Jon's Epistle

Sabbatical Prayer Points

2010-06-15T23:46:00.003-05:00

As our family heads into sabbatical, I'd appreciate your prayers on a few key points:

For a SEASON OF SHALOM for our family. It’s an incredible gift to have this sabbatical fall at this stage of our lives (Elijah will be 4 in a month, and Abby’s officially 2!), and it would be the grace of God if we could experience his “shalom” during this season, particularly from some of the externals which have proven challenging.
For RICH REFLECTION as I give myself in a more concentrated way to reading, study, and hopefully writing. I’m hoping to focus my attention on the twin themes of movement leadership and missional planting, and am excited for the ways this study might bear fruit in future seasons. It’s thoroughly healthy for my soul to read and think, but it’s been a while since I’ve done so in significant ways, so I’ll need to learn how to be a student again, and would appreciate a keen and attentive mind/spirit.
For MY ONGOING FUNDING as it's very likely that my budget will be increasing for the upcoming ministry year. I'm so grateful for those of you have given faithfully down through the years, and will be looking to build an even wider donor base for the next season!

Again, if you have questions, please let me know, and thanks in advance for your partnership!

A Sabbath Rest

2010-06-15T23:34:00.002-05:00

Hello Everyone!

I’ve never written an update quite like this one, as this is my final letter before my family and I get to enjoy a six-month sabbatical (June 21-December 12)! I'm in the final week of tying up loose ends, so obviously wanted to lte you all know what was coming down the pipe!

As we increasingly understand ourselves as a missionary movement, InterVarsity is pushing its staff to embrace the practice of intentional sabbath every eight to ten years. I just completed my eighth year of service, and so my time has come!

Starting next week, I’ll be handing over my ministry responsibilities to my Associate Area Director (Kathy Haug) who will serve in my place through the fall semester. (Pray for her!) :-)

During the time, I’ll be giving myself more fully to some “change of pace” activities, including increased time with my family, more focused times of personal spiritual formation, reading and study, traveling and fun, and also some discernment as to what the next season of ministry holds after sabbatical is over.

I’m certainly excited for the time, but more so I find myself humbled to have such an incredible privilege and a bit uncertain as to what life will look like when I’m not giving my life to serving and leading students and staff. I’m confident it will be a significant time, and I long to steward the gift as well as I possibly can.

So, one last time before I go, let me say thank you again. To do this job and witness the movement of God on campuses is one of the most profound blessings of my life, and it’s your support and prayers that have made it possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Grace and Peace!

Surfing a Jesus Wave

2010-05-06T15:31:00.002-05:00

At the risk of sounding redundant, I’m excited to say that I’ve never experienced a more fruitful year of ministry!

Honestly, last year was a great year for our work across Iowa--we were growing our impact, seeing more students start to follow Jesus, and our planting vision was gaining momentum. I entered into this year cautiously hopeful that the momentum wasn’t an anomaly, but that God really was on the move. At the end of this year, the verdict is in, and God has once again exceeded our expectations!

As you can imagine, measuring “success” in ministry can be tricky business. Individual stories can give a glimpse of the larger movement but sometimes miss the “big picture”. Numbers and data help us see trends, but don’t have names and faces, so they too tell only part of the story. For this “year-end report”, I’d like to give you a taste of both. Real stories of real students and staff who are being transformed by Jesus, and real data to help give you a sense for the larger move of God we are experiencing. I hope it produces as much gratitude in you as it has in me as I’ve sought to steward your investment and this movement.

Planting at Iowa

2010-05-06T15:21:00.001-05:00

When I became Area Director, our work at the three state schools of Iowa (U of I, ISU, and UNI) was in a state of disrepair. Two of the three chapters had closed, and the other involved only a few students (despite our efforts), but I believe this year marked the turning of the tide.

Sherami Hinders and Tony Gatewood answered the call of God to go back to the University of Iowa last spring, and by God’s grace, they’ve been a part of one of the most successful chapter plants in the country!

Their vision was to plant a new chapter that was multiethnic and missional, and we’ve rejoiced together as that vision has materialized in powerful ways. After only one year on campus, over 75 students are involved with their fellowship, and they saw 11 students start to follow Jesus (two in the last week alone)!

...And Building at UNI

2010-05-06T15:20:00.002-05:00

Rachel Danley and our students at UNI have enjoyed an unprecedented year of growth as they’ve sought to rebuild the chapter there. For years, the group had languished between 30-40 students, but as Rachel’s vision for the 10,000 unreached students at UNI has taken root, the chapter has grown in leaps and bounds. They catalyzed a week of 24.7 prayer for the campus, planted new cells in previously unreached corners of the campus, and had a front row seat for incredible generational conversions as students who started following Jesus became witnesses to entirely new friend groups and saw their friends join them in following Jesus.

All told, the chapter at UNI has grown 105% in the last two years, now involving 84 students, and they saw an incredible 19 students start following Jesus this year!

A Planting Movement

2010-05-06T15:19:00.000-05:00

The “bread and butter” of our ministry on campus is not to be found in large worship services with bands and flashy speakers; it’s found in the dorm rooms, union cafes, and lounges of the campus, where student-led cell groups (aka, missional bible studies) meet to dive into the scriptures and then bear witness to dorms and “people groups” of the campus. There are literally hundreds of stories I could share, but here’s a few of my favorites.

At Central College, we challenged our core students to invite their non-Christian friends to discuss the gospel stories of Jesus with them for four weeks and more than 20 students decided to take the risk. Of the 25 non-Christians who were asked, and astounding 22 said they’d be interested and met with our students to ask, seek, and knock together around the Word of God!
At Drake, a student named Beth Ann (who’s also coming on staff next year!) felt called by God to start a cell in her sorority house. By the mid-point in the semester, she had 40 girls who had attended at least one discussion, and new cells were beginning in the other three sororities at Drake!
At UNI, two music majors who were in Ethiopia last summer decided to plant a new cell in the music department (a largely untouched pocket of the campus). Momentum has grown throughout the year as they’ve been faithful in prayer and invitation, and Jesus used that cell to bring three more students into relationship with Him (I got word of the third only two weeks ago!)

What it's all about...

2010-05-06T15:17:00.001-05:00

At the end of the day, we do what we do to see the lives of students transformed: from darkness to light, from being lost to being found, from death to life. Virtually every story I’ve told this year has been a story of conversion, and praise God, there have been dozens of stories to share.

There was Evan from UNI who gave his life to Jesus on a Monday and gave his first sermon six days later on Sunday, calling his peers to trust Jesus.

There was Sierra, who emailed our staff in September saying, “I’m looking for God, but can’t find him, can you help me?” and stood to receive Jesus later that month.

I think of the student at Central who finally chose Jesus after doing three bible studies a week with one of our student leaders.

There’s the seeking student who told our staff, “I think I actually felt God. I don’t know what He feels like, but it was really nice. I felt so loved and literally warm.”

Then, there’s the international student who went from skeptical to following Jesus in a week and now wants to change her major to law so she can be a part of bringing God’s justice in the world.

I’ve got a folder in my email called “Sweet Stories” and at the end of this year, I count 83 messages there, each bearing witness to the God who has been and will continue to be at work on campus long after I’ve written my last prayer letter.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. I Cor. 3.7

Ah, family life

2010-03-03T16:03:00.005-06:00

Here's a couple snapshots of life in the Hietbrink home these days...enjoy!

You Prayed and God Answered!

2010-03-03T15:55:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone,

Last week Thursday, I asked you all to pray for a gathering at UNI where our staff, Rachel Danley, was going to make an invitation to start following Jesus, and God answered!

10 students checked the box indicating they wanted to have a conversation about following Jesus!
40 students committed to living for God’s mission on campus
28 students checked that they wanted to explore overseas missions
57 students committed to being a part of localized prayer groups across campus

We are in the process of following up with each of these folks personally to help them understand and follow through with the decisions they’ve made, but it’s safe to say that God was profoundly at work through your prayers, thank you!

Now, on to another prayer request...my associate (Kathy Haug) and I are in the process of interviewing 9 different candidates for IV staff positions across the state and our region and hope to make decisions in the next week or so. As you can imagine, these are important and complicated decisions (the most significant decisions I make as an Area Director), so I covet God’s wisdom in knowing how to steward these lives and allocate staff strategically.

Grateful for your partnership!
Jon

Welcome to the Family

2010-02-09T16:14:00.003-06:00

Another post, another blizzard--

Two stories for you today, both of which relate to Asian International Students from the first two weeks of school...

From Steph Schmaltz at Drake University:

"Alice" was a student who came to Drake at the beginning of the year. She asked the director of the International Student office if there was anyone who could teach her about the Bible. I know the director, so she connected the two of us.

Alice and I met up once and it looked a like a great opportunity to do a GIG, so we started to meet more regularly. As time went on it became more clear that Alice was more interested in the Bible as a way to learn about western culture and so the spiritual components I was trying to hit weren't as appealing to her. We kept in contact throughout the semester, but I was a little disappointed to say the least.

I ran into Alice at the second semester Activities Fair and she came rushing up to me, gave me a huge hug and said she wanted to get together because she had some things she needed to tell me. I obviously agreed to meet up with her and so we did just yesterday. I went to Alice's apartment and she began to tell me that she has been going to church for the past month and about a conversation she had a with a former Drake student who is a Christian. She then mentioned how along with our Bible studies first semester and the things that had been going on her life lately, she realized that God was not just something that influenced western culture. She said that she doesn't want to be the center of her life, but wants God to be the center of her life and she wants to follow Him and only Him!

At this point I began to tear up. First semester I was so hopeful for Alice to know Jesus, but was really disappointed when it felt like our GIG went no where. But there in her apartment, Alice thanked me for beginning to open her eyes to the spiritual components of the Bible because that is when she said she first started to wonder if there was something more to Christianity. She said her life feels different now and she has a peace she has never experienced before. She said, "I can't explain it logically, but my life I know is changed forever." Sunday afternoons Alice and I are going to meet to study scripture and learn more about what it means to be a Christian.

From Brian Smith at the University of Iowa:

My first bible study occurred this thursday-- I'm leading a bible study in the Asian Pacific American Cultural center, and it has been slow... As in, never getting more than 2 people there slow. However, I started sensing some change in momentum this semester, and students started to say yes. In particular, one senior student named Amber had been talking about inviting her room mate, a seeker student from Asia. Amber had been consistently inviting her roommate the entire past semester with no success, and I had been praying for the past semester that God would bring conversion in her life.

When I heard that 3 of the students who had expressed interest in my bible study (including one of the two regulars from last semester) were not coming to bible study, I wasn't sure what to expect. But... when I arrived at Bible study last night, I was surprised to see 4 students, and the first thing Amber said to me was: "Brian, we have good news!" Her room mate had just recently committed her life to Christ. She participated in the bible study, and had some of the more insightful comments of the group (not surprisingly).

Amazing that God works to bring transformation to people as we pray, even before we meet some of our students. Praise God that He is starting a student movement at Iowa, and that students are taking initiative and ownership of the movement.

THIS IS THE POWER OF COLLEGE MINISTRY. Not only do students carry incredible power in witness to their friends, both of these new sisters are from "closed" countries, but when they return, they will return not just having studied in America, but with the Holy Spirit empowering them to bear witness FROM WITHIN THE WALLS OF CLOSED COUNTRIES (places where you or I could have virtually no direct impact!)

Praying for GIGs...

2010-01-26T13:01:00.003-06:00

Hi Everyone,

See the next post for an incredible story of God's work among Greek students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, but for now, I wanted to invite you to be praying with me as we start this semester for a couple really key points. Perhaps you'd be willing to pray once a day for the following two things or on a particular day of the week (like Tuesday, for insteance) through the month of February and March...

One of our key initiatives on campus is to invite our current students to consider leading scripture discussion groups for their friends who aren't following Jesus (we call them Groups Investigating God--GIGs). Many of our campuses will be launching major GIG initiatives in the weeks before Spring Break. I'm praying for 30+ GIGs to happen all over the state, so please join me in praying that GOD WOULD SEND OUT STUDENTS INTO HIS HARVEST FIELD (LUKE 10:2).
GIGs are a terrific way both for students to own their faith with their friends, but even moreso for students who aren't following Jesus to see him in new ways that they might give their lives to him! Please join me in praying that GOD WOULD OPEN EYES TO SEE THE GOSPEL (II Cor. 4:4) of these students and that A GREAT NUMBER WOULD BELIEVE AND TURN TO THE LORD! (Acts 11.24)

Thanks everyone, I can't wait to share stories of how God answers your prayers!

With Great Expectancy,
Jon

UMSL?!?

2010-01-26T12:45:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone,

One of the unique privileges of my semester has been not only working on campuses across Iowa, but also getting the chance to coach a staff named Chioma Chukwu as she works to plant a new InterVarsity chapter at the University of Missouri- St. Louis (UMSL for short). We entered the year very uncertain about how things would go...UMSL is an almost entirely commuter campus, which makes it a very difficult place to start new ministry...sort of like trying to make deep friends at a truck stop (everyone is always on the go!)

Anyway, Chioma has been an absolute joy to work with, and God is blessing her efforts in dramatic ways. Here's an excerpt from her latest update about a move of God among Greek students on campus!!

As we entered last semester, Greeks were one of the target groups I was praying to reach and God has been answering that prayer! We had 8 students at Urbana and one of them was Emma, a sorority girl that grew up Catholic but had a lot of questions about her faith.... she was struggling with guilt for not knowing enough about God and scripture and also not being sure if she was a Christian...

At Urbana, we sat down to talk after lunch near the beginning of the week. She shared the same uncertainties she'd expressed earlier in the year that were being amplified. I asked her if she thought she had a relationship with Jesus and if so where it was at. She said she thought so, but was unsure. The next day when I had scheduled to meet with all 8 of them, one of the girls Haley ran up to me and said "Chioma, guess what? Tell her Emma!!" And Emma said, "I'm a Christian!"....We took time in our meeting to let her share her response to God...On top of that, she's totally willing to start a bible study in her sorority house! She's already made the announcement and there are girls that are interested in studying scripture with her....

Her good friend/sorority sister Kaitlin had come to our meetings too, but seemed uninterested in God. She is one of those girls that constantly makes fun of people and has an intimidating attitude, but God has been working in her. I was surprised she wasn't turned off by me and was open to deep conversations.

Since school started, I had been oddly nervous about tonight (Friday 1/22), our Back to School Party. I was not sure what to expect! I felt like it was going to be a bomb. Of course-God showed up hardcore.

I got in a group with Emma and Kaitlin. I asked them what was happening for them during worship and Katilin said "I just wish I could be a better person. I see all of the bad things I've done and I just feel so bad. It's so beautiful to see how people love God here." I got to share more about God's heart towards her as she teared up and I finally asked her, "Do you want to follow Jesus?" and she said yes!! So I told her what to ask Jesus for in her heart, I prayed, then she prayed and Emily was there too praying, and she became a believer!! We announced it to the whole group and everyone was SO excited! She burst out into tears, so we gathered around and laid hands on her praying for God's protection of her mind and heart... It was great that Emily was able to witness Kristen being lead to Christ. She told Kristen that she thinks "God did this on purpose. We were meant to be together on this journey." As she was crying too.

I LOVE that God is making UMSL an evangelistic community. It's honestly getting hard to have ANY meetings that involve only Christians because non-believers always want in. I also really love this because it reminds me of God's work of saving communities of people at a time and the power of prayer. He is SO good!!

HOW SWEET IS THAT?!

Grace and peace,
Jon

Urbana09

2010-01-07T16:42:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone,

As I write, we're in the middle of yet another blizzard here in Iowa (ugh). It's seemingly increasingly likely that we won't see the ground again until March, but such is life in the Midwest. :)

Another part of winter for IV staff workers is the Urbana student missions convention, which gathers about 20,000 students and staff from around the world every three years to St. Louis to focus on God's mission in the earth and our part in it. Because my fall was so busy, I was given the year off, but there is still much good to report!

First, I'm proud to share that one of my staff, Sherami Hinders, was invited to speak in the main convention hall on the last night in front of 16,000 folks!! She did an incredible job, and it was a rich privilege to see one of my staff honor God in such a profound way! I've pasted the video here for you all to enjoy!

Testimony: Sherami Hinders from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

Yesterday, I got an email from a fellow staff worker and dear friend named Fred Wagner. Fred has given his life to college students around the world, and was known affectionately during my time as a student at Central as "the living legend". He led my first trip to Mongolia, and he's been a rich blessing to my life. His email gave profound testimony to God's work at Urbana (300-400 students became Christians, and 4,500 pledged to invite a non-Christian friend to study the life of Jesus through John 1-4--unbelievable stuff!), so rather than try to reproduce it for myself, I asked his permission to share some excerpts, which he graciously granted. I've embedded a number of the talks he mentions in his report for your enjoyment! Here are a few highlights from the conference:

Dear Partners,

I doubt that any of you included the St. Louis water department in your prayers for Urbana, but, on the human side, the fate of the convention lay in their hands.

After a rousing first day a water main just outside entrance A of the Edward Jones Dome stadium burst. For the nearly 17,000 delegates the only obvious effect was longer exiting and entering lines via one less doorway. For the 24 hour prayer team it was a call to arms after learning that the water main serviced the entire sprinkler system in the stadium and the fire marshal decreed that "unless the pipes can be repaired within 10 hours I will have to close the stadium."

"Prayer is an act of spiritual defiance of what is, in response to what God has promised. The shape of the future will be determined by those who can survey all its possibilities and by faith grasp one as possible. History belongs to the intercessors, those who believe the future into being."

Sundar Krishnan, a pastor from Ontario, Canada proclaimed those words in what to me represented the meatiest address at Urbana….two days after faithful intercessors defied the broken pipe and believed that God wanted the Urbana Missions Conference to continue.

Pray Big and Pray Bold: Sunder Krishnan from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

If you have time for two webcasts then click on the address by Oscar Munriu, pastor of Nairobi Chapel in Kenya. "He dwelled among us" was the theme of Urbana 22, words from John 1:14, and Oscar unpacked the meaning of Jesus’ incarnation with a scorching comparison to the ways we do mission today. In 1910, 80% of Christendom was Caucasian. Today, 60% is non-white and we who have come to ascribe Divine sanction on our ways of doing mission need to hear from our African brethren if we ever hope to experience true partnership with the Church in developing nations.

Money and Power: Oscar Muriu from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

York Moore grew up in Detroit, met Jesus as an atheist philosophy major at the U of M and now serves as a national evangelist for InterVarsity. He was chosen to exposit John 3:1-21 on the third morning and he aimed his address at those who had not yet experienced new birth. (You might wonder why they would attend a missions conference. It is a part of the growing trend of spiritual journeying that first leads unsaved people to connect with a body of believers before they connect with Jesus). York spoke succinctly and powerfully and then asked those prepared to embrace Jesus to stand to their feet. Angels must have partied at the sight of between 300 and 400 on their feet….including some of the stadium workers who served as ushers. Later York asked those who stood to walk out to another room for ‘follow-up’ and 250 did so.

Altar Call: York Moore from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

There were other measurable evidences of God’s Spirit at work. Jim Tebbe challenged students to give sacrificially to an offering for God’s work outside of the US (and outside of IVCF). Students responded with an offering of nearly $900,000. For this Urbana the Missionary Decision Card was redesigned from a long list of commitments to just six; but, as always, there was a commitment entry to "join in God’s cross-cultural mission long term," and 2,500 students marked that category. In response to what has proven to be the most effective evangelistic tool throughout InterVarsity’s long history, there was a new entry, "I will invite a non-follower of Jesus to study John 1-4 with me." Over 4,500 students pledged to that step of action and I suspect that that number will easily double because on the last night, one day after the commitment service, IV president, Alec Hill, put the cookies on the bottom shelf.

"Don’t think you can defer being a missional Christian until after graduation. If you try, I guarantee that your passion will atrophy, your vision will blur, and your fire will burn low. God is less concerned with the commitments you made this week than your obedience right now….Let’s talk about your neighborhood….Sharing the Good News with a fellow student may be the most significant action you will ever take."

Alec then profiled four examples of IV students who shared Jesus with a fellow student and then revealed the long-term, ripple effect including the story of NYC pastor Tim Keller who 40 years ago was an obnoxious frosh (his words) at Bucknell and the IVers put up with all his questions and loved him into active faith.

Missions on Your Campus: Alec Hill from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

Year-End Giving

2009-12-10T23:39:00.001-06:00

Just a quick note for those of you who would like to make a year-end gift to support my ministry...

This fall has been an incredible season of fruitfulness, but I've done little by way of working on my funding base, so I'm hoping to help bolster by funding with some special year-end gifts. If you're interested in making a gift, you can do so by clicking on the link below, thanks in advance!

https://my.intervarsity.org/e6f16593fc5ac099cc27bf20c9014ead/designate.php?_qf_chooseAmount_display=true

I'll let some other folks do the talking...

2009-12-10T23:20:00.005-06:00

Hello again everyone,

The semester is winding down and the snow is piling up (ugh), but there's some more cool stories to share...this time written by other folks! Here's a few quick links of stories that have been written by/about our work across Iowa this fall!

A story off our national InterVarsity website about Ethan, a student at UNI who gave his life to Jesus in September: http://www.intervarsity.org/news/forgiven-in-full
A story off the website of 24.7 prayer (i.e., Red Moon Rising for those of you who have read that book), about our chapter at Central: http://campusamerica.org/stories/18
A story from the student newspaper at Drake University about our staff (Amy Schoepf) and chapter there: http://www.timesdelphic.com/2009/12/09/intervarsity-leader-uses-faith-in-work/
A collection of stories written by students from Central about how they used a $20 "reverse offering" (yes, we gave everyone who came $20!)...some very cool stories! http://20forchangecentral.blogspot.com/

It's actually been pretty rare that we've had other folks writing about God's work through our ministry so it's been a unique blessing to get to have our story be told on a greater scope, enjoy!

Grateful,
Jon

PS...One of my staff, Sherami Hinders (planting at the University of Iowa) will be giving a testimony at Urbana09 (http://www.urbana09.org/home.main.cfm) to 20,000 students on New Year's Eve (talk about pressure!) I'll post the video link of her testimony here after it's available! :)

KEEP COMING!

2009-11-04T14:32:00.006-06:00

Hello again!

Hard to believe it's November already; the fall has literally flown by as we've seen God continue to move on campuses across Iowa in powerful ways. Since I last wrote six weeks ago, WE'VE SEEN ANOTHER EIGHT STUDENTS START TO FOLLOW JESUS(!), the latest being an Asian international student at the University of Iowa last week!

Here's two stories from Drake University where I spoke on 9.30 (I asked you to pray for this night at the end of my last post...God answered your prayers!) Both stories are told by Amy Schoepf, our staffworker at Drake:

the first student who said yes is SALLY. she emailed me 3 weeks ago and said "I'M A FRESHMAN. I'M MISSING GOD IN MY LIFE. CAN YOU HELP ME FIND HIM?" anyway, she's been coming to all of our stuff since then and getting connected. 3 weeks later, she stands at an invitation to follow Jesus for the first time. i got to follow up with her after, and asked callie (brand new christian) to come with us. callie shared with sally how incredible it is to say yes to Jesus and how she'll never be the same and then she and i prayed with her to comitt her life to Jesus. also, she doesn't know any christianese yet--so her prayer was so delighfully simple. courtney is right, sally''s life will never be the same. and callie is ready to lead more people to jesus. :)

the second student is one who's been coming all year so far. KELSEY. she comes with her crew of friends and does the christian thing. to be honest, i didn't really know where she stood and her friends just assumed she was a christian (let this be a lesson to you amy schoepf and friends!). but she stood to say yes to Jesus for the first time. she was followed up with her friends after and when i arrived home from our large group that night i had an email waiting in my inbox from her. she explained that after jon's message she finally figured out "why" she's been coming to intervarsity. she explained that she'd never comitted her life to Jesus and saying yes to Him was "THE MOST POWERFUL FEELING I'VE EVER FELT." and here's the crazy part. that same morning she accepted a bid from a pharmacy fraternity on campus that meets every wednesday night at 9pm--beginning the very NEXT WEEK at 9. she's also an RA so she can't attend any small groups, etc. bc of scheduling. if jon had not been there that night, if he wouldn't have given the invitation he did...if it had been just one week later...KELSEY WOULDN'T EVEN HAVE BEEN IN THE ROOM.... wow...God's timing in so incredible huh?

UNBELIEVABLE HUH?! It's stories like this that fuel us through the ups and downs of campus ministry. God is so good.

There are more stories to share (in fact, what's happening in Iowa is starting to get national press...no really!), but I want to get to a couple special opportunities for you to join in with what God is doing through InterVarsity in Iowa.

First is a special event called $20 FOR CHANGE that we're going to be doing one week from tonight (11.11) at Central. The idea is simple: as a way to demonstrate the grassroots nature of God's Kingdom, we're going to be giving $20 bills to 100 students (think reverse offering), and asking them to commit to investing that money in the work of God's Kingdom on Campus. I can't wait to hear the stories.
Second is a scholarship program called REYBANA that we are running for Central students. Every three years, InterVarsity hosts a missions convention called Urbana (http://www.urbana09.org/) for 20,000 students from around the globe. This year, we're partnering with Campus ministries at Central (sponsors of a Christmas break mission trip to Reynosa) to offer a "2 for 1" deal to students who register for both experiences so they can have the experience of learning about missions and then doing missions in the same Christmas Break!

As you can imagine, these ideas are in need of some financial backing, so if you'd be willing to give $20, $50 or $100 to help us build the Kingdom through these programs, please let me know me at jon.hietbrink@gmail.com, and I'll get you more details!

Thankful,
Jon

A Jesus Outbreak

2009-09-27T23:36:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone!

I've never experienced a month quite like this one. Across the country, folks are worried about virus outbreaks on college campuses, but across Iowa, we've been experiencing an outbreak of a different sort- Jesus on the move! Here's the story...

After a first few weeks of class filled with meeting new students and caring for the whole campus, the movement got started in earnest at Drake University on September 5th...

That night, I had a text conversation with our staff, Amy Schoepf that went as follows:

Amy- "A student just became a Christian!! She agreed to share at IV on Wednesday"
Me- Wow!! That's awesome! What's her name?
Amy- Callie. Sweet story--she was really close in the spring but didn't fully commit. She and Audrey and I hung out last night-I brought it up and Audrey led her.
Amy- New Christian (Audrey stared following Jesus last spring) leads new student to Jesus :)
Me- So great-I'll look forward to hearing the full story!
Amy- Yep and she has three girls that come to IV with her who are all nominal Christians--so keep praying!!

Obviously, a great way to start the year, but this was only the start. On 9.9.09, (the same night Callie was sharing at Drake) at Central College, the story I've already shared below went down. I was speaking on the Prodigal Son out of Luke 15, and invited students to make a decision to follow Jesus. To my utter shock 30 students stood to signify their desire to follow Jesus. (Check out the "Unbelievable" post below for the whole story, it's worth a read!) The fruit of these decisions has continued to play out over the last two weeks in new Bible studies being started and additional outreach happening on campus (more on this below).

The next stage in the journey happened on 9.14 at the University of Northern Iowa. After hearing about what had happened at Central, our staff at UNI, Rachel Danley, invited me to make another call to faith at their Large Group, which I was happy to do. When I did so, another student (Evan) stood to mark his desire to give his life over to Jesus! (More on Evan Below!)

That weekend, on 9.18-20, my area staff team hosted FC09: Family Vacation (our annual fall student conference) for 130 students from around the state. I spoke on the final morning, again to give an invitation to faith, but as I was praying about it, I felt like I was supposed to ask Evan from UNI to give the talk with me (he had, after all been following Jesus for 5 days at that point!) So, I approached him to see if he'd be willing to share his story, and though he was a bit shell-shocked at first, he agreed. Sunday morning, Evan did a fantastic job of telling about what Jesus had done in his life, and I again made an invitation for students to give their lives to Jesus for the first time, and another 20 students stood to mark their decision from almost every school represented! Five of these students were from UNI and were inspired by Evan's testimony of receiving Jesus' forgiveness, and several were friends of Callie's, the student from Drake I wrote about above!

Then, on the following Tuesday, 9.22, I got two emails from one of our student leaders at Central, Aaron Jones. The first was a message that he had received over the weekend, it read like this:

Hi, I was in your small group for Vintage community last Wednesday night. I don't know if you can help me but I don't know who to ask about faith. I am new to being a Christian and new to the bible, and have grown up in a home with atheists. I have had a rough past and am ashamed of it, and am looking to find some guidance for my future. I have been told that I can never be forgiven by God for what I have done in the past and
I am scared because if that is true I am afraid what my life has in store for me.
Can something from my past be so bad that God can never love me?

Aaron asked Jessica if she'd be willing to meet to talk more, and she agreed. Later that night, we got word from Aaron again...

Jessica and I just got done talking, and she prayed tonight to accept Jesus as her savior!!
She asked a lot of good questions about forgiveness, prayer and church. I made sure that she knew that she just wasn't accepting my beliefs, but was beginning a relationship with a living God. She prayed for forgiveness and to receive the Holy Spirit and said that she felt amazing! I went with her back to Graham (girls' dorm on campus) as she shared with some girls what she just experienced, then I left as she went to a
prayer meeting that another girl in Graham had already set up.

So, in the space of a few short weeks (22 days to be exact), we've seen 24 STUDENTS START TO FOLLOW JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME, and another 21 RECOMMIT THEIR LIVES TO JESUS! I wish I had the space to tell you the stories of these 45 students, because Jesus is meeting them in incredible ways as they take steps of faith in following him (students experiencing physical healing, being challenged by parents angry at their desire to follow Jesus, and door after door opening for Jesus' gospel) They are following Jesus immediately into ministry and outreach to their friends, and we are TRULY WATCHING A JESUS OUTBREAK SWEEP THROUGH THESE CAMPUSES!

And, I believe that God isn't done yet. This Wednesday, 9.30, I'll be speaking again at Drake University, and I'll again be inviting students to follow Jesus for the first time (and join the other 5 Drake students who have already made that decision this year!) so I covet your prayers, and can't wait to tell you the next chapter in this crazy story God is writing.

Thank you for your support of this ministry, it's one of the deepest privileges of my life to watch God move in these ways on campuses across the state, and it's your prayers and support that make it possible.

Trying to keep up with a God who is most certainly on the move!

Jon

Bibles for New Believers

2009-09-12T00:29:00.002-05:00

As you'll read below, it's been an incredible week of ministry, so I've got a special request...

I've purchased Bibles for each of the 30 folks who stood up to mark their decision to follow Jesus for the first time or rededicate their lives to Jesus to get them started on the right foot.

I was able to negotiate a discounted rate for some study bibles (with explanatory notes), which means I was able to get them for $40 a piece, but with 30 folks, that still works out to $1,200!

So, I'm putting out a call to anyone who'd be willing to spring $40 to give a Bible to a student who just started following Jesus. If you are interested, please contact me at jon.hietbrink@gmail.com or 641.780.6670.

Thanks!
Jon

Unbelievable!

2009-09-12T00:25:00.002-05:00

Greetings friends,

I've got an unbelievable story to share, I hope you are blessed by it! (Sorry for the length, I think it’ll be worth your time to read it...)

I was set to speak on Wednesday night (9.9) at Central’s LG and was planning on giving a call to faith out of the prodigal son, but the story really gets kicking early that morning...

I awoke at 4:30a sweating like a pig and with our bedroom spinning all around me. The only thing that made the spinning stop was when I laid on my right side (even on my back, it was out of control). I was able to get back to sleep until about 6:30a, when my daughter woke up. I tried to walk to the kitchen to get her some milk, but was on the floor by the time I got back to her room. I woke my wife up, and tried to get back into bed, but was so nauseuous that I detoured to the toilet. I eventually got back to bed and slept till about 7:45 when I started texting people to pray. At that point, I still couldn’t do anything but lay on my right side, and even then, my head was spinning a bit.

So, things were not good. I couldn’t even sit up, let alone be able to give a talk. My wife spent some time praying for me (along with those I had texted) and very quickly, I started to feel some relief. I was able to sit up in bed within a few minutes and walked out to the living room. Gradually, I regained equilibrium to the point where I took a shower and went for a walk around the block at about 11am. I continued to improve through the afternoon to the point where I felt pretty much normal (although very tired) by about 3pm.

So, I went into the night thinking that God might have some big plans given the morning, but I never would have expected what happened...

The night got off to a great start, and I felt good about how my talk was going as I headed toward the call. I had planned on inviting people to stand who identified with the younger son (irreligious, shady past, etc.) and the older son (cultural “christians”, pseudo-religious, etc.), and then I had about 15 student leaders/staff ready to follow-up immediately with whoever stood, thinking that maybe 5 or 10 folks might stand (not exactly “more than you could ask or imagine”, huh?!)

To my shock, when I made the call, about 30 people stood up, and instantly, I assumed I just hadn’t made it clear that it was a call for people to “follow Jesus for the first time”...I was later proved wrong! I asked everyone to come up to the front so I could pray for them (while the follow-up folks surrounded them), and then I invited them to break off into pairs/threes to talk about what God was doing and what decisions they had made. Here’s a sampling of the reports from the student leaders...

Rick
Sort of knows a little about Church but stopped going in high school and has lived with no regard for Jesus since. Wants to follow Jesus but is scared that he wont be able to overcome temptations and not fall away.

Karen
She said that she has never really been religious and doesn't know a whole lot about Christianity/following Jesus, but she has been coming to the Calm and Nine and keeps just feeling like its right and keeps getting chills all the time when she's there :)

Amelia
She also has never been religious and did mention that she feels like she understands the younger son because she has done things in her past she isn’t proud of. She did however talk about her love for doing service work and helping people, and we talked about how she can continue to do those things and share Jesus' love with people through it.

Mia
This was something she was wanting for a while. She's been looking to talk to someone about this for a while and it was for her tonight. Her legs were shaking the whole night pretty much, and she stood up and they stopped. I feel like I really didn't say much but God was already doing stuff. She grew up Catholic and has struggled a lot with earning salvation and has come to the realization while here (she transferred) that coming to events and doing church doesn't result in satisfaction/salvation. I talked with her how it is by grace we are saved- she's said the prayer before, so we did not do it again- and that it is a gift we can't earn. She seemed pretty excited about it all. She went for a walk afterwards to just "think."

There’s more where those came from, but at the end of the day, I think about 14 folks gave their lives to Jesus for the first time and another 10 recommitted their lives to Jesus; 2 more folks said they wanted to explore more in GIGs!

It was unbelievable. I was driving to Iowa City this morning and crying like a baby thinking about how good our God is that he steps into students’ lives like this, and that he gives us the chance to be a part of it.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for the night (and for my dizziness). God answered in a resounding way.

Beyond grateful,
Jon

9.9.09 @ 9pm

2009-09-08T15:06:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. Two stories (couldn't help but share the second, it just came in!) and a prayer request for you today...

The story comes from Sarah Plowman at William Penn University--

"Jen is one of our leaders. She was hanging out with one of her suitemates, Abby, and one of Abby's friends, Nate. When the subject turned to spiritual things, Nate told Jen, "forgive me if I laugh," saying he didn't believe in God. Somehow in the conversation, Jen got Nate to open up more to her as they shared about different family stuff. At one point Jen invited Nate to do a Bible Study with her, saying, "why don't you just do a Bible study with me and let Jesus define himself?" Nate's response? "Ok." Last night during our leadership meeting, Jen got a text from Nate asking, "hey, when are we going to do Bible study?" Cool! Pray for Jess as she prepares to do a GiG with Nate, and for Abby as well and the conversations she and Jen have. "

Here's one from Amy Schoepf, our staff at Drake University--

"So Callie had been a little bit involved in InterVarsity last Spring--and stayed in touch with some students over the summer. She had connected quite a bit with Annika--who became a Christian last year. Long story short, Callie, Annika, and some other IV girls were over at my house Friday night. We were just hanging out and talking and I don't know what got into me--I just looked at Callie and blurted out "When are you going to commit your life to Jesus?" She began to cry (woops!) and share about the things that were holding her back. Annika jumped in and started sharing her testimony and telling Callie she just needed to "go for it." Callie agreed and then Annika and I led her in prayer to commit her life to Jesus. I could literally see Callie's body react to giving her life to Jesus...her physical posture was relief. It was awesome. Then we prayed for her to be "sent" to her friends. Callie has 3 friends who come to IV stuff with her and they are all culture Christians--probably very little if any relationship with Jesus. She was so excited and I asked her to share her testimony this Wednesday night at our weekly service! :) Pray for her.

I drove Annika home later and she was SO EXCITED! She said..."So Amy, that was my first?!! That's the first person I got to see get saved!" And then explained that she "wanted to do it again!" Haha....ooooh I love it."

The prayer request is for me--

Tomorrow night at 9pm, I'm going to be speaking at our gathering on campus at Central (called NINE) out of Luke 15, "The Prodigal Son". At the end of my talk, I'm going to invite students to make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time, so I'd love for your prayers on a few points:

Pray that God would draw the "right people" to come
Pray that God would give me the "right words" to speak
Pray that tomorrow night would be the "right time" for students to make a decision

Thanks Everyone!
Jon

FirstFruits

2009-08-31T15:02:00.002-05:00

Hello again everyone!

As promised, here's a few stories from the "front lines" over the first days of the semester...God has been at work!

As many of you know, we are planting a new chapter at the University of Iowa, and the stories coming out so far have been unbelievable. In the first week...

Our staff have networked with several "power players" in different groups on campus and have either been invited or are exploring leading bible studies for the African-American Greek Union, the Black Student Union, and the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) cultural center on campus. Unbelievable!
Already, the staff have connected with a handful of multiethnic and mission-minded students who want to be a part of owning the chapter at Iowa, praise God! This is in addition to the hundreds of others who are interested, but who haven't signed on just yet...

At Drake, we are also off to a great start. The chapter has connected with almost 100 new students who are interested in joining the community's mission, and our chapter plant at DMACC is officially underway!

Our chapter at the University of Northern Iowa has a blossoming ministry among ethnic minorities--there were about a dozen new Latino students at their first large group, and their multi-ethnic leadership team already making inroads among the black student population on campus!

Coe College decided to try a new outreach to international students by hosting a "Target run" for students who needed to stock their dorm rooms...to their shock, 25 international students showed up! They were literally calling in friends with cars to handle all the students!

Our chapters at William Penn, Grinnell, and Drake International will have their first major gatherings this week, so they are hard at work connecting with new students and inviting them into their communities...more stories to come on these chapters later!

At Central College, we've been blessed to connect with almost 150 new students who are interested in joining our ministry. One of them "Will" was talking with one of our staff at our first worship service. Their interaction went something like this...

Staff- "So, what's your name? Where are you from?"
Will- "I'm not religious."
Staff- "That's totally fine, no problem."
Will- "I'm really curious about Christianity though, I'd like to learn more about it."

It's for students like Will and hundreds of others across the campuses of Iowa that we labor. Join us in thanking God for his faithfulness to us, and continuing to ask him for divine appointments with both mission-minded and seeking students over these next days!

Grateful for your partnership!
Jon

It begins

2009-08-24T15:33:00.002-05:00

Hello again everyone,

It's official, the year has begun!

Over the weekend, thousands of college students moved into dorm rooms and apartments all across the state. Some are coming back to a place they love, some are leaving home for the first time, and in the midst of it all, God is at work calling students to himself and transforming them to live missional lives.

Quite simply, this is the time of year that we InterVarsity staff love: the energy, potential, and excitement on campus is palpable, and each year, it's fascinating to watch God work through simple things like info tables, knocking on doors, and "chance" meetings in the union.

Just today, I was on campus at Central and walking to my car at a place I've never parked before to head home for lunch...a student (obviously lost!) approached me and asked where the gym was, so I offered him a ride. Turns out, he's a new freshman from Cedar Rapids, knows next to no one on campus, but was very interested in hearing about our ministry...

Jesus said the kingdom of God is "like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants..."

This is exactly what the job of my staff is over the next few weeks...to plant hundreds and thousands of mustard seeds in the hearts of students and watch God do the unthinkable--bring forth the fruit of transformation and mission.

Please join me in praying for two things over these next days:

First, please pray that our staff team would connect with MISSIONAL STUDENTS who follow Jesus and want to live for his purposes on campus.
Second, please pray that God would give us "divine appointments" with SEEKING STUDENTS who are exploring what it means to follow Jesus and live a life of faith.

I can't wait to share the stories in the upcoming weeks...

With great anticipation!
Jon

Year in Review

2009-06-10T23:31:00.004-05:00

Hello again everyone,

Once again, I need to apologize for my delay in posting, but thankfully, I've got some great updates to share now that we've reached the end of the school year.

As folks have asked me over the last few months about how the ministry is going, I've said some variation of the following: "In all honesty, this has felt like the most fruitful year of my experience on IV staff" (!), so as we came to our year-end, I was hoping that the measurable results would live up to my expectations.

Of course, I had been hearing stories all year long of God's work on campus, but the end of the school year provides a unique opportunity to take at a "cross section" of our ministry, and I'm so thankful to be able to share some of the results with you all, so I've got a few snapshots and a few stories...

Join me in praising God for...
* Our area growing by 76 students this year to a total of 493 "members" (18% growth)
* 51 students (!) choosing to follow Jesus for the first time (113% growth)
* Students planting 77 missional communities (aka "cells") on campus this year, an increase of 28%!
* 1,240 students attending at least one of our events (32% growth)
* 139 Non-Christian students involved in our ministry (25% growth)
* Five of our seven chapters set new records for overall involvement!

Now for some stories...

Double Dip at Drake
About this time last year, I talked with our two staff at Drake (Steph Schmaltz and Amy Schoepf) about trying to plant a new chapter for international students at Drake University. It felt like a risky move, as neither Steph/Amy had been "solo staff" for a chapter before, but we felt God inviting us into the challenge, so we went ahead. I'm so glad to report that both chapters have experienced tremendous fruitfulness this last year.

The international chapter (under Steph's leadership) grew from 6 to 44 members and saw over 110 students (that's about 33% of the international population on campus, the vast majority of which are not Christians) attend at least one event.
The undergrad chapter (led by Amy) grew to involve over 90 students, and saw 10 students decide to follow Jesus for the first time!

The University of Iowa- "God will plant"
Mid-way through the fall, our regional leadership team sensed that God was leading us to plant a brand-new chapter at the University of Iowa in the fall of 2009. We had previously had a chapter until a few years ago, but as we heard that there were over 29,000 students on campus who weren't involved in any kind of campus ministry, we felt compelled to try and start something new (even though we didn't know who would lead the plant). In distinctly supernatural ways (I wish I could tell you the whole story), God called Sherami Hinders and Tony Gatewood to be co-planters for the chapter next year. Our only expectations for this Spring were for Tony/Sherami to get situated and to prepare for the fall, but almost every time I talk with them, they have a new story of how God is opening doors for them on campus, and students expressing interest in being mobilized as missionaries to the campus. The chapter plant at Iowa will be among the highest profile plants in the entire nation, and I can't wait to see what God has in store next year!

You want us to plant in Omaha?!
As the spring progressed, I honestly thought we had taken enough big risks, but God had a different idea. Slowly, but surely, he made it clear that he was inviting us to plant not just at Drake, not just at the Univeristy of Iowa, but at Creighton University in Omaha. Initially, both my boss and I thought we needed to wait another year, but through the perseverance of Rachel Lenox (staff at Coe College), and the workings of the Holy Spirit, it became clear that the "time was fulfilled" to plant at Creighton as well! (Again, I wish I could tell you the whole story...the movement of God is all over it!) So, as I write, Rachel Lenox is moving to Omaha, and will be planting a brand-new chapter at Creighton next fall!

Sending and Receiving
A year ago at this time, our ministry was made up of six chatpers involving about 400 students. Before the end of this calendar year (by God's grace), the Iowa area will have been a part (either by planting them ourselves or sending planters) of six different chapter plants (University of Missouri- Kansas City, Johnson County Community College (Kansas), Drake University- International, the University of Iowa, Des Moines Area Community College, Creighton University), involving over 600 students. God has been so faithful to involve us in his purposes, and I'm so thankful!

With Great Joy and Expectation!

Jon

Walking by the Spirit

2009-06-10T22:18:00.003-05:00

Hello again everyone,

It's been so long since I've written, I thought I better put up a couple posts to keep the masses happy. :)

As you've probably read above, it was a fantastic year of ministry across Iowa; we saw growth at virtually every level, and I find myself so grateful (and humbled) for God's movement through our ministry this year.

At the same time, Steph and I have found the going difficult at home as we work through parenting two young children and trying to stay deeply connected in marriage at the same time (hard as it may be to believe, these often feel like competing values!)

While all this great stuff has been going on in my world as an area director, I think God has been speaking to me with regard to my posture as a husband and father: he's been challenging me to "walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh".

At a recent area team meeting, we were studying Galatians 5, where Paul is admonishing the Galatian church to avoid giving into the temptation to self-justification through the law in favor of continuing to walk by faith in the power of the Spirit. In his teaching, he references back to the Old Testament story of Sarah and Hagar, the soap opera of a story out of which God begins to establish the nation of Israel as a people.

Sarah and Abraham had received a promise of a child in their old age, but in her impatience for the promises' fulfillment, Sarah chose to take matters into her own hands and "make it happen". Though God ultimately fulfills his promise anyway, her refusal to stand in faith introduces incredible strife and pain into her family.

I'm seeing with more clarity that we too have received promises from God over our marriage and our kids, but all too often in experiences of "barrenness", impatience, or frustration, my response is anything but confident faith in those promises (aka, "walking by the Spirit"), instead, I choose the way of blame, manipulation, and anger to either push down or avoid the experience of barrenness altogether.

What I'm seeing is that these "experiences of barrenness" that each of us face are none other than invitations to choose the way of faith again, more deeply. The hurdles or problems of our lives aren't merely hurdles to be overcome on our way to a happy existence, they are the crucible in which true faith, patience, and love are formed.

I long to be the kind of husband, father, and leader that bears real fruit, "fruit that lasts", and who knows what it means to walk by the Spirit, not just when I'm a "professional", but in the nuts and bolts of life, at 3am holding a crying child, or in the chaos of preparing dinner with the woman I love amidst the chaos of two toddlers!

Praying for eyes to see the invitations...

Jon

PS...As you'll see from the videos, family life isn't always difficult...

God is Good!

2009-03-26T15:19:00.002-05:00

Hello again everyone,

So much good news to report, so I'll jump right in!

* The headlining news relates to staff hiring and placement (thanks so much for praying!) I'm super excited to report that we've decided to hire 10 new staff and will be accepting another transfer, which means that our Iowa Area staff team will more than double next year from 9 staff (currently) to 19 staff serving across Iowa next year! I'm so grateful to God for his provision, and can't wait to turn these new folks loose on campus!

* Because of this influx of new staff, we are planning on planting three new chapters in the upcoming year! We'll be planting brand new chapters at the University of Iowa, at Des Moines Area Community College, and one other school to be named. At this time last year we had 6 chapters, and in September, we'll potentially have 10! Unbelievable growth for only a year and a half!

* On a more micro level, witness and evangelism has been happening across our area in ways that are unique to my time on staff. Already this Spring, I'm aware of almost a dozen students who have made decisions to follow Jesus as LORD, and it's likely that dozens more are in the process of making that decision. (Often, we find that folks realize that they've made decisions over the course of the year in April/May, so we typically find out about that change about this time of year!

* Beyond this, our area has been exploding with new GIGs (Bible studies for non-christian students). We don't have firm numbers yet, but I expect that before the end of the year upwards of 25 GIGs will have been hosted across the state, many of which lead to students making decisions to put Jesus first in their lives.

As people ask me how things are going with IV, I tell them honestly that it's been as encouraging a semester as I remember on staff! "For everything there is a season" and we've seen our share of hard times, but I rejoice in the goodness of God for this season of harvest!

All praise to the one who desires transformation far more than we do, and may you be blessed knowing that you have played a role in this incredible outpouring of blessing through your prayers, support, and finances!

With deepest thanksgiving!

Jon

Now I feel a bit sheepish...

2009-02-11T16:01:00.002-06:00

Hello Again,

Well, now I do feel a bit sheepish. :) Thanks to all of you who expressed concern over my failing health; I appreciate your care. Last night after I got home, I had this fleeting thought: "Jon, you probably shouldn't have talked in detail about your mystery illness...folks could get unnecessarily alarmed." But alas, I wasn't online until today and saw that in fact, that is what had happened.

Now, I have been sick for a couple weeks, but I'm by no means on death's door...it feels more like the cold and the flu at the same time; not pleasant, but more an annoyance than anything. All the tests that have been run have come back pretty well normal, so while we still don't know why I'm feeling the way I am, we are pretty sure it's just some random virus that my body needs to fight off, although a bit more sleep would probably be helpful. ;)

Anyway, thanks again for your care and concern, and do pray that God would deliver me from even this small health issue, as it would still be quite helpful to be at full strength for these next few weeks.

All for now!

Jon

New Staff Prospects!

2009-02-10T12:58:00.006-06:00

Hello Everyone,

It's 60 degrees in Iowa on February 10th, can I get an "amen"?!

I'm sorry for not writing sooner, but as is typical, the beginning of the Spring semester has been rolling on at a breakneck pace! All of our chapters are up and running with some exciting reports already (I'll look forward to sharing these with you sometime soon!)

For now, however, I wanted to make a quick post to invite your prayers for me over the next few weeks on a couple points.

First, and most importantly, we are in the middle of "staff recruitment" season, and I'm so thankful to be working with ELEVEN total applicants for our work across Iowa (our current staff team is only 9!) We've already invited one of these folks to join our team, and am in process with the other ten helping them complete the application and preparing for interviews! As you can imagine, I'm thrilled not only to have so many folks applying, but in particular that a number of them would actually make great staff workers! So, you can be in prayer for me over the next few weeks as I interview these folks and make decisions about whether to offer them a spot on our team, and if so where...here's a quick interview schedule:

Thursday, 2.12- Brian

Friday, 2.13- Sarah W.

Tuesday, 2.17- Dayna

Wednesday, 2.18- Sarah B.

Thursday, 2.19- Christina

Tuesday-Thursday (2.24-26)- Ryan, Sarah P., Brett, Nick

Friday, 2.27- Trevor

On a related note, I'd love prayers for my health. I've had a pretty odd set of symptoms over the last few weeks and am awaiting the results of some testing to hopefully figure it out. You can pray not only that God grants healing to my body, but that he would keep it from spreading through our family.

Thanks so much, may God's grace be upon you all!

Jon

Year-End Giving

2008-12-12T09:55:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note about year-end funding...

Thankfully, fundraising has been going very well this year despite the general economic climate, but I carried over about $2,000 of deficit from last year that I'm hoping to erase this December. If you would be interested in giving a year-end tax-deductible gift toward that shortfall, you can do so by clicking on the following link. Thank you in advance!

www.intervarsity.org/donate

Priority 1 :: Staff Recruitment

2008-12-12T09:40:00.000-06:00

Hello again everyone!

I hope this finds you enjoying the Christmas season! It’s a busy time of year for us as we wrap up our work on campus for the fall, but the “halftime” of Christmas break is almost here!

As many of you know, staff recruitment has been at the top of my list of strategic priorities for our ministry this year. The year began with our sparsest staff:chapter ratio of my seven years on staff, with only seven full time staff for seven campuses, a long way from my ideal of having at least a pair of staff at each campus!

So, I’ve been spending a significant portion of my time working to recruit new staff for our chapters across Iowa. We’ve visited Christian campuses around the Midwest, posted openings online, and of course, talked with our graduating seniors about becoming missionaries to secular campuses across Iowa.

The process is in full swing now, and I’ve got some encouraging news to report! At this point, I’m expecting 10 new staff applications, and am in conversation with another 10-15 candidates! This represents potentially the largest group of new Iowa staff ever, so I am both so grateful to God for his provision so far, and mindful of my need for his continued mercy to both call these prospects to his work and to give me the wisdom I need to see his will clearly.

So, as the year winds down, I would covet your prayers for this staff recruitment process. Please join me in praying that God would call the right staff to be on our team, and that He would give me wisdom as I counsel and try to assess all these candidates.

Thank you for your partnership, and I eagerly anticipate introducing you to the fruit of your prayers in the Spring!

Why we do what we do...

2008-11-12T10:45:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone,

One of the luxuries afforded me by this job (and one of the critical disciplines for my success in this job!) is the freedom to withdraw from the "frontline" ministry of the campus and consider our work from a larger perspective. So often, our lives can become consumed with just "keeping the ship afloat": running our programs, recruiting for events, and doing the ins and outs of campus ministry, but the danger is that we lose the heart of why we are doing all this activity in the first place. I've been so thankful as of late for the clarity that I think God is bringing to my mind about both what we do and why we do it.

There's significant thinking going on in InterVarsity circles these days about conversion. For me, most of my staff, and likely many of you as well, we've understood conversion in very black and white, two-stage language: first, you are a non-Christian, and then you become a Christian when you pray the following prayer.

This way of thinking certainly has some merit, and is to an extent an accurate representation of what happens in conversion: we are transferred from the kingdom of the world into the Kingdom of God; we who were dead are made alive; we were in darkness but find ourselves in light.

The problem is that for many of us (and increasing numbers of students), their experience of their life with God doesn't feel quite this simple. As we train and inspire our current students to reach their friends with the good news of God, we have to acknowledge that under the heading of "non-Christian" there is an entire array of people: some are skeptical, some are indifferent, some are hostile, some are merely "enculturated" into Christianity. While the absence of a vibrant relationship with Jesus unites all these folks, to apply a "one size fits all" approach to witness with each of these subgroups would be painfully ineffective.

The other problem is that the language of "two-stage" conversion has no place for the ongoing discipleship of those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus; it can lend itself to the thought that, "well, I'm a Christian now, so my journey is complete" when we all know that choosing to follow Jesus for the first time is far more an inauguration than it is a destination.

As I reflect on my own life, I have a hard time pointing to "the moment" when I became a Christian. I remember praying for the first time on my parents' bed when I was about 6, but I didn't experience a radical life altering encounter with Jesus then. What I did experience was a steady progression of growing in love for God, and appropriating that love in my own life.

But something distinctly different happened to me in college. I didn't "become a Christian" again, but I began to experience a level of vibrancy and passion for God that I hadn't known before, and in retrospect, I think what happened was a "second conversion": I was transformed from being merely a follower to being a missionary sent by God to my campus. In many ways, this "missional" conversion has altered the entire trajectory of my life in a way that nothing else has (I'm not exactly designing golf courses, as was the original plan!)

As I've prayed and reflected on our work on campus, I'm seeing more and more that the driving motivation behind all of our labor is simply this: we labor to see students' lives transformed. But even more specifically than this, I think God is giving me greater clarity on two critical transformations that we witness God working in our students.

The first is the conversion from being merely "enculturated" into faith to actively, passionately following Jesus. In our midwestern context, students with no church experience or little awareness of Christianity is actually quite rare. Almost every freshman who steps onto the campuses where we work has either "done the church thing" growing up, or may even consider themselves a "christian" in a vague, cultural sense: their allegiance is to a cultural expectation, not to a living God. Our work and our passion is to see these folks "woken up" from their inoculation to the life of faith, by creating spaces where they can encounter a living, active Jesus, and by consistently calling them to make him Lord of their real lives. Not "Lord" in a prayer alone, but "Lord of what they watch, how they speak, and how they love their neighbors. Each year, dozens of students experience this transformation in our midst; it makes me smile just thinking about them.

The second is the conversion from merely "following" Jesus to being engaged in his purposes: a "missional" conversion. The vast majority of genuinely Christian students who show up on our campuses have a view of faith that centers on "their personal relationship with Jesus": worship serves to edify them, they want to "be fed" by good teaching, they are looking for Christian community to help them grow. All these things are good and important, but I would argue that they are missing the lifeblood of Jesus: "Go into the world and make disciples of all nations..." I believe this transformation from living a nice, personal, spiritual life, to living a life of radical mission, sacrifice, hospitality, and invitation is absolutely central to what we do on campus. Our goal is not to help people become better Christians; our goal is to release the next generation of leaders and missionaries who will sow themselves like mustard seeds into every corner of the globe that God's Kingdom may come.

This is why we exist: to see students converted from skeptical, selfish, indifferent lives to vibrant relationship with Jesus and then in turn transformed into followers who spend their entire lives for the sake of God's mission to a broken world.

May God grant us the desires of our hearts!
Jon

So thankful...

2008-10-07T16:36:00.001-05:00

Hello again everyone,

Fall in definitely the air, and there are many great stories to report from the work of God across Iowa!

The Men vs. Wild trip that I wrote about in early September was a smashing success (See picture). 18 guys from across Iowa joined in the craziness, and we had a blast roadtripping across Nebraska/Eastern Colorado and then hiking in literally breathtaking venues. It was a fantastic time of networking for me with guys from across the state, but particularly with nine guys from Central who I had known in name only before. These guys are now forming the core of a "missional prayer cell" for men at Central that will be launching in the next week or two! You can pray that God would fuel the movement by his Spirit and that it would bear exceptional fruit: in our lives as sons of God, in the lives of the men of Central College, and hopefully in producing more male staff for God's work across Iowa!

This last weekend, I was with 250 students and staff from Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas for our annual Fall Conference: FC08. Our theme was "Down to Earth", and one of my best friends (and former staff worker/boss!) Jason Brown was the keynote. It was so fun to be with Jason again in a student ministry context, and the conference went exceptionally well. On Saturday night, Jason spoke on "Living as citizens of heaven" through the lens of being "loved and sent". The Spirit was powerfully at work through his talk, and the night culminated with a time of worship and prayer ministry for students who have felt unlovable and unsent in the past. At least two students chose to follow Jesus for the first time that night (!), but all of us were richly blessed by our gracious, heavenly Father!

During the conference, I was privileged to lead a seminar for about 60 men through the lens of David and Goliath. I was so thankful for this time as God challenged all of us to lead our chapters to engage more men on our campuses with the Gospel!

Across Iowa, momentum continues to build on our campuses as students take up the call to live as missionaries to every corner of their campuses. There are truly more stories to be told than there is space, so thank you so much for your prayer and partnership.

With Great Joy!
Jon

Cost and Gain

2008-10-07T15:54:00.004-05:00

On a more personal note...

The final talk of FC08 (see below) was on the "crazy math in God's Kingdom", specifically facing the radical costs (and even more radical gains!) that come with following Jesus in his mission to a broken world. Something deep was stirred in my soul as I listened to Jason tell the story of his friends Bill and Katie.

Bill and Katie were born into families of incredible priviledge where a $40k/year private high school, and dinner parties populated exclusively by CEO's and political leaders were the norm. After being transformed by Jesus in college through InterVarsity, the path of their lives was radically altered to lead through the slums of Mexico City to their current ministry in the city of Compton, California. They've had to face incredible pain and rejection from their families for the choices they have made and while their siblings and former classmates are ascending their respective corporate/political ladders around the world, Bill and Katie are spending themselves to see the Gospel transform lives and families and neighborhoods in inner city Los Angeles.

I can't fully communicate the power of the moments after Jason's talk on Sunday morning, but I can say that my heart was moved in a powerful way as Jesus brought my own desires into greater clarity.

A significant portion of my life (more than I'd like to admit) is spent pursuing the "normal" comforts of middle-class living: material provision, ample recreation time, engaging entertainment options, etc. While these things are fine in and of themselves, I found a deeper desire awakened again in me: the desire for a life of impact. While on the surface my heart goes after the trivial things of this world, at my core, I desire nothing more than Jesus and participation in bringing his kingdom to earth, and I found myself saying "yes" again to the one who is truly Lord of heaven and earth.

I don't know the paths that Jesus will guide us on in the upcoming years, but I know that we will not somehow magically arrive at a life lived in its fullness for the kingdom; such a life is only a product of hundreds of "yes, Lord" moments through the different seasons of life.

At the end of my days, I want nothing more than for it to be said of me and my family that we sought Jesus and his kingdom above all else (truly), and that there was no cost we were unwilling to pay to taste of the incomprable gain of a life well-lived in following Jesus.

"Truly, I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--along with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life." --Mark 10.29-30

Compelled by the gain,
Jon

Men vs. Wild

2008-09-09T16:27:00.002-05:00

Now, a quick update on the upcoming weekend!

Some of you may remember my post from Catalyst last May where I asked you to pray for my ministry to the men of Iowa. This has continued to be a theme of my summer, and God has been incredibly faithful!

As a a part of this reawakened calling for the men of Iowa, I decided to try and host some kind of "man trip" this fall for some guys across Iowa, so I started throwing out some invites to guys I know, and all of a sudden, we've got close to 20 guys who are going mountain hiking in Colorado this weekend!

We'll hop into vans in Des Moines on Friday afternoon, arrive in Denver at about 2am, watch some football and hike on Saturday, then get up and climb Mt. Bierstadt (14,060 feet!) on Sunday morning and drive home! (I'm getting too old for this stuff!)

Obviously, I think the trip will be a ton of fun (and utterly exhausting!), but beyond that, I'd love your prayer for a few key things:

* Many key male leaders from across Iowa are coming, and this is a crucial time of networking for me with them. You can pray that relationships deepen in natural and authentic ways, and that some of these guys might choose to come on staff! * My hope is that this trip (in combo with an upcoming Men's track at our fall conference) might lead to the emergence of pockets of men across Iowa that I can have ongoing relationship with, and who I can pray/minister with when I visit campuses, so you can pray that that vision coalesces during the trip.

Thanks All,

Jon

A Jesus Outbreak

2008-09-09T16:13:00.004-05:00

Hello Everyone!

The next stage in the journey happened on 9.14 at the University of Northern Iowa. After hearing about what had happened at Central, our staff at UNI, Rachel Danley, invited me to make another call to faith at their Large Group, which I was happy to do. When I did so, another student (Evan) stood to mark his desire to give his life over to Jesus! (More on Evan Below!)

That weekend, on 9.18-20, my area staff team hosted FC09: Family Vacation (our annual fall student conference) for 130 students from around the state. I spoke on the final morning, again to give an invitation to faith, but as I was praying about it, I felt like I was supposed to ask Evan from UNI to give the talk with me (he had, after all been following Jesus for 5 days at that point!) So, I approached him to see if he'd be willing to share his story, and though he was a bit shell-shocked at first, he agreed. Sunday morning, Evan did a fantastic job of telling about what Jesus had done in his life, and I again made an invitation for students to give their lives to Jesus for the first time, and another 20 students stood to mark their decision from almost every school represented! Five of these students were from UNI and were inspired by Evan's testimony of receiving Jesus' forgiveness, and several were friends of Callie's, the student from Drake I wrote about above!

So, in the space of a few short weeks (22 days to be exact), we've seen 24 STUDENTS START TO FOLLOW JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME, and another 21 RECOMMIT THEIR LIVES TO JESUS! I wish I had the space to tell you the stories of these 45 students, because Jesus is meeting them in incredible ways as they take steps of faith in following him (students experiencing physical healing, being challenged by parents angry at their desire to follow Jesus, and door after door opening for Jesus' gospel) They are following Jesus immediately into ministry and outreach to their friends, and we are TRULY WATCHING A JESUS OUTBREAK SWEEP THROUGH THESE CAMPUSES!

And, I believe that God isn't done yet. This Wednesday, 9.30, I'll be speaking again at Drake University, and I'll again be inviting students to follow Jesus for the first time (and join the other 5 Drake students who have already made that decision this year!) so I covet your prayers, and can't wait to tell you the next chapter in this crazy story God is writing.

Thank you for your support of this ministry, it's one of the deepest privileges of my life to watch God move in these ways on campuses across the state, and it's your prayers and support that make it possible.

Trying to keep up with a God who is most certainly on the move!

Jon

All Hands on Deck!

2008-08-25T12:08:00.002-05:00

Hello again everyone! I hope the summer has been an enjoyable one. I apologize for the delay in my posting online, but I’m glad to get back into the swing of things now!

Put simply, this is the most critical time of year for our ministry on campus: current leaders are returning after summers spent around the globe, students from all walks of life are returning to campus, many of whom are looking to “turn over a new leaf”, and of course, new freshmen and transfer students are everywhere!

Even as I type this, our staff are in the midst of the most significant “sprint” of their staff year. They are casting vision to their leaders, hosting tables at organizational fairs, going door to door in the dorms visiting those students who sign up, and striking up conversation after conversation with literally dozens of students.

It is both an exhausting and exhilarating time of year. Hours are long and filled with what can feel like near endless details and initiation, but each day brings new conversations that have been appointed by God. Our chapter populations turn-over every four years, and these freshmen that we meet will soon be leading our chapters, so it is “mission-critical” time for campus ministry!

So for now, I’d love to invite your prayer as we begin this sprint. In general, you can be praying for the following:
* Pray that our student leaders would join our staff in a vision for mission and campus engagement; it is critical that our leaders buy-in!
* Pray for endurance and passion for our staff as they progress through this exhausting season.
* Pray for divine appointments, both with new missional leaders and spiritually hungry students who are looking to explore faith in college.

If you prefer, you can pray for me through my schedule for the next few weeks:
8.25- On campus and Speaking at UNI (John 1- Calling of the Disciples)
8.26- Meeting with key student at DMACC and Drake staff
8.27- On campus at Penn and Central
8.28- On campus at Grinnell
8.29- On campus at Coe
9.3- On campus and Speaking at Drake (John 4- Samaritan Woman)
9.5- First Area Meeting of the year
9.10- On campus and Speaking at Central (“Reaching Samaria- Unreached People Groups on Campus”)
9.12-14- Men’s Road Trip to Mt. Bierstadt, Colorado (Please pray for my recruitment which is already beginning!)
9.16- On campus and speaking at Grinnell (TBD!)

I’ll greatly look forward to sharing with you incredible stories of God’s provision and faithfulness, the fruit of your prayers and our labors!

With Expectation!
Jon

Abigail Joy!

2008-06-17T17:05:00.002-05:00

It's my joy to introduce the newest member of our family, Miss Abigail Joy Hietbrink, born on June 4th! (See picture to the right). We thought Elijah was a big boy, but Abby one-upped her older brother, tipping the scales at just over 8 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 3/4 inches long! She's doing great on the whole, though we'd love for her to go to bed before midnight! She's strikingly beautiful with deep blue eyes and fine brown hair. Steph is recovering well, and Elijah has been a surprisingly gentle older brother thus far (although he did almost step on her while he was watching cartoons this morning!) We are so thankful for her little life: for the promise that it holds and the joy it brings to our entire family. Sometimes it's hard to believe that Steph and I have two children, but parenthood has been an unbelievably rich experience, and Abby's presence only adds yet another layer!

Thankful

2008-06-17T15:47:00.005-05:00

Hello again everyone!

As a part of the university world, our calendar follows that of quarters and semesters, and June marks both the beginning of the summer and the end of a year of ministry. Campuses stand mostly vacant, students having been sent back to any number of places: summer internships, a job back home, or missions experiences around the world. Though much of our "staff summers" are dedicated to preparation for next year, saying good-bye to another class of students provides context for reflection on the work of God over the last year. So here's a short "thankful for" list at the end of this year!

I'm so grateful for how Catalyst (the leadership conference I wrote about last time) went. Not only was it a great week of training for student leaders from across the region, but it was a very meaningful time for me on a personal level. I'm so grateful to report that God moved in a powerful way during our Thursday night session that I asked you to pray for in my last entry. I spoke on the heart of a father, and how dads love to give good gifts to their kids. After I sat down, prayer ministry broke out across the room, and dozens of students mentioned that night as the highlight of their week at Catalyst. Thank you so much for praying; God is faithful!

I'm so thankful for the work of God at Drake this last year. Four years ago, the chapter basically imploded and only a handful of students remained. Since then, the chapter has grown to include close to 100 students, and we've decided to follow God's call to plant a new chapter specifically for international students on campus. There is such momentum and vibrancy in the community; I can't wait to see what happens next year.

At Catalyst, we got to witness a video testimony of the "Emails from God" story I wrote about back in the fall. (If you haven't read that entry yet (November 5), please do so...it's really unbelievable). Tears of joy welled up in my eyes as I saw the faces of "Li" and "Amber" testify to the God who is alive and actively pursuing his children. It still leaves me speechless to think about the God of the universe caring so deeply for a girl from SE Asia that he would hijack the Internet to find her.

I'm so thankful for a group of 18 students and staff who are set to leave for Ethiopia in just over three weeks. While they are there, they'll work with AIDS orphans and minister to street children alongside Christian Ethiopian college students just like them. I am pumped to have our students not only be a blessing, but be blessed by the faith and love of brothers and sisters from the other side of the globe.

I'm so thankful for the 24 students who decided to follow Jesus for the first time as a result of our witness on campus this year, and the more than 60 who decided that "just being a Christian" wasn't enough; they wanted to actually follow Jesus on his mission to the world.

I find myself so grateful for the people who surround my life. Steph, our kids, our families, our staff team, the students we minister to, our friends, and the hundreds of people scattered across the country who stand with us in the glorious ministry of the Gospel.

Thank you for your partnership, to God be the glory!

Jon

PS...As of this writing, I'm projected to fall about $1,000 short of my needed budget for this year (which ends on June 30th), so if you'd like to make a gift to help erase the deficit, you can do so at www.intervarsity.org/donate or by mailing a check to: IVCF-Donations, PO Box 7895, Madison, WI, 53707 and including a note that has my name on it.

Catalyst 2008

2008-05-21T00:25:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I'm writing at 12:30am from Windermere Camp and Conference Center in Missouri to ask you to pray for Catalyst 2008, our annual student leadership conference. I'm directing the conference for the third time, and wanted to both update you all and ask for your prayer!

So far, the conference is going great. We've been going for about 24 hours so far, and there's really a sweet spirit among the group so far. We talked about vision during the day today and then tonight, we had a celebration service where we commemorated over 50 students who had made decisions to start following Jesus over the last year. Part of the celebration included a video testimony of the "emails from God" story I posted last fall; I wish you all could have seen the faces of these women as they told the story of God's incredible pursuit.

On a more serious note, there were six different stories told tonight by students about God's intervention to actually save their lives or lives of their friends from suicide. Four of the students who gave their lives to Jesus this year were on the brink of taking their own life, but in each case, God intervened and not only rescued their physical lives, but breathed new spiritual life into them. Praise God for the way he finds, rescues, and saves!

Here's a few prayer points for the remainder of our time (we end on Friday at noon):

* You can be praying for my connections with male students. I've had some great conversations with guys from around Iowa so far, and God is growing a hunger in me to minister to men in a more tangible way...I'm curious as to what he's up to.
* You can pray that our students catch a vision of witness on campus. Often times witness can be a point of significant fear and anxiety for our students; our hope is to see this overcome by God's Spirit.
* You can pray for my preparation for Thursday night. I'm slotted to speak, but we purposely decide to plan the night "on site" to allow us the flexibility to discern what God is up to. While this is helpful, it also creates a bit of an urgent feel to the night, so I'd love prayer for clarity of thought and for the power and passion necessary to call for committment after a long week of ministry.

Thanks for your prayers!
Jon

Scarcity and Abundance

2008-04-22T15:50:00.003-05:00

Hello again everyone,

It surely feels like more than six weeks since I last wrote. Whereas we were in the ongoing (!) throes of winter in the midwest, now the sun is shining; flowers are blooming, and I'm finally wearing shorts and flip-flops again! Six weeks ago, Steph and I were still in the second trimester and the birth of our baby girl felt like something in the distant future. Now, we are just over a month out, and let's just say the reality of a two-child household is beginning to settle in a bit!

As with all of our lives, words on a page (or a screen!) don't do justice to the complexity of God's work within us, but this last season has felt like a particularly significant one for me in my journey with Jesus; the operative word has been "scarcity", and though it has been rich, it has been difficult as well.

Back in January, I was leading an area meeting in Des Moines, and we were spending some time in listening prayer ministry for each other. When it was my turn to sit in the circle, my staff started praying some of the things that they heard Jesus telling them:
* One saw an image of a tree surrounded by thunderstorms. She prayed that my roots would go down deeper.
* One was led to Habakkuk 3.17-18: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my savior."

To be honest, I was glad for their prayer, but I was a bit worried by the ominous tone. What exactly was this next season of life going to be like? Fruitless? Stormy? Barren? While I was certainly a bit taken aback, I was also captured by the last half of the Habakkuk verse: "yet I will rejoice in the LORD".

For most of my life, I have been addicted to success and impact. Though I'm sure there were moments my parents might call to mind, I was a pretty good kid who did pretty well at most of life, and this continued in college. I was blessed with an awesome group of friends and a vibrant ministry to be a part of, and I got a picture of how compelling a life lived with Jesus could be. I absolutely loved doing ministry as a student: I loved influencing people's lives, I loved teaching, and I loved impacting a campus for Jesus.

In large part, it was this desire for influence and impact that led me to InterVarsity staff. What I wanted most was to live a life of rich purpose and expansive impact, and Christian ministry (maybe even following Jesus itself?!)became a means to that end. Sure, I wanted to have spiritual integrity, and my motives were mostly pure, but to a degree my "ministry" was largely an exercise in building my own kingdom. "Success" (whatever that meant) was what I wanted more than anything else.

I think Jesus is breaking me of this addiction to success.

The process has been long and has taken many turns, but this last semester, I believe the pace has been quickened. Whether it's through anticipating our most significant staff shortage in years in Iowa (only 8 staff for 7 chapters), facing the difficulty of fund raising for me and my staff, working through the complexity of contextualization on campus, or trying to be a great husband and father, I've found myself facing my own limitations more and more. At the end of the day, I am just not enough for the demands of my life, and at times, I feel as though the resources I need are miles away. ("There is no fruit on the vine!")

Yet, Jesus is working his resurrection in me (and us!) again. Whereas before my desire was for success and the boost it would give to my reputation, I now find my desires being purifed. Jesus is reclaiming his rightful territory at the center of my life and ministry, and though it is painful and stretching, I've said "yes" over and over again to his work in me, because HE is the one I want to want. Jesus is worth more than success. His presence is more valuable than hundreds of staff or chapters, or conversions, or talks. He is the "pearl of great price", and I would do well to "sell all I have" to "buy that field". (Matthew 13.44-46)

So, in this season of scarcity, may it be true of me that "yet I will rejoice in God my savior", and may we all receive scarcity as an opportunity for reliance on the one who raises the dead.

In Him,
Jon

Hitting our Stride...

2008-03-03T10:29:00.002-06:00

Hello Again everyone,

I'd like to first invite us all to say a quick prayer for the arrival of Spring; I'm not sure I've ever felt so ready for it to come! (For those of you who aren't in Iowa or the upper midwest, we've had one of the longest, coldest, snowiest winters on record.) :)

Beyond that, it's good to finally be writing again. The last two months have been really significant, and it feels like life is just starting to "normalize" again (somewhat anyway!)

About a month ago, we finally moved into our new home on the outskirts of Pella. Most of January was spent painting, laying flooring, installing cabinets, moving, etc., so we are glad to be in and settled. (Another thank you to all of you who helped us with your time and efforts; they were an incredible blessing!) We are loving the simplicity and efficiency of the new place (everything is close together and very usable), and are looking forward to the thaw so we can start turning our yard from a mud-pit into an actual lawn.

In terms of ministry, I've been walking with eight staff applicants through the process of completing the application, interviewing, and now placement. I've been struck by what a pleasure it is to be present with such incredible folks at a "crossroads" of their lives, and additionally, how "weighty" the decision-making process feels to me. I thoroughly enjoy thinking strategically for the campuses of Iowa, but the significance of hiring and placement decisions for new, transferring, and current staff consistently feels like too much for me to bear. These decisions shape not only the lives of the individuals I'm charged to care for and steward, but also the lives of entire chapters and hundreds of students. I've found the process to be both humbling and exhilarating (usually in that order!), and I am so genuinely excited about how things are shaping up for next year (more on this next time after things are finalized!)

Internally, I'm continuing to work at being present to Jesus and his work in my life during this "season." I'm working to walk the balance of "being present to the immediate" context of my life, but at the same time making space for the "emerging vision" I find percolating in my heart.

Last night, I was babysitting Elijah and snuck back to his room to peak in on him while he played (unaware of my presence). I was brought to tears by my love for him in that moment, but also by the "lifelong" context of that love. Watching him joyfully move beads from one end of a wire to the other was a sacred moment intensified by imagining him as a one-day teenager sorting through his own life.

It is this "now and not yet" tension that has proven rich to me over the last months. Jesus is present now, as I hang cabinets, pray for my unborn daughter, toss Elijah in the air, and enjoy a night out with Steph, but he is also present then as we dream of what our lives will become, as I pray to catch a glimpse of God's dreams for the campuses of Iowa, and as we seek to build missional-incarnational communities on campus.

So, may we all come to a fuller knowledge of the one who was, is, and is to come as we walk through the "now and then" of our lives!

With joy for the journey,
Jon

Seeds of Vision

2007-12-28T13:40:00.000-06:00

Hello again everyone!

Wow, it's been too long since I last wrote, though frankly, it's hard to follow a post like I made last time with anything that is even close to as exciting, though I am so glad to report that Li did finally give her life to Jesus, so the story is now complete!

My hard-copy letter told a few additional campus snapshots from the first semester (if you didn't get this, please let me know and I'll add you to the mailing list!), so I wanted to focus this post on a more "area-level" perspective.

I'm learning more and more that I love, need, and want vision. Without it, I quickly lose my way and find my leadership mediocre at best, but with it clearly in view, my heart is inspired and I find myself leading with conviction and passion.

As such, one of the primary undertakings of my first 18 months in the role of Area Director for Iowa has been to lead our staff team in the hard work of visioning. We began in earnest this past June, and though we remain in process, I wanted to share with you some of the "seeds" that are beginning to take root among our area team.

As I've reflected on how I wanted our team to function, I've become convinced that one of the most valuable things I can do is to create the right kind of "team culture". I've come to believe that when the "culture" is right, fruitful ministry will follow in natural, organic ways, or to put it like Jesus, "By their fruit, you will recognize them...every good tree bears good fruit." In Jesus' economy, there are profound levels of integration: the means are the ends (and vice versa).

So, we've talked about what kind of team we want to be. How do we want to function? What things do we want to value? What do we want to define us? In answer to these (and other!) questions, we created four pairs of words:

Innovative and Visionary
Healthy and Mature
Communal and Interdependent
Joyful and Celebratory

Now, as you all know, talk is cheap, so I won't take the time to explain exactly what we mean by these things or how we plan to implement them, but as we finished our discussion a few weeks back, I found myself so grateful to be a part of my staff team. A group deeply committed to the Gospel, intent on loving each other in meaningful ways, and driven to play our part in the mission of God. Though it's perhaps expected, I am pumped for where our team is going and how we are going to get there; it made me grateful to God that he had situated me in that room, with those people, at that time.

I am expectant for the fruit that will arise in coming semesters, but for now, I stand thankful for the state of our "field" and the "good seed" that God has sown among us.

With anticipation,

Jon

PS...For those of you who would be interested in making a special year-end gift toward our ministry, you may do so online at https://my.intervarsity.org/f749db980fd18832ac7d5dac5a10e9cf/donate.php. The gift will need to be submitted by December 31st to qualify for your 2007 tax deduction!

Just another day at the office

2007-11-05T11:05:00.000-06:00

In my experience, it is easy to exaggerate the "awesomeness" of things; I regularly attach words like "amazing", "incredible", "unbelievable" to things that are only marginally so. This story, however, deserves all those adjectives and more. As you can see, it is quite long, but I wanted to do it justice. I'm confident it will be worth a read.

The story originates from one of our chapters earlier this fall, where our staff leads a vibrant and growing chapter involving dozens of students. One of those students, who we'll call "Amber", had been working to love and minister to a non-Christian international student, we'll call "Li".

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Li and Amber were both set to go to our annual Fall Conference in Kansas City in late September, but in the week before the conference, one of Li's best friends committed suicide. Then, while she was at the conference, she called another of her friends in London, and the police answered, informing her that this friend had just committed suicide as well (making three close friends in a week's time). As you can imagine, Li was dealing with incredible levels of pain, heartache, and sadness, and had little clue how to deal with what was going on around her. She would later tell Amber that she felt like she was having heart attacks all the time because her heart hurt so badly.

Amber sought to minister to Li and be present in her pain, both at the conference, but also after they returned to campus, and it was as this student leader empathized with her friend that God started to intervene in truly miraculous ways.

After returning to campus, Amber started getting emails from herself. Yep, you read that correctly, emails addressed to her, from her, using her own email address. (Weird, I know, but just wait.) The first email was a list of five Bible verses about healing brokenheartedness, and tons of information on how to help friends grieving suicides! She was understandably surprised by it, but decided to pass on the verses and information to Li, who received it thankfully.

Then, Amber got a second email (again from herself?!) that contained transcripts of emails that Li was exchanging with one of her friends about the suicides. In those transcripts, Li talked about how brokenhearted she felt, but also how thankful she had been for the care and friendship of Amber. Again, as you can imagine, Amber was even more curious about this email, as it wasn't just helpful information, but actual transcripted conversations from the very girl she's trying to witness to talking about how thankful she is for Amber's friendship. (Unbelievable, but just wait...)

(On a sidenote, Amber also got another email that was a transcript of a hand-written letter that Li had written to her brother. Amber got the email within one hour of the letter being sent to the post-office! Beyond that, because of their family situation, Li and her brother write in code, such that it would have been incomprehensible to read, but as Amber told me, "but there I had it, typed, and in completely comprehensible English.")

The third email came later that week. This time, the email Amber got was a transcript of an email conversation that Li was having with a friend in which she wrote about these "mystery emails" that Amber was getting. The friend was understandably freaked out, so suggested that they switch to Skype (an online messaging tool). However, Amber also received an email (again from herself!) with the Skype transcript later that day! The Skype transcript revealed some experiences from Li's past that would have been impossible for anyone on campus (including Amber!) to know about.

The next email gets even crazier! This is a quote from Amber:
"So tonight I got another email from 'me' (I've been getting about one a day) that contained an email [that Li got]from a friend who was concerned about the brother of one of the girls who committed suicide. The email was basically begging [Li] to call and talk to him since he was not doing well at all and everyone around him was scared he was going to kill himself. I [=Amber] went down to [Li's] room right after I read it and caught her just as she was leaving to go study, so as we were walking I told her about the email. She stopped and said, 'I need to call him, was it urgent?!' I told her it was, and she handed me all her books and ran to call him. She got a hold of him literally moments before he was about to hang himself and basically talked him out of committing suicide tonight. Afterwards she was pretty shaken and angry, but still glad that he was still alive.... A little while later, [Li] stopped and said, "[Amber], the pain's all gone!" Her chest pain had suddenly disappeared!

As of last report, Li was still teetering on the brink of faith in Jesus, but had actually gone back in her journals with Amber, and together they found a prayer that Li had written two years earlier where she asked God to speak to her in a way that could only be him; it seems like he is answering that prayer!

****
Now if that story doesn't drop your jaw, I don't know what will! As I've processed it, here are some of my reflections...

- I find myself so grateful to the LORD for his intervention, not only in the life of Li, but in the lives of her friends. What an incredible picture of the Lord's pursuant love!?
- I love the way that Jesus brings life out of a situation laden with death. He is the master of resurrection..."Death is swallowed up in victory!"
- I'm amazed at the "intricacy" of God's work in Li's life. He could have broken through to her in any number of ways, but his way is beyond comprehension; it is so wise, so beautiful, so intimate.

For all the "work" that we do on campus, this story serves as a reminder as to who it is that does the real work, and who is truly deserving of all glory and praise: Jesus, the one who lives to intercede for us.

To Him be Glory, forever and ever!
Jon

PS...The story goes on with the friend who Li talked out of suicide, but it's more than I can include here. If you'd like to hear the rest of it, drop me an email and I'll fill you in!

On the home front...

2007-11-05T10:32:00.000-06:00

Hello again everyone,

Before I get to updating the ministry, I wanted to share a couple things about our family.

First, as for the announcement, as some of you may have guessed (or heard!), Steph and I are indeed expecting our second child! We found out a few weeks back, and she is early in the process (about 10 weeks we think), which would put her due date in May/June. We go to the doctor next week for our first appointment and should be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time. She's been feeling more nauseous with this pregnancy than with Elijah, and being pregnant and a mom at the same time is a different ballgame, but all in all, we are thrilled and look forward to meeting our second child in the spring!

Another exciting development is the progress of our house (we are building on the west edge of town, by the soccer complex, for those of you who know Pella). I spent my Saturday trying to put a porch on the front of the house (with moderate success!) and at this point, it looks like we will be moving in sometime in January. I'll try and get some pictures posted after we get the siding on, so you can look forward to that next time!

I'm also glad to report that we officially have a toddler in the house. Elijah has been absolutely adorable lately (as you can see in the pictures!), but is becoming more of a handful as he regularly wanders off to flush our toilet and empty our cereal boxes on the floor (two of his current favorites!) I've embedded one of our favorite videos below; enjoy!

With Expectancy,
Jon

Vision and Teaching

2007-09-26T13:34:00.000-05:00

In addition to catching you all up the great things that have been going on, I wanted to give you a glimpse of my upcoming months and invite your prayers...

As I think about who I am and the mission I've been charged to lead, I'm seeing that my my two primary callings are to function as a visionary and a teacher. These are the things that give me the most life, that call the most heart, courage, and passion out of me, and which consistently prove to be the most fruitful activities of my life; the more I vision and teach, the hungrier I become to do them exceptionally well, so I'm asking for your prayers toward that end.

Teaching
In the next few weeks, I'll be speaking at William Penn (10.2), Central College (10.3), Grinnell College (10.9), Drake University (10.31), and again at Central (11.7). As such, I'd like to invite your prayers in two ways.
1. Pray that I would speak with power, authority, and wisdom: that my teaching would cause students to encounter Jesus in life transforming ways.
2. Pray that I myself would encounter Jesus in life transforming ways as I prepare. (Teaching is usually one of the ways I learn most effectively).

Vision
At the same time, I'm going to be continuing to lead our area in a strategic visioning process. I am so pleased with the work we have done so far, but as I mentioned above, the more I taste, the hungrier I become! Please pray:
1. That God would aid us in the creation of an organic, adaptive team culture that is marked by four pairs of values: "Innovative and Visionary"; "Communal and Interdependent"; "Joyful and Celebratory"; "Healthy and Mature".
2. That God would entrust us with a vision that would make us gasp because it is so compelling, gripping, and "heart-enlisting". (You can pray too that we would have the courage to follow Him!)

Thanks in advance for your prayers and partnership. I look forward to sharing the fruit of our (yours and my!) sacrifices!

With Expectation,
Jon

Rejoicing...

2007-09-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

Hello again everyone!

I'm glad to report that I'm writing at a far more reasonable hour this time, and that the pace and strain of ministry on my family has been noticeably better since I last wrote. Thank you to those of you who have prayed for our family; I believe God has been at work! In particular, the last 24 hours or so have been incredibly sweet: Elijah is sleeping much better, is constantly saying "dac-to" (aka "tractor"), and can now take 5 unassisted steps before he dives giggling into our arms. Parenting can feel a bit paradoxical at times, but it is such a joy to love our little boy. :)

On the ministry front, we are emerging from a season that is known as NSO (New Student Outreach), and there are fantastic things to report from all across our area:

* Since I last wrote, we've seen at least two people choose to follow Jesus for the first time: a Chinese international student from Coe College, and a freshman guy from Drake!
* We had 150 students from Iowa in attendance at our first-ever Regional Fall Conference (FC07)! In two cases (William Penn and Coe), the number of students at the conference actually exceeedthe number of students in the chapter at the beginning of the year!
* Grinnell College is enjoying their best Bible Study launch ever. One of their studies had 18 students attend the first meeting!

The stories literally go on and on, as I only hear bits and pieces from my staff, but join with me in thanking God for the work he's doing on the campuses of Iowa!

With Joy,

Jon

Midnight in Early September

2007-09-06T00:04:00.000-05:00

This time of year, it's all too normal. Midnight hits, and I'm still plugging away at any number of things, hoping that my son sleeps well (he's awake with Steph at the moment), and fighting off sleep. Thankfully, this pace is an exception rather than the rule, but to be honest, it's been an incredibly full last few weeks, and I'm feeling it.

On the one hand is the work on campus. Chapters are launching into a year of new freshmen, inexperienced leaders, technical glitches, and transformed lives. I experience these things much more second-hand now than I used to, so I find myself cheering on my staff by phone as they tell me about this great new freshmen they've met, or the leader who is really stepping up to the plate and owning their responsibility in the Kingdom. It truly is an incredible time of year, so filled with hope, expectation, and sometimes disappointment. Though it's incredibly difficult at times, it's this time of year that reminds us why we do this job: we love Jesus, we love the campus, and we are convinced that it is incredibly strategic in God's kingdom.

On the other is family and core relationships. Though it can go unnoticed (and unappreciated!) my family feels as much of the burden as I do, and they sacrifice along with me for the sake of the mission.

To be honest, it has been a difficult season for my family. Both Steph and I are in the midst of ministry launches, which costs time and heart and attention. Elijah continues to sleep poorly, which wears on us physically. In addition, I've been pounding away at a grad school course that is due in just over a week (mainly between 9p-1a). (BTW, it should have been done long ago; apparently, I'm not done procrastinating school work...) Those factors (among others) have been taking their toll on our relationship.

Toward that end, I'd like to ask for your prayers.
1. Pray that Steph and I would make the most of the time we do have; that we'd be able to "check our work at the door" and be more fully present to one another.
2. Pray for Elijah's stomach and intestines, that they would stop waking him up all the time and that he would rest peacefully.
3. Pray for my capacity. I'm finding that I really do need Jesus' help to be a great dad and husband. (Go figure!)
4. Pray that we would be able to push through "functionality" into genuine intimacy.

Thanks for "bearing with" us in this way. We are so grateful.

Learning,
Jon

Welcome!

2007-09-05T23:51:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome to Jon's Epistle, Blog Edition!

I've never written a blog before, so this will be a work in progress, but by way of introduction, I wanted to lay out a few of my hopes for this experience.

1. I hope that utilizing this tool creates more opportunity for me to share about the ministry of InterVarsity in Iowa. I'm hoping that this will continue to feel trendy enough to help motivate me to update you all more regularly. :)
2. I hope this paints a somewhat "unvarnished" picture of the real ins and outs of doing this job. Communication to hundreds of people four times a year can be helpful, but there's only so much you can say in a page or two. My hope is that this blog feels closer to the action.
3. I hope it enables a greater level of connection between you all and our ministry, both through keeping you more current on what's going on and how I'm doing, but also enabling feedback and interaction.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I'm hoping to post every couple of weeks. If you'd like to receive an email when I post, please drop me a quick message, and I'll add you to the list. I believe it's also possible to "subscribe" to this blog using the hyperlink below, but to do that, I believe you'll need to create a user ID (if you don't have one already). If you have any difficulties with the site, please let me know, and I'll do what I can to fix it.

Thanks again for checking in, your care and support mean so much.

With expectation,
Jon