canoe, sports of all kinds, pool and foosball, surprise birthday fun, eat, worship, talk to other chapters, learn things we never knew, etc.!
The New Face.
So first off, Exec officially has a new member! Who is it you say? Well, drum roll please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett Mace! Brett will be taking over as Outreach Coordinator for the semester since the previous one had to step down. So please let Brett know all about your Outreach ideas for the semester so we can begin really fulfill our theme for the semester.
And what is that theme?? Well, the theme for this coming semester is going to be: Expand Your Bubble.
I think that all too often we live in our own separate worlds and are afraid to reach out into our community and make an impact. We are too worried about ourselves and our own needs that we ignore the needs of people around us. So we all need to learn how to Expand Our Bubbles and be a little more community minded. Prepare yourselves over the summer for an RCA/InterVarsity that will make you rethink what your purpose is on this campus and in this chapter. Keep an open heart. Trust.
~ President - CD
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