Saying Good-bye

I'm a little late on this post, as the Anthem team led worship for a conference in Kansas. I was gone Friday morning through Sunday night...

It was a little sad saying good-bye to a good friend and co-laborer, Mike Easton. He and his wife Emily left yesterday for East Asia. They'll be working to reach university students in a city with very little gospel witness.

Our Freshmen Group director, Stan Hayek, kicked off our series on "The Water's Edge," a study through the book of John.

Please pray that many students will trust Christ as we journey through the book of John this semester. I'll be preaching on John 2 tomorrow night.

Jesus turns water to wine.

Hmmm... how should I apply that to college students?

Sitting on a Gold Mine

Can this really be happening?

Thousands of the state's (and world's) best leaders converge on this town in the middle of these Iowa cornfields to study and pursue their dreams. Hundreds of them show up every Thursday night at Salt Company to seek God's dream for their lives.

Sometimes I feel like I'm being set up for some kind of cosmic punch line...

But there's a great stewardship that comes with this next generation of leaders. We have a vision to raise these students up to become leaders in the church- whether godly moms, elders, engineers, pastors, teachers, worship leaders...

So we've launched the Cornerstone School of Theology to equip those seeking to be trained for ministry.

Today was our first class: Church History with Professors Jeff Dodge and Tim Lubinus.

Stan (TSC Freshman Director) didn't fare so well on the first quiz (this wasn't for a grade since it was the first day of class)...

Stan turned to me after getting a whopping score of 3/14 and said, "I really need to take this class."

How many pastors, missionaries, worship leaders, youth pastors, and other full time ministry workers have already been birthed out of Cornerstone/TSC? I hope to see that number increased exponentially in the coming years.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Numbers

684...

people jammed into the Cornerstone box. You would've guessed there were over 1,000 people there by how packed it was. If you think, "A few years ago I thought we were running

800-what has happened?" Historically, we have done a great job of over-estimating numbers. It was as big as any TSC in the gym I can remember. The feeling in there was electric... thunderous clapping and singing, followed by Troy hitting the ball out of the park. He spoke on the history of TSC and God's desire to do more.

590...

people signed up for connection groups going into the night.

650...

signed up for connection groups by the end of the night.

412...

signed up to clean the stadium. Do you think the Hawkeyes coming to town has anything to do with it? We'll need it for the 70,000+ rowdy tailgaters who will be making big messes.

160...

Greeks (not the ethnic group, but those in fraternity/sororities...) that came to the kickoff BBQ.

35...

Greek girls that showed up for a discussion on relationships.

30...

Farm House guys who came to 6 A.M. Bible study. I guarantee that never would've happened in my house. Did those guys grow up on dairy farms getting up that early? Either way, 30 guys from one fraternity getting up to seek God is something special.

1...

guy I talked to that couldn't go on the freshmen group retreat because he has to go back for homecoming. Lame. I wonder what my life would've been like had I not gone on the freshmen group retreat back in the fall of '95. It became my connecting point to the ministry.

2...

socially awkward situations.

400+...

students I hope will join us on our fall retreat October 9-11.

2...

of my kids I brought with me to TSC (Ava and Beck). Beck slept through most of Troy's talk and the entire closing worship set. He asked me as we were mingling at the beginning, "Why do you have to always keep stopping to talk to people?" People are a nuisance in his mind.

Monday Prayer, Tailgate and Cleanup

It was another rockin' week of ministry, beginning at 7:00 A.M. for our second Monday morning prayer meeting of the semester. The room was packed with students seeking God for what He might be willing to do on our behalf.

I had the privilege of praying with this group of guys that live in Barton Hall. They have a connection group of anywhere between 8-12 guys from their dorm, and they are praying for their whole floor to come to Christ. They meet every night at 10 PM to read the word and prayer. College ministry...
Yesterday we had a TSC tailgate before the Cyclones took on the mighty Bison of North Dakota State. New coach. New offense. We knew we'd be in for a nail biter. And it didn't disappoint (It was a little closer than the final score indicated). About 400 students came to tailgate.

After meeting about the 50th person while wandering around for 3 hours asking name-major-living area, my relational tank was full. I feel bad that I will only remember a hand full of names. But I did have some very fun conversations.

Like the guy I asked, "Materials engineering, huh? Well what is your dream job when you graduate?"

The dude almost teared up as he said, "Polymers. There's just so many possibilities with polymers."

I was thinking: Poly-who? I didn't have the guts to ask what the heck he was talking about. So I moved on.

The only bummer of the night: we ran out of gas for the grill (thus, the long line).

This just might be one of the highlights of my year. Late into the night, the Janitors of God take over and clean Jack Trice stadium, after 50,000 people make a big mess. The award for the nastiest mess was a guy who reached down to pick up a napkin, and it was covering a pile of puke. Then, the popcorn bag next to it was filled to the top with puke.

This is where all of you alumni get a chance to comment on your stadium cleanup horror stories. I've got MANY up my sleeve.

And it's also your chance to be thankful you're not a student cleaning the stadium at 1 AM. Or me, a 32 year old cleaning the stadium at 1 AM.

Okay, this is cool. We had a student for every row from the upper deck to the first row by the field on BOTH SIDES! We had over 300 students cleaning, and the majority finished cleaning the stadium in an hour and a half.

That doesn't include blowers and trucks. They left around 1:30 or 2 AM.

All this is a reminder that this ministry is not about a bunch of hype on Thursday nights. May it never be! We are servants of Christ, willing to pick up puke for nothing in return.

May God bless the work of our (dirty) hands. We cherish your prayers for us- to that end.

Anthem Available Through Willow Creek

Willow Creek just made the new album available on their website: Click here to purchase and/or give a review.

You can also purchase Esmerelda, Cornerstone's Christmas production, on that same website.