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Summer Survival Guide

My oldest son, Rick, is graduating in ten days from the University of Florida. He is coming home to raise his support to be an intern back at UF next year. Last week over Easter, he met with a old college buddy for his first support appointment. That will be the first of many such conversations with his Christian friends. Every summer he has been able to grow in his faith and be involved in various Christian groups and activities. But not everyone involved in our ministries has such close networks. The first page of the "More Than a Summer Survivor" feature of GodSquad reads: "Let's face it. Summers can pose a major challenge to our faith and obedience to Christ. Summers can be:

• a very spiritually isolating time because you are away from the environment and friends that have helped you grow spiritually this past school year
• dangerous time to your faith and your future
• or they can be a great experience as you see your faith tested and increased and take some key steps on your own (1 Peter 1:17)

"What makes the difference. The decisions you make now can put you in a position of advantage and strength as you go into the summer. As a Christian, we can embrace challenges the summer brings because we recognize the opportunity to trust God in new ways and see our faith grow in ways that we would have never seen otherwise."

The "More Than a Summer Survivor" guide provides perspective and resources to help make the difference. The introductory article of the survival kit

tells about three essentials with practical helps and further resources:

• self-discipline
• the right fellowship
• daily time with God and His Word

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Concerted and consistent time in God's Word will change our lives. Abraham Heschel writes in God in Search of Man, "The Bible is the frontier of the spirit where we must move and live in order to discover and to explore. It is open to him who gives himself to it, who lives with it intimately."

Jeff Bridgforth, GodSquad Webmaster, has a great Bible study on the survivor page of GodSquad. This study of the book of Nehemiah

reveals principles about prayer, faith and personal leadership, just what our campus leaders need to take into next year. Other available resources that you can offer include:

• A weekly schedule planner.

A study on the Attributes of God.

A weekly prayer guide.

Connecting with a local body of believers.

Let's do the best job we can to prepare all of our students to grow in Christ this summer.

Fall Planning Resources

I happen to be reading through Ben Rivera's last GodSquad Weekly Ministry Tip. He usually has a reference to the current month's "Roadmap". It lists the essential ministry steps to accomplish for the current month. This week, he recommends planning for the fall semester and to complete the choosing of leadership for next year. I like the priority that he gives to preparing for the first critical weeks back on campus. The link to the GodSquad page on "planning for the fall semester", lists several key planning questions and resources. Planning for the Fall Semester 1. Transitioning to next Fall. What leaders can you count on? Do a brief study and summarize the "Transformational Community" article. Use the discussion questions to guide your study. Make enough copies of the article for each person in your study/weekly meeting. 2. Vision Next, for personal perspective, read and study "Developing Vision for your Movement". Turn this into a study for discussion. Establishing vision and motivation is important for your students. 3. Plan Finally, in preparation for the fall, look at the "First 6 Weeks". This will help you to specifically plan for your fall semester. Be sure to do the surveys the first week of classes. This will be your most important event to gather new people into your ministry for the year. Read "Two Essentials for the First Week of School". My boys' high school cross country coach was fond of saying that the things the runners did in June determined what the runners would be doing in October. This is just as true for us, too. The things your student leaders do this week to prepare for the fall, will make a difference in how things go in the fall.

DaVinci Code

I received an email on Friday afternoon asking if it was still possible to order DaVinci code materials and were they still free. The answers are "Yes." and "Yes". So I am guessing there are more who are wondering the same thing. I asked Dan Hardaway, Director of Strategic Partnerships, if he would write something concerning outreach surrounding the world-wide release of the "DaVinci Code" movie on May 19. Here is what he wrote. What would it do to your movement next fall if every student saw someone trust Christ this summer? Let's use the next few weeks to equip our students to be able to see that happen. There are three components of our DaVinci Code outreach. 1. The Companion Guide. A mini-mag to bridge from the movie to the gospel. It includes original artwork donated by Sony Pictures and the tone is engaging, not too serious. They are great to give a friend or family member after the movie. 2. Josh McDowell’s Book. Out of the 16 books written to battle the fiction in the The DaVinci Code, 15 of them are written from a modern propositional point of view. If you show one of those to a non-believer, he says, "So what! It’s fiction!" Josh’s book, A Quest for Answers, took a different approach. It’s about 3 students stumbling out of the theatre and they decide to read the book and see what is true and what is not. It ends with Josh’s testimony. It works. You can probably read through it in about 2 hours. If you have never read The DaVinci Code, this will help you understand the issues. When Rob Gunn in Utah gave these out to students at a recent event, he said they were really excited about this. Quality throughout! 3. The 4 Video’s. Three weeks ago, in a warehouse in LA, Josh sat down with a group of college students and started answering their questions. It is right on the money. At the end of the shooting, I told Josh, welcome back to the campus ministry. They are perfect for casting vision at a bible study or weekly meeting. They will be sold to hundreds of churches at www.sermonspice.com. But they are free to you. Check the web and look for them on podcast. These videos will be available later this week to download. Brad Fulton at Berkeley thought the "Seek Truth" video really set up the distribution of the books. If students or staff don’t feel the need before this 8 minute video, they will after. Craig Johring appreciated the fact that you can bounce the url and instructions out to multiple campuses without the trouble of distributing the printed materials. There are no plans at this point to make hard copies of these videos. So these are the three tools to help every student in your ministry be equipped to know where the truth ends and the fiction begins in the movie and share to Christ with their family and friends this summer. For an update on resources as they become available go to www.godsquad.com/davinci To order the books or companion guides go to www.godsquad.com/davinci.htm The next deadline is April 17th. Spanish versions will be available late April. Hopefully, later this week, you will be able to order the Spanish materials. PS As a ministry we cannot officially endorse or promote the book or movie. Mark Gauthier did a great job with a newspaper interview that has been circulated in over 2 million papers from Washington DC to Los Angeles to Florida. His talking points are available on GodSquad. PPS If your church or others would like to purchase the printed materials the can do so at www.davinciquest.org. If they would like to use the video components, they can be purchased at www.sermonspice.com who will be promoting these like crazy after Easter. I asked Dan what was realistic for staff to think about in ordering for their ministries. He would give every student involved in our ministry 5 Josh's books and 5 mini-mags to take home to give to their friends. We have enough money and supplies to make that happen. And finally, Dan said that he would want to train his students to know that there is fact and fiction in The DaVinci Code, that it is a good story, that Christians will want to be able to give an answer to some of the fiction about the hope that they have in Christ and that we want to engage in dialogue with our friends, rather than argue them around to our way of understanding. So if you have not ordered yet, or you need more materials, you still can.