It's been a busy few weeks since I last posted, and there's been much happening both in the student world and in New Zealand.
Two weeks ago, our end of year Student Leadership Conference took place. It comes after the final exams of the year and before many students head home for the summer. I was involved with the leading of the second of five tracks we run for the students. Tracks 1-3 are for Undergraduates as they go through their University lives, track 4 was a new track for Post-Graduate students and track 5 for Medical students (run by CMF). Most of the students in the second track are on their student group's leadership team, and so we sought to invest in them as disciples, but specifically as leaders.
For our track, we took the theme 'This is Your Life', which attempted to work through key areas of their Christian lives. As the week progressed, we widened the net to make it 'This is Our Life', emphasising the communal aspect of leadership, before closing the track with 'This is Our Response', where we brought the week to a conclusion with both an individual and a collective response time. The TSCF team for our track worked well and our input seemed to be appreciated and helpful.
During the week, we had Bible input from Pete Collier, an Anglican based down in Christchurch. He led us faithfully from 1 Samuel 7-9 and it was great to see students with open Bibles lapping up God's Word. Each day, the students had spent time in small groups doing inductive Bible study on the day's passage. It has become a particular feature of the SLC and it's great watching students get stuck into the Bible.
For me, one of the highlights of the week came in the first two sessions. Debbie Flood, who had recently won the Gold medal in the World Rowing Championships held at Lake Karapiro, NZ came along to the conference. I interviewed her about life as a Christian rower, and hearing stories of her sports involvement, the challenges and joys, and particularly about her Christian witness to the rowing community. Debbie is from just outside of Leeds and has been involved in a number of events with my dad & brother Jonathan, so it was good to be able to make the most of her being in the country. She is great to work with as she loves to talk (for a BBC article/interview - click & listen here), but in that is really clear about her love for Jesus being more important than anything rowing ever brings. We were thankful she made the effort to join us.
The following morning, we had managed to source two rowing machines, and held a competition rowing against Debbie. She first raced an impressive time for 500m, and then we had a number of students who volunteered to try and beat it. It brought a good fun time for the students. Sport is such an important part of Kiwi life, and yet very rarely is it engaged with well by Christians. We would love to see a generation of fine Christian athletes competing for NZ in years to come, and also made the most of Debbie being around to have some discussions around that.
All in all, it was a great week. We had the largest number of students for an SLC ever, and it was super that about 35 students came from Wellington. The week was the next step in our growth, and there is a real sense that the work is continuing to grow. We thank God for good times and the growth in the students over the week.
During the course of the week, we heard news from the Pike River mine in the South Island. It was some way away from where we were meeting, but the whole nation was affected by the tragedy. As we waited for news from Greymouth, we prayed and were saddened after the conference to hear that all 29 lives had been lost. I've not heard any news on whether any of the miners were believers, but we long that across these islands, the many people who are spiritually lost without hope would be found. We continue to pray for the families and friends of those affected by the disaster. In small town New Zealand, the effects of events like these are widely felt.
After the SLC, I headed down to the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island for our end of year MIntY conference. It was good to be able to travel with Jen and Sam, and to share with the MInterns about evangelism and discipleship for the long. We long to see students go on to be graduates who live as passionately for Jesus in their old age as they do in their youth.
The academic year has come to a close. The sun is most definitely shining! For me, the next few weeks till Christmas are mostly spent on finishing the year well - end of year reviews, catching up on admin and making preparations for 2011, which should be a huge year here in NZ.
Whilst we celebrate and thank God for the best of times, we recognise that others are facing harder times. Tomorrow, there is a memorial service for the 29 miners. We remember them and pray for their grieving families. Across the globe, good friends of mine, Martin and Debbie Downes heard news this week that their youngest daughter, Keziah (9) has a brain tumour. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow also. Again, our thoughts and prayers are with her and them as they face difficult times.
When life is good and when it is much harder, the words of Henry Lyte in 'Abide with Me' ring true
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
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