The Hobbit: Start of Production

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Posted 15 Apr 2011 — by nick
Category Fun, Movies, Spirituality

Some of you know I’m a huge nerd at heart. Tolkien’s epic stories of hobbits, magic and wizards were books I read early in my teenage youth and returned to several times. That was when it was still in the fantasy/nerdy genre. Along came Peter Jackson who brought to life the stories on the screen – introducing a whole new generation to them, distilling the stories for mainstream consumption.

These stories are deeply shaping and inspiring. Tolkien, at times, very thinly veils his faith in the stories. There are tales of sin enslaving creatures (Gollum), the shared burden carrying of community (the fellowship), the guiding priestly figure of Gandalf, etc.

My heart warmed and excitement jumped as I saw this video post today. Video production of The Hobbit has begun. Hooray!

April 2011 Update

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Posted 08 Apr 2011 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Running, Scripture, Spirituality

Hello friends below you should find our update letter for April 2011.

Download (PDF, 382KB)

Beautiful Things

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Posted 24 Mar 2011 — by nick
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

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Posted 21 Mar 2011 — by nick
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.

March 2011 Update

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Posted 10 Mar 2011 — by nick
Category GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Social Justice, Spirituality, Technology

Hello friends below you should find our update letter for March 2011.

Download (PDF, 370KB)

40 Acres of Truth

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Posted 08 Mar 2011 — by nick
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.

A Spirit of Unity

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Posted 24 Feb 2011 — by nick
Category GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, News, Spirituality

Not long ago I received word from the GCM office of an agreement made between the 17 dominate missions groups focusing on reaching college campuses (of which GCM is one). It’s being referred to as “The Chicago Agreement: Unity in Mission” you can read it here, or below.

It excites me knowing that the common ground we have in Christ can spur us on together to reach our campuses for Christ despite our theological, worship and stylistic differences. In matters of faith and Christian brotherhood, I find it more profitable to find the common ground we share rather than drawing lines and defining who is in the club and who is out. I find the spirit of this agreement to be the same.

Download (PDF, 76KB)

Doritos Commercial

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Posted 11 Feb 2011 — by nick
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).

February 2011 Update

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Posted 10 Feb 2011 — by nick
Category GCM, Illini Life, Jesus, Ministry, Photos, Scripture, Social Justice, Spirituality

Hello friends below you should find our update letter for February 2011.

Download (PDF, 264KB)

Support Raising: By the numbers

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Posted 27 Jan 2011 — by nick
Category GCM, Illini Life, Ministry

Awhile back I posted giving a brief rundown of the process of raising support most missionaries go through. It’s a long process, one where I feel God does more preparing and readying me for ministry than I anticipated He would and/or needed to.

I’m asked to be faithful, to continually step into uncomfortable situations for a introverted engineer. I get to meet new people constantly and hear their story and share mine. Along the way great friendships form and some folks even decide to support the work God is doing in and through my life.

You know I’m an engineer at heart, so numbers a thing for me. So I figured I’d give you all another batch of support raising numbers here:

1250 – the number of times we’ve tried to initiate with people to see if they’d like to meet. That could be anything from an email thread, a text message thread, facebook message thread, phone call or in person.

161 – the number of people committed to praying for us regularly.

123 – the number of appointments kept. Quite a few of those folks were couples.

53 – the number of people supporting us financially with a repeating gift. There are 16 additional people that have given special gifts with no commitment to repeat.

9 – the number of homes stayed in besides ours along this journey.

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