CLASS NIGHT: CALLING FRONTLINE, TEMPO, DIESEL & ROOTS!

This Friday after ACCESS we'll be having CLASS NIGHT for the undergraduate students. Class night is when students from each class gather together for fellowship, activities, and prayer. As we hit the last leg of the school year, our goal for this night is to provide the opportunity for students to get deeper with one another and reflect on God's goodness and faithfulness. So come out to ACCESS and stay for class night!

GLOBAL ACCESS RETREAT TESTIMONY

By the way, I lifted those pictures from Freddy Ng's Facebook photo album...

Welcome back students! I noticed some of you returned to Ann Arbor with tans faces- I hope that your spring breaks were refreshing. The Global Access retreat the previous weekend (2/22-23) was amazing! Thanks for all who prayed and even served at the retreat. Hopefully we'll be able to post some pictures and testimonies sometime this week.

For me personally, the spring break was a good time to catch up with work, prepare for the LAST 1 1/2 MONTHS of the school year (which is also the end of our church's ministry cycle), and start thinking about spring-summer and beyond.

Whew...winter retreat, praise night, and now "The Game: The Rules of Sex and Relationships"! This past Friday at ACCESS, the campus ministries started this series to teach us how to be "PROS"...

"P" stands for the PLAYERS: Part of God's purpose in creating us was for men and women to be in passionate marriage relationships.

"R" stands for the RULES: The boundaries for sex and relationships should follow these general principles. First, we need to abstain from sexual immorality. Second, we need to abide in holiness. Third, we ought to aspire to honor God. The ABC's of such God-honoring relationships are: accountability, boundaries, and community.

This upcoming week the second part will cover the "O" (objectives) and "S" (scoreboard). So for those who are on campus, we enthusiastically want to invite you come out to ACCESS this Friday night.

STARTING THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8!

I've felt a strong need to have a series like this for ACCESS because there's such a strong culture of sensuality as well as gross inaccuracies regarding sexuality on college campuses. I learned about sex in my 5th grade sex-ed class, in the locker rooms, and through the TV shows and movies that I watched. Too often I see believers in Jesus "Christianize" their secular concepts of sex, dating, and marriage with a smattering of random Biblical wisdom. The results are a lot of broken hearts, physical and emotional baggage, and disillusionment towards God and others.

PACT PRAYER SUMMIT UPDATE
I've been spending the last couple of days at the PACT prayer summit. PACT stands for "Pastors Alliance for County Transformation." It's a group of pastors and Christian workers from Washtenaw County that work together to build God's Kingdom in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and beyond. It is an eye-opening experience to be here as my perspective grows regarding 1) the importance of the University of Michigan to the county and 2) the greater needs and works of God beyond just our campus. In between times of prayer and reading the Word, I've had great conversations with brothers and sisters about reaching our community, overcoming racism in the church, and pastoral ministry struggles.

Check out Pastor Seth's blog for more updates and photos. You'll see a photo of a very godly man in an orange shirt on it. =)

Hey there everyone- just wanted to add onto Diana's post yesterday about Praise Night. I'm looking forward to seeing the Global Access (international) and Central Campus undergrad small groups show their stuff tomorrow night- 7:00PM @ the Michigan League Ballroom. Hopefully she can finish learning how to use Facebook by next week so we can post more pictures and videos from "Part One". (Just kidding, Diana! She is actually light years ahead of me...)

PRAYER NEEDED! For everyone who is participating and/or planning on attending, let's use the next couple days to focus our prayers for this: 1) for Jesus Christ to be showcased through all the small group presentations; 2) for small groups to bond closer as they work together; and 3) for our friends on campus to see the truth and love of our Lord through the night!

"A FOREIGN EXPERIENCE"

***UPDATE: L3 DEBRIEF

Today's "Leadership Lessons Luncheon" was what we envisioned it to be when the pastors and coordinators first began discussing it last August. P.Seth briefly talked about the importance of IMPLEMENTATION as a leader: being able to execute the plans or purposes that they have envisioned. After the noon hour, some students stuck around and we got to spend good time chatting a bit. We had our best turnout so far, and we were glad to just be more accessible to the undergraduate and graduate students in our church.

Welcome back everyone! It's been a long time but now that the Winter term is in full swing, we will be getting this blog back up with more regular posts. I am fully convinced that the Lord has a lot in store for us in the next several months...I am looking forward to walking through it with all of you.

***Update: L3 STARTING AGAIN TUESDAY!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone is enjoying a good holiday with friends and family. After Sunday celebration, Nickey and I went down to Florida to spend Christmas with her family. Since it's also around the time of our anniversary (on 12/30), we're going to spend some of our time in evaluation of our first year of marriage and prepare for 2008. I'm also spending time in personal reflection and planning for the upcoming year of ministry.