Minor Site Redesign

a quick update on the site’s organizational scheme

I’ve done some tweaking of the site. Basically, I’ve changed the layout of the front page slightly, and I’ve updated the way I categorize information on the site to reflect a refinement in my thinking.

For several months now I’ve been explaining to people that there are three key ways they can be a part of missions (aside from becoming a vocational missionary), and I’m redesigning the site so that information is categorized accordingly. Most of my entries fall into one of four categories:

1. Intercession: Praying for Missions
My basic thrust in this section of the site is to encourage people to pray for us, and especially to pray what I consider to be the core biblical prayer for missionaries.

2. Investment: Giving to Missions
This section of the site invites people to partner with us financially, which is actually given more prominence in the Bible than is praying for missionaries. Many of the entries revolve around anwering people’s questions about giving to missions.

3. Involvement: Working for Missions
In addition to praying and giving, people without a call to full-time missionary work can frequently do things to help out. Within the Assemblies of God, this includes working with such missionary auxilliary ministries as Light for the Lost, Speed the Light, Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade, and the Women’s Ministries Missionary Boutique. This is a new section of the site, as I really didn’t have anything up about this prior to yesterday when I posted practical ways people can help.

4. Information: Learning about Missions
Finally, I added one category for entries that were relevant, but just didn’t seem to fit the above classification.

I haven’t completely finished revamping things yet, as I’m still thinking about how to handle the remaining categories and whether or not I should launch a personal blog (wherein I actually express opinions) in a subdirectory of this site. I express more of my personal interests and observations over at http://www.xastanford.org/, but there’s a lot of stuff I haven’t put there because that blog, like this one, is a blog with a purpose.

To give credit where credit is due, I got the categories from First Assembly of God in Des Moines, Iowa. I don’t know if it’s original to them or not.

How To Volunteer

practical things you can do to help us in our ministry

Paula and I have been thinking lately about how people can become involved with our ministry at Stanford beyond praying

and giving. Here’s an ever-evolving list of things you can do to help out:

  • Come and prayerwalk the campus. Not familiar with prayerwalking? Learn more about it!
  • Serve as a mentor for a Stanford student. We’re especially eager to find Stanford alumni willing to develop a purposeful relationship with a student.
  • Act as a host family for a student. Let them come do laundry at your house, feed them home cooked meals every once in a while, and take them shopping once a month or so.
  • Do their homework for them (just kidding).
  • Provide rides to church.
  • Come utilize a ministry gift at our weekly worship service (Wednesday nights at 8pm). We’ve already got a worship leader and a speaker, but tell us what you’re interested in and we’ll see.
  • Volunteer your expertise with creating compelling dual-encoded HTML/AOL/text emails.
  • Volunteer your web expertise and help us make our sites (xastanford.org and glenandpaula.com) better.
  • Help us fold and stamp our print newsletters once a month. We send out about 500, and our fingers sure get sore!
  • Send Glen useful links, articles, and book recommendations to assist in his sermon preparation.
  • Introduce us to Stanford alumni that you know (especially Christian ones).
  • If you feel called, pursue appointment as a Campus Missionary Aide through Chi Alpha Campus Ministries and work with us part-time on campus.

If you’re interested in any of these opportunities, let us know. We’ll interview you and talk to you about expectations (both our expectations of you and your expectations of us).

How To Pray For Us

Pray that God would give us opportunities and the ability to take advantage of them.

If you ever don’t know what to pray for us, pray for us like the early church prayed for the apostle Paul:

“Be sure to pray that God will make a way for us to spread his message and explain the mystery about Christ… Please pray that I will make the message as clear as possible.” Colossians 4.3–4, CEV

In other words, pray these two things:
1) That God will create opportunities for us to tell Stanford students about God’s love for them.
2) That God will enable us to take advantage of those opportunities to communicate the gospel clearly and credibly.

And as always, you can look at our list of prayer requests.

Appreciating God’s Gift of Sex

Last night we talked about Appreciating God’s Gift of Sex, and I referenced a few different resources and statistics. Since this is a topic of such interest, I thought I should post some related resources in case you want to do some further reflection.

Here’s the sound-byte version of my message:

Sex was God’s idea, and He’s given it to us as gift. We need to understand how to receive His gift with respect and gratitude. The first thing we need to know is that sex is fundamentally relational and not merely recreational. The goal is intimacy in relationship, and purity paves the way to intimacy. Research shows that the best sex is monogamous sex, and that if you’re promiscuous, you’re actually sacrificing quality for quantity. Maintaining purity in a polluted world requires wisdom and self-honesty, and God can restore our purity when we have lost it.

Some of the passages of scripture that I referenced: 1st Corinthians 6.12–20, Colossians 3.5, 1st Thessalonians 4.3–8, Matthew 5.27–30

, and Hebrews 13.4.

Here are some online resources you might want to check out:

First, some data:
* Cohabitating Doesn’t Lead to More Committed Marriages, Study Finds
* Missionary Cohabitation, Missionary Cohabitation Part 2
* The Best Sex
* Leadership U Special Focus: America’s Sexual Revolution

Second, some common-sense via articles by J. Budziszewski:
* Going All The Way (this is the conversation I quoted from last night)
* Sex At The Edge of Night (why sex outside of marriage is not a good thing)
* What If We Love Each Other? (why “being in love” isn’t sufficient justification for extramarital sex)
* Ordinary Lust (practical tips for winning the war within)
* Who’s On First? and The Moves (articles about dating)

I hope these resources help you as you reflect on sex and developing a Chrisian perspective on it!

Anybody have an extra fifteen million dollars lying around?

in which the Jewish center at Stanford lays down $15,000,000 smackers for a piece of property on campus.

Today’s edition of the Stanford Daily had an interesting article about Hillel (the Jewish campus ministry at Stanford). [Hillel’s website]

They were able to lease some property on campus–for a whopping $15,000,000. Yes, that’s 15 times 10 to the 6th power. Fifteen million bucks. If I read the article correctly, that was $5,000,000 for the lease and other initial costs, $5,000,000 for renovation, and $5,000,000 to create an endowment fund for the center. They’re still working on the last $10,000,000.

Wow. I remember when I was a student back in Louisiana, and we were able to purchase a house and a six unit apartment complex for less than 1% of that price (a relatively paltry $90,000).

Doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a Chi Alpha house at Stanford anytime in the near future–unless you’d like to charge $15,000,000 to your credit card!

Seven Things We’re Thankful For

Thanksgiving is coming, and we’re getting thankful in advance.

This has been a great year for Paula and I–we’ve had a lot of fun changes to process! Thinking back, here are seven things we’re thankful for:

1) Were thankful for five wonderful years of ministry to the students back in Springfield, MO!

2) Were thankful for a safe and fun move west (and especially for the friends we were able to visit with as we drove across America).

3) Were thankful that we now have the honor of representing Christ to the worlds future leaders at Stanford University!

4) Were thankful for the many relationships God has granted us with Stanford students, both grad and undergrad (nearly 25 so far). Pioneering is often much, much harder, and we’re grateful for how easy God has made it for us!

5) Were thankful for living in such a wonderful apartment across the street from campus. The best thing about it our proximity to students: Kevin, who is pursuing his masters in engineering, can bike from his dorm to our apartment in about three minutes!

6) Were also thankful that God has provided us with what is quite possibly the most vibrantly yellow car on the planet! Weve got a few nicknames for this irrepressibly perky vehicle, including The Curious George Mobile and The Happy Car.

7) And finally, were thankful for friends like you who support us, pray for us, and show concern for us and for our ministry. Thank you and thank God for you! We wholeheartedly echo the apostle Paul, How can we possibly thank God enough for all the happiness you have brought us? (1st Thessalonians 3.9, CEV)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some things just don’t mix…

In a thoroughly disgusting incident, A customer in an international hamburger chain outlet in western Sweden lost his appetite when he discovered the restaurant’s toilet seats were being washed in its dishwasher alongside the kitchen utensils. (source)

Yuck. Some things just don’t mix.

Reminds me of James 3.10–12, And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Can you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty pool. (NLT)

Now You Can Give Online!

The Assemblies of God now supports online donations to our ministry.

In breaking news, our ministry can now receive donations online!

Elsewhere on our site, we’ve also got a brief overview of the missionary funding process in the Assemblies of God, along with a look at what the Bible has to say about missionaries and money.

So take a look and consider giving online via our secure server!

Whew–What A Whirlwind

Just a quick update on our lives…

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on this site (although look over at the Chi Alpha @ Stanford site and you’ll realize that I’ve been quite active online).

Still, this is the site that bears my name and all…

Here are a few little tidbits:

  • I voted today. It was worthwhile, but it really wrecked my schedule.
  • I have a bone to pick with the California political system: what’s up with statewide referendums? Don’t they defeat the purpose of a representative democracy?
  • And why do we use plurality voting to select public servants? There are much better ways!
  • I broke the 10,000 mile marker on our car yesterday. I’m getting quite familiar with California’s interstate system…
  • Also yesterday I had a chance to meet with a really neat pastor named Paul. He has eleven children. All by the same wife. Who still looks like a model (his words). Wow.
  • While I was meeting with Paul, he gave me a free ticket to a remarkable cave in Volcano, CA called Black Chasm. Creepy name, gorgeous cavern. I was the only person on the tour when I visited the cave, so it was really cool. If you’re ever near Volcano, you should really try to visit the cave–it’s well worth the time and money.

Anyway, I’m still working at raising our full missionary budget (hence all the miles on the car and the meeting with said pastor). Keep us in your prayers!

Incidentally, I am giving about two hours a week of ministry time on Stanford’s campus. We’ll be having our sixth meeting of the year this Wednesday (Paula will be speaking), and we’re expecting around 20 students to show up. Roughly 1/3 of them will be Singaporean graduate students.