Chapel 9/23/09 -- Dr. Matt Thompson

September 23, 2009 our very own Dr. Matt Thompson preached a sermon titled "When the Dream Becomes a Nightmare." He preached from Job 7:11-21 and reminded the SC community to lean on one another and God even when times are tough! Listen here

Pray With Africa

Fellow Builders!!

My name is Nicole Guthrie and I graduated from SC in 2007 and wanted to share a bit with you all what I have been up to this past year. Thank you, Steve Wilke, for continuing to encourage me to post on the blog, and I apologize for it's lateness.

I spent this past summer in Tanzania volunteering at an Orphanage in a small rural town called Tarime with 40 of the most precious kids on the planet!! Towards the end of my time there I had decided to stay at the orphanage until October because a number of events had occurred which were more than likely going to leave the kids going from having 8-9 adults spending time with them to none. It's funny how things work out, though. The very next day after my decision to stay, I received an email from the great Ashlee Alley, entitled "You know what they say..." followed by the first line of the email, "...Make plans and God laughs." I knew what followed would be interesting.

Of course it was. She was passing on information about an organization called Pray With Africa, which is an extension of Upper Room Ministries and a part of the General Board of Discipleship based in Nashville, TN. The next thing I knew I was traveling around Tanzania on a bus running errands, praying about where God wanted me to be. I had two great options, but as things happened to work out God made a way for me to be a part of Pray With Africa and for the kids in Tanzania to still have people present. About a week later, after changing my flight and booking a new one, I was in Nashville.

Pray With Africa's mission is to inspire people to connect across continents, pray each others' prayers, and in turn put those prayers into action. Our purpose is to build relationships across the globe and change the world through prayer and action. We live by a simple philosophy of Learn, Pray, Act. We believe that there is power in story and knowing each others' stories, so first we invite you to learn the stories of others, learn about the issues, begin building these relationships. Then moving from a place of relationship we begin to pray each others' prayers and build a community. And only from this place of relationship and prayer should we act, so that we act from a place of love and community, rather than guilt and charity.

We are traveling the East Coast sharing our 40 minute film Listen: A New African Narrative. Here is a short blurb about the film:

"The nightly news is filled with images of tragedy, chaos, and conflict from the African continent. Drought and famine. Disease and poverty. War. These have been the narratives of Africa.

It’s time to tell the whole story.

Listen: A New African Narrative offers an inspiring and hopeful vision of the Africa beyond the headlines. Journey across the continent, to Liberia, Mali, Uganda, South Africa and Malawi, alongside five remarkable leaders who are transforming their communities through hard work and persistent prayer."

Two teams have headed out on the road traveling the East Coast, one going Northeast, and one going Southeast to share this film and our philosophy with churches, schools, universities, pretty much anyone who is willing to have us and is interested in seeing the film and knowing more. I am a part of the Northeast team and as I am typing this I am sitting in a dorm room at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. and am so grateful of the students who are letting us crash their apartment for the night! This movement and community of believers rooted in prayer is so powerful to me and I believe if we all adopted the philosophy of Learning, and Praying and Acting the world can and WILL change and be different! Being a part of spreading that message is such a blessing and privilege!

My "tribe" will be in D.C./Baltimore for the next week or so before heading to Delaware, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, all through Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, and back down to Nashville by November 9th! If you are in those areas and want to come to a screening or want to host one we still have spots available and would love to come share! You can email me at nicolepwa@gmail.com or give me a call on my cell phone 620-218-3549. We are hoping to have tours in the spring, so contact me if you're interested in that as well! You can also visit our website at www.praywithafrica.com to find out more and to join our prayer community online!! I'd love to hear from you also if you have any other questions or just to chat about Pray With Africa in general!

Many Blessings to all you fellow builders...let us begin and continue to build relationships and change the world through community, prayer, and action!!

Taking a Look Around

I tend to be one of those people who stays busy. If I'm truly honest, I really like it that way best, I suppose. I do recognize, however, that there are times in the year that I'm too busy. These last 6 weeks definitely fit that scenario. School starting involves all of the excitement, emotion, and stress of setting an inert machine into motion. The potential for great power is there, but so is the potential for numerous malfunctions. But by now, we are up and moving. The rust has worn off, the new pieces have been broken in, and we're moving.

And so, I stop. Yes, I stop and take a look around. I look back to these last 40 days and see that lots of great things have happened:

• I participated in a prayer effort that started on August 10 and finishes up tomorrow (Friday, September 25) that intentionally lifted United Methodist Campus Ministries in prayer. There were days when I felt like I was a hamster running on a wheel and when I prayed these prayers, I sensed camraderie, understanding, and provision in a significant way. There were some days when these prayers were the substance of my static prayer time, but even in those days, I was surrounded by prayers.
• We've initiated a new group of leaders for campus ministry at Southwestern. Both the Shepherd Team of Discipleship (affectionately known as the Disciple-Sheep) and the leaders for our Campus Ministries are leading others in ministry! There truly is nothing more exciting than when students that you love are ministering to others! Love it!
• Chapel at SC. Wow! I have been blown away by the chapel services this year so far! Each preacher (all from within the SC community so far--and I'm counting Steve Rankin as still being from within the SC community) has spoken words of challenge, comfort, and truth to our campus. The worship teams are learning what it means to lead their peers, and the support ministries are creatively engaging the community in worship. I can hardly wait to get to chapel each week.
• I've had a couple of conversations with current students and alumni this fall that have been incredibly affirming...not necessarily of me, but of what I sense that God is doing and wants to do in our midst. Many seeds have been planted in years past here at SC and things are coming together for fruit to be borne. It's exciting.

From reading this little glance around, it would seem that Southwestern is heaven on earth. Well, it is pretty great, but we have our own struggles, too. But through it all, we know that God's presence is guiding, sustaining, and empowering us to meet those challenges. As I look around, I see places where God is asking me to trust and keep going, places where I need to ask forgiveness, and even places where I may need to just stop what we've been doing. So whether we move forward, or stop, we trust all of it for God's glory alone! And that's actually the best place of all to be.

Posted by Ashlee Alley

Chapel, 9/16/09--Rodney Worsham

Rodney Worship preached in Chapel last Wednesday about "Living the Dream," a continuation of our theme for the year! He shared with us the story of Peter walking on water and reminded us to get out of the boat! You can listen here.

Generic Made a come back

Hey there fellow Builders. As some of you may know Adam Thompson and I had a band while we were at SC. Adam recently came to Nashville to do a show with me for the church I'm currently working at. (I'm the youth and young adult coordinator.) Anyway we had a great time doing the show, here is a video and some pictures, enjoy.

Generic Concert Crievewood UMC

Chapel 9/09/09--Steve Rankin

Steve Rankin preached a sermon, "Delight," as we honored him for his 14 years of service. Listen to the service here.

Share a recent meaningful worship experience.

As we approach Builders in Ministry Week 2010 our thoughts turn to Passionate Worship. What does that mean to you? What makes your worship experience passionate versus humdrum? Is it music, prayers, the Spirit? Does Passionate Worship happen as a group or as an individual?

Please share your thoughts - through sharing there will be growth.

Mark your calendar for this year’s Builders in Ministry week - February 23-25 .

Our theme is: Worship as Passionate Theology

Builders unite!

Hello All!

My name is Polina. I am a junior in Southwestern College and involved in discipleship.

I am working with Steve Wilke this year trying to connect all the Moundbuilders who are or were involved in ministry. We are very excited for this upcoming year and hoping that more and more people are going to become an active members of this project. We are going to keep you updated with whats going on in ministry here on campus or around the world.

We really do hope that all of you guys will be involved in this project. Without your help we can not make it grow for the glory of God.

Builders from all the world unite! May God Bless You!

SC Chapel 8/26/09

You are invited to hear the audio from SC Chapel! Here is the link for Wednesday, August 26. Rev. Ashlee Alley preached "Living the Dream" based on Acts 2:1-4, 14-18. Listen here! Feel free to leave your feedback here!