Hi Everyone!
As Andrea and I have recently gotten married (Hey-O!), we have thought some about how best to communicate with all of our wonderful supporters.
We've decided to combine our efforts and to send out a monthly email (HTML, so it will look all cool with pictures and such) to everyone instead of keeping up a blog. If you are not on the email list and would like to be, send me an email at Ben_Emerson@ivstaff.org and I will put you on it.
Therefore, this will be the last post on this blog. You can look forward to getting an email update sent straight to your inbox each month. How great it that?!
Thanks to all who have read this blog and shared encouraging comments. It has meant a lot to me.
Peace!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Fall Term Highlights
Hey, guess what?! It's only 18 days until Andrea and I get married! This is so crazy! Exclamation points!!!
Wedding plans are coming together and we are feeling very excited to drive down to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. I will make sure to write a little post with some pictures of the wedding after we get back.
But in the meantime, how about some fall term highlights?
Worship Team
One of my goals this year was to start a worship team of mostly freshmen. So at our first large group I gave an invitation for people to come and talk to me if they were interested. Now, a few weeks later, there are four new freshmen on the team!
We meet a couple times a week to hang out, study Scripture, and practice some music. I really enjoy working with these new students who are eager to learn.
So keep the team in your prayers! Danny, Sean, Reina, Marlie, Nic, and Alex.
On-Campus Bible Studies
One of the first passages of Scripture our on-campus Bible studies read was the story of the Woman at the well from John 4. They noticed how Jesus intentionally put himself where people who needed him would be.
The Bible Study members thought this would be a great way to apply the story. So that thursday, they stayed up late and made pancakes for the people who were coming back from parties. Why pancakes? Well, firstly, they are delicious. Secondively, they help the hangover not be as bad the next day.
So a group of new freshman hung out with a bunch of drunk people and offered them something they needed. Kinda like Jesus would do.
Pray that these Bible Studies continue to "play Jesus" to the people in their halls.
Off-Campus Bible Study
Andrea has been leading the off-campus Bible Study through the Gospel of Mark. They students are loving it! One of the most exciting things about this group is that there are a good chunk of non-Christians who are regular attenders. One of them even hosted the whole group last week!
Andrea is madly in love with this group of students. Don't tell her I said that.
Pray that this off-campus group becomes a place where people make decisions to follow Jesus for the first time!
-------
Fall Conference is coming up in just under two weeks! We are hoping to have 60-70 people come along. Pray for the conference and pray that God does amazing things while we are there.
The next time I write for this blog, I will be a married man. Nice.
Wedding plans are coming together and we are feeling very excited to drive down to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. I will make sure to write a little post with some pictures of the wedding after we get back.
But in the meantime, how about some fall term highlights?
Worship Team
One of my goals this year was to start a worship team of mostly freshmen. So at our first large group I gave an invitation for people to come and talk to me if they were interested. Now, a few weeks later, there are four new freshmen on the team!
We meet a couple times a week to hang out, study Scripture, and practice some music. I really enjoy working with these new students who are eager to learn.
So keep the team in your prayers! Danny, Sean, Reina, Marlie, Nic, and Alex.
On-Campus Bible Studies
One of the first passages of Scripture our on-campus Bible studies read was the story of the Woman at the well from John 4. They noticed how Jesus intentionally put himself where people who needed him would be.
The Bible Study members thought this would be a great way to apply the story. So that thursday, they stayed up late and made pancakes for the people who were coming back from parties. Why pancakes? Well, firstly, they are delicious. Secondively, they help the hangover not be as bad the next day.
 |
| Austin and Krystal getting ready to make some pancakes! |
Pray that these Bible Studies continue to "play Jesus" to the people in their halls.
Off-Campus Bible Study
Andrea has been leading the off-campus Bible Study through the Gospel of Mark. They students are loving it! One of the most exciting things about this group is that there are a good chunk of non-Christians who are regular attenders. One of them even hosted the whole group last week!
Andrea is madly in love with this group of students. Don't tell her I said that.
Pray that this off-campus group becomes a place where people make decisions to follow Jesus for the first time!
-------
Fall Conference is coming up in just under two weeks! We are hoping to have 60-70 people come along. Pray for the conference and pray that God does amazing things while we are there.
The next time I write for this blog, I will be a married man. Nice.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Embracing the "New."
Today is the first day of classes for thousands of students at Oregon State. Many of them, especially the freshmen, will tentatively take their seats and await instruction. What they will find is that the first day of school is usually pretty boring.
The word of the day? Syllabus.
Here it is used in a sentence: On the first day of class, all you will talk about is the Syllabus.
But things have been anything but boring for InterVarsity. For the last two weeks, we have been running hard preparing and meeting the new students. Here is a quick list of all we have done:
This Friday is our first Large Group. We call it "Awake." I will be speaking and giving an invitation into the Kingdom. Pray for us!
Pictures!
Here are some pictures from New Student Outreach.
Reflection
The title of this post is "Embracing the New."
I chose that because coming in to this school year, there are a lot of things that are new. What's that? You wanted another list? Great!
And I figure that the best thing to do is to just embrace it with big open arms.
The word of the day? Syllabus.
Here it is used in a sentence: On the first day of class, all you will talk about is the Syllabus.
But things have been anything but boring for InterVarsity. For the last two weeks, we have been running hard preparing and meeting the new students. Here is a quick list of all we have done:
- Mustard Seed Retreat: All of our leaders gathered in Corvallis for four days for Scripture study (Ephesians), telling our stories, playing at the beach, tons of board games, and training for New Student Outreach.
- Capture the Flag: Last Monday we invited every person we could to a massive game of capture the flag. The students led this with little to no staff help and had about 130 people show up.
- The Red Cup: We set up a tent at the new student picnic and had spiritual conversations with people for almost three hours. All of our leaders participated and we had over 100 people sign cards so we could follow up with them!
- 70-foot Banana Split: Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. We invited the new people who showed up to help scoop ice cream. It was awesome.
- Then several days of following up with all the people we met at those events.
This Friday is our first Large Group. We call it "Awake." I will be speaking and giving an invitation into the Kingdom. Pray for us!
Pictures!
Here are some pictures from New Student Outreach.
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| Leader's Team @ The Beach. Lookin' good! |
 | |
| Studying Ephesians. |
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| Andrea & I training students. |
 | ||||
| The Red Cup Tent. What are you thirsty for? |
Reflection
The title of this post is "Embracing the New."
I chose that because coming in to this school year, there are a lot of things that are new. What's that? You wanted another list? Great!
- New Staff. My Fiancé, Andrea, moved out from St. Louis and is now on the OSU staff team. She is extremely gifted and the students love her. Also, Michael got married to Dawn in the Summer and now she has joined the staff team. So many new staff!
- New House. For the last five years I have lived in the same house two blocks from campus. But with marriage on the horizon, the time had come to move on. I now live in an apartment about a mile and a half from campus. It is a weird feeling being in a new place and living by myself. Luckily I won't be there alone for very long. The wedding is in November. Only 47 more days!
- New Leaders: Last year, a lot of great leaders graduated. This year, a lot of new leaders have stepped up to take their place. The team has a different feel but I have loved watching the new ones dive in and meet the new freshmen.
- New Structures: In order to maximize our staff team and leaders, we have decided to split into three smaller groups. Dawn and Michael will be leading all the on-campus Bible Study leaders, Andrea will be leading the off-campus ones, and I will be leading the worship team and large group.
And I figure that the best thing to do is to just embrace it with big open arms.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The F-Word
Hi everyone.
Let me just be upfront and say that I am not writing tonight to talk about all the great things that have happened this year, though there is much to celebrate.
I want to share with you some things that I am really struggling with. And I mean REALLY struggling with.
Fundraising.
This has never been my strong suit on staff with IVCF. I would go so far as to say it is my Achilles' Heel. I can probably count on one hand the times I've approached fundraising with a sense of excitement and hope. Most of the time it makes me want to crawl into bed and wish it would all just go away.
But it is a part of this ministry. And it is more than just a necessary evil. The people who support this ministry do so out of joy and excitement about what God is doing here at OSU. They are happy to be a part of it. I have been told many times that fundraising is a ministry TO those who give.
But I have a really hard time believing that.
And I have an even harder time believing that I will ever be fully funded.
In the seven years I have been on staff, I have only briefly been 75% funded. Most of the time I hover in the mid-60's.
Now my budget is going up. Next year I will be responsible for raising $4,481 per month. That is about $1,900 more per month than I am currently raising. And on top of that, my fiance, Andrea, is also raising support. She will have the same budget as me but needs about $1,200 more per month. This comes to a grand total of $3,100 per month that we will need to raise to be fully funded.
Our combined budget will be over $100,000 per year.
That feels impossible.
Totally. Impossible.
I want to be clear, I am not writing this as an ask for money. I am simply sharing with you how overwhelmed, scared, and inadequate this makes me feel. I don't think I can do it.
Leading worship, speaking at large groups, having fun during New Student Outreach, studying Scripture with students, these things make me feel like I am a part of something great.
Fundraising makes me feel like a failure.
What I am asking is that you pray. Pray for this ministry. Pray for me to have the courage to keep going. Pray for people who are willing and able to support us to come out of the woodwork. Pray that God would meet me with some amazing grace in the midst of my freaking out.
I don't need cliches. I don't even need comforting words. I need Jesus.
Let me just be upfront and say that I am not writing tonight to talk about all the great things that have happened this year, though there is much to celebrate.
I want to share with you some things that I am really struggling with. And I mean REALLY struggling with.
Fundraising.
This has never been my strong suit on staff with IVCF. I would go so far as to say it is my Achilles' Heel. I can probably count on one hand the times I've approached fundraising with a sense of excitement and hope. Most of the time it makes me want to crawl into bed and wish it would all just go away.
But it is a part of this ministry. And it is more than just a necessary evil. The people who support this ministry do so out of joy and excitement about what God is doing here at OSU. They are happy to be a part of it. I have been told many times that fundraising is a ministry TO those who give.
But I have a really hard time believing that.
And I have an even harder time believing that I will ever be fully funded.
In the seven years I have been on staff, I have only briefly been 75% funded. Most of the time I hover in the mid-60's.
Now my budget is going up. Next year I will be responsible for raising $4,481 per month. That is about $1,900 more per month than I am currently raising. And on top of that, my fiance, Andrea, is also raising support. She will have the same budget as me but needs about $1,200 more per month. This comes to a grand total of $3,100 per month that we will need to raise to be fully funded.
Our combined budget will be over $100,000 per year.
That feels impossible.
Totally. Impossible.
I want to be clear, I am not writing this as an ask for money. I am simply sharing with you how overwhelmed, scared, and inadequate this makes me feel. I don't think I can do it.
Leading worship, speaking at large groups, having fun during New Student Outreach, studying Scripture with students, these things make me feel like I am a part of something great.
Fundraising makes me feel like a failure.
What I am asking is that you pray. Pray for this ministry. Pray for me to have the courage to keep going. Pray for people who are willing and able to support us to come out of the woodwork. Pray that God would meet me with some amazing grace in the midst of my freaking out.
I don't need cliches. I don't even need comforting words. I need Jesus.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Finishing Well
Before I start I just want to share a song with you that I heard at my church on Resurrection Sunday. It was great and I wanted you to get a chance to hear it. So if you have five minutes it will be worth your time.
Love it! It totally makes me cry. He is Risen!
Finishing Well
I am sure I have written about this before, but now that Spring Term has begun, there is a huge temptation to coast till the end of the year. We think to ourselves that if we can just get through then we can rest in the summer. I feel this and so do the students. So we came up with a way to try and fight it.
We made commitments.
At our large group we talked about what it meant to finish well. Then everyone made a commitment to run hard toward the finish and not coast. They committed to reaching out to their neighbors, reading Scripture more regularly, loving their roommates and so on.
I committed to hanging out with 5 students each week. I know that sounds silly as it is a huge part of my job but I can very easily get caught up in all kinds of other (important and not important) stuff that takes my focus away from actually being with students and loving them. There are meetings to attend. There are messages to write. There are errands to run and details to take care of.
I can get so caught up in these that I never get around to spending an hour with a student for lunch, asking them how they are doing and where they have been encountering God. I can forget to just go be with them as they hang out with other students in their dorms or apartments. So pray for me as I try to uphold my commitment.
Big News
Well, no sense in beating around the bush: I am engaged! I don't have the time to tell you the whole story but I will and trust me, it's a good one!
Andrea and I will be getting married in November but before that she will be moving out to Corvallis and will join the staff team at OSU. Hooray for new staff partners! (Who also will become your life partners!) She is amazing and you can read about her ministry here and read her personal blog here.
And another exciting development is that my current staff partner, Michael, just got engaged to his girlfriend, Dawn. She is also on staff with InterVarsity and will also be joining the team at OSU next year. Hooray for doubling the size of the staff team!
As you can probably guess, this is a pretty exciting time for all of us. But we know that all the transitions and changes are going to be difficult. Pray for us as we navigate these new waters.
Summit
And finally, Summit is coming up. Two weeks in Portland after school gets out. We will be living the Jesus way in an intentional community: praying, studying scripture, and loving the poor. It is always an amazing time and we are hoping to have 15-20 OSU students go.
That feels like a lot to me but I believe it is possible. Pray that God moves in the hearts of the students and encourages them to go.
"13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 3:13-14
One Final note:
I have started a blog where I am working my way through the whole Bible. It is a pretty ambitious project but you are welcome to follow along or join in. It is called The Whole Dang Thing.
Love it! It totally makes me cry. He is Risen!
Finishing Well
I am sure I have written about this before, but now that Spring Term has begun, there is a huge temptation to coast till the end of the year. We think to ourselves that if we can just get through then we can rest in the summer. I feel this and so do the students. So we came up with a way to try and fight it.
We made commitments.
At our large group we talked about what it meant to finish well. Then everyone made a commitment to run hard toward the finish and not coast. They committed to reaching out to their neighbors, reading Scripture more regularly, loving their roommates and so on.
I committed to hanging out with 5 students each week. I know that sounds silly as it is a huge part of my job but I can very easily get caught up in all kinds of other (important and not important) stuff that takes my focus away from actually being with students and loving them. There are meetings to attend. There are messages to write. There are errands to run and details to take care of.
I can get so caught up in these that I never get around to spending an hour with a student for lunch, asking them how they are doing and where they have been encountering God. I can forget to just go be with them as they hang out with other students in their dorms or apartments. So pray for me as I try to uphold my commitment.
Big News
Well, no sense in beating around the bush: I am engaged! I don't have the time to tell you the whole story but I will and trust me, it's a good one!
And another exciting development is that my current staff partner, Michael, just got engaged to his girlfriend, Dawn. She is also on staff with InterVarsity and will also be joining the team at OSU next year. Hooray for doubling the size of the staff team!
As you can probably guess, this is a pretty exciting time for all of us. But we know that all the transitions and changes are going to be difficult. Pray for us as we navigate these new waters.
Summit
And finally, Summit is coming up. Two weeks in Portland after school gets out. We will be living the Jesus way in an intentional community: praying, studying scripture, and loving the poor. It is always an amazing time and we are hoping to have 15-20 OSU students go.
That feels like a lot to me but I believe it is possible. Pray that God moves in the hearts of the students and encourages them to go.
"13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 3:13-14
One Final note:
I have started a blog where I am working my way through the whole Bible. It is a pretty ambitious project but you are welcome to follow along or join in. It is called The Whole Dang Thing.
Friday, February 25, 2011
It's Been a Good Week.
Just a heads-up, I am going to put a lot of pictures in this one. The first one was the view from my front porch in Corvallis yesterday. Crazy.
Next I would like to catch you up on some things that have happened in the last week. And what a week it has been.
First off: Last weekend was our annual Winter Conference (or WinCo) in Portland. We took around 50 students to the city for a couple days of bathing in Jesus. That may seem like a weird thing to say but that is honestly what it felt like.
I had the honor of leading the conference in worship and it was so much fun. I loved being with the team and seeing all the students learn to cut loose in worship.
Our speaker, Ram Sridharan, preached the Word from the book of Joshua. It was an unusual choice for a conference text, but wow. God spoke through his word powerfully. From the story of Rahab in Joshua 2, we heard the story of how God transforms people. Rahab the prostitute becomes a hero of Israel. The spies are transformed into ambassadors of God. Enemies become friends and death becomes life. Students responded to the Gospel and we saw many people make first time commitments.
And then we saw regular college students transformed into powerful communicators of the Gospel.
As an application for the conference, students were invited to take part in an outreach at Oregon State this Wednesday. They were trained in how to share the Gospel with people and invite them to become followers of Jesus.
We set up interactive stations around campus that asked the question: How has evil invaded your space.
It was crazy to see students go for it and invite people to respond to the Gospel. at the end of the day we had 11 people who had decided to follow Jesus for the first time! ELEVEN!!!! What?! It was crazy!
It is amazing to see what happens when students decide to act courageously and invite their friends to respond to Jesus. People are way closer to it than we might think! Here are some pictures of people at the stations.
Now we are in the process of following up with those people and others who talked to us at the station. I could tell you a story about it but I think Fredrick could do it better. He and a guy named Montoya (who also had an incredibly significant experience at WinCo) went to do some follow-up.
I have some Good News to share, Montoya led one of the girls who had interacted at the proxy station to recommit her life to Christ tonight!!! I think that it was one of the craziest and weirdest interactions that I have ever had the opportunity to witness, but Jesus is totally doing a work in peoples' lives here on campus, and He used us today. The girl said that the proxy station was just what she needed to see Jesus and what she had been praying for!! Praise Jesus!!! :D
quick encouragement...as Montoya and I were talking with this girl...her dorm neighbor sitting at the same table said that she wanted to find out more about God too and wants to go to church...but it doesn't stop there, as we talking and praying 5 or 6 more girls on the same floor came flooding into the room, caught onto what we were talking about and all joined in. I don't know what Jesus is doing, but I do know that He is moving in people and people want to talk about Him...SO KEEP IT UP BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!!!!!
Love you brothers and sisters!!!
That is about as good as it gets right there!
Please be praying for us as we follow up with all the students who talked to us at the stations. We believe that God isn't done yet!
Next I would like to catch you up on some things that have happened in the last week. And what a week it has been.
First off: Last weekend was our annual Winter Conference (or WinCo) in Portland. We took around 50 students to the city for a couple days of bathing in Jesus. That may seem like a weird thing to say but that is honestly what it felt like.
I had the honor of leading the conference in worship and it was so much fun. I loved being with the team and seeing all the students learn to cut loose in worship.
Our speaker, Ram Sridharan, preached the Word from the book of Joshua. It was an unusual choice for a conference text, but wow. God spoke through his word powerfully. From the story of Rahab in Joshua 2, we heard the story of how God transforms people. Rahab the prostitute becomes a hero of Israel. The spies are transformed into ambassadors of God. Enemies become friends and death becomes life. Students responded to the Gospel and we saw many people make first time commitments.
And then we saw regular college students transformed into powerful communicators of the Gospel.
As an application for the conference, students were invited to take part in an outreach at Oregon State this Wednesday. They were trained in how to share the Gospel with people and invite them to become followers of Jesus.
We set up interactive stations around campus that asked the question: How has evil invaded your space.
It was crazy to see students go for it and invite people to respond to the Gospel. at the end of the day we had 11 people who had decided to follow Jesus for the first time! ELEVEN!!!! What?! It was crazy!
It is amazing to see what happens when students decide to act courageously and invite their friends to respond to Jesus. People are way closer to it than we might think! Here are some pictures of people at the stations.
Now we are in the process of following up with those people and others who talked to us at the station. I could tell you a story about it but I think Fredrick could do it better. He and a guy named Montoya (who also had an incredibly significant experience at WinCo) went to do some follow-up.
I have some Good News to share, Montoya led one of the girls who had interacted at the proxy station to recommit her life to Christ tonight!!! I think that it was one of the craziest and weirdest interactions that I have ever had the opportunity to witness, but Jesus is totally doing a work in peoples' lives here on campus, and He used us today. The girl said that the proxy station was just what she needed to see Jesus and what she had been praying for!! Praise Jesus!!! :D
quick encouragement...as Montoya and I were talking with this girl...her dorm neighbor sitting at the same table said that she wanted to find out more about God too and wants to go to church...but it doesn't stop there, as we talking and praying 5 or 6 more girls on the same floor came flooding into the room, caught onto what we were talking about and all joined in. I don't know what Jesus is doing, but I do know that He is moving in people and people want to talk about Him...SO KEEP IT UP BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!!!!!
Love you brothers and sisters!!!
That is about as good as it gets right there!
Please be praying for us as we follow up with all the students who talked to us at the stations. We believe that God isn't done yet!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
An's Story
Here is a video of An's testimony. This was shown at the IV National Staff Conference in St. Louis last week. Enjoy!
An from InterVarsity-twentyonehundred on Vimeo.
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