Tuesday, January 24 — COMMUNION MEAL & TNT: At 6pm on Tuesday at the campus house, we will get together for our weekly family meal. As always, there is a yummy home-cooked meal as well as an opportunity to remember Jesus in a time of communion.

Then, at 7pm, our Tuesday Nite Thing (TNT) will begin. We will stay in-house again and continue our study in the book of Ephesians. Please bring your Bibles!

After TNT, we will have a short informational meeting about our Spring Break Mission Trip to Nashville, TN for those of you who couldn’t make it last week. And then, after that, we will head over to Carson’s Sports Grille for our new favorite tradition: 1/2 wings!

Friday, January 27th through Sunday, January 29th — WINTER RETREAT 2012: It’s finally here and it’s not too late to sign-up! We will gather this weekend with students from campus ministries like ours from all over the midwest for a few days of worship, great teaching, and other forms of general awesome-ness.

Randy Gariss, the Preaching Minister at College Heights Christian Church in Joplin, MO is our speaker for the weekend. He is a relationships genius and will be sharing with us on that topic. Pete, a friend of mine and the Campus Minister at Illinois State University said that Randy’s stuff is “the best I’ve ever heard” and “get everyone you know there!”

The cost is $40 and you can sign-up by clicking here. Please then get your money to me no later than Thursday.

To see the Facebook event page, click here.

Coming Up! Sunday, February 5th — SUPER BOWL PARTY: Let’s get together to watch the Big Game at CCH. Kick-off is at 5:30pm. Bring your favorite football snacky-food!

Greg Swinney is the Director of Crossroads International Student Ministry and a friend of mine. He will be sharing ideas, resources, and encouragement with us as we strive to fulfill our mission of making disciples on this campus.

We will gather at 6pm at CCH for some free pizza and the chance to dialogue with Greg.

Stick around afterwards to get some information about our Spring Break Mission Trip to Nashville, TN — a trip designed around building and growing relationships with our international student friends.

Paul, in Ephesians 1:3-14 outlines 7 spiritual blessings given to those in Christ. These blessings should incite within us a response of praise, as it does for Paul (who, incidentally, writes Ephesians while in prison and clearly is not the recipient of many physical/material blessings).

To listen to this message, please click below:

EPHESIANS 1:3-14 // THE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS 

You can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes by clicking here.

6pm — COMMUNION MEAL: On the menu tonight is an enchilada casserole with chips and salsa. We will have a short devotion and share in a time of communion. The meal is free, but we do take up an offering to cover the cost of the meal and to send to our mission work in Haiti.

7pm — TUESDAY NITE THING (TNT): We will continue our study of the book of Ephesians tonight, looking at 1:3-14. We will also have a time of praise and worship.

Our goal tonight is to see God. And to realize how incredibly blessed we are…but not because of our physical or material blessings. I am very excited about this message. Please remember to bring your Bible.

POST-TNT: After TNT, we will head over to Carson’s Sports Grille for some half-price wings!

See you tonight!

Tuesday, January 17 — COMMUNION MEAL & TNT: We will gather for our weekly family meal at 6pm at CCH. We will have a chance to share communion and an offering.

At 7pm, Tuesday Nite Thing (TNT) will happen in-house. This week we will continue our new teaching series in the book of Ephesians.

Immediately following TNT, we will head over to Carson’s Sports Grille for wing night! All wings are 1/2 off!

Wednesday, January 18 — PORN AGAIN EVENT: At 9pm, we will gather at CCH to watch a live-stream of Pastor Mark Driscoll and former porn star Crissy Moran as they share about the destructive effects of pornography. The Porn Again Event is open to guys and girls and is vital for us to attend. You may want to arrive just a bit before 9pm.

Click here to view the Facebook event page.

Sunday, January 22 — REACHING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS DINNER: Greg Swinney, a friend of mine and the Director of Crossroads International Student Ministry will be here to encourage and challenge us as we reach out to international students. This will be a conversational dinner. He will share with us starting at 6pm at CCH. Come, be fed, and be challenged!

Coming up:

January 27 through 29 — WINTER RETREAT 2012: Our annual Winter Retreat is coming up quickly. It takes place January 27-29 and will be a weekend chock full of worship, teaching, and other forms of awesomeness. We will be gathering with campus ministries (just like CCH) from all over Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska.

Randy Gariss, the Preaching Minister at College Heights Christian Church in Joplin, MO will be our speaker for the weekend. Randy is a relationships expert and he is going to drop some knowledge, so be ready.

The cost is $40. You can sign-up to go by clicking here and filling out the form. And then get the money to me no later than January 26th.

Here’s the Facebook event.

Sex & Sexuality Survey: Last week, I encouraged you to fill out Part 1 of our anonymous Sex & Sexuality Survey. This week, I want to encourage you to fill out Part 2.

We ask you to fill this out in order for us as a campus ministry to better understand where you are and where we need to go. It’s completely anonymous. There are only 8 questions and it should take you less than 3 minutes. By filling this out, you are helping CCH help you.

Click here to take Part 1 of the survey.

Click here to take Part 2 of the survey.

And pornography is a massive part of the culture today. In fact, statistics say that if you are looking at this post, there is a 25% chance you stumbled on to it because you were searching for porn. And there is a 40% chance you have looked at porn this week. According to our own survey at CCH, over 51% of you have looked at porn, with 18% of you saying you do it all the time.

Porn is a $10-14 billion industry. Porn is a bigger business than professional football, basketball, and baseball — combined.

Approximately 11% of all internet visits to a pornographic website.

We need to talk about this.

We need to understand the effects that porn has on our relationship with God and our relationship with others, including our significant others and future spouses. We need to hear, again, that we don’t have to be enslaved to porn or sex. We need to understand that Jesus sets us free.

On Wednesday, January 18th, we have an opportunity to begin this discussion. We will be hosting a Porn Again Event. Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and Pastor Mark Driscoll, will be live-streaming the event which will feature a sermon and an interview with Crissy Moran. Crissy is a former pastor’s daughter who grew up and became a porn star. She has recently returned to an incredible relationship with Jesus and now helps others in porn and the porn industry find freedom in Christ.

This event is geared towards the college crowd. I promise it will be eye-opening and relevant.

Wednesday, January 18th.
The event starts at 9pm. Plan on getting there at 8:45pm.
At CCH.
Please, invite your friends to this important event.
Click here for the Facebook event page.

We took a quick look at the first two verses of Ephesians…and discovered that God’s vision and mission for us can be found in these two short sentances.

First off, Paul calls himself an “apostle.” Apostles were followers of Christ who were sent to carry the message of Christ. We are sent as missionaries with the same task.

Paul goes on to greet the saints who are “in Ephesus” and the faithful who are “in Christ.” We often think that we are either “in the world” or “in Christ,” but I am not convinced this is an either/or proposition. I believe we are called to be “in the world” and “in Christ” at the same time. It’s both/and. To effectively fulfill our mission, we must embrace both/and.

Finally, Paul extends to the Ephesians the blessing of “grace and peace.” The truth is, we find peace through grace. And this peace through grace is the message we have been sent to share.

And last, but certainly not least, all of this is wrapped up in Christ Jesus. He is the vision.

To listen to this message, please click below:

EPHESIANS 1:1-2 // JESUS IS THE VISION

You can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes by clicking here.

6pm — Communion Meal. We will gather for a free, home-cooked meal at 6pm in the campus house. On the menu tonight is spaghetti, bread, salad, and a dessert. We will also share communion together and take up an offering (50% of which goes to the cost of the meal and 50% of which goes to our mission work in Haiti).

7pm — TNT. Starting at 7pm, we will have our first TNT of the semester. We are kicking off a new teaching series where we will be studying through the book of Ephesians. Tonight is all about the mission Jesus has for each of us and how He is the One who holds our mission together. Please bring your Bible and come ready to dig in.

Post-TNT: It’s been awhile since we have seen each other, so it is most appropriate to have some fun tonight and re-connect with one another. And so, we will attempt to have CCH’s largest-ever game of BUNCO! It’s the simplest dice game known to man, and is great because it gives us all a chance to hang out and catch up with each other. And, there will be prizes for the winners (and losers!).

We will have some information tonight about our Winter Retreat and our Communitas Group sign-ups. This would be a great night to invite a friend and help them get connected to the family.

See you tonight!

Let’s not waste any time in getting back into the swing of things, eh?

Tuesday, January 10 — COMMUNION MEAL & TNT: Our Communion Meal will begin at 6pm at CCH. Just like last semester, the meal is free and home-cooked. Each week we will celebrate communion and remember Jesus’ sacrifice as well as look forward to His return. An offering will be taken, with 50% going to cover the cost of the meal and 50% going to our mission work in Haiti.

Tuesday Nite Thing (TNT) will begin at 7pm and will stay in-house at CCH. We will kick-off our new teaching series on the book of EPHESIANS. Please bring your Bible and be ready to go deep!

Afterwards, stick around for a crazy game of Bunco! If you’ve never played Bunco, it’s super simple and super fun. It’ll give us all the chance to hang out and re-connect after our time away. Prizes to the winners!

That’s about it for this week. We will have our Communitas Group sign-ups available and those will start meeting next week.

January 27 through 29 — WINTER RETREAT 2012: Our annual Winter Retreat is coming up quickly. It takes place January 27-29 and will be a weekend chock full of worship, teaching, and other forms of awesomeness. We will be gathering with campus ministries (just like CCH) from all over Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska.

Randy Gariss, the Preaching Minister at College Heights Christian Church in Joplin, MO will be our speaker for the weekend. Randy is a relationships expert and he is going to drop some knowledge, so be ready.

The cost is $40. You can sign-up to go by clicking here and filling out the form. And then get the money to me no later than January 26th.

Here’s the Facebook event.

Sex & Sexuality Survey: Sex and sexuality are one of the most pressing issues of concern to college students today. And CCH wants to help.

But, in order to better understand where you are and where we need to go, I am asking you to fill out this completely anonymous survey. It’s only 10 questions long and should take you less than 3 minutes. By filling this out, you are helping CCH help you.

Click here to take the survey.

Accept The 21 Challenge.

21 minutes a day. 21 days. Intentionally and deliberately grow in your relationship with Christ through the reading of his word, through prayer, and through journaling.

The 21 Challenge begins on December 19th and ends on January 8th.

Click here to download the reading plan and prayer guide.
Click here to join the Facebook group to stay connected and encouraged.