Many students ponder answers to life’s big questions, although they wouldn’t necessarily admit it. The Big Ask is the name of a video series that we’re going to be using in the second semester to create discussion on some of these questions. Things like “Where’s God in all the suffering we see?” is an example of an issue that’s tackled by the three interviewed in the videos – Rob Bell, Lee Strobel and Philip Yancey (they’re interviewed by New Zealand’s own Rob Harley).

Our course is going to be run over several weeks, and like the Alpha course that you may be familiar with, this is a great place for students to bring their non-Christian friends along to, where they can feel safe to ask questions. Starting on the 6th of August, we’ll be running this each week with a light meal, showing the video, and then breaking off into discussion groups. The point is not to “give all the answers” to those who attend. Rather, we’ll pull back a bit on this front; through the relationships that we establish, we can answer questions in a more personal setting.

While we will be doing a big advertising campaign on campus, we’d like our students to bring along their non-Christian friends. Pray that they’ll be prompted by the Holy Spirit about those who they can ask to come along with them.

There’s a promo video available online for The Big Ask.

I.D. is Student Life’s conference for 2009. It’s a regional thing, with both a North and South Island event taking place. It’s one of my highlights every year! Along with students from Auckland (both Auckland Uni and Massey), we’re also going to see students from Waikato and Wellington attend. The conference is a great opportunity not only for students to be discipled and learn how to apply evangelism to their context, it’s also a great place for them to meet students from other campuses and make lasting friendships!

It is more than likely — and I’ve seen this time and time again — that a student who attends this conference will see their life changed. Students come away with a new/renewed sense of vision for the Kingdom of God; they want to honour God with their own lives, and as a part of that, take opportunities to share it with those that matter to them! They’ll come away with a vision that is bigger than just for their campus. (Although that it important too!)

The North Island conference runs from 1-8 July (for staff), it’s at Totara Springs. We’ve been busy preparing for the last few weeks (and months in some cases). My jobs include filming/editing video, photography, first aid, and a talk to senior students on full time Christian service. Of these, the filming/video editing and preparing my talk are taking up most of my time beforehand, the others during. Please pray that I can get everything done to a good standard, and done on time!

Please pray especially for students, that God will work in their hearts, both in preparation for and during the conference. Please pray for safe travel for everyone! Please also pray that swine flu will not be an issue for us at this conference. We are of course taking measures to prevent and deal with anything that arises, but with 200 people in a single location, there is potential for a major problem here.

Your prayers are appreciated!

I’m currently reading: Wicked, Into the Storm (for something a bit different), Spirit Controlled Temperament (I plan to do a review on this at some point) and Psalms.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’m trying twitter. Follow me?

1. In books and movies, it’s not uncommon to see people riding/driving/sailing off into the sunset at the end. But if you’ve ever driven facing the setting sun, you’ll know how annoying it is; you can’t see a thing! Perhaps they have really good sunglasses?
2. There are some things that can’t be very good when had from a vending machine. I’m willing to bet that pizza is one of them.
3. It’s time for me to get a haircut again. I often wish that I could ‘freeze’ my hair in place after I’ve had it cut, so that I didn’t need to get it cut again. On the upside, I do find getting a haircut somewhat relaxing.

The first semester at University means it’s Tune In time! This is a campaign where we ask students to fill in a small postcard sized questionnaire, with four questions on it.

The fourth question asks “Would you like to know more about tuning into a relationship with God?”; possible answers are ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘maybe’. Approximately 3,000 students fill out one of these cards, and around 2,000 students say ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ to this question! That’s 2,000 people who we can potentially share the gospel with, as soon as the year starts!

We give each of these people a phone call, and organise a time to meet them on campus. We give them a magazine (pictured), and talk through the article on tuning into a relationship with God with them (there are also articles on studying, relationships, and life’s big questions).

Praise God for this great opportunity, and pray that the students who we’ve been able to share the gospel with this term will keep thinking about what we’ve shared with them! Praise God for the 13 students who have received Christ at Auckland University through this campaign in the last few weeks, and pray for their continued growth in their walk with God!

Auckland Student Life’s Download is a weekend retreat held every year at the end of the first term, and it’s coming up this weekend! Download has two purposes:

1. To provide an opportunity for students to get to know each other better. Often students who have just got involved with Student Life have only met the students in their Action Group (bible study), and perhaps a few others. This gives them a chance to see a piece of the wider movement!
2. We get a chance to communicate the vision of Student Life to those who are thinking about being involved, or who have been hanging around the fringes somewhat. We’ll challenge them to be involved!

Please pray that the weekend goes well. Specifically, pray that we can get a good amount of students along, that they have fun, and feel both challenged and welcomed! Please pray for me as I prepare to give a talk about the vision of Student Life. Pray that I can challenge students effectively!

1. Our pantry has a light that comes on when you open the door. I think whoever came up with the idea of a pantry light had the midnight-snack in mind. I often have a midnight-snack in mind.
2. The more time I spend driving in Auckland, the more impatient I find myself becoming. Or at least that’s my excuse.
3. Can anyone convince me to use twitter? I really don’t see how it would benefit me (I can see how it’s useful to some people). Here’s a funny-yet-semi-serious video about twitter.

Back to a world with an Internet connection again, after moving house recently. Took a while longer than I’d hoped, due to some complications with our phone line. Anyway, now you can expect some more content here in the near future.

I’m in the process of moving house at the moment, so Internet access is limited for a while. If you send me a message by email or some other electronic means, then please be patient for a response. Thanks!