Third Week at the Uni (pronounced "You-Knee)

We have entered our third week of ministry on the University of Newcastle campus. Our students continue to engage in spiritual conversations with the lost and share their faith with boldness. We are in the process of recruiting students for the FIRST ever Campus Crusade weekly meeting at this university! We are the third Summer Project to come to Newcastle, but the first to be received by a local Campus Crusade staff team. A lot of what we've been doing has been providing "man-power" to meet lots of students and invite them to be involved in the spiritual movement that is beginning here. It is a pivotal time in the history of the ministry and we are excited to be a part of it!

It has been a treat to get to know our team better individually. Nathan meets with the guys individually each week and Julie meets with the gals. We've invited our students into openness and honesty about their lives, their family backgrounds, and their sin patterns. It has been refreshing to see God break through in their lives and begin the process of healing. We have been reminded that every single one of us is dysfunctional and has issues. It has been encouraging to invite our students into the process of being real with others, and modeling that for them.

Julie here. I wanted to share about a moment last week where God really met me. I had my first terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day in Australia. Everything seemed to go wrong and I kept messing things up or forgetting to do something that I had promised, and I just felt like a real loser. I can tend to take pride in looking like I “have it all together” and that day it was painfully obvious that I am not perfect and don’t have it all together. As I was feeling down and frustrated, I felt like God just spoke to me and reminded me that I am in the Room of Grace, where it’s safe to be myself in all of my dysfunctions and faults, reminding me that I am loved and accepted unconditionally. It was a sweet moment with the Lord and it brought tears to my eyes after feeling somewhat hardened emotionally the earlier part of the day. God was gracious to invite me into NOT having it all together and speaking His love to me in that moment.

Nathan here. I can tend to depend on my own strength believing that I need to prove my worth by accomplishing tasks for God. I have been known in the past as Johnny crusader i.e. share my faith with anything that breathes. As I Jumped head first into evangelism I would receive pats on the back, leadership positions, and the praise of others. Due to discipling the guys on project and administration there is less time for me to do evangelism and “prove my worth.” He continues to teach me to rest in Him and know that through Him my value is not dependent on how many gospel conversations but simply being his son.