Daniel Dialogue Ep: 2

In this episode of the Daniel Dialogue podcast, Keaton and Jenna discuss their recent activities with college students. They attended a retreat called Blue Mountain Weekend, where they focused on building community and getting students plugged into the ministry. They also talk about the importance of vulnerability and opening up to others. Additionally, they share their plans for weekly prayer meetings and organized gospel sharing sessions, where they encourage students to go out and share the gospel with others. They emphasize the importance of growing in faith and confidence in sharing the gospel. They express their joy in being able to help students in this way. Hello everybody, we are back with episode 2 of the Daniel Dialogue. It is me, your host, Keaton. And me, Jenna, your other host. You're like more of a guest. Yeah, I'm just a guest every time. You're a guest every time on my podcast. You're my guest and that's constantly everywhere with me at my house and at my work. Everywhere. Yeah, everywhere. Today we are just going to do a quick update for you all about September. So we're just going to give a little update. We got several things. One thing that we, like a big retreat that we went on and then we'll talk a little bit about some other things that we have either started or are about to start with the college students. So we're really excited for those and the way the Lord has worked and is going to continue to work this semester and next semester and everything like that. The first thing is in the middle of September, I think the weekend of like the 15th or so, we went to what's called Blue Mountain Weekend, which is like our fancy version of Fall Retreat. So it was really fun. It was just kind of, the purpose of it was basically to get all of the students that we have, obviously already in the ministry, and the new students all together in one spot to kind of get them plugged in and to get them basically just to build community. I mean there's nothing better than all the students going in one place and staying up way too late and sleeping in kind of gross cabins somewhere out in the woods. Bonding experience for sure. Yeah, it's a bonding experience. And so it was a really, really good time. I think we had, we had like... 42 students. 42 students. I'm pretty sure it was about 10 like students that are new to the ministry with like five or six first years. Yeah. And so that was, it was really exciting for them. I think pretty much every student that came or like the new students that came got plugged in. Yeah, like they're still here. Yeah, and so it was just a really good opportunity. I think it worked out really well. So yeah, there was just some really cool moments, I feel like, of stuff that happened. Yeah. I think one of my favorite things, so I got to join in, as all of us did, all the staff people got to join in a like group, like a breakout group after the session. And it was really fun because I got to be with the group of two of the girls that I lead, that they were leading the group and I was just kind of in there. Yeah. And one of them was in my group last year. And another person in that group, who's not a leader, she was in the group. And I remember last year, she just would never share anything meaningful whenever we would do DNA group. Like I was her leader for a year and I still don't think I could name any facts about her. Yeah. Besides like she has a boyfriend and she went to Spain this summer. And it's just, I thought that she just didn't like me. But the leader friend that is in that group is like best friends with her and was telling me she basically just has never talked to her about anything before. Like they've been best friends for two years and she knows nothing about her. And I was like, wow, that is like walls built up. Yeah. And it was really cool actually because after one of the sessions, she was just talking about how she just realized she needs to be more vulnerable with people and just can really see that God is just like making it really clear to her that she needs to open up to people. And this past week, a couple of weeks after the fact, she just, the leader shared with me in our DNA group, just that she has started to share more like in with her other like discipleship group that like, yeah, like she like shared that her grandfather was sick and she's like, I've never heard her talk about anything about her grandfather before. Yeah. And so like to us, that seems like the normal kind of things you tell people, but it's like really cool to me that like God moves, has moved over this past year and especially in that weekend just to like show her that she needs other people in her life and to know about the things that are going on in her life. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of college students like that that are like are either on the cusp of opening up or that are just, yeah, like shut down for a while. And sometimes it takes like years to be like, okay, now you can finally open up about, you know, even some things that's like, yeah, you probably should have shared that like a while back, but, you know, sometimes it takes people a while to do that. So that's really cool. And we're happy that like that experience was able to even bring like people that have been in the ministry for a while closer to other people in the ministry enough that they could open up and share. Some other things that we're working on, we are starting, we'll meet on like grounds for a weekly to do like a Monday prayer. So really excited about doing that and just kind of building a prayer culture of the students in the ministry. So like all of us staff members will just meet every Monday, 3 o'clock. We will be there. We'll be praying for UVA. And we just want it to be kind of an open invite chance for college students to come in and just pray for UVA and pray that the gospel will just be going forward. And so we're really excited about that. We're just excited that we get to pray. So even if no college students show up to pray with us, it's like we get a chance to do that. But we also want to hopefully by leading by example, like bring other college students into that and that they could just join us in like covering all of our work with just prayer that the Lord would move because honestly we could do as much work as we wanted. And if God didn't move, then nothing would happen. So we're really, really excited about doing that on Mondays. And then yeah, on Fridays, we're starting this new thing called Friday sharing. And our ministry has always been characterized by this like culture of wanting to share the gospel with people. But I think recently we've kind of lost, not lost our edge, but just kind of like haven't had as much like opportunities. And have kind of more been encouraging like, oh yeah, just like share with your friends. But like this year we're bringing back like organized gospel sharing. And so Friday sharing, the beginning would be like half an hour-ish training on just like, yeah, like how do you share the gospel? Keaton's actually leading this week. What are you teaching this week? Yeah, so basically we're talking about – we're doing like kind of a more like kind of theological tip on general sharing just like throughout life. And then also just like even more straightforward tips about like gospel sharing that day. And so the like more like general tip that we're giving this week is basically like go to their things. And so it's this idea that if we keep inviting people to church events like we should do so they can hear the gospel, they can be around Christian community. It's like they may not want to come to our stuff. But if we are like going to all of their stuff, like if they invite us to go to like a sporting event with them or hang out with some of their friends or do stuff like that. Like if we start going to their stuff too, then when we invite them to our stuff, it's just like another thing and being friends with them. And in that way, we're able to like share with them more and like get to know them and be closer friends with them. And so I'm really excited to share that with them. And then the more practical tip is like we do the thing also on Fridays called tabling. And so we'll go out and just kind of share the gospel with random people, but we'll also set up a table with like music and stuff like that. And so just some points that I'll make is like we – like when you're tabling, like it's important to draw people in. So like being excited, being happy oftentimes will serve like free drinks just so people like walking by can have something to like to enjoy that will strike up good conversations. And then beginning with a question and then inviting them and then to church or like to hang out or something like that. And then like obviously like getting their number so that you can build friendships is kind of the main goal of tabling. And so we're excited to like teach college students about that sort of stuff too. Yeah, and like the main like goal this time or even like this little like quippy, I guess we would call it the anthem of Friday sharing is just like that like the students would like go and grow. And so like go, like take the gospel to these people like on UVA like who don't know the gospel or who haven't like believed it and to grow as in like growing in their faith and growing in their like ability to like share. As they're doing it. Yeah. And so it's just been really cool on both fronts like watch people take the gospel to grounds and then also to watch people grow and like confidence in the gospel and confidence and being bold about who God is. For sure. And just learning about God's character and his like desire for people to be brought in and us being the hands and feet of Christ and being like we have to be the ones that go to them or else no one will. Yeah, that's awesome. It's really cool. Like Jenna mentioned like I think we're pretty much the only ministry that like encourages students to go out and do that like beyond. Yeah, or at least on like a street level. Like I definitely are some that do like events that are like evangelist. Yeah, but yeah, I don't see people walking around a lot. Yeah, sharing the gospel with people. No, um, and that's just something that's really like joyful for us like we get to, you know, help our students grow in this way. Yeah, I get to know that. Yeah. There's a lot of like cool stories, but we had one guy who was who came who came last week and he was like the only student guy that showed up it was our first time doing it. He wasn't even a leader. He was just like a guy that showed up. And so before we started, we kind of like, okay, like, how nervous are you? You know, one is like to your pants. I'm scared of like walking up to random people and try to share gospel five. It's like, I can't wait. You know, it's everyone at the counter. We all held up how like where we were. I think me and Jenna, I was like, about three, I think it was right in the middle. And, and this guy just is he's a one. Yeah, he was terrified. And so I went with him because we got two by two, you know, and so we, we went out and so we were going and we're walking up to this guy. I was like, okay, okay. Like, this is your chance. Like, you're going to strike up this conversation. He's just a random dude on campus walking by. And so I'm like, okay, you know, just, you know, say hi, you know, try to strike up or try to strike up a conversation, talk with him. And the guy was like, no, no, no, no. As we like, get closer and then he does it. And then we end up getting that guy's number and everything like that. So it was just like a really cool moment of him, like, you know, stepping out. And even though he was scared, he's like, we got to talk to these people. And so just a cool moment of encouragement, but really funny also. And then at the end of it, he was, we asked him, like, okay, where are you at now? And he was like, I'm at a one and a half. It's a growth, you know, kind of growth you see in one hour. But yeah, that's awesome. And I went with one of the girls that I lead in my DNA group, student leader, and she just did our like summer discipleship program. So she like, you know, has been sharing the gospel over the summer, but I think definitely still like, tends to shy away from like hard truth. Yeah, that makes sense of like, wanting to really lay it out there. And like, not hurt people's feelings, which I don't struggle with as much just, you know, the truth is the truth. But yeah, it was really funny. It was really funny. We were talking to this one girl, and she was like, very clearly, like, I don't know, like open to talking about spiritual things, but she definitely like, was like, you guys are kind of weird, but it was really cool to watch the girl I was going with, like, walk up to her start the conversation. Share a little bit. And then, yeah, just getting to like, answer her questions. Like, actually, she was asking questions about, like, faith. Yeah, like questions like, well, why don't Christians, like, follow the like, civil and ceremonial laws? Like, why do you guys eat shrimp and lobster? Yeah, like, that's a really good question. Let me answer that for you. So I got her phone number, I still need to text her. But I, it was really funny. This was probably the funniest part. She, as you're leaving, we're like, Hey, can I get your number so that we can hang out? And she's like, Oh, are you gonna invite me to your Bible study? And we're like, No, I meant like, have friends hang out. Yeah. And she was like, Oh, and she was like, you know, I got a lot of people walk up to me and be like, Hey, can I ask you a question or something? Yeah, to share the gospel with her. She was like, but this is the best one that I've, I've had. Yeah. And I was like, Wow, like, praise the Lord. She didn't feel like we were trying to bring her. I mean, we are trying to bring her Bible study. Not like that. Not if she doesn't want to come. Yeah, exactly. Like, we want to be friends with you and like, love you. And that's why I want to share the gospel with you. Like, not the other way around. That's the cool thing about it is just like getting to show people what Christians are like, and, you know, do the thing that people think is a very weird thing Christians do, but in a way that isn't as weird as they thought. Yeah, that's very true. So yeah, we're super excited about rolling like Monday prayer out and continuing on with Friday sharing. We're hoping that students will get involved so you guys can, who are listening to this podcast, can be praying about that and just praying that as we as we do that, that our students would continue to grow and prayer grow in their discipleship in the Lord and then go and tell people about it. All right, well, we are going to let you guys go so we don't have an hour-long podcast. Right, you know we could. We could. We could talk about a thousand things. Let us know if you guys have any questions or anything. We sent out our letter, and there's like some buttons at the bottom of our letter connecting you. Obviously this podcast, we put out a form, so hopefully if you guys have any updates, need any prayer from us, or just have any questions for us, like go to that Google form and fill that out, and we'll see that. So we're really excited about this, and hopefully we will see some of you soon. Like I said, hopefully we'll hear from you guys, send us some encouraging things, and yeah, we will talk to you guys later, but probably not. I'll talk to you later, Jenna. What? Thanks for coming on the podcast. We'll see you next month as our only guest, as our special guest. Yeah, it's a surprise next month. Surprise guest, we will see you. All right, goodbye everybody. I don't know how to end these things always.