Category: Freshmen

Noah's MOnday Update: 8/18/14

8/18/2014

While planning and praying today in Laurentide Hall, I noticed something: campus is quiet! Eerily quiet! Like the calm before a storm.

Must mean there's a storm coming!

Indeed there is!

Two weeks from yesterday is freshmen move in here at UWW! In the days leading up, campus will start to buzz with more and more activity....RAs, athletes (like one our students on the football team!), student orgs, etc. Our student leaders return late next week for vision-casting and training leading into our Fall Kickoff, one of the most important times of our ministry year.

In the meantime during this calm, I'm praying. Asking...begging the Lord to move mightily in the coming weeks. There are freshmen coming to campus whose whole life trajectories will be altered (for better or for worse!) simply based on the people they meet in the first couple weeks of campus life.

Who will we bump into while we're walking and praying on campus? Who will we carry boxes for on move in day? Who will fill out one of our spiritual interest surveys? I'm asking the Lord that the students He brings us into contact with will be like the good soil Jesus talked about in Matthew 13:8, 23.

I rejoice at your word
like one who finds great spoil.
I hate and abhor falsehood,
but I love your law.

Oh that the Lord would bring us students like this...now or in time!

Please join in praying for us and the Whitewater students. Use the above passages and watch your mail for a new prayer card from us. (if you're not on our list, you can join it here.)

Thanks for sharing our heart for God's Kingdom!

For Jesus,
Noah

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Noah's Monday Update: 9/9/13

9/9/2013

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Super quick recap of the first week of class at UWW!

Best part of the week:

The best part of the week was seeing Almighty God at work. We made so many connections with students who are hungry for community and Christ. Thirty came to our first NavNight. The coolest part: 20ish were new!

We're already starting to see a community of faithful freshmen join us. We designed new tshirts for our students this year, and five new people bought them. They're already excited to identify with the UWW Navs, and that's an exciting thing! We're working hard, but can see clearly that the Spirit of God is enabling these connections to actually happen. He's bringing the people around!

Biggest challenge of the week:

Go go go! The week was pretty much non-stop. We're planting a lot of seeds, and not sure which will grow. It's easy to get emotionally wrapped up in the process, with high points of excitement and encouragement and low points of fear and discouragement. In both, we've encouraged each other to turn to the Lord in prayer. Those moments have been some of the sweetest of the week.

Top prayer of the week:

FF! Faithful freshmen.

Ask the Lord on our behalf to bring a class of faithful freshmen to our ministry. We're eager to get started in helping them to grow in Christ. We just don't know yet who will stay around. Tonight's our first freshmen-only Freshmen Connection meeting. We're trusting the Lord will bring several freshmen to come.

We long for a generational movement of the gospel to continue here. In order for that to happen, we need "faithful men" (and women) to join us.

Thanks for praying that they will!

-Noah

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Noah's Friday Update: 8/30/13 :: SURVEYS

8/30/2013

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It's begun!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon helping the freshmen move in to campus. The Lord surprised by assigning us to a hall where we met two freshmen who had requested info from the Navs this summer! That was encouraging to us. We made some other initial contacts as well. As a small ministry on campus, this really helps!

Today we had a "survey table" in the dining hall during the breakfast hour. Surveys are tools we use to make initial contact with students we might not normally run into. We offer a giveaway as incentive to fill out the survey. Here's the survey:

This survey gives us the opportunity to see what people are looking for and follow up with those who are interested.

Today we received 29 "A", 37 "B", and 48 "C" responses.

That's an encouraging start for us! We'll continue to seek out contacts in the coming days and begin following them up soon with a personal visit.

These are such crucial days for these freshmen! Please intercede for them, that they would connect with the Body of Christ here...and hopefully a lot of them with us!

-Noah

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Noah's Friday Update: 9/7/12

9/7/2012

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God's doing amazing things in the lives of students every day, which we're extremely thankful for.

But sometimes, something will happen that just amazes us a bit more.

One of our seniors recently sent out an email to all the other upperclassmen Nav students. He heard about an opportunity for students to raise money for their organizations by working at Illinois football games. Great thing, but this student very thoughtfully wanted the upperclassmen to join together for something specific. Here's what he said:

What if many of us volunteered to raise money through this opportunity and use it to bless the freshmen. We all know the solidifying effect that Fall Conference has on the illiniNavs community, and that our staff tries to subsidize the cost of attendance for the freshmen in hope that they will join us there. If we raise enough money we could subsidize their cost even further, and if we raise a lot we might be able to get them there for FREE! What a blessing that would be!

One event that generates incredible momentum for us each year is Journey, our regional fall conference, where students join with Navs from other campuses to for a weekend of great teaching, worship, and fellowship. Our biggest hurdle is getting first-timers (usually freshmen) to this conference. Once they've gone once, they're hooked...and greatly blessed by it.

What a great example of this young man looking to serve and bless the next generation, helping them to jump-start their walk with Christ. We're finding that in this way, and many others, our students are growing up. This will be the subject of an upcoming newsletter that you'll be receiving in the next month.

Praise God for the wonderful student leaders He's given us! Happy weekend and God's grace to you all!

-Noah

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Noah's Friday Update: 8/31/12....ILL-INI

8/31/2012

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One major difference between the University of Illinois and other campuses we have been on- is the school spirit and insane amount of things going on on-campus. There is always far more events/activities/ concerts/sports/etc. than you could ever keep track of!

As you can see here, even the grocery stores get into the Fighting Illini spirit! Anything they can do to make things a little more orange!

How does that affect us?

Well, as a ministry, we have found that students are often very involved on campus in a variety of RSOs (RSO= Registered Student Organization). Between all of the RSOs socials, the Big Ten sports, the concerts and shows on campus, etc. students aren't looking to have as many NAVS socials. They have plenty of things to do without us filling their calendar with social events.

This means that we (as staff) try to focus on three or four big events per semester, and leave the rest up to students. This fall we are having two Welcome Back socials on back-to-back weekends.

Would you pray that these socials would prove fruitful in building relationships between students and welcoming new freshmen to The Navigators? We try to cultivate a "family atmosphere" in our ministry, where people feel really welcomed and loved. We think it goes a long way in advancing the gospel and maturing people in Christ.

Fall Launch continues! Thanks for standing with us!

-Noah and Katie

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We have Launch!

8/23/2012

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He died, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised...Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal [to the world] through us.
--2 Corinthians 5:15, 20

Today marks the beginning of our Fall Launch, an exciting and significant part of our ministry year. In an hour I'll be joining several of our student leaders for lunch, vision-casting, and training in preparation for evangelism and disciplemaking work we'll be doing on campus this semester. Please pray that our students would boldly proclaim Christ on campus...during our fall launch and throughout the semester.

Tonight, we'll head out on campus to meet and build relationships with freshmen, who are just moving in today. Pray for God's grace in these interactions, that for many, they would be life-changing!

Thank you for standing with us!

-Noah

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freshmen (Katie's Belated Friday update)

3/27/2012

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We were on Spring Break last week, so Noah spent the week traveling to visit current and future ministry partners and Ellie and I spent some time with family and friends.

All that to say, we missed our Friday update last week. I decided I would jump in and do a belated Friday update instead of Noah this week :) Here's an update on what God is doing in the freshmen women in our ministry!

There is nothing like the transformation of freshmen women in our ministry. It is amazing to think back to August and picture them-- shy, somewhat insecure, and overwhelmed. Some are walking with the Lord and looking for fellowship, others are just around- because they were invited, or had nothing else to do. (I like to say that when I was a freshmen, you could've invited me to go pick up trash with you, and I would've come. I was that eager to meet people, and that desperate!)

Now, these same women seem like totally new people. They have found their place at the U of I. They know how to get to class, they are committed to school, to their dorm friends, to their Bible Studies, etc. They are learning, growing and experiencing the work of God in their lives!

Yesterday I met with two freshmen Bible study leaders, and asked them for an update on some of the freshmen women. They proceeded to tell me about one girl who is going on a trip to Turkey with her business honors class. They will be visiting Ephesus, and so she decided to invite her classmates to learn about Ephesus with her in preparation for the trip. Thinking no one would say yes, she was shocked when 8 people said YES! She is preparing to teach them both the historical and religious history of Ephesus. Another girl is preparing to lead an IBD (Investigative Bible Discussion) this summer with some friends from back home. Another is on the track team and placed 5th at the Big Tens meet- she is totally God-honoring in her sport, and connecting with her teammates with a team Bible Study. I could go on and on....

I sat there with my jaw dropped, thinking, WAIT, are these the same freshmen I met in August who were nervous to just walk in the room? YES they are!! God is doing a work in these freshmen, and it is amazing! It is especially incredible as two falls ago we had zero freshmen women involved. Last fall, we had 1! This fall- we had 15+ women join our ministry. God is moving!!! Praise the Lord!

-Katie

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Noah's MOnday Update: 8/18/14

Noah's Monday Update: 9/9/13

Best part of the week:

Biggest challenge of the week:

Top prayer of the week:

Noah's Friday Update: 8/30/13 :: SURVEYS

Noah's Friday Update: 9/7/12

Noah's Friday Update: 8/31/12....ILL-INI

We have Launch!

freshmen (Katie's Belated Friday update)

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"More potently than by any other means, change the university and you change the world." --Charles Malik