AMAZING WEEK... Kickoffs!

This was an amazing week of college ministry. This is worth the read (As the author, I guess I'm slightly biased).

I wonder if I'll start every blog post that way.

Anyway, here are some images for you...

The week of ministry started with the Freshmen Group kickoff on Sunday night... about 600 students were served a free meal, followed by the gospel presentation by Stan Hayek, our freshmen director.

Below: Don't get this confused with the TSC kickoff (further below...). This is Monday morning prayer!!!! Well over 100 students gathered by the Campanile as the sun was coming up. Did you know Monday morning prayer is the only consistent "event" in the history of TSC.

Below: These girls were praying in the only sunny spot on campus- the steps of Beardshear. I thought it was symbolic of interceding in the presence of God for Him to shine His face on us.

And shine He did, as you're about to read.

I'll try not to get in the habit of this, but this part of the post is also found on my other blog (metropuritan.blogspot.com)

Before you read this, you might want to click here first for some background. I left off with the question, "What will God do?"

But here's the quick recap in case you failed to click there:

It's pouring rain all day yesterday, all night, and the forecast is not looking good- Rain all day.

I read John 6, with Jesus' words resonating in my soul, "Well, Mark, what are we going to do?"

Stan and I prayer walk the courtyard at 9:00 AM (in the rain) and Stan concurs that the rain is not a problem, but an opportunity for God to show up in a special way.

The rain is off and on all day, and it's spitting rain until 6:40, when Jesse starts the opening song of worship.

The rain totally stops.

Not a single drop for the rest of the night.

College students poured onto the lawn from all directions. My guess is that there were anywhere from 800-1,000 students packed onto the Old RCA Courtyard.

Here are some pics...

This was Jesse during rehearsal (6:10) getting rained on.

This is right after... Our student leaders, all 140 of them, went to town waving their white signs in the air in an attempt to get students to join their connection groups.

The mass of people was organized by having six huge signs with living areas, so students could sign up for connection groups near them. Here is Kevin posing by a couple of those signs.

Mark D doing his best to recruit to his connection group.

Gabe is competing nearby...

We have about 1,000 students that we're trying to get connected and about 100 groups, so doing the math, well, pray for our leaders... Steffi had over 30 girls wanting to get into her group in Linden!

This was about an hour after TSC ended. There were still a TON of people just hanging out talking.

This was almost 2 hours after ending, and still people were hanging out talking in the dark!

These are the true heroes of the night... the guys who got there at 1:00 to set up the stage and finished tearing down and unloading back at Cornerstone at 10 pm. Bless you, servants.

Moreover, the guy on the left is a transfer student who had just experienced his first TSC. He's off to a good start!

I wish I had more adequate words to describe how clearly and powerfully God showed up on our behalf.

In summary: I've never regretted putting myself in a position where my plans were doomed to failure if God didn't supernaturally show up.

Moreover, I wish I could go on and on about the students I personally interacted with. Maybe I just will...

Two girls who wandered in

One freshman guy who wandered in and this was the first fellowship he's had since arriving

A sorority girl who showed up because she was invited by a friend

Two Chinese guys who gladly told me they were not Christians, but were studying the Bible to learn how to know Jesus.

A freshman I had prayed for this summer who showed up out of nowhere

A prodigal sophomore who just decided to start living for Jesus again. He desperately wants out of the partying scene but doesn't know how to get out of his living situation

Five guys from the same frat who are eager to see God bring their house to Christ

Another guy who wants to start living an authentic life, "Mark, I want to walk with God, can we meet weekly?"

Two female athletes

A guy who just became a Christian last year and is weeping over his lost dad.

A sophomore who prayed for his roommate for the entire last year and he came for the first time tonight (not grudgingly)

A couple who just got engaged

A guy who just got a date (you think junior high is full of drama...just wait 'til marriage and your life destiny is on the line!)

I made it through the night with only 2 blunders....

1. I announced to the crowd that I took my 4 year old for a leak behind a nearby bush during worship (c'mon...it was his pants or the bush. I opted for fertilizing the bush)

2. I ended my talk by saying, "Can I get an 'Amen!'" GASP...I could've shot myself. Where did that cheezy "I'm a southern preacher wannabe" hype come from? Just a simple "Amen!" is fine, but I don't think I've ever said that phrase in its entirety before. Unless mocking someone. What was I thinking? I still can't believe it.

Oh well.

Forget the fact that God held off the rain and brought 1,000 college students to worship, hear about Jesus and get connected with His people...

He even showed up in the midst of my trite rhetoric.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Leadership Retreat

We had our leadership retreat on Monday and Tuesday with over 100 of the 140+ TSC leaders.

Gasp... (at the thought of mentoring that many college students)

Here are some rockstar leaders (Above: Mary, Carley, Lydia. Below: Kent and Aidan)

The retreat was rockin'. Our best to date. Here were some highlights:

1. Our goal: simple and helpful.

That was totally accomplished as we often repeated the theme and focus of our year, "Just Care." We also consolidated everything a leader needs onto one sheet, entitled, "The One Sheet You Actually Need." We have a long history of overwhelming leaders with tons of information.

Was that tradition started under Jeff Dodge? Probably. And Paul Sabino was glad to carry it on.

Someone's got to get us back to the good old days of life under Troy's leadership.

Actually, I hear his leadership style was pretty hardcore- most akin to Hitler.

I hope none of those guys read this blog. I could be in trouble.

2. Confession time

If there's one thing that has marked this ministry over the years, it has been ruthless authenticity. That begins with confession, which requires a safe environment where people, even leaders, are allowed to struggle with sin. It also must be a place where grace abounds.

I felt strongly that we needed an extended time of confession. Monday morning started with a sobering challenge by Pastor Tom (Nesbitt) in our staff meeting. He referred to a story of a long time Christian who was stuck in sin, refusing to come clean. He challenged us not to keep secrets, but to gladly expose our sin by bringing it in the light. It's impossible to be "free in the dark."

We encouraged students to share in private with a trusted brother or sister. One student I talked to told me he almost didn't come on the retreat because he was overwhelmed by guilt about something he had done a week before the leadership retreat. I assured him if only the righteous showed up to the retreat, no one would've come.

3. Michael Jackson dances

We're always looking for competitive, yet non-athletic games to loosen students up while helping them build relationships. This was perfect. We gave 11 groups each 90 second clips of Michael Jackson songs. They had to come up with a group dance and perform in front of everyone.

4. The food

I don't think we had this kind of food at the Y camp or at Hantesa. I guess some good did come out of Paul Sabino's leadership (i.e. moving it to Hidden Acres).

5. Connection group practice

We did a mock connection group sign up to get the leaders in the mentality of going after people at the kickoff. The staff did some role playing. I was the guy who picked one guy to be in my group, while neglecting everyone else I met. My one guy was Andrew...

Here are some non-highlights. There's really only one.

1. The drinking fountain outside the chapel.

lame.

Nobody enjoys hitting the bar and realizing they'll have to put their lips on the spout and start sucking to get hydrated.

When I resort to complaining about the water fountain, that's a good sign I'm due for another trip overseas.

Our leaders rock.

God is good.

How the class of 2013 thinks

With college ministry on my mind, this was a good read to remember my audience: Click here for the mindset of the class of 2013.

Props for the vine: Johnnie Gibson's email-> WORLD mag -> Ed Stetzer -> Smart peeps from Beloit College

Anthem: One Life Released Today

The Anthem CD is officially released today!

No offense to the old school TSC worship team that performed on hit albums such as, "Shout to the Lord" and "Not to us", or TSC Live Volumes 2 and 3, and Between Stars and Gravity...

... but let's just say we've come a long way since those days.

15 songs. 10 bucks. What a deal.

Here are a couple places you can find it: Click here for anthemworship.com OR Click here for myspace.com/anthemworship.

It should be available on iTunes soon, but you can also click here to download the digital version (from this site we get 100% of the profit, as opposed to iTunes). It will also be available through the Willow Creek Association website.

You can find chord charts and stream five full songs at anthemworship.com.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Staff Retreat

One of the most strategic events we do as a ministry is our staff retreat every fall.

Top Row L to R: Me (Mark Arant, Director), Lance Allgood (missions, graphics, discipleship), Jesse Antelman (worship leader), Ben Jensen (Leadership Coordinator), Sarah Taylor (Freshmen Women), Carrie Clement (TSC Women)

Bottom Row L to R: Stan Hayek (Freshmen Director, Leadership Director), Mikaela Schaefer (TSC Coordinator)

Not pictured: Jill Paullus (Women's Director)

How can something so fun be so strategic?

The experience from the retreat becomes the glue that holds our team together throughout the year. We had times of prayer, sharing in the Word, laughing, crying, flying around the lake on tubes, worship on the lake as we watched the sunset, eating Stan's Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches (click here for more on our redneck freshman group director)

I consider it a privilege to work with such incredible people. With the exception of me, the amount of servanthood and humility was off the charts. I seemed to be in prime form, saying some things I had to apologize for later.

What am I doing leading this thing?

I have no idea. It's all part of the cosmic joke, I guess. Grace.

In 3 days (leadership retreat kicks everything off), this staff team will give endless hours of investing their lives into college students.

Please pray for us.

And for those of you who support us financially, thank you. I think this was well worth your investment.

For more thoughts on our time (an open letter to the Kuphal's for letting us use their cabin), click here.

Let's Do This!

Here we go.

Our first ever Salt Company blog post.

I want to welcome you as a reader and let you know I'll be posting at minimum every Friday to let you in on some of what God is doing here at Iowa State University.

It's surreal to be standing under such a forceful waterfall of God's blessing... but here I stand. My goal is to share perspective on ministry through the lens of someone who is woefully inadequate for the task of leading, and yet entrusted with the very stewardship.

I look forward to joining you on this journey. I hope you'll join me in giving glory to God for the work of his kingdom here in Ames.

It's also worth noting that this is not an objective news source. It will have a sort of editorial spin on what's happening. So, I'd love to hear your feedback. Hopefully you'll always leave a happier person than when you came. I'll try to keep the more personal color commentary confined to my other blog (click here).

Finally, make sure you're signed up to receive this blog as an RSS feed (Google Reader, for example). Click here if you've been living in a cave for the last few years. This internet tool is a must.