Love and Grace

It happened.

I spent another 6 weeks in my favorite foreign country and it feels like nothing has even happened now that I am back. I know that I will be struggling with the thoughts of "Was that even worth it?" "Did anything just happen?" and "My life feels no different than it did before. Now what?" It's crazy to think that just a few short weeks ago I was visiting Venice and Maribor and Koper and meeting new people every day. 

After being home for 5 days, I have come to know the full power of jet lag. Nothing stinks more than your body waking you up at 5 AM on its own and telling you to be in bed by 6 PM (although it's kind of helpful when you have to be at the airport by 4:30 AM). My room is just as messy as I left it, there are projects still to be done here, and my cats are just as meddlesome as ever. 

The last week of ministry was hard, to be honest. Most of the students were done with exams and classes were no longer in session. With both of those elements of combined, finding new students to talk with was extremely difficult, and every opportunity to have a follow up with a student we had previously met was very welcome. I had been meeting one person since the first week, and saying goodbye to him was difficult. Here was a guy that I had asked deep and personal questions, and he asked them back. I had seen him grow as he processed who Jesus was and what it would mean to accept Jesus as the most important person in his life. 

By the end of the trip, we initiated nearly 7,000 conversations, and 9 people came to accept Christ!*clapping for new brothers and sisters in Christ*

We increased the number of Vsak Študent key volunteers from 5 to almost 40. The movement was beginning to roll at the start of the summer, but now it's accelerating downhill. I can see God moving there in many hearts. 

But just as many things are beginning there, many things ended for me. I had my last staff-led action group (in-depth bible study led by a Cru staff person) that I will ever be in for my undergraduate career. It just hit me that I won't be leading worship 3 times a week anymore. And that's just depressing. Debrief in Salzburg was very much needed. I left Sunday Morning from Slovenia with so many feelings that I couldn't leave yet. There was still far too much to do. Being in Salzburg, exploring the city, spending hours in prayer and reflection over the past 6 weeks was so helpful. I got my bearings and realized that life back home was still happening and that I would have to engage with people that wouldn't realize what I had just done. 

The hardest part of being home is that I no longer have a set schedule that revolves around growing in the Lord and letting Him shape me in activities that center on making Him known. While catching up on sleep, playing my favorite video game, and seeing all of my friends again are great things, I just haven't much time in the word the past few days. We talked in debriefing about how Paul left the leaders of the church in Ephesus (check out Acts 20). Paul leaves them to basically grow on their own since he will not be returning to them ever again. He leaves them knowing that they will be in charge of their faith and that they cannot rely on him for everything anymore. This is the state that I am currently in.

It will be assumed that I am constantly in the word, that I am constantly growing, and that I am always doing well in my spiritual walk. This is definitely not always going to be the case, as many of you know. I have a hard time getting into the word when my environment stresses me out or when I have to fight for time with God.

But despite all of the hardness, I know that God has me :) Because I made a decision once to accept Jesus, my eternity is secured. I’m reminded of the prodigal son story and movie scene where somebody is profusely apologizing for forgetting something very important. Before the person can finish their full apology, she is cut off with a hug, and in her ear they whisper, “Don’t you dare apologize! You remembered - you came back!” 

While I get to experience coming back to Christ every morning, there are people that don’t have that joy and that pleasure. Please pray for those people. Keep them in your hearts. Or better yet, tell them about the joy that you have in Christ. I can guarantee you won’t regret it :)

Now… commence internship in the Dominican Republic! Happy birthday USA, but I’m leaving you again. I’ll be back in 6 weeks!

So soon?

Well, we've arrived at the final stretch.

Way too many things have happened in the past 2 weeks. We started going to some other cities in Slovenia. There are 3 universities in the country, and the one that we spend the most time at is the University of Ljubljana, and there are also universities in Maribor and Koper. We don't have staff that lives in those cities, so when we are in those cities we don't have time to initiate super deep conversations and really get to see where people are and point them to Jesus. Given that these are much smaller cities and universities than Ljubljana, there aren't nearly as many students to talk with. So we are primarily focused on finding serious Christian students to start their own movements there.

Example initiations for both types of conversations:
Deep - "Živjo(hello)! My name is Chris and this is my friend ___. We are in Ljubljana with a worldwide student movement, and we are trying to get to know some Slovene students, to learn about their culture, and to ask people what they believe about faith and spiritual things. Do you have a bit of time to chat?

Looking for Christians - "Excuse me, do you speak English? Cool! My name is Chris, I'm here with an international Christian movement, and we are looking for students that would say 'I'm a Christian, I believe in God, and I try to follow the teachings of Jesus and the Bible.' Do you know anyone like that?"
If they say no, then we move on to the next person. If they say yes, we follow up with what it would mean to start a movement, and how they would be involved and what would be expected of them. When asking, we have to keep in mind that  being a "leader" is a huge turnoff in their culture, so we instead ask them if they want to be "key volunteers." We try to ask as many people as possible this question, no matter if they are eating, talking with friends (groups are AWESOME - especially if you get a person that is willing to claim their belief in front of their peers), studying, or are on their way to class.

We've increased the movement here in Slovenia from 5 students who want to share their faith to more than 40 students. 5 people have come to Christ and I have a follow up today with another student who is tracking quite well with the idea of grace and the need for a savior!

As we near the last week, we are shifting our focus from people who might be interested in the movement to students who are definitely wanting to start this movement. It's kind of sad that we won't be able to talk to every person about Vsak Študent, but at the same time, that's the Spirit's job. God just invited us along for the ride this summer!

On a side note, the staff surprised us with a trip to Venice last Friday (6/10)! It was a ton of fun to get lost int he alley ways, go to the island of Murano and see the blown glass, and spend the day with awesome people. The amount of tourists was kind of annoying, but Mark's Basilica (supposedly has the bones of the apostle John Mark) was huge and beautiful. However - I did NOT like the fact that they made women cover their shoulders and their knees to enter the building - and they charged for a covering if the girls weren't able to do it themselves with their clothing. God meets people where they are. HE cleans you up and puts you on the right path #ReadEphesians2. But if you have never been, be prepared to pay double for (everything including restrooms) since it is a tourist location.

Week 1 (of year 2)

This year we have been doing something a bit different. It's called Connect training and I absolutely love it!
TLDR; I learned how to ask really good questions and connect on a deeper level with people this week :) It made me question how I would want to be brought to Christ, and the circumstances that I would want to create to get others to accept him as the One who loves them more than anyone else.

As a movement, Cru is really great at 2 things:
1) Leading people to the cross
2) Mentoring people once they get there

But... there is a step that is often missed. We aren't so good at discovering where people currently are in their spiritual life. So while we may know the path that we want to get people on, we typically don't know to get people from the path that they are on to the path that Jesus calls us down. In a nut shell, Connect Training is social skills 101.

We learned about 3 huge concepts in 3 days, and they are the roles that we should be playing for those that we pour our lives into.

Day 1 was "The Explorer as a Listener" and how to better develop empathy for a person. We watched several videos about stepping into other's shoes and analyzed how Leigh Anne Tuohy does this so well in The Blind Side and several other clips. We focused on a clip from Amistad about the difference between WHO someone is and WHAT someone is. Above all, we focused on better listening techniques and attitudes to take on to learn more about a person and connect with them.

"Explorers don't assume. They enter into a conversation to discover. To learn another person's story."
Give people undivided attention, especially with non-verbal cues.
Summarize and let them know what you are hearing. It doesn't necessarily mean that you agree with everything
Invite them to share more of their story and to help you understand it
Ask for permission to ask other questions about their life and if you can share your own story so they can get to know you as well

Day 2 was "The Explorer and Asking Questions" and how to ask better questions to get into people's hearts. Questions are powerful tools - they can change our perspective, how we think, and even make us reconsider our interests. Jesus was an amazing question-asker. He shied away from answering others directly, preferring to ask questions in return that shift people's focus to the underlying question originally asked. When Nicodemus asks Jesus "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus fires back: "Why do you call me good?" It shifts the focus to who Jesus is rather than what he gives.

In the 70's, evangelists loved the questions:
"If you were to die tonight, how sure would you be that you are going to heaven?"
"If God asked you, 'why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?"
These questions are great for getting people to where they should be  and give the asker a good description of how much a person understands the concept of Grace. But these questions don't meet people where they are in their walk. It assumes that they believe in the God of the Bible and that their idea of the afterlife follows a Christian viewpoint.

Now, these are the preferred questions:
"How satisfied are you with how your life is going and the direction your life is taking?"
"If you added god to you life - do you think that this would make your life better, worse, or would it be about the same?"
I LOVE these questions! It can lead to so much discussion about the state that people are currently living in, where they want to go in life, how they plan on getting there, and if they could change anything about their life.

Some of the sample questions that we came up with to better understand Slovenes (or anyone we don't know that well)...
"If you could change something of your past, what would you change and why?"
"Have you ever been burned or turned off by religious people? Why?"
"What is most important to you? Why?"
"If God was real, what do you think would be most important to Him? Why?"
"If you could ask God one question, what would it be?"
"If God could ask you one question, what do you think He would ask?"
"If you were to die tonight, would you want to enjoy eternal life that involves a never ending relationship with the creator of the universe?"

Day 3 (today) was about building bridges over obstacles that keep people from believing. The task of a builder is to provide bridges over and around the obstacles that keep people from coming to Jesus. Sometimes the best way is through an obstacle. And sometimes the person asking the questions is the obstacle. In general, we grouped obstacles into 3 categories: Intellectual (science, the problem of evil, God being intangible...), Emotional (fear of rejection, the presence of hypocrites, a feeling of unworth, not understanding grace...), and Volitional (a perceived lack of freedom in Christ, apathy towards surrender, unwilling to give up something they currently like for something better...)

Building a bridge doesn't always mean having a great answer to a question. Sometimes it can mean empathizing with a person who is facing a barrier, and guiding them with simple and different questions around that barrier in a way that keeps their character intact. A common wall that we have to get over is the intangibility of God. Most people want to be able to touch God. To be able to see Him and His miracles with their own eyes, feel him with their hands, hear him clearly with their ears. And we ask them if they think God would ever do that (spoiler - he did. For 33 years. The dude's name was Jesus).

The key principle: An effective bridge begins where the person is at and ends with Jesus and connects the two effectively.

Tell me what you think about this training or if you have any other good questions you know to get to know a person!

Hazy Reflections

Well, this past week has felt incredibly familiar and strange at the same time. The process of getting to know people is definitely a lot slower this year. I've gotten to know like 10 more names and had significant experiences with them (*ahem* Mafia), but there's still a lot of people (mainly the girls) that I don't know.

After the layover in Washington, I watched a couple of movies on the plane. Tried to get through Forrest Gump for the first time (in Spanish to practice for my internship in the Dominican Republic... ya I couldn't get through a half hour), Mrs. Doubtfire, and Avatar (also in Spanish, but it put me to sleep).

When we finally got to Munich, we packed 46 people very nicely into a 50 person bus. I have never heard a group of college students be so quiet since we were all sleeping.

The first stop while being in Europe? McDonalds.
And I felt super bad that when we got there, 46 people just kind of dominated the entire place for like 2 hours while we waited for food and were super stereotypical Americans.

When we arrived at the hostel, we got room assignments (I'm with 2 good friends and 2 OSU people) and picked out groups to go get our first taste of Slovene food. I got to connect with a staff member from OU that is now International Cru Staff, and had some AMAZING čevapčiči (Slovene dish that is reminiscent of sausage links).

Up until this point, everything has been almost an exact mirror image of last year. Its nice that some things don't change. But at the same time, I don't want to have the same experience that I had last year. A lot of things are definitely will be different, like who I talk to, the people I connect with, how I go about my walk with the Lord.

Again! Again!

It's here again!

Yesterday, 45 other students and staff, entirely too many parents, and I met in a tiny meeting room at the Hamilton Garden Inn near the airport for a question and answer session. Goodbyes were said, friends were introduced, questions were answered, and final support numbers were reported. Being back here is so surreal. I almost cannot believe that it's happening again!

Some of the differences between this year and last:
- We are studying the book of Acts instead of an Epistle (Philippians, Ephesians or another letter to a church or disciple). We will be reading through the entire book once a week, and doing some different types of reflections and observations each time we finish it
- We will be spending 2 days per week in different cities, Maribor and Koper, doing evangelism on those campuses to try to get a country wide Christian organization going
- The last 2 weeks, there will be a team of 14 doing a high school english camp and asking them faith based questions before they graduate. But since I'm on the worship team already, I can't work with these guys :(

SO many people here saw the Lord provide for them on this trip in spectacular ways. Many like myself had tons of their support come in at the very last moment, unsure if they were going to be able to go until the day before briefing. One had her last bit of support come in the morning we all left for briefing!

It's rough to take a step back and not have expectations about what this trip should be like. Last year was so wonderful that I have this "ideal vision" for what I want everything to be like. This year is definitely different - different staff, different friends, different places for ministry, and different themes for the trip. The day of briefing, we spend a lot of time in prayer asking that we would understand how God will be working, to be able to depend on our teammates and grow in community together. Most of all, we reflected on who we want to become, and to have the strength to give that to God. To give Him permission to change us, and to grow us into somebody who is more like Christ.

We head to the airport for our first flight to DC in 10 minutes, then we have a 6 hour layover before we leave for Munich!

more updates soon... :)

OH MAN

Ok. The past 3-4 weeks have been absolutely exhausting, crazy, and amazing. 2 weekends, 3 trips, a TON of ministry, new people met, and growth. So much personal growth :)

So in terms of travel, we went to the Adriatic sea twice, including the cities of Piran here in Slovenia, and Rovinj in Croatia as a surprise trip put on by the staff. I didn't post every picture, but from the few that I did I think you'll notice how similar the cities are. Both had a castle, huge church, the buildings look almost identical and the layout of each city was pretty similar. Either way, both cities were absolutely gorgeous and had very friendly and easygoing people. Like REALLY easygoing (to the point of completely nude easygoing in Croatia).

Piran was fantastic and was the picturesque European city on the ocean. Really similar to pictures of Italy that I had seen, it it a bustling little town (only 43 sq. km). It was VERY geared toward tourists and had tons of stands for buying souvenirs that were entirely too expensive haha. A couple of us jumped in the ocean for a little bit, but too many jellyfish and the cold water didn't keep us in the water for very long. I visited the castle in the city which offered the best best views of the city. Unfortunately, I took a later bus than everyone else that went, and I was only able to explore the city for a couple hours and had to leave soon after visiting the castle.

When the bus driver first dropped us off at Rovinj, he said that it would be a 20 minute walk tops to the center of the city... 1.5 hours, a nude beach, and a gallon of sweat later, we arrived in the center more than a little upset. Gotta love those FKK beaches with signs that say you cannot wear clothes if you're doing anything besides passing through. Another fun fact about Croatia: they don't use the Euro for their currency - they use Kuna, and 1E = 7.5 Kuna right now, so exchanging money at the bank was an interesting experience. This one ice cream place had slushies - mixing Orange, Lime, and Strawberry was only 10 Kuna and I had never been more thankful for a brainfreeze. The heat also made us really appreciate finding most of the rest of our group at the ocean and being able to jump in the water and relax with them. When we had all cooled off, we sat on the rocks to dry out. Several people fell asleep (#caughtsnoozing) and most everyone else journaled or read a book. It was the most peaceful moment I had ever experienced. Listening to some Celtic Woman, the waves lapping at my feet, surrounded by people that I love and who love me in return, and being happy and content with where God had brought me so far and where he was going to take me in the future. I don't think I could ever ask for a more beautiful moment. Of course the moment had to end eventually and we had to go home, but isn't that part of makes something beautiful in the first place - that it is only momentary?

I'll have to do another post about Lake Bled because I'm a bit short on time. BUT. I liked it more than Rovinj - and that's saying a ton!

My faith journey:
We've been doing an in depth study of the book of Philippians with particular emphasis on Phil 1:21 "for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Pretty much every single day on this trip except weekends, I've been talking about how amazing Jesus is to every person that I meet. And the more that I talk about it, the more I realize how true that statement is. We have so much to look forward to after death, and I can really sympathize with Paul as he writes from prison to the first church that he started how he wants to continue spreading the news of how much God loves us, but at the same time cannot wait to meet his creator when he dies.
I've wrestled with the concept of God being like a selfish child, and thinking that he only created us  to have something worship Him. Tim Keller helped me out with this by further explaining the concept of the Trinity. Because God is 3 in 1, he is effectively in a relationship with Himself, and God had so much love within Himself that he needed something else to share it with  - so He created us! So that He could love more, and that we could find love and joy in Him! I can't think of a better reason to celebrate life - that we were created to be loved and to find joy :)

Check out my 2 albums on Facebook - Piran, and Ready. Set. SLO! I'll upload pictures later tonight of Rovinj!
https://www.facebook.com/chris.keener.771/photos_albums

Week 1

This last week was amazing! Getting to know the city and the people here is an awesome experience
Here is a daily schedule:
Quiet time with the Lord 9-10
Training / free time (depending on the day) 10-12
lunch / evangelism / building friendships with local students 12-4:30
free time 4:30-6
Dinner 6-7
evening activity / free time (depending on the day) 7-11

Quiet time is basically personal study time, prayer, and devotion to the Lord. Not everyone does it in the morning, but if I don't do it first thing in the morning, then I probably won't do it at all that day.

Training - this is the cool part where we learn how to connect with people here. Staffers and STINTers teach us new ways to explain the gospel and new ways to study the bible, and I can really see a huge difference in my personal time with God with how I approach different passages in the Bible.

Evening activities can really be anything like hanging out with students, a group activity, more quiet time, or card game like mafia and euchre. Or getting more gelato. That is always a viable option.


General observations so far about Europe:
1. Food is really cheap. Like full meal for only 4 euro cheap. And healthier food is typically cheaper than fast food and and candy.We get per diem at the beginning of the week for all of our meals, and by the end of this past week, I had 60% of left over to spend on fun things and sightseeing this weekend. The caves More fun for me!
2. Gelato is amazing. There's a local gelato bar called Cacao and I'm pretty sure that I've been there almost every single time I get a meal in the city. But with 1 scoop being only 1.50, there is absolutely no shame being felt over here. My mission is to try every flavor that they have. And they change flavors every day. BRING IT ON.
3. The culture is not so fast and busy over here. The waiters will not come to the table unless you flag them down when you need something, and they are very content to just let customers chill out for a while. Did this yesterday after lunch, just sat chatting for 2 hours after we finished eating and the waiter had to bring us our check because his shift was ending.
 Also, cashiers and waiters will let you take your time to get exact change. If you give them a 20 for something that costs 15.61, they will ask for the 61 eurocents so they can give you 1 bill instead of 4 coins. It's great to not be carrying around change all the time because people are actually expecting you to use it! And with their smallest bill being 5 euro, they have 2E and 1E coins, so you actually have a lot more in change than you think you do.
4. People are a bit more introverted - I don't think that I have made eye contact with 1 passerby since being here. Everybody keeps to themselves especially in the fakulties (college buildings) where we are trying to meet new people. It's a bit awkward to disrupt studying students, but once they start talking, the students are very friendly and really want to know more about us.

Making new friends has been pretty cool. This week we were starting out with a cultural survey and just seeing what things we should do while in Slovenia, and letting the conversation flow from there. The fewer conversations you have in one day the better, since those couple conversations will probably last a lot longer and go deeper than many that just last for a few minutes. Everyone here takes English from 1st grade until sometime in high school, so there is rarely a language barrier.

Honeymoon phase is pretty much over, but I still love it here :)