Day 4 Recap

Day 4 began with a great talk by Jen Ball (staff worker in LA).  She had us look at Act 19 and dynamically drew attention Paul asking his new disciples if they knew the Holy Spirit.  He asked this before he asked anything else. 

Often it's easier to ask: "Do you know Jesus?" "Are you a leader?" "Do you have the same vision for the campus as I do?" We don't usually start with "do you know the Holy Spirit?"  Or at least I don't.

Her main point was that we tend to underestimate the existence, power and necessity of the Holy Spirit in ministry.  My favorite quote from Jen was, "God can do more in one minute than a group of people planning for 50 years."

Andy Crouch followed Jen and spoke about changing structures (he was speaking about structures in general...but focusing on the structures of the university).  He defined a structure as the "enduring underlying patters of behaviors and belief".  Andy pointed out that structures are different than ideas.  Ideas are just thoughts without a structure. 

The biggest thing I took away from Andy was that it takes TIME to change actual structures. Which gives a lot of validity to staying put in a particular location, job, or situation if you want to see change. 

Later that day, I helped with an alumni seminar which went well.  My boss and I were doing some training on how to mobilize alumni to help renew the university.  The great thing about alumni is that they will always be an alum of their alma mater...so that can be really helpful when trying to change and renew the university.

I have to admit I was glad when that was done.  Since I don't do as much public speaking anymore...I've reverted back to getting really nervous.

And lastly, another video Matt helped produce.


University of Oklahoma from InterVarsity-twentyonehundred on Vimeo.