Ocean City Summer Project 2012 post project update...finally

Wow!  What an incredible and life changing summer!  Thank you so much for being a ministry partner for me through prayer and financial support. It is hard to explain all of what happened during the summer in just a blog post. Its even hard to explain it in person.  I wish I did a better job of updating, but I got so caught up in the summer and what God was doing.  It is something you would have to experience your self.  So I will try my best to say what I can in this blog and if you try and contact me later, I’ll try my best to do justice to how great of a summer it was.

God did amazing things this summer in and through the lives of the 104 students that were in Ocean City this summer.  The easiest way to see ways God moved is by looking at the numbers; 8,403 spiritual conversations and 258 decisions for Christ. That isn't even counting the number of people the gospel was presented to. I personally shared with about 200 people, leading 11 people to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.  I was able to present the gospel to countless others and encourage many Christians who I met on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey.  They were left with a booklet with more information and our contact info in case they had any questions.

Not only were other people’s lives on project changed, the lives of us students were changed forever.  Our perspectives on living the spirit filled life, treasuring the gospel, sharing, and Christian community were all shifted in incredible, God-glorifying ways. The first half of the summer was spent focused on living a Spirit-filled life.  In this time the amazing Cru staff from campuses all across the country were able to pour into us and help us grow in our walk and understanding of what it means to live a Spirit-filled life.  Each student got disciple by a staff person. Discipleship consisted of an hour of sharing on the boardwalk and an hour of  one-on-one time to talk and grow in various areas of our lives.  Each discipler had 4 guys in what was called an action group. Each action group had a Bible study once a week where we were able to be open and vulnerable to each other.  Those action groups were a

huge part of the growth experienced on project.

 Every student on project got a job.  These ranged from the grocery store, to surf shops, to a toy/pirate store.  I happened to work at a McDonald’s.  It was quite the experience. Our jobs were also another ministry place for us.  I was able to get to know my coworkers and have a few spiritual conversations with them over the summer.  One Cru-coworker shared the gospel with a few Spanish speaking coworkers in Spanish.  It was really cool seeing God use that for ministry purposes at McDonald’s.  Working at McDonald’s gave me a new level of respect for those who work there and gave me better insight as to how to be a better customer.

We learned a whole lot this summer.  It was described as a fire hose of information.  The week that had the biggest impact on me was World Vision week.   During this week we talked about what it means to be a world Christian.  Instead of having a mindset of focusing on what I can see and my own little world, it has started to change towards what is best for God’s kingdom.    I’ve really gained in my understanding of how big God’s heart for the world is.  Throughout the whole Bible God professes how every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship Him someday.  About 42% of the world’s population remains unreached.  You can learn more about that at joshuaproject.org or by reading Roger Hersey’s book “The Finishers” which can be found on amazon.com.

After sharing on the boardwalk with around 200 people during the summer I’ve gained a passion for sharing my faith.  I love having spiritual conversations and telling people about Jesus Christ.   With all these conversations I was able to learn valuable skills in how to smoothly and boldly transition to the Gospel during a conversation.  I also can easily go through the Gospel with someone, whether I am using the Gospel booklets Cru has called “Knowing God Personally” or I’m reciting it to them by memory during our conversation.  Those of us who went on project are more trained on how to share the gospel than 95% of the US’s pastors.  That’s a pretty humbling stat to me.  I praise God for this experience and I know I will be using it in the future.  One of my favorite sharing memories I happened to be sharing with 3 high school girls who were in Ocean City at a church conference.  It was great being able to encourage them in their faith.  One of them even has Purdue in her top three choices for school.  Even more amazing than that is one of the guys at the conference was going to Purdue.  So I was able to meet up with him and get his contact info and get him connected with Cru at Purdue.  I have been able to continue my friendship with him here at Purdue.  It is so cool to see the different things God does.

Cru staff from around the country were the staff on this project.  On July 12th staff officially handed project over to us students.  This meant they gave their duties to us.  The position I was given was a middle action group leader, which meant I lead a Bible study for other action group leaders who led Bible studies for the rest of project.   I also discipled those three guys.   I also attended a Bible study that I went to with the group of four students who were on the leadership team. Two of them planned weekly studies and led a study with me and the two other middle action group leaders.  My discipleships also consisted of an hour of sharing plus an hour of discussing things and helping my disciples grow.  We tried to model discipleship after 2 Timothy and what Paul did with Timothy.  I really enjoyed helping my guys grow in their faith and leadership.  It was a great experience challenging them in different areas as I was challenged also.  They say discipleship is 20% what you know and 80% your character. I don’t claim to know much, but I believe I was able to

 help these three guys grow.  That experience is something that helped prepare me to lead guys here at Purdue within my dorm.  I’m a much better Bible study leader because of that and a much better disciple because of that valuable experience.  I am more equipped to lead studies in my dorm now.  I am also much more confidence in my ability to disciple somebody.

Again, thank you for all the ways you supported me! Whether it was financially or through prayer or both, I wouldn’t have been able to have this experience without you.  The Lord has done amazing things through me and others this summer.  I can’t praise God enough for the eternal impact that has been made as a result of this summer that so many students and I had in Ocean City.

In Christ, 

Ben Ooms

Ocean City Summer Project. The Fire Hose...

WOW! I can't believe I've been on project for only three weeks!  I feel like I've been here in Ocean City, New Jersey for longer than that.  Within the first three days it seems like all of us students were great friends, hanging out all the time and sharing our lives to each other. It is pretty amazing.   I've already grown a great amount with  my own faith and in my sharing ability.

So! I will say the most important update first!  The main reason we are here on project is to tell people about Jesus, to tell them the gospel.  To put the gospel in quick bullet points, it'd be something like 1. Jesus loves you and created you. 2. All are sinners and therefore eternally separated from God. 3. God responds to this by dying on the cross and bridging that gap, reaching down to us. 4. We have to respond to this action of God by accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Our goal on project is to make it a lifestyle to tell people that.  We have a little booklet called "Knowing God Personally," KGP for short, that we use to visually show them the gospel. You can download it as an app on your android or iphone, it is called God Tools.  We have learned various simple ways to initiate conversations with people and start talking about spiritual things that lead into sharing the gospel.  Already I have had the privilege of talking to 17 people on the boardwalk here in Ocean City.  Every time so far I've been able to give them the KGP.  I have been able to go through it with about 10 of them.  None of have decided to accept Christ yet for my encounters.  Within those 17 people, I've talked to 6 Christians, being able to equip 4 of them on how to share the gospel themselves.  Of those 4 people, 2 were about 5th grade and the other were seniors in high school.  The crazy thing about that is that before we let them know we were Christians, we asked the question, "If you could make sure you do one thing in your life, what would it be?"  The little girl responded that she wanted to share Jesus with at least 2 people. Wow! How great is that!? She was excited to receive a tangible way to do that.  I praise God for that encounter!  So far as a project, we have talked to over 500 people, 22 of them accepting Christ.  I can only be in awe of God's power already here on project.

We have heard from many great speakers here on project already.  The staff here on project are probably some of the best within Cru.  There wisdom that they've been able to pour into us is incomparable to other moments in my  life so far in such a short window of time.  The director of project, Bob Fuhs, told us at the beginning of project that this summer will be like a firehose of Christ.  We will be getting so much life from the Spirit this summer that it will change our lives forever and hopefully those we interact with forever too.

We have learned so much on project so far that I can't put it all in my blog.  I will try and put a few tidbits here within my blog.  The theme of the first week was "Setting the Pace" for the summer and for the rest of our lives.  That meant pursuing other Christians and opening up to them, getting into the habit of good times with Jesus, and sharing the gospel.  The most influential talks I've heard in awhile was by Roger Hershey, a well known person within the Cru community. He was here to visit.  He talked about being finishers and world Christians.  He believes that my generation may possibly be the greatest generation of all time (or the second, the first being the initial group at the time of Christ's death and ressurection).  He believes this for four main reasons, the worldwide explosion of the church, technological resources the church has never had, American colleges roles in reaching the world, and financial resources.  


Matthew 24:14 says "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."  This helps with what Roger Hershey was trying to say.  In todays world, the gospel could finally reach all the ends of the Earth.

John Piper said "Missions exist because worship does not."

So! Lastly.  I got a job at McDonalds! It was the first place I applied and I've been pretty busy with that.  I've learned a lot about what it is like to be on the other side of the register and how I can be a good customer in the future.  The McDonald's people are trying to do their best to do your order, but when its busy, it can't always happen in a timely manner.

Prayer requests!

• Spread of the gospel
• For me to befriend coworkers at McDonalds and be a good witness
• To learn from the messages we hear twice a week.
• The community to grow close and closer to God as a result
• for me to grow closer to Christ

What Does a Good Ministry look like? Discipleship

This is the last of what I believe are three core components to what a good ministry looks like.  The other two were in my previous posts, prayer and evangelism.

Discipleship

2 Timothy 2:2 says "And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others."

Jesus has 12 apostles who were his original disciples. Anyone who followed Jesus was a disciple.  Jesus taught many things to his disciples.

We should follow Jesus' example and disciple others.   Though our form of discipleship may look a little different than his did back in the day.  Discipleship now-a-days is done between a mature Christian and a usually less mature Christian.  To think how discipleship should look, picture a triangle between the discipler, Jesus, and the Disciple.  It is a two-way relationship between the three, giving and taking between each other and the Lord. Both teach and learn from each other and lean on the Lord.
                                 Jesus
                             ||             ||
                   Disciple   ==   Discipler

Each discipler should have their own discipler.  That way they have someone pouring into them, so they don't run dry pouring into their own disciple.

So yeah! this is just a basic overview of what my thoughts are on discipleship! So! Disciple and mentor younger peeps in your ministry! Its a good idea...

Let it Begin! Ocean City Summer Project 2012

It’s that time already! I just arrived in Ocean City for the start of project.  I am excited to see what God does this summer.  I don’t have too terribly much to say yet since project has just started.  It has been a whirlwind of getting to know people so far.  There are so many names to remember! I do ask that you pray for me and the others here.

Please pray for

• safe travel for students who's flights were delayed because of weather and such!
• safe travel for the quarter students who come out in a few weeks.
• for the quarter students to focus on the classes they still need to finish before they can come out
• and for a smooth transition into project life for them
• Quick and easy job search and that God brings us to the jobs he wants us at
• For job training to go well
• A quick transition into project life
• For bible study groups to meld together
• For me and others to make friends
• For training to share the gospel to go well
• For open hearts to the gospel
• to remember names! (of peeps on project and peeps we work with and share with)

feel free to shoot me an email at ooms@purdue.edu! I will try and respond promptly.  I have a hard time responding to texts during the day, which means I'd probably forget about it.

What Does a Good Ministry Look Like? Evangelism

One thing that should be common between every Christian ministry is the fact that they evanglize.  In Matthew 28, Jesus calls us to what is called the Great Commision. Aka, go out and tell people about Jesus!

Evangelism

Evangelism will look different from ministry to ministry.  I do believe that it is important for every ministry to take part in the two main types of evangelism, relational and initiative.  There are different styles to do both which is fine, but I believe for various reasons it is important to develop both types of evangelism within a ministry.

Relational Evangelism

This is the type of evangelism that people are the most comfortable with, both Christian and non-Christian.  It takes the least amount of effort...and probably the most amount of effort at the same time.  I'd say it is pretty easy to understand.  Befriend non-Christians and witness to them over time.  Sometimes it is by what we do, other times it is what we say.  I think its important to bring up spiritual matters with these friends we make, no matter how awkward it is.

Penn Jillette a well-known athiest had this to say about sharing your faith in a video on youtube.

How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them?

Think about it. If you can't get over yourself enough to tell them about Jesus, about his love, our condition, his gift, and that we can freely receive it, you need to rethink things.
Now this isn't to say that all  we talk about has to be about Jesus. That is just silly. I think everything we talk about can point towards Jesus though.  Glorify Christ with your words and actions my friends.

Doing various outreaches can be another way to do relational evangelism, for example, PurdueCru's I am Second campain.  Another simple thing is having a basketball outreach with guys from your floor

Intentional Evangelism

It seems like few people can honestly say this is a type of evangelism they like and enjoy. At this moment, I don't have any Biblical reasons as to why I think this is type is important. One reason I think it is important is it is a great reminder of how we need to rely on Christ and the Holy Spirit when going out and telling others about Jesus, whether we do it relationally or intentionally.

It seems like the least preferred style is open-air preaching.  Standing on a corner preaching, telling people of the love of Christ or that they are going to hell...I personally don't like this style, but I wouldn't say it shouldn't be done.  I'm sure people are saved because of these styles and the boldness it takes to do it.

I think going out and intentionally starting conversations with strangers is a good thing , as awkward as it is.  It is a good way to practice listening to the people we talk to. It is important to practice reflective listening  with people we try to talk to because it shows that we really care.  I'd say it reflects Christ's love when we are really interested in these people's lives.

These are all rough insights into evangelism, for more thoughts just ask me bro.

 If you talk to 99 people and fail, so what! you glorified Christ by trying! If only 1 out of 1,000 people you talk to comes to know Christ, your efforts were worth it.  You may just be a part of some of the other people's faith journey, helping them take a step towards Christ.

So. Basically. PEOPLE! Get up! Get out! and tell people about Jesus! Don't waste a moment to glorify Christ by simply trying!

What does a good ministry look like? PRAYER

As an individual Christian, its important to be developing the core ministry qualities.   Each one looks different from person to person.  Here are my thoughts on what prayer could generally look like in your life and ministry.


Prayer

I believe there are three focuses of prayer that a Christian should do.  Those different focuses are God, self, and others.  I also believe it is important to pray on your own and to pray with others.

But first, how do you pray? Pray as if you're having a conversation with God. You don't need to use any special language.  You can speak to him as if you're talking to your best friend. Don't babble on, Matthew 6:7. You should pray  believing what you are praising, what you're asking is true and will come true. Here are some qualities you could show with prayer and Bible verses to back them up. Be humble, 2 Chronicles 7:14, wholeheartedness, Jeremiah 29:13, faith, Mark 11:24, righteousness, James 5:16, and obedience, 1 John 3:22.

It is important to be able to communicate with our Lord and Savior. Why? If you were in a relationship with a guy or girl, would you be able to grow closer to him/her if you didn't speak to him/her? No. That is just silly. You say you don't feel like you're prayers are heard or that they're answered?  Psalms 34:17 and 91:15 say the Lord hears our every cries and delivers us from them. The Lord has a reason for everything that happens, it should draw us closer to Him.

Jesus set an example for us prayer wise in Luke 6:12.  Jesus would sometimes leave to go in a private place and pray by himself.  Mark 1:35 and Luke 5:15-16 also show Jesus withdrawing and finding places to pray. Matthew 6:6 tells us we should do the same.  Praying in solitude gives God our sole attention and focus.  It can help put things back into perspective.

Matthew 18:19 says that "if two of you agree about anything you ask for, it will be done." Luke 1:10 and Acts 1:14 talks about praying with others.  The Bible tells us to pray with others, so it is important as a ministry to lift up our prayers and praises to God together.

One of the main things we should pray about is God.  Psalm 100 tells us we should praise God and be thankful for the many blessings in life.  Hebrews 11:13 tells us we should continually be praising God, not only in prayer, but with our actions and inactions.  We should lift up praises for the good things in life and the bad things in life. For who else has lived a blameless life and died on the cross for sinners like you and me?

We should also pray for ourselves.  James 5:16 says we should confess our sins to one another, that is when the healing begins.  We must confess (and repent) to the Lord to be forgiven.  Psalm 51 is an example of King David confessing to the Lord and repenting.  I think its okay to pray for things we want, but its important to keep in mind that what the Lord wants and what we want may be two different things. Proverbs 16:9 says the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord determines his every step.  In Psalm 22 David exclaims "God! Why have you forsaken me?"  Jesus does the same thing in Matthew 27.  Voicing our concerns and frustrations to God is not a sin, it shows what we're really feeling and lets us open up to God.

And finally we should pray for others.  This has multiple levels.  I'd say it starts with family and friends, goes out to the ministry you're in, then goes to the community or institution you're in ( ex. Purdue U.), your nation, and also the world.  I think it is important to intentionally be a part of people's lives that are in your life.  Ask your friends every once in awhile or weekly how you can pray for them. Pray for your ministry, ask leaders if there are anything specific you can pray for.  Pray for your nation, for you leaders and President, whether you like them or not.  And lastly, pray for different parts of the world.  As a Christian it is good to be aware of the hurt around the world, it is a good reminder of our need for Christ and that our circumstances really aren't that bad.  You can get weekly emails about different countries and what is going on there.

So as a ministry, I recommend meeting regularly, whether its weekly, biweekly, or just monthly to pray for each other, the ministry, and the world.  Not everyone has to attend obviously.  You could plan out what you'd like to pray for in certain time slots within an hour or so. For example, you could praise and thank God for 20 minutes, pray for others for 20 minutes, and confess struggles and/or sins and have others pray for you for 20 minutes. This gets the people of the ministry together and most importantly helps us have an eternal perspective rather than a now and me perspective.

What does a good ministry look like? Pt. 1

Near the end of the school year during my d-time with my discipler Adam posed a question for me,

"What does a good ministry look like?"


I probably didn't give a very good answer at the time, but after some thought, I think I have a better idea of what it looks like and I'd like to share what I think it could look like.

I think to answer this thouroughly, one needs to step back and look at the Church itself and what it seems to have become here in America.  The Church in America seems to have become more about consumer Christianity. In other words it is about what the individual can get from the church or group or ministry, how they can grow, or where they are most comfortable.  Obviously not everyone who attends church today goes for those reasons, but it seems to be a vast majority of people.

After thinking about that I had a crazy idea. What if instead of being a consumer Christian, one became a maker Christian.  Meaning that instead of going to a church or ministry thinking "What can I get from this church?" One goes and thinks, "What can I do for this church?", "Is this where God wants me whether or not I am comfortable?"

Why would I consider those crazy thoughts? Those thoughts go against our human nature of selfishness and pride.  Its a more Christ-like perspective because one doesn't go into a ministry with a me mindset, but an others mindset.  The mindset of a servant.  Every Christian has a gift, whether it is to lead, to sing, to build things, to teach, to befriend people, to evangelize, or even having money.  Each gift can help others in a different way. We are all part of the body of Christ, united in the common goal of glorifying Christ.

Now that I have that out of the way, I believe there are essential qualities a good ministry has.  The three core qualities I would say a good ministry has well developed are prayer, evangelism, and discipleship.  I don't believe each person leading within the ministry needs to be great, but each core quality needs to be developing and growing for each person helping lead.  I'll explain these qualities in following posts, otherwise this note would get too long.  Weaved in and out of each of these qualities are qualities of a Christian striving after God. These qualities are Authenticity, Leading Courageously, Availability, Stewardship, Kingdom, and Always Faithful. These qualities I got from the Alaska Men's project 2011. I will explain these qualities in the following paragraphs.

Authenticity:
As a Christian authenticity means you have nothing to prove and nothing to lose.   Nothing else matters in the name of Christ.  Our identity is in Him and no other opinion really matters. With authenticity comes honesty and being open. One needs to be open with his or her close group of friends, confessing sins and struggles, so as a body we can grow more Christ-like by overcoming struggles together.  Confessing these sins and struggles will not only point ourselves to Christ and remind us of our need for Him, but it may also help point a non-Christian towards Him if we give our testimony.

Leading Courageously:
As Christians we are all called to lead, to lead ourselves, our families, and others.  Leadership looks different for everyone.  Some may be the people who make decisions, some may be the people who serve behind the scenes, some may just encourage others and point them towards Christ.  Jesus Christ is an obvious person to look at for leadership qualities.  Another place to look for good leadership qualities is Genesis 1-3.  I will probably dive deeper into those verses at a later date.

Availability:
We as Christians need to make ourselves available.  Most importantly we need to make ourselves available to God.  We need to set aside time each day to give to Him through prayer and Bible reading, maybe even a devotional.  We also need to be available to others, whether it is to listen to them, encourage them, or just spend time with them.  We need to be available to our friends, whether non-Christian or Christian.  Lastly we need to be available to ourselves.  That one may sound silly, but take it seriously.  God didn't need to rest on the seventh day of Creation, but He chose to as an example to us. We need to know when to rest and make ourselves Available to God.

Stewardship:
A Christian should be a good steward of their time, talent, and treasure.   As a Christian one shouldn't spend ample amounts of time on the internet (Facebook anyone?) or playing video games, maybe even reading too much.  We need to spend our time wisely, doing what we can to glorify Christ with our time.  Each of us has a different talent, whether it be athletic ability, knowledge, or some other skill set.   With these skill sets, we can use them to glorify Christ in some way.  Volunteer for a sports camp, tutor someone, play in the ministry band, or And lastly pretty much everyone has some sort of treasure they can give. Whether its money they can tithe or just help out a friend with.  Or maybe a car they can lend someone who needs to drive somewhere.

Kingdom:
This one is tightly knit with Evangelism.  Kingdom is God is the center of things.  He is the focus, the beginning, and the end. The final goal.  Creation and culture are valued, but differently than the world values them.  Romans 12:2 says we should be in the world, but not of it.  As Christians we shouldn't remove ourselves from the world and live in our own little Christian bubbles.  We need to be in the world, befriending those who do not know Christ and living life with a Kingdom focus, with a Christ focus sharing His Word glorifying Him.  That doesn't mean we change who we are to fit in with others, we should always stay faithful to Christ and who we are in Him.

Always Faithful:
This one can be taken at face-value.  One needs to always be faithful to God, to self, and to others.  Life is gonna suck at times, but no matter what God will get us through it, even if it means death.  We need to keep faith in Him.  Each bad thing that happens in life, each time we screw up, these are times that remind us of our need for a Savior.

And Time Goes On!

It has been awhile since I last posted. Looking back on it I really miss Alaska and the grand adventures I had with amazing men of God. That will be a summer I will never forget. Alaska will always be a part of me.

This second year of college has really gone by fast.  I have two weeks left and then I am at home.  I am extremely blessed with my move to a different dorm and differently ministry focus within Cru.  The Lord has been doing great things in McCutcheon res hall.  We have been blessed with 6 senior guys and 3 senior girls to lead us and prepare us for the future without them. They really built up the ministry to what it is today with a good number of people.  The other night we had 35 McCutcheon people attend our formal dance, compared to 13 the seniors freshmen year.  I am excited to see what God has in store for us next year without these seniors. I really hope to continue the legacy that they created here within McCutcheon with a tight knight community between the guys and girls in the ministry.

I am excited to say that this coming summer I will be in Ocean City, New Jersey on summer project again.  I have mixed feelings about it.  I tried to switch to San Diego summer project so I could go with a few Purdue friends on project and experience it with them, but was unable to because the guys side was full, I could've been the 8th guy in line on a waiting list.  That was enough of a sign that I should go to OC.  So I know God wants me there.  I know He'll do some great things.  I am going to grow a lot in my ability to share my faith and transition into a spiritual conversation.

I may think I know where I'm going in life, but in reality God has His own greater plan.  I looking forward to seeing what that is.

The heart of man plans his way,
    but the LORD establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9