Newsletter - February 2006

Dear friends,

I am 52 years old. Barb and I are overdue by 8 days (and counting) of becoming grandparents. "Elijah Robert" continues to enjoy his nap in Bethany's womb.

I have just completed all coursework and portfolio of papers for a second Master's degree – this one that I haven't really needed but which has been so rewarding, for it has immersed me in the study of China – its history, culture, language and religions. Last summer, my board and all of you sent me off to traverse the great country of the Great Wall, and that I did. Some have asked if it was a midlife adventure. Really, it was a profoundly spiritual experience.

I have a resume' now that lists 14 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, on three contrasting campuses: first at storied Northwestern U. in Evanston, IL; then at the mile-and-a-half-high forested campus of Northern Arizona U. in Flagstaff; then at this bursting-at-the-seams mega-university, Arizona State U., in Tempe. After that came my "interlude" of 7+ years in suburbia – Gilbert, AZ, Desert View Baptist – followed by my return to Arizona State where now, for nearly 8 years, I have been able with God's help and my wife's support to build a very unique ministry, Elijah's Cave, situated in a combination bookstore/ministry center in the heart of a neighborhood we call, "International City," since this square half-mile of apartments is home to so many of ASU's several thousand international students. Large contingents from India and China live here.

Along this journey – as I trusted God to build a support team adequate for the work – I was able to serve four more churches as an interim pastor. All but one of the "interims" became fairly extended. And these churches became as dear to me as any of the ministries I've served for longer stretches.

Now for two years, your great support has allowed me to pursue the work here at ASU with full attention, and we have seen much good fruit…

All of which could leave me very comfortable – and able to justify the mere maintenance of the status quo. The Chinese "Student Fellowship" runs like a machine; and the students and their church run it, not me. The bookstore is host to everything from coffeehouse outreach to campus ministry leaders' planning meetings to the new "Moravian Fellowship," a young pack of idealists who are so serious-minded in their commitment to Christ's Great Commission. Nine groups use the center for meetings.

Yes, I would not do badly to push the cruise-control button.

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But God has been poking at me.

I believe he wants me to start a church here: a church called "University Bible Fellowship."

Barb and the ministry board have concurred. And this letter marks my first chance to tell you about this.

First things first (in case you're one of those who doesn't like to read the back page): Elijah's Cave will be the vehicle to accomplish what will be a difficult church plant. (More on the "difficult" part in a moment.) It will be absolutely crucial for (I estimate) several years for me to continue working through Elijah's Cave; hence, not needing the church to pay any part of my salary. The Elijah's Cave Board thinks likewise, and they will serve as the oversight group for the church until such a time as the church becomes incorporated and can stand on its own feet.

This neighborhood of student apartments, described in The Arizona Republic (newspaper) as "the most densely-populated and ethnically-diverse" neighborhood in Arizona, does not have a church property within it. Two church bodies have rented room in a school and in an older church structure, but one has plans to relocate and the other is more of a church extension of a larger body 20 miles away in Gilbert.

Frankly, it is not the kind of neighborhood where it is feasible to start any sort of traditional church with land or building. (Which is one reason God's Holy Spirit is creative and has used a lot of non-traditional outreach, including my own, to bring the Gospel here.) Alas, because the neighborhood is almost entirely students, there would not be the giving base here to establish a long-term church with even a modest budget, let alone a commitment to land and facility.

The two paragraphs above are just demographic realities and aren't really the heart of the call… read on…

What is so clear to me is that although many creative endeavors are being undertaken by my ministry and others to reach out to these students, it is the sleepiest of places on Sunday morning. Not primarily because the students here are not interested to worship God. But because they (for the most part) don't have cars. Churches they might walk to are a long distance. Churches that arrange transportation do so valiantly, but since many of these students are very busy graduate students, the time for transportation two ways, with maybe church service and Sunday School in between, well, some will do it, but many will skip it.

And here's perhaps where my sense of strong personal call comes in: What many of these students are interested in -- at least at first – is the cross-cultural experience of attending a Christian worship service and (maybe even more) in learning, at first just factually, about Jesus and the Bible. Well, one thing I know about myself after all those years of ministry I recalled on page one, teaching about Christianity is a gift God has given to me. A gift I use daily. Except, until now, on Sundays!

"Now" will probably end up being next fall, late August, when the neighborhood has experienced its annual move-out, move-in, and the promise of the new school year will loom.

Yes, I do have a strategy of sorts: It will include the "recruitment" of an "alumni" (translate: older person!) congregation that will supply the resources and wisdom to make this church viable for the long term. I will most certainly need a team to work with me on this, and not a team that will need "salaries" in the early years. I will most certainly need some Chinese friend who will preach the Gospel in Mandarin on occasions. (No, my one year of study has not made me fluent! However, one thing that God has been able to use is my knack for talking slowly and distinctly in English. Always, the international students are telling me that this is such a good thing for them who, in many cases, are still mastering English when they get here.)

I do have a ready-made facility that I can use at the outset: the bookstore, where shelves can be rolled around, and seating for as many as 70 can be provided. And, I have all of you, a very solid and generous support team.

The highest challenge of the work will not be to get an audience of students. It will be to design a ministry that will not be payroll or program heavy in the early years – so that early attention can be devoted to the matter of facility. (Even the plaza the bookstore is located in would be possibly available, and it sits near the center of the neighborhood.)

Pray for me as I continue to have talks with the Baptist General Conference (BGC) pastors of Arizona, also the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) Presbytery of the West; and pray especially for God to lead me to identify the right Chinese friend to become my associate in this work. Already, I am blessed to have Rev. Ben Joseph, from India, to help in this work. Ben leads a ministry locally that is called "Friends of Internationals."

A church may take a long time and hard work to be "born." Same with babies. (If Elijah Robert moves along and makes an appearance before I mail this, you'll find some sort of insert included!)