Can I Clean Your Bathroom?

Friends,
Thanks for your prayers for Compelling '09. At the bottom of the page is the updated Compelling video that Jon remade for the conference. Enjoy! Everything went well. I'll give an update about it sometime but right now I wanted to pass on news of what happened on campus tonight.

We decided this was a good point in the year to mix things up a bit. Tonight our small group wanted to show Atchison, the dorm where we meet, some love. At this point in the year it seems like 1) Students have a lot of work and are burnt out, 2) They could use some comfort, and 3) People usually don't feel like cleaning when 1 and 2 are present. In light of that, we bought some cleaning supplies and comfort pastries and went door to door on the 5th floor of Atchison asking people if we could clean their bathrooms and give them some pastries.

I only say the 5th floor because the response was incredible. Almost every single person invited us in to clean for them. Most were completely confused as to why anybody would be interested in the task but thankful. We cleaned for two hours and didn't even get to half of the rooms on the floor. It was a great opportunity to not just tell people we loved them, but to show them we did and explain why.

As a result, not only did we get to have some great conversations with people, but one wants to check out our small group, one said she wanted to come to large group, and two guys invited Luke and I to come play Settlers of Cataan (one of our favorite board games) with them. It was a great time to enjoy working with each of the small group members as well. I personally enjoy getting to know people while serving together. I think it's an environment that encourages openness and fun.

Keep praying for the fruits of our interactions tonight. We planted some seeds and now we need God to make them grow.

Conflict and the Gospel

One of the things that has stood out during our studies of the book of Acts has been the way God works unesxpectedly. We repeatedly see the numbers of the young fellowship grow after unusual and sometimes intense events. Ananias and Sapphira drop dead? The numbers increase. Grecian and Hebraic Jews come into conflict over the care of widows? The Gospel spreads. It is this account specifically that moved the Wayne State felloship this week.
As we examined the passage we talked about conflicts and the Godly was to approach them. "What kind of approach do you usually take to conflict?" we asked each other. I sometimes find myself assuming conflict is a sign of failure. I see it as a message that I didn't handle a situation well enough to avoid a disagreement. That's not the message we see in Acts 6. God is and moves in positive conflict resolution. Depending on the situation this can look differently, but that's how God works. Evidence of His work and existence isn't in a lack of conflict amongst His people, but among the way His people resolve conflicts.
We also asked ourselves where we see conflictr in our fellowship. Dynamics between different ethnic groups was suggested as one of the largest hurdles we face. To address that issue, we've begun a number of discussions and altered our large group schedule as we work to resolve the issue. Please continue to pray for God's work to be evident in all of this.