Greetings!Just thought you might like an update of what happened last Monday at Movement.
If
Over
you remember, Movement is our new, monthly meeting where we challenge
and equip students to actually DO our vision statement – Transform
Lives, Renew the Campus, and Change the World. On Monday we gave each
student who came a $20 bill and told them to use it for the Kingdom.
100 students packed into a hot study room, and envelopes were strung
over their heads. I spoke briefly about our seriousness about acting
out our faith in tangible ways, and the parable of the talents in
Matthew 25. Then we had them grab and envelope and open it up. Inside
each was $20…in Monopoly money.We had them gather in Small
They
Groups and talk for 10 minutes about what they would do with the $20 if
it was real, and they had to use it to change a life, renew the campus,
or change the world for Jesus. After 5 more minutes of sharing in the
large group, we dropped the bomb: Brian, one of my staff, pulled out a
huge wad of REAL $20 bills and told them this was for real. They could
trade in their monopoly bill for a real one if they committed to using
it to change the world.
were blown away. They couldn’t believe that we trusted them with all
that money, that we were even talking about money at all, that they
were leaving the room motivated and equipped. And they took it
seriously, many staying long after we were done to talk and pray about
what to do and how they can serve Jesus with what they had. To
make sure doubly sure they were serious, we had them sign their names
for accountability, asked them to tell us what they did with their $20
on a blog we set up (naumovement.blogspot.com),
and told them that we will be choosing some of them to give testimony
at Large Group and our upcoming Fall Conference. We collected five
clipboards full of names.I
just wanted to say thanks to those of you who gave money towards this
risky new idea – so far it’s really paid off. I can’t wait to hear the
stories of how the money is used (we gave them until Fall Conference,
Oct 9, to do it), and how missional Christians are developed because of
your generosity.
I apologize in advance for being so long-winded, but it’s well worth the read… I promise!
———————–
About two weeks ago, Seth Barnes posted this blog:
I read it and thought – what a cool story! Conveniently skipping over the challenge at the end of the blog to give someone a small amount and ask them to report back to you about how it was invested, of course. I’m really good at that, I find.
But God didn’t want me to forget about that challenge, you see. From that blog, I went to check my email, and found one sitting in my inbox from Steven Grahmann – who is on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at NAU – titled “20 Bucks to Change the World.” He and other members of the IV staff at NAU would be holding a meeting on the 14th called Movement, and challenging students to start putting what they’re learning out of the Bible into action. Each student would be getting $20 and a month to do something that will change the world. If they don’t use it, they return it. Simple as that. IV staff members were pooling together $1000 out of their collective paychecks, which would allow 50 students to participate. Since they were anticipating three times that many students…
Obviously, God wasn’t about to let me let go of this one. I may not have much right now, but what I do have… I need to not be so stingy with. So I wrote a check, and I put it in the mail. Then I waited to see what happened with this meeting. Steven sent an update yesterday.
I’m pretty excited to see what happens, and I know for sure I’ll be keeping an eye on the blog to see what these crazy kids do with the money! I’ll see what I can do about posting them here, or you can go to the blog and read for yourself, and then think about what you can do with just $20 to further God’s kingdom.
