Gathering to Training

So as some of you may know, both Barron and I made a 3 to 5 year plan for the SFU Campus.

Year 1        Gather
Year 2        Train
Year 3        Empower

We thought that once one of these things were done, we didn't have to go back to it.  So for example, once Year 1 finished we wouldn't have to gather anymore.  However, God revealed to us right away that this is going to be a constant thing where these all overlap each other.  So instead of this Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3, it will actually look more like this:

Year 1         Gather
Year 2         Gather           Train
Year 3         Gather           Train           Empower
Year 4         Gather           Train           Empower

Heading into Year 2, we have seen how gathering has been such an integral part in the training process in our students.  This year is a really good reflection of our students doing the gathering (or invitation) process.  If you remember the post about Community Dinners, that is one of the results of our students leaning into invitations.

I want to illustrate this gathering to training process with Don's story.

I remember Don when I first met him.  He came up to the IVCF table and shared about his desire to be more involved on the SFU campus.  He saw that there was more to school than getting his degree, he wanted to something more.  So he started getting involved in IVCF and was then invited to go to China.  This brought up a lot of underlying things for Don especially in his family but in the end, he chose to follow Jesus by saying "Yes" to China.  Him saying "Yes" to following Jesus completely changed his life.  He was no longer the little timid boy who was going to school, but a Man of God set out to make disciples of all nations.  His whole attitude has changed, even to the point where because of China, he had to miss school the next semester.  However, the way he looked at it wasn't, "Oh no!!  I shouldn't have gone to China!" but "Ok, so now I get a chance to be a witness in my workplace and get involved in my church more.  I am wondering though, how else can I be involved on campus at this time?"

Over this past year, Barron and I have seen such a huge change and shift in Don.  Here are a few things that he has been doing over this past year.

• He has invited his brother Daniel to follow Jesus in a much more significant way.  Daniel is actually going to be doing the Vancouver Urban Partnership (VUP) with us this summer!
• They have see how their family have also been impacted by their growth and their family situation has gotten better.
• The impact on their church is that they are completely changing the culture and the students in that church.  They are training the future leaders of their college group.
• Don has been leading scripture studies on the campus and inviting students to lead with him.
• He is constantly being a witness to his co-workers.

As this is the training process of his life in University, we are now moving to the Empowering process which will come next year for Don.