Hey friends,

We're in the thick of the semester and exciting things are happening.  This evening, we'll be hosting the Nav Men at our house for our weekly Discipleship Group (small group Bible study).  Katie provides the treats and snacks, and the guys love it!  This semester we're examining the book of 1 Peter, using a study I put together.  You can check it out below if you'd like to see what we're doing or join us in the studying the book yourself.  I'd be happy to send you a copy!

Last week, we discussed study #1, an overview of the book.  Part of this involved giving the book our own title.  One student, who has just become a Christian in recent months titled it:  "Suffering:  God's gift to us."  Wow!  Profound insight from a new believer!  Paul taught this in Philippians 1:27-30 (ESV)...

This young man is learning first-hand in his life that following Jesus will entail suffering.  But back in 1 Peter, he's anticipating a message of hope in the midst of suffering as well.  And that gives him the courage to move forward!

Please pray for our men (and women!):  that they'll dive wholeheartedly into this study (despite the many distractions they face).  We're anxious to see the Lord transform them as they study and apply His word!

Thanks for praying!

-Noah

In case you missed it on the way in, click below to view Noah's review of 2013-14...and our first eighteen months at UW-Whitewater!

Hey friends,

It's been a long time, and a poor job we've done of updating lately!  Sorry about that.  We'll do better in the coming months :)

God's been doing great things on campus, and a very cool community of Christ-followers is continuing to come together!  Please continue to pray- especially for a strong finish to the semester in these last few weeks!

If you're on our list, you have or will receive the following letter.  We hope you'll consider our ministry in your year-end giving!  Below are FIVE cool options that would help.  Take a look at head to nknavs.org/2015 to take action.

Thanks friends,
Love, Noah

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.  

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

Smash!

Last Thursday we celebrated the end of this semester's PURE group.  PURE is an opportunity for men (there's a group for women as well!) to find encouragement and help to forsake sexual sin that has dominated them for years.  God's done a wondrous work in their lives, as they've forsaken internet pornography, masturbation, and sexual activity outside of God's good design.  Our world teaches that unbounded sexuality is the key to happiness.  These young men found freedom and joy in their hearts as they've embraced God's design.

As a part of our closing ceremony, we had men share "two-word testimonies."  Who they were before PURE and what they are now.  Here's what I heard from these men...

Deceitfulness.... Truthfulness 
Secretive..... Open 
Zombie... Light
Denial..... Acceptance 
Hell..... Hope

With these words come stories of struggle, hopelessness, and shame....followed up with light, truth, and healing.  They wrote their old identities on pieces of wood and burned them, symbolizing their death to sin through Christ's death on the cross.

These men are putting into practice Paul's words from Romans 6:12-14...

We ended our time by allowing them to take some genuine, somber anger out on the devices that have enslaved them for so long.  It was truly a solemn exercise...a joy to see them exercise their power as men, no longer as slaves but as masters.  We then held each other up (literally!) and prayed for one another.

Please pray that God would continue to deliver university students from bondage to sexual sin.  Pray that these six men would continue in purity, and would help others to find freedom as well.

Thanks for praying with us!

-Noah

Spring Break is just a week away and the university police are handing out these spring break "safety tips" to students passing by.

It's tempting to be cynical.  The message is, "enjoy the American spring break party experience...just do it safely."  It seems comparable to giving students a sheet of safety tips before they gather with a whole bunch of people to play with gasoline and lighters. 

These safety tips seek to address the danger to student's bodies as they head to the beaches in Florida to party.  What's missing is the "safety tips" for these students' hearts.

GK Chesterton said, "Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain.  Meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure."  


Please pray for Whitewater students- that they would experience the weariness that comes with seeking worldly pleasures.  And pray that on the beach or back on campus, God would bring one of His people into their life to share where true meaning, purpose, and life can be found.


Thanks for praying!


-Noah

This week, in preparing to teach at NavNight, I printed out a few more paper outlines than the usual 30.  I printed out 80!

That's because tomorrow night, I have the privilege of speaking as a guest at NavNight at the University of Illinois!  Tomorrow we're returning to Champaign-Urbana for our first visit since we moved north back in June.  We're excited to return to a community and people that hold a special place in our hearts.

Printing my outlines reminded me of what God has done at Illinois over the last five years.  We had the privilege of watching the Illinois ministry grow by leaps and bounds.  God is continuing His wonderful work there.  It's then exciting to think about where the Whitewater ministry could be in five years!

The Illinois ministry is doing a series of messages on "How many people are in The Navigators?"  As staff we get this question frequently, and it can be hard to answer.  Do we say 100 (the number involved in bible studies at Illinois)?  Do we say 80 (the number who come to NavNight)?  I'm speaking on 25....the number of non-believing students who are reading one of the gospels with their Christian friends.  I'll be talking about how evangelism sounds scary to us, but how a different perspective (seeing ourselves as Christ's ambassadors [2 Cor 5] and viewing evangelism as a process rather than an event) can help us make a real impact for Christ among non-Christian friends.

Would you please take a minute now to pray for me?  Pray I would speak clearly, that God would be glorified, and that students at the U of I would be challenged to trust God to use them to share the gospel on their campus.  You can pray the same for Whitewater students as well.

Thanks friends!  Grace to you this week!

-Noah

Hey friends!  Hope you are staying warm.

Speaking of warm, sometimes people ask what our work looks like in the summer when most of the students are gone from campus.

Sometimes we have a specific summer assignment like staffing a training program or overseas trip.  Other times, like 2013, the summer holds a variety of responsibilities including lots of planning and preparation for the upcoming school year, shepherding students from afar (phone, etc), regional or national responsibilities, support raising, and PRAYER.

Prayer is never something we want to neglect, even during the busiest times.  But the summer can provide a unique opportunity (and warmer weather!) to spend extra time asking the Lord to move in mighty ways on our campus.  I enjoy preparing the campus for students' return by walking around campus and asking the Lord to work.

Recently I saw the beginning of an answer to one of my summer prayers that brought me back to those sweaty days of anticipation and faith, reminding the Lord what He called us here for and asking for His help.

One of my summer pleadings with the Lord:  that the dining halls and university center would be teeming discipleship relationships:  staff and older students meeting younger students to pass on things they've learned and help them grow in Christ.

This was my view from the 2nd floor of the University Center on a recent Thursday.  The white, green, and red circles highlight Navigator students and staff passing on the things they've learned to the next (spiritual) generation.  I didn't set this up.  We all happened to be meeting at the same time.

• The white circle is me and a sophomore who is blossoming as we study God's Word.
  
• The younger woman in the green circle is already discipling her good friend who just came to Christ last semester.  A third spiritual generation!
• The red circle contains one of our student leaders who is learning to disciple younger men, and is excited to do so!
• Ok, so the blue isn't a discipling relationship.  But it is one of our students studying with her Christian boyfriend.  We pray for godly relationships among our students as well!

The Lord is clearly moving as you and our staff team and students pray.  Would you please continue to pray?

After a recent conference, I've added a prayer to my list:  that we'd be a WINNING campus.  No, not that we'd win competitions, but that we'd be raising up laborers from among students that we'd WON to Christ.  We'll help all the already-Christians God brings us, but we're trusting Him for a vibrant mix of these and those who we've recently shared the gospel with.

Would you join us in praying that our ministry would WIN souls?  At least three have received Christ this year.  We're hoping for more!

Thanks for standing with us!
-Noah

*sigh*  My heart is sad at the moment.

Some of you have seen my conversation journal that I use as an evangelistic tool on campus.  I ask people "if they could write a note to God and He would read it, what would you write?"

It's been a great well to have spiritual conversations with people, to stretch myself beyond my comfort zone, and open doors to new relationships.

Today we bumped into Sam.  Here's what he wrote.

Phew.  Deep stuff.

I could see pain in his eyes as we talked briefly with him.  He's had six open-heart surgeries, and is currently on a waiting list for a heart transplant.  He doesn't go to church, but believes in God.  I offered to pray for him, and did.  Would you pray for him today, that God would grant him a new heart, and that if he doesn't have one now, a new spiritual heart?

Thanks.

Yours on campus,
-Noah