Treatises of Intern Sam

One great vacation

2008-08-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Fear not, I arrived home safely just under a week ago. The trip was amazing. If you get a chance, you should go. We saw a lot of great things without spending too much money. Waterfalls, mountains, castles, cathedrals and the sea. We ate sandwiches we made, slept in people's homes and twice slept in the car.

I traveled with two of my best friends, Jordan & Chris, and my new close Polish pal, Michal. As a car full of believers the trip had spiritual implications too. I attended two masses (Michal is Catholic), had deep conversations, saw amazing creation and read some great books.

It's bittersweet. Vacation is great for reloading and relaxing but it's good to be home. To sleep in my own bed and go back to work. I felt a little behind but after playing a little catch-up I'm getting ready for another year as a campus minister. I'm stoked to see what the year in store. Pray that I follow God's will and don't stand in His way.

Here are some pictures from the trip. Enjoy...

I'm outta here (and not a minute too soon)

2008-07-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

well, i just spend the last 5 weeks working 5-7 days/week on renovating our new coffee shop. It is finally up and running. Go to www.greyhousecoffee.com and see what's up. Best place in town!

In other news, I fly out tomorrow for my two-week vacation in Europe (Poland, Germany, Italy) with two of my best friends. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity probably. I am super excited. Say a prayer for me. I'll post pictures someday.

See you in another 2 weeks or so.

peace,

-SAM-

Greyhouse Construction

2008-06-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

We are well into week 2 of demolition and construction of our beloved coffee shop. It's hard work. It is almost entirely being put together our staff and volunteers. Praise Jesus for all the people setting time aside to help us remodel the shop. The place was in pretty shabby shape when we got there so it's an uphill battle. It's totally worth it though. In many ways we're working 7 days a week; Monday-Saturday at Greyhouse and all our responsibilities on Sunday still need to be fulfilled.

While I can't for the shop to be finished and opened, it's nevertheless been good "laboring for the Lord." This is all about telling people about Jesus and bring our God glory. May I never forget that (even when I'm sleepy or bash my thumb with a hammer).

Peace be with you...

2 cool quotes

2008-05-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

1) "The world promises temporal things of small value, yet is served with great affection; but God promises high & eternal things & the hearts of people are slow & dull."
-Thomas Kempis; Imitation of Christ-BookIII, Ch3

2) "If you are willing to share what is everlasting, you should be that much more willing to share things which do not last."
-William Sloane Coffin; The Courage To Love-Ch1, pg4

We invest so much in this world yet it is temporary. All I think about is my own, current comforts. I should be investing in the eternal. I especially like the Coffin quote; I'm so quick to share the gift of salvation (which I should) but I'm even quicker to hoard my money and time.

It is my duty as a Christ-follower to try to bring God's kingdom to earth. To see His kingdom come. Otherwise we'd be swept off to heaven after being saved. But we're not, we're left here to tell others about Jesus through our lives.

My prayer: May we no longer be self-absorbed but Christ-absorbed. May we be willing to share all that is everlasting and temporary. I pray that we invest in the eternal and forsake the fleeting things of this world, for God's and our brother's sake. Help us to be more like You. We want to see Your kingdom lived out here on earth. In the Name of the One who died for us. AH-MEN

Jamaica Trip

2008-05-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

I just got back from leading a 10 day mission/service trip to Jamaica. I traveled with 16 students and another staff member to the greater Montego Bay area to serve in orphanages and a public school. Check out the website to Robin's Nest Children's Home, an awesome orphanage that is certainly doing things right. I could type 100 pages of stories but that would take too long. Suffice it to say that it was amazing and I believe God used us to bring His kingdom to earth. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Check out the rest of our photos HERE.

Here's Gabe!

2008-05-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

It's the only picture I have thus far. I'm pretty sure he's the blue one with floppy ears.

Uncle Sam

2008-04-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

What's happening? Something big happened at 1:16am on Saturday April 26th. I became a blood uncle for the first time. My little sister gave birth to a 5.1 lbs (slightly premature) baby boy. I now am responsible for buying gifts, ice cream and weapons for my nephew, Gabriel Kenneth Johnsten. It is my duty to get him all jacked up o sugar and caffeine so that I can send him home to be a little monster for his parents. It's a hard job but some has got to do it.

My brother-in-law, Sean, is a great guy and already a great father to a very well behaved 4 year old girl named Alexia. I hope to have the ability to play the same role in her life however I have to spend some more time around her before she feels comfortable around me.

It'll be a challenge investing in both Gabe and Alexia considering I live 2 hours away. That may not sound like a long distance but it feel like an eternity away. If I am not around frequently in their young years they may not even know who I am. Maybe I'm worrying about nothing.

Anyway, I don't have a picture of him but this is what I imagine he looks like...that's right he wears a top hat and drinks champagne.

A new car!

2008-04-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

I acquired a new car from some very generous and loving relatives a little over a month ago. It is certainly an answered prayer. I knew I'd come by an affordable vehicle soon and it finally happened. I got a 1993 Oldsmobile Cutless Ciera S. Here's a picture of what it sorta looks like-->

Where before I could never drive anyone anywhere because I didn't trust my car (I always said that there was never a time I was more pious than when I was behind the wheel of that car), I now have been able to serve others with my new wheels. God has gifted me with a nice car, the least I can do is return the generosity by picking people up from the airport or driving them to the store when they need it or whatever else. I have to refill my gas tank twice as much but that's alright, I didn't have to buy a brand new car.

Praise God for answered prayers and may I honor Him with what He's given me.

North for Spring Break?!?!

2008-03-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

It's true, we went to Mancelona, Michigan for spring break. 6-7 hours north of West Lafayette is a cool little town still a couple feet deep in snow. Let me tell you, the trip was amazing!

We stayed at an early American village named Cedar Bend Farms. The place was beautiful and a perfect place to get away from civilization and into God's creation. We slept in old manor houses heated by wood burning stoves, played broomball, snow shoed, cross country skied, and worshiped in an amazing little chapel out in the woods. If you ever are planning a retreat or getaway I highly recommend Cedar Bend farms.

We also had a few chances to leave the village and do some other fun things. We had the opportunity to sled down a huge hill that used to be part of an old ski resort. We had a day where we could serve. That day I went with students to a camp nearby and shoveled snow off a big roof (It sounds fun but turned out to be a really hard job and we broke almost all the shovels). Then we got to go downhill skiing for two days at Shanty Creek ski resort. It turns out I'm terrible at skiing but had a great time learning. Unfortunately one of the students got injured so please pray for his recovery.

Aside from the scheduled things we did there was plenty that just happened as a result of spending time together. Awesome worship services in the chapel, playing games by the stoves, telling stories over meals, talking about life and simply building relationships. God really used last week to bring himself glory. It was great to be part of it all.

There are thousands of photos I'd love to show you but it would take too long to upload them all so if someone makes an online photo page with them I'll post the address. Otherwise you'll just have to take my word for it.

Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co.

2008-02-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

Big news! Campus House has bought a coffee shop. Now your initial reactions be to ask, "Why?" So let me tell you a little back story.

Rob, our main preaching pastor, has a had this dream for 15+ years. About a year ago one of the coffee shops in the major shopping area of campus was made available for purchase. So over some long months Campus House was able to purchase it. We'll officially take possession at the beginning of June and after a month of renovations will open the business in July.

Now you may thinking, "Oh great, another Christian coffee shop." (sarcasm intended) Please allow me to ease your concerns. This is not the typical model.

What it is not: We won't play exclusively Christian music, we won't have bible tracks as coasters, we won't have overtly Christian art, it is not meant to be just a place for all the churches to have bible studies, there won't be church services taking place there and it's not just the eastern subsidiary of Campus House.

What it is: A neutral place for Christians and Non-believers to share space. A place where patrons of faith and those searching can have conversations, relationships and dialogs. A place for Christians to "Live such good lives among the [Non-believers] that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (1Peter 2:12)." A place that serves great coffee and not just Folger's in a Styrofoam cup. A place where people genuinely feel served because the employees buy into the vision of serving others (we need to give them a reason to care about what we say).

I could never do the vision and mission justice so I suggest you listen to Sunday's sermon from 2-24-08 here (click Video Podcast link).

Or read these blogs about it: Brad's or Garrett's two entries about it ONE & TWO.

Be good...

Uuhhh?

2008-02-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here with an empty brain. I cannot for the life of me think of a lesson for my Community Group. Originally I intended to do a lesson on identity from Genesis 3 and Donald Miller's Searching For God Knows What. It's a great topic from an outstanding book but I'm just not feeling it. I don't want to just throw something together but I can't think of anything. Pray that I seek Godly inspiration and don't settle for less.

While sitting here trying to think of what to type next, I think something came to me. God is pretty awesome. There is a sin that I struggle with and I bet you do too. It's a sin that is a norm. It's not only culturally accepted but it is culturally expected. It's something that the Bible speaks against frequently but is seldom viewed as a sin. What is this sin you keep neglecting to label, Sam? The sin I'm referring to is WORRY.

Here are a two verses that speak to the subject: Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:6-7.

I have been worrying a lot lately. I have over a year before my internship ends but I've been anxious about what I'll do afterward. More school, a job? Will I have to raise my own support for the rest of my life? All scary questions but not legitimate concerns. It's elementary theology but I can't seemed to lay my burdens on Jesus. Pray that I find peace, give concerns to Jesus and give my future an appropriate amount of attention and no more.

Praise God for healing and inspiring.

Poll

2008-02-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

As you probably noticed I added a poll to the blog. I'm doing this just to see how many people actually visit my blog. If you would pick anyone of its arbitrary answers I'd appreciate it. Thanks Y'all!

Remember me?

2008-02-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

Ok ok ok, it's been a really long time. Forgive me. So quite a bit has happened and I have neglected you keep this up to date. I'm not going to attempt cover everything that has happened but here are a couple big things.

I had a chance to preach again. I had a great time with the whole process. I spoke on 2 Samuel 9. This is a passage where David shows grace to Mephibosheth. It is truly a foreshadowing of the Great One who was yet to come (obviously I'm referring to Jesus). Click HERE to go to our web page, then click on Video Podcast to listen to it.

Another big thing is my preparation for my Mission Trip to Jamaica. It's way more administrative work that I expect or I'm usually gift with. Nevertheless, it's a cool process to see come together. We have a team of 17 students, one of our pastors Rob and myself. I can tell it's going to be an awesome trip. Plus we'll be working with orphans; some of which are infants and toddlers. I love babies.

Finally, I went to an Indiana Campus Ministries retreat this weekend. Joel Hammernick from Sunshine Gospel Ministries spoke. He is an amazing man who runs a ministry in the south side of Chicago. He taught on working in the inner-city/with the poor yet was not at all self-righteous or condemning. He made serving the poor seem doable, practical and attainable even in your current position. You should check out his BLOG.

I'll try to be more diligent at keep up with this from now on.
-SAM

:::JUBILEE CHRISTMAS:::

2007-12-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

For our last Community Group the guys and I had a sort of Christmas party. We started out by driving to Wal-Mart where we all bought toys to donate to our annual Jubilee Christmas. We were to bring in UNWRAPPED toys, clothing and stuffed animals to be donated to the children of Lafayette. All donations go to Lafayette Urban Ministry, where low-income parents will be able to select gifts for their own family. Jubilee spreads the joy of the season in a way that supports the strength of the family unit and the dignity of parents. Check out the photo: 2 huge boxes over flowing with toys and that's mainly from non-wage earning students. Proof once again college kids aren't good for nothing.

The thing that is awesome about Jubilee Christmas is that since the toys are unwrapped parents come and pick toys out as if they were shopping. Then they can wrap the present and give it to their child. This way it's not a bunch of well-meaning Christians knocking on a door implying, "I know you're poor and can't afford to buy your kids nice things so I'll be their parent for Christmas." This is a time when a middleman is a good thing.

After that the guys and I went back to Campus House, ate cookies, drank eggnog and played a game called Pictophone (hybrid of Pictionary and Telephone). Good times...

Hope you all have an awesome Holiday and try not to get too caught up in the consumerism.

Jesus rocks!

Warm & Fuzzy Christmas

2007-12-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend having a Warm and Fuzzy Christmas. Saturday my buddies Adam and Jordan and I made custom covers for Jordan's Annual Christmas Mix CD. One cover I was particularly proud of was of a cartoon holding out his fists with Warm tattooed on one hand's knuckles and Fuzzy on the other.

The picture above is an artist's rendering of one of the fists not the original. After that I went to a truly Warm and Fuzzy Christmas Sweat party. There were probably 45-50 students throughout the night. It's always great to hang-out in tacky sweaters and eat Christmas cookies. No better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Anticipate more Christmas themed entries to come.

Barn Dance!

2007-11-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Howdy Y'all,

That's right I titled this entry "Barn Dance!" We had our annual Barn Dance and it was actually a really good time. I'm not Michael Jackson but I surprisingly enjoyed the line/square dancing. The barn was packed and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Here's a photo of the dance instructor using me to teach everyone the Waltz. Oh, how lucky am I?

On a totally unrelated note, today I was reading Jeremiah 11 and a section really stuck out to me.
Jeremiah 11:15-16 says:

15 "What is my beloved doing in my temple
as she works out her evil schemes with many?
Can consecrated meat avert your punishment ?
When you engage in your wickedness,
then you rejoice. "

16 The LORD called you a thriving olive tree
with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
he will set it on fire,
and its branches will be broken."

I think the imagery used is so powerful. We are God's beloved bride yet we still choose to do wrong. Thankfully God hasn't pours out His wrath in the same way on us. It's nevertheless a great reminder of our Lord's awesome power and love for us.

May the God of all be praise!

Youth For Christ fundraiser banquet

2007-11-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to speak at the Youth For Christ banquet. YFC holds a special place in my heart because it is the organization through which I became a consistent follower of Jesus. I love the organization because it has an amazing mission and an effective method. A few summers ago I had the chance to have a summer internship with YFC and it taught me all over again why I love it. Could you think of a better job than to spend time with high school students, running club meetings, going on trips and simply having a good time with the goal of sharing the Gospel with them.
When the director of my old high school asked me if I would speak at the banquet I was more than happy. I explained to the supporters that they aren't just supporting a guy to go on trips with kids but you are investing in eternity.
Praise God for YFC and other organizations like it. I pray every child everywhere can come to know Jesus. Praise God for the privilege to reconnect with a ministry I so dearly love and admire.

AH-MEN!

Mission Impossible

2007-11-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

So last Wednesday night (10-24-07) for my Community Group we did something a bit different. We did a completely staged and choreographed scavenger hunt we refer to as Mission Impossible. It opened with a video of me that ends with me being attacked and kidnapped. Then an individual in the group is given a package from someone dressed in a FedEx outfit. Inside is a phone which rings after the package is opened. From there they run from place to place around campus finding clues and planted "actors". For example one "actor" makes them sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in a crowded Pizza Hut before they can have their clue. At one point they're all thrown into the back of a unmarked van and driven to an unknown location. One of the last things they do is find me tied up with duct tape over my mouth. Finally it ends with them being brought to a "secret" location where they are ambushed by dodgeballs and squirt guns.

It's hard to convey the entire thing but it took tons of planning, volunteers and coordination. It was a really fun night and the guys seem to really enjoy it. You may wonder what that has to do with the Bible. Well, quite honestly not much except community and fellowship. I hope this fun activity was a shared experience that helped to gel the group. I'm convinced it was because the guys were laughing and talking about it a lot.

God is great and it's awesome to see Him work in Christian community. May He be blessed by our Community Group...

I've returned

2007-10-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long, I've been lazy as far as blogging. It was been a really busy week but that's a great thing. I've been working on this Mission Impossible thing that I'll tell you more about next week as well as my lesson from last Wednesday.

I wanted to write a lesson on Courage so I wrote up my normal lesson using the bible and other resources. I just didn't like what I had. It felt lackluster. I decided to throw most of it out and just keep a few key parts. I then read to my guys a chapter from the book The Heavenly Man. I felt it was an actual display of courage. The person the book is about, Brother Yun, is constantly being beaten and tortured in an attempt to get him to sell out the other Christians in China (when they oppressed them the most in the 1970-80s). He was a truly brave man. According to the author Erwin MacManus in his book Uprising courage, as described in Joshua 1:1-9, has a few characteristics; a rough path, grasping on to something True and humility. Brother Yun certainly displayed all of these. I felt it went well and the guys agreed.

May we all be courageous for our Lord like Joshua and Brother Yun...

A Good Week

2007-09-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

I had a good last week. I spend time meeting with some students and that is what I like doing best. It's kind of intuitive but the best ministry usually happens through relationships. It's not like I go into relationships with people so that I may impute my "wisdom and righteousness" on them. I'm no more wise or righteous than the next guys. I do get to take part in a mutually symbiotic relationship where we both can grow and sharpen one another. I just like people I guess.

Something else that was cool happened while I was at a benefit concert for Blood Water (an organization that builds wells in Africa and educates about HIV/AIDS). Anyhow, a guy from my Community Group came up to me and told me that my lesson that week really spoke to him. I taught on God's answers to prayer and being quiet and listening to God. It's something I always need to here. To just be still before God. It was very encouraging and I'm thrilled that I'm seeing fruit from my labors. While I realize that's not what this is all about, it is still nice to see.

Praise God for using me. Praise God for equipping me. Praise God for restoring us so that we can do His perfect will.

My big brother's wedding

2007-09-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

So last week I only worked 3 days. We had Monday off for labor day and I had to go home on Friday to be in Mike's wedding. I have to admit that the entire week leading up to going home I was dreading even having to go. It's pretty terrible that I didn't even want to go to my own brother's wedding. Especially since I was the best man. I was anticipating a long, boring, hot time spend in a tux with gobs of people I don't even know.

It turns out it wasn't half as bad as I expected. I knew quite a few people and time went by very quickly. It was really good to see people I hadn't seen for a while. I got to talk to my childhood pastor, Gene Kinney. It was really hot but it was still a great time.

I was being pretty selfish being more concerned with my job than my brother and his wife. I had the opportunity to give a speech and it was heart felt. I know they will lead a great life together.

Now I'm back in the "work mode" and can't wait to tell you next week about what's going on here.

peace...

Community Groups

2007-08-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Our Community Groups (formerly known as Care groups) are underway and I am really excited. I have been put with a "Dream Team" of leaders to work with. They are all passionate and have tons to bring to the group. One of the students I know in the group approached me one Sunday to express his excitement for the study. That gets me jacked up. I can't wait to see what will come from this year.

We had our first official meeting last night and it was a lot of fun. We played a pictionary/win, lose or draw game just to get to know each other. The leaders and I then went to DQ and split the guys into the different groups. We put them in the groups we felt they could grow and contribute the most.

I look forward to teaching this year too. I feel God has given me some good things to share. Next week will be the first week with an all out lesson. I pray it's well received and they don't think I'm a heretic. That shouldn't be a problem.

Keep me in your prayers if you will...
peace.

My first event and th year's first Sunday

2007-08-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Howdy all,
Friday was the first event for students of the year and also the first event I was the point person for. I had the responsibility of delegating tasks to my coworkers. We projected movie trailers on the side of the building and served food (popcorn, candy, nachos, etc). It seemed to go very well. We had a good turn out, a lot of people found out about Campus House for the first time and a fun was had by all. Good news!

Yesterday was the first Sunday of the school year. We had our usual four services and had roughly 1,000 students walk thru our doors. The 11am service was way over packed as usual; people in the halls, filling other rooms and the lobby. It's a shame we can't have a larger building. There were hoards of first-timers, which is awesome.

Also, we collected roughly 300 community group interest cards. I'm really excited about these bible studies. My excitement only increased while we sat to divide all the students into their respective groups.

I could write so much more about what's going on, but I have an enormous work load and need to get crackin'. Please pray for me and I'll do the same for you.

peace...

Sermon's up & NSC

2007-08-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the hold-up, but our site was down. Here's our sermon.

Also I spend most of last week at the National Student Conference in Evansville, IN. It was pretty decent.

I heard a guy named Kent Paris from Nehemiah Ministries speak on "overcoming the dark side." He had an extremely disturbing childhood. He was molested by several people growing up, including some teachers and relatives. He explained that he had over 300 sexual encounters from the time he was 12 until he was 19, one of which was rape and most of which was with male partners. His father was distant and his mother was overly sexual with him. His dark side was far worse than anything I had to experience. According to him this lead to his homosexual lifestyle. He is now a counselor in Urbana, IL has a wife a 2 sons and deals mainly with people struggling with homosexuality.

The things he experienced growing-up are saddening. Life is not meant to be that way. We live in a fallen world and we often feel pain because of it. It's really messed up and we are called to comfort the hurting, broken and poor. It's really inspiring to see that someone can use the traumatic and terrible things that happened to them to bring others to a deeper relationship with Christ. Kent now lives to resurrect others from their darkside; from their scars, from the areas where people have let them down and from their mistakes.

We find righteousness and wholeness in the blood of Christ. Praise Him.

-SAM

The Interns' Sermon

2007-07-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

My fellow intern, Brad, and I had the pleasure of teaching yesterday (Sunday) at Campus House. We were really nervous but we practiced a great deal and I think it went well. People affirmed so that's good.

The enemy has defiantly been telling us lies. We've had a lot of feelings of illegitimacy of our lesson. Satan wants us to believe it was trite and pointless but that's not the reaction we received.

Later I'll post the sermon and the Power Point slides. Until then...