David’s Dialogues

January- Getting a Running Start to 2019!

Dear Friend,

The New Year is off to a quick start!  I cannot believe it is already February.  With a new year comes a new semester at Virginia Tech.  While there are not as many “firsts” as there are in August, it is still a significant time for students as they have a new class load and have the opportunity to get into good spiritual habits.

Just before school started again, Ally and I were planning to visit some ministry partners in the Northern VA area, but as many of you know that was the same weekend as the snow storm that no one in Virginia knew exactly what would happen.  Unfortunately we decided to cancel our trip, so for those that we didn’t get to visit with, I hope we can see you this summer sometime when there’s less a chance of snow!  Ally and I did get the chance to visit Shady Grove Baptist Church in Roanoke before the semester got underway.  It was a blessing to share about how God is using us in campus ministry at Virginia Tech, as well as meet so many wonderful people.

Now that I oversee the finances for NLCF, I was responsible for preparing and sending year-end tax statements for the tithes and offerings of students and alumni.  This was the first time I worked on that process, and it was quite a lengthy one! It is a blessing to use my structure and detail-oriented gifts to bless our congregation and maintain proper stewardship of the Lord’s resources.

Our first sermon series of 2019 has been called “Bad Ideas About God”.  While it isn’t a typical series for us, we felt led by the Spirit to tackle some of the tricky issues that people have with God, and helping shape a better theology and understanding.  We’ve talked about joy vs happiness, why there is evil in the world, God’s will for our lives, and the debate between science and God.  You can check out the whole series on our website: https://www.nlcf.net/media_category/bad-ideas/.

Another highlight of January was our “Learning Community”.  About 2-3 times per year, we gather all our leaders and core members together for a mini-retreat, full of vision-casting, goal-setting, equipping, and planning.  With the upcoming transitions in our church over the next few years, we saw this time as key to preparing our leaders to step up and really seek after the vision God has put before us.  Our focus for the weekend was on prayer; why and how we do it.  On Saturday, I had the chance to help clarify some of our language and policies in regards to our “Huddle” discipleship model.  I also led a breakout session about prayer walking, which really seemed to take hold with some of our students.  Saturday concluded with a time for Ally and I to more directly coach and encourage our Hokie Family leaders.  We set goals for our family, and then the Engage Group leaders took some time to develop specific goals for their Engage Groups.  It was exciting to walk alongside two of the guys I disciple, Alex and Jonathan, as they multiplied and started a new engage group this January!  “Breakout” is a new Engage Group focused on making the student recreation center on campus, BreakZone, their missional space.  Their heart is to build relationships through bowling, ping-pong, and pool, in order to facilitate invitation into Christian community.

The semester is well underway now, and before we know it the Honduras trip will be here!  That is definitely a highlight of my year, and a huge opportunity for God to minister to our team, myself, and the Honduran locals.  Please be praying as we make the last preparations in the coming month! Thank you as always for everything you do.

In Christ,
David

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