Hello friends below you should find our update letter for April 2011.
Archive for the ‘Fun’ Category
April 2011 Update
Posted 08 Apr 2011 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Running, Scripture, Spirituality
Category Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Running, Scripture, Spirituality
Beautiful Things
Posted 24 Mar 2011 — by nick
Category Fun, Illini Life, Ministry, music, Spirituality, Videos
Category Fun, Illini Life, Ministry, music, Spirituality, Videos
Recently I was introduced to the song “Beautiful Things” by Gungor. It was in a worship set when I was back home with Illini Life Christian Fellowship at University of Illinois. Since then I’ve heard it in several other churches as I’ve met with folks around the Chicagoland area.
It’s catchy and I love to simplicity of the chorus
You make beautiful things,
You make beautiful things out of dust.
You make beautiful things,
You make beautiful things out of us.
On Mission in Haiti and Memphis
Posted 21 Mar 2011 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Social Justice, Spirituality, Technology
Category Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Social Justice, Spirituality, Technology
As some of you may have noticed in our last update letter Illini Life sent off two different missions teams over Spring Break this week. Amy is currently in Memphis, TN with a team of 30 Students and 5 Adult leaders serving and sharing in the community there with SOS. They arrived on-sight Sunday afternoon.
Another small group of 15 headed to Haiti around 2:00AM CST today. They’re working with Mountain Top Ministries just outside Port-a-Prince. One of my ministry passions is helping engineering students find places to serve in the church and use their gifts. This trip allows quite a few of them to do just that. The 15 are divided into 3 groups:
- One group will be helping to set up a school’s computer lab & provide training for the equipment.
- One group will be working alongside a Haitian construction team to build a hospital.
- One group will be partnering with a team from UIC-Chicago to run a medical clinic.
We’re excited to be providing 15 laptops and wireless internet in the computer lab. You can have a look at some pictures a few of my friends took as they prepared the computers for travel and lab installation. If you’d like to follow along with the Haiti trip subscribe to the trip blog.
40 Acres of Truth
Posted 08 Mar 2011 — by nick
Category Fun, GCM, Ministry, music, Spirituality
Category Fun, GCM, Ministry, music, Spirituality
Music has always been an important part of my life. Not that I play any instruments; I simply consume a lot, I always have. I’ve heard it said that artists are the prophets of a generation – I think I agree. Some of the greats would being Dylan, the Beatles, Jeff Tweedy and maybe even Justin Bieber (not really though).
The messages that dance melodically into our ears shape the way we think about the world, inspire new vocabulary and raise social issues. At least the good music does.
An album that would make a top 10 list for me is 40 Acres by Caedmon’s Call. From start to finish it washes you with truth and honest, heart gripping stories of following God. Not long after I became a Christian I purchased this album. It was a little folksy for me at the time, but I came to love it. Listening to it again recently brought reminders of all the places and things I’ve been through in the past 12 years.
My response: Thankfulness for a God who walks with me. A needed reminder as I spend so much time on the road raising support.
Doritos Commercial
Posted 11 Feb 2011 — by nick
Category Fun, Technology, Television, Videos, Volkswagen
Category Fun, Technology, Television, Videos, Volkswagen
Many of you probably saw this commercial during the Superbowl. It’s still making me laugh.
While I agree with most, the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial was probably the best, this Doritos one was just wacky enough to really standout.
Amy would like me to tell you all that she does not share my love for this commercial or these tasty chips. We don’t have them in our house mostly do to her MSG intolerance (which they are loaded with).
January 2011 Update
Posted 05 Jan 2011 — by nick
Category Creation, Family, Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Spirituality, Winter
Category Creation, Family, Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Spirituality, Winter
Hello friends below you should find our update letter for January 2011.
Christmas in Vermont
Amy and I spent the week before Christmas in Killington, Vermont with her family. It was a combined Christmas celebration and pre-celebration of her youngest brother’s high school graduation. We both agree, it was a sweet Christmas present and welcomed time with family to play and relax.
Here are some pictures from our time on Killington Mountain.
Merry Christmas!
Amy and I head out for our holiday travels tomorrow morning. I’m not sure how much computer access we’ll have between now and then, so I thought I’d take a minute to wish you all a Merry Christmas now.
Merry Christmas!
December 2010 Update
Posted 16 Dec 2010 — by nick
Category Family, Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Spirituality, Winter
Category Family, Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Spirituality, Winter
Hello friends below you should find our update letter for December 2010.
Celebrating Baptism
Posted 02 Nov 2010 — by nick
Category Creation, Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, News, Spirituality, Technology
Category Creation, Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, News, Spirituality, Technology
I spent last week in Orlando, FL near the headquarters of GCM, as a stop along the support raising trail back to campus. My good friend Chris hosted me at his place for the week as I worked at finding times to meet with folks and share about the work I do and – during the off hours – spent much time working on upgrading the GCM network firewall with our IT department.
Shortly after arriving in Orlando I found myself standing on the beach facing the Atlantic Ocean. Chris’ church was holding their Baptism service – which is much more of a celebration than most churches I’ve attended. I loved the atmosphere and excitement as we celebrated brothers and sisters making a public display of the inward commitment they had made to follow Jesus.
Together in community we shared a meal, cheered as 113 folks were baptized in the waves of the Atlantic (including some more notable figures), worshiped together in music and voice and shared our lives. This church thinks about baptism much the way that Illini Life does – it’s an event we want to celebrate as a church community. It’s worthy of celebrating as we watch others make a public declaration to the church body that they belong to Jesus.
