Currently Reading Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer (Commitment to Spiritual Growth) By J. Oswald Sanders see related

The following is a blog from the XA Missions Devotional that I wrote for the
month of Nov.  To sign up for the Missions Devo. go to www.xamissions.com,
click on the door, and subscribe in the upper right hand corner.  The Summit
is only weeks away!

Behind the Scenes at the World Missions Summit by Brian Smith

When I was a child, I used to wonder what it would be like to be an elf in
Santa's workshop about a month before Christmas time. You can imagine the
scene; Christmas lists from around the world all over the floor, elves
running into other elves as they scurry around the different toy making
rooms, and all of the different toys frantically being hammered together.
Somehow in the end everything came together in time, and my presents were
always under our family tree.

In the same way, the World Missions Summit is coming together, and it has
been a blast to be behind the scenes throughout the whole process.  Campus
pastor's and students are rallying their fellow students to the Summit,
hotel registration details are being worked out, the Expeditions magazine
with 100's of different missions opportunities is going to print soon, and
in a little over a month it will all be over!

The greatest part about the Summit is that it will not really be over in a
month, sometime next summer a college freshman will take his or her first
overseas mission trip. In May a college senior will graduate and decide to
go and give a year of service in Africa. And at the Summit a campus pastor
will partner with local missionaries and commit his or her campus from the
States to a 5 year commitment to plant campus ministry in Eurasia.

Thank you to each of you working to make the World Missions Summit happen.
The Summit is bigger than all of us individually, and Jesus will get all the
glory!

This is a picture of my fiancee Patricia and I from the night we got engaged!  That was almost 2 months ago and it seems like life has been moving much faster ever sense, which I am excited about!

The World Missions Summit is only weeks away and I believe this is going to be a unique moment in the history of student missions!  I sincerely believe that your time in college and immediately following graduation is the most liquid and free time of your life and that the Summit is going to be a moment in history when 1000's of students catch the vision for their place in the Great Commission!

I think posting more on Xanga should be one of my New Year's Resolutions, but for now I'll make it a November resolution and try to be more faithful to posting over the next few weeks leading up to the Summit!

Currently Reading 1776 By David McCullough see related

Hello to all in Xanga land!  I have updated the XAMissions Xanga site with a picture of myself, guess which one I am?  The better looking one of course, just kidding! I would probably get hit for that one if my gourgeous girlfriend Patricia was in the room and of course she is extremely beatiful in every sense of the word, I am not just saying that because I want to marry her so I would hope that I think she is beautiful in every sense of the word, and the best looking one in the photo, but I am definitely a close 2nd!  She is modeling a "Nessie" the Loch Ness monster hat for your enjoyment!  This photo was taken in Scotland, so it is a real deal "authentic" Nessie hat! 

I hope you have enjoyed my attempt to be "funny" and fit in with all the "Xanga Regulars" out there and if we could compare "being cool" in Xanga land to being picked first in elementary school athletics hopefully I will make it there one day! Now a few thoughts from our recent XA Mission trip to China ...

“You are my first foreign friend.” These words came from a middle schooler named Cecilia in the city of Huang Yuan China and set in motion a series of events that I will never forget.

I went to China in July with a team of 20 Chi Alpha students and campus pastor’s from 4 campuses across the U.S. to put on a basketball camp for 200 middle school students and build relationships with them in order to share the message of Jesus.

On the first day of my trip I met Cecilia and she told me that I was the first non-Chinese person she had ever met in person. The next morning Nino, the campus pastor from Michigan, and I were walking through the city praying for the people when we ran into Cecilia, who was on her way to school. After a brief conversation Cecilia told us that she wanted to show us the Buddhist temple that she worshipped at.

Upon entering the temple I felt darkness and hopelessness all around as I walked in the shoes of people who do not have Jesus as their Savior; nor any hope, peace, or joy in the life that they live. I will never forget the evil that I felt as I gazed upon a 15 foot tall gold idol that had mats lying at it’s feet for people to bow down and worship it.

Touring the temple with Cecilia opened up an opportunity to share with her that we were followers of Jesus and that we did not worship idols but a risen savior. Later that afternoon Cecilia told our team that she worshipped the idols out of the fear that the idols would harm her if she did not worship them, but that the idols had never done anything good for her.

One of the female missionaries leading our team was then able to share the message of Jesus with Cecilia in her own language and let her know that Jesus loved her and that He would answer her prayers. After hearing the gospel she had an opportunity to meet the local pastor in the city who invited her to visit his church in Huang Yuan.

This is just one story of many in what turned out to be a life changing experience for me in China! Three of the teams will be sending students from their campus over the next 3 summers and they will have an opportunity to build on the foundation that we labored for on this trip.

Huang Yuan China is a city of 30,000 people near Tibet, with 1 church and 200 followers of Jesus that I am aware of. Much work is yet to be done before the whole world has had an opportunity to hear the message of Jesus.

This trip embodies the purpose of the World Missions Summit. Giving students practical opportunities to go and take the message of Jesus into all the world because Jesus deserves to be heard!

Hope Everyone Enjoyed!  Have a blessed, fun, and safe Labor Day Weekend!