November 2011
2 posts
The scoop on Invite Night.
Every year, we have a special Large Group called Invite Night where we invite our non-Christian friends.
It’s geared toward people who have been hurt by the church, are skeptical about Christianity, and who are weirded out by typical church type services.
There’s no musical worship, no Christianese, and lots of opportunity for discussion.
Two years ago, I spoke about Jesus and our...
Eight dudes in the middle of nowhere.
Say hello to the coolest small group in the whole wide world.
This past weekend, 8 out of 9 of us went on a small group retreat at a cabin located in the middle of nowhere.
The highlights include:
Kind of playing football. We made up our own special football game that’s way too hard to explain for the interwebs. All you need to know is it was fun, painful at times, and Nate Dunn won.
...
September 2011
2 posts
The bonfire delivered...as usual.
Our InterVarsity chapter loves hanging out…in the woods.
Our bonfire the first weekend of school has been, and probably always will be, our most attended event. I don’t get it. We drive to a random spot in the woods, burn some stuff, and just stand there. But people love it, anyway.
There’s something about the graham crackers and marshmallows filling our stomachs and the guy...
Game night rocked the house.
One of the essentials in campus ministry is to build rapport with students you have to be able to have fun.
Life isn’t always serious (even though some of us are naturally serious all the time) and if all your time with students is serious, serious, serious, they end up trying to avoid you at all costs once they get burnt out.
Not to mention, games are really low commitment for students...
July 2011
1 post
1 tag
Summer orientation booth pictures.
I’m not mad in this picture. I’m just squinting because of the sun.
Doing ministry = fun.
If I may say, I think our booth was the coolest one at the whole orientation expo.
We asked people the question….”What scares you the most about college?”
All smiles. Again.
April 2011
1 post
1 tag
Vision week in pictures.
We put on a picnic in the middle of campus to engage with students in spiritual conversations and eat chicken wings.
This is a picture of yours truly facilitating a prayer walk for potential leaders on campus.
This is Aziel (one of our student leaders) praying for another staff (Theo) before he shares a message to kick off Vision Week.
Another picture from the picnic.
Esther, Chelsea,...
March 2011
3 posts
1 tag
A day in my life as a campus minister
8:33am - wake up from my slumber
8:42am - brush teeth, wash face, and finally wake up
9:01am - quiet time of Bible reading and prayer
10:37am - work on email newsletter update to supporters
11:43am - ride my bike to campus
12:05pm - mmm, smoothie at Jamba Juice at NAU
12:30pm - hang out with random InterVarsity students in Starbuck’s
1:07pm - facilitate our prayer walk for our vision...
Prayer and worship night
We had a prayer and worship night to kick off our week of outreach and social justice campaign called Release 2011.
Here’s some pictures from the night:
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Real responses from real people.
We asked students on the Northern Arizona University campus, “What do you and God have in common?”
The point: to start good conversations.
Here are some responses:
February 2011
2 posts
1 tag
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My new living situation
The old roommates.
The new roommates.
Aren’t we good looking?
Theo got married. Eric moved to New York. So now it’s Navin, Blade, me, and Victor.
Let’s just say we’re an “international” combination. We’re learning how to live together and how to love each other as roommates. Hard, challenging at times, but worth it.
December 2010
1 post
2 tags
Fall semester in three words
Fall semester was hard.
The weight of my choice to be on InterVarsity staff in this season of my life sometimes is too much to bear. Because it comes with a handful of voices always telling me to do something else.
There’s the voice of my dad who is disappointed with me for not living the Chinese-American dream.
There’s the guilt of not being able to support my retired, single,...
November 2010
0 posts
October 2010
4 posts
3 tags
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The 24/7 prayer team doesn't need me anymore
Last night, I went to the kick off for the first 24/7 prayer week of the 2010-2011 school year. This isn’t a new thing for me. At NAU, I’ve helped put together bunches of prayer rooms, kick offs, closings, etc.
But, there was something very, very special about last night:
I didn’t do anything.
I’ve passed the team onto two student leaders, Felicia and Alida, who are...
September 2010
6 posts
2 tags
An international student curious about Jesus
I’ve become friends with an international student named Razor (that’s not his real name, I changed it to protect his identity).
Razor came to my birthday party, we go shopping together, and just hang out, too.
Yesterday, myself and a few other people were open air preaching outside the university union (that’s a whole other story) but Razor showed up about an hour before we...
4 tags
Letter to Christian dudes
Ladies, I wrote this specifically for dudes so I don’t really recommend reading it unless you really, really want to.
This morning, I prayed with leaders from other campus ministries here at NAU. One of the common trends was “there’s no guys in our ministry” or “there’s way more girls than guys.” This just so happens to be the trend in tons and tons of...
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WatchThis is me, Brian Sun, talking to a group of 300ish college students about rejecting fake Jesuses and choosing to follow the real Jesus of Scripture.
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No more little small room
For the past as many years as I can remember, our NAU InterVarsity chapter has met in science building rooms with a maximum capacity of 200ish people.
Every year, especially during the first few months of school, that baby is packed. Fire codes are usually broken (secretly, of course) because there are so many people in the room. But then it starts to get uncomfortable and people just start...
August 2010
3 posts
1 tag
It's like I'm giving away a baby
I’ve been in campus ministry for seven years. Five as a student and two as an InterVarsity staff worker (meaning a campus missionary). 24/7 prayer has been my thing since I was a sophomore in college. But now it’s time to move on….
One of the things I’ve told my students is that the vision of prayer on the NAU campus will last long after any of us are gone. So, like...
3 tags
I don't want no sugar daddy
A couple weeks ago I sent out 195 Facebook video messages inviting people to be on my ministry email list. A lot of them have said yes and it makes me feel like 18 times better that more people are praying for my ministry.
When the time is right, I’d like to ask these people to give financially as part of the team that sends me to the university campus as a witness for Christ. My yearly...
2 tags
Who I do NOT follow
I do not follow Piper.
I do not follow Claiborne.
I do not follow Driscoll.
I do not follow Bickle.
I do not follow MacArthur.
I do not follow Engle.
I do not follow Bell.
I do not follow Alcorn.
I respect, appreciate, and look up to all of them.
But I follow Jesus.
“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that...
July 2010
10 posts
“Perhaps the world would be wiling to listen to a church on its knees, a church...”
– Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw in Jesus for President
2 tags
Three things I learned in East Asia
I recently came back from six weeks overseas in East Asia. A lot happens inside of you when everything around you is completely different. There was a group of about twenty of us experiencing a new location, new people, new culture, new food, new schedule, new everything. The perfect setting for learning. Here are three of the major things I took away:
1. Vision is caught, not taught.
“You...
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“I wonder how many people just witness to strangers because they’re scared to...”
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I heart the little things
Ya know the cheesy cliche “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone?” Well. It’s true.
I jacked up my knee yesterday (breakdancing, of course) and am constrained to crutches and a lot of pain. Being injured has made 18,352 things that much more difficult. Little things that I take for granted that I’m able to do with ease when I’m in my normal...
2 tags
Why I'm getting insurance as a Christian
For the past three years I’ve been asking the question:
“Is insurance a legitimate tool of God or an illegitimate substitute for Him?”
And I’ve been floating in limbo. Back and forth, back and forth.
Some months I’d be like “Insurance, ha. I have faith in God. I’m not putting any of my hope in the systems of this world.”
Other months I’d...
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“The great tragedy is not mainly masturbation or fornication or acting like a...”
– John Piper from Desiring God
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Brian: Hey Chris, who would you be if you weren't a Christian?
Chris: I don't know. Angry, frustrated, confused. Probably powerful for the kingdom of hell.
Brian: Oh, whoa. That's deep.
3 tags
May 2010
6 posts
2 tags
"Do they even open their f*cking Bibles?"
These were the exact words of my not-a-Christian prophet roommate, Victor. He’s talking about us, Christians.
Conversations with him and others who are critical about God and His people have been eye-opening to me of the way that people who don’t identify themselves as Christians want Christians to act.
In a sentence: they want us to be for real.
They want us to love sacrificially, give...
3 tags
Why my InterVarsity budget is $60,000 a year
The short answer: because employees cost a lot of money.
The long answer: we have to fundraise for everything. This includes training, conferences, travel, camps, business meals, office supplies, national overhead, social security, benefits, taxes and salary. Notice I said like ten things before salary?
InterVarsity staff is my actual work. Developing student leaders, engaging in conversation...
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I hate relativism
I chose the word “hate” on purpose.
Relativism says:
“what’s true for you is true for you and what’s true for me is true for me.”
“there is no absolute truth.”
“all religions are the same.”
“I care about social justice just because I feel like it.”
The university campus is filled with relativism. To be honest, it’s hard to not shake people when they start advocating this perspective. And...
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I'm no longer looking for an out
When I came on InterVarsity staff, I heard lots of things in my mind.
“Are you serious?” “Your dad is going to be disappointed” “What a waste of time” “You’re a loser” “Come on, you have a college education”
In the middle of school year, I realized that those are all lies.
I was looking for other jobs at one point. I even thought of get-rich-quick schemes so I wouldn’t have to fundraise...
April 2010
9 posts
2 tags
They are leaving the church
A recent USA Today article came out titled “Young adults less devoted to faith: survey shows steady drift from church life”
Basically, young adults who grew up in the church are leaving in droves and a lot of people who say they’re Christians aren’t really Christians.
There are tons of reasons for this and I’m not going to pretend to know all of them. Anyone with a pulse can point out all the...
2 tags
A conversion of the checkbook
I’ve been thinking a lot about money recently because I’m transitioning into a season of fundraising this summer for my full-time work as an InterVarsity staff. And since people would rather talk about their sex lives’ than their checkbook, I’ve been surprised at how much the topic has been coming up in conversation recently.
Today I sat in Starbuck’s with three students just hanging out. The...
2 tags
Our money is not really our money
Just finished reading Key Statistics on Generous Giving from Eternal Perspective Ministries.
Here are some highlights:
The Church in America has enough money to fulfill the Great Commission.
American evangelicals make trillions of dollars in yearly income.
Millions upon millions are the walking dead around the world without Jesus Christ.
Some honest truth:
God is worthy.
This is not our...
3 tags
From physics theory to "Jesus, I want to know you"
Remember how physics students don’t scare God? Apparently, He wants them to know Him, too.
Yesterday, we (a student named David and I) met with our international student friend, Ernesto, for the fourth time to talk about physics, God, and everything else in between. Here’s what happened:
David and I were walking to meet Ernesto and we were talking about next steps to encourage him to get...
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Behind the scenes: choosing leaders
Get 12 leaders in a room.
Talk about a bunch of applications.
Pray to the living God.
Kindly disagree a couple of times.
Eat brownies.
Four and a half hours later – end with a list of student leaders for next year.
Afterwards, go home and sleep for 15 hours.
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8 benefits of automated giving
We have a lot on our minds….all the time. It’s as if our to-do list is never-ending, something unexpected always come up, and there’s always competition for our thought space. In our tech savvy world, loads of things can be automated so we can essentially “set it, and forget it.”
One of the areas where automation is beneficial is finances, particularly with donations. So below, here are eight...
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Physics students don't scare God
After all, He made physics.
Last week at our Large Group for InterVarsity, I met an international student one of our leaders invited.
They met because the international student was hitchhiking. And now he’s going to Large Group. Cool.
In our brief conversation, I found out he really likes physics a lot and that in his perspective, God and physics cannot co-exist together. In exuberant...
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WatchRelease 2010 prayer room tour
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Vision explained in Q & A form
My vision is to develop a culture of prayer, make disciples, and reach people with the Good News.
What vision of the future do you have? For people to no longer look at university campuses and say “hopeless.” But to say that colleges are filled with students after the heart of God, intellectually honest in their faith, bold in their proclamation of the Gospel, and willing to take the Good News...