Since I last wrote

Since I last posted, I've done some traveling and made it back to Texas.

My last weekend in DC we had a Georgetown visioning retreat for InterVarsity.
The students looked at a lot of materials, prayed, and found a vision they would get behind for the coming semester. Current goals/vision includes focusing on prayer, increasing student involvment and leadership, and inviting more friends to fellowship events.
It was a very successful day and it is exciting to see them all be happy and energetic about this vision!

After that, I went to a WM alums party at Tom and Sara's apartment, great to reconnect with that crowd!

Sunday after church at St. Theresa's, my local Catholic parish (where the priest is on the board of Sojourners!), I got an interesting visit from some friends of the Catholic volunteers down the street. I classified them as "Christian anarcists"--because of all their anti-politics talk. They want to start a Catholic worker house that serves more as spiritual renewal for those people out "serving in the field" more.

Monday through Wednesday of last week I went to another installment of New Staff Training--this time on New Student populations. We talked about how to expand our InterVarsity chapters to include different kinds of students than we've included in the past.
My coworker and I focused on Catholic students and athletes.
My favorite exercise we talked about looking for "glimpses of the gospel" in the cultures and actions of our student populations. For instance, when talking about trying to include GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered) students in our fellowships--one staff person talked about admiring the group's willingness to be unashamed in their identity. This is something we would want Christian students to feel more about claiming their faith.

Thursday we had a spring break bible study planning meeting at our house, talking about several sections from Luke.
I left early to volunteer at International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org)'s annual benefit banquet. I got to bring 7 students and friends alongside me. During my time at William and Mary I was heavily involved in a campus chapter of IJM. It was a lot of fun to connect students to some of the people working for IJM and other justice-related careers. One of my students had never heard of IJM before! That was a lot of fun to see her discover it for the first time.


Friday was my last day on campus. Friday evening we had our staff Christmas party.

Early Saturday morning I flew back home to Texas.

Being home has been great.......
Got to attend Nikki's graduation and post-parties.
Lots of time to bake, visit donors and get moderate amounts of sleep. I've found some free-week offerings at local gyms I'm enjoying.

I'm also starting a 4-week "back from college" bible study with students from my home church. This past sunday's first study was well attended and people really enjoyed talking about Jonah 1 and whether they were running from God. Great time!