Daniel Dialogue Ep: 5

In this episode of the Daniel dialogue, Jenna and the host discuss their experiences in India and the weirdest things they ate there. They also talk about the success of Easter Sunday at their church, with a large number of attendees and people responding to the message. They mention moving their college event to the grounds of a nearby university and the positive impact it had. They also mention their upcoming City Project, with several students participating in missions and internships. Overall, they are excited about the growth and impact of their ministry. Welcome to the Daniel dialogue. This is episode 5 4 4 or 5. I think it might be episode 4 And we are back here with and I I'm back here. I'm sorry. I'm back here with my guest once again Surprise, it's me Jenna Jenna's back with us today Um, and we are here to talk about ministry. Yeah some stuff before we do Jenna. I have an icebreaker for oh, no To ask you a question What was the weirdest thing that you ate while we were in India? for reference me and it Jenna spent some time in India a couple years ago and I Ate some pretty weird stuff. And so I was gonna ask you what was the weirdest thing? I'm sure we've talked about at some point but I can think I think the weirdest thing was I don't know the chicken gizzard Something like that a chicken gets something from the chicken that people don't usually eat was it cooked in a soup? Yep Yes, I think I had a like a lung do chickens have lungs. Yeah. Yeah I can't remember what it was, but it was something it was something strange I didn't but I wasn't as strange as you would think like you'd be like, oh, you're in India. You're gonna eat like a Snake But yeah But yeah, I know it wasn't super weird But it was like I didn't know I was gonna eat it and then it was in my mouth and they're like Oh, you got the blank and I was like Yeah, so whatever it was I don't remember but it was something strange from a chicken something very yeah Yeah, I feel like that was me, too I think I had like I'm pretty sure I had a lung and I was like, but I was hungry And it tasted like the rest of everything else. I ate Spicy, it tastes like spicy. You can't tell if you make it all spicy. You know, that's true That's right. You have no idea what the texture is when you're crying So Anyway today we're going to talk about just a couple things with the going on in ministry. The first thing is Easter Sunday that was recently I guess we're gonna kind of go We're just gonna skip around so Easter Sunday was a lot about a week and a half ago just about And it was an awesome time. We had 894 94 people at center church, which was crazy We had one service where we literally it was so full that me and Jose were having and other people were having like run around It got grabbed more chairs like folding chairs folding chairs I'm like line the edges of like the auditorium where we do our service. So it was awesome we have a ton of people Josh said about like he did like a like an invitation to to like accept Christ or even to like go and Like follow through if you were a believer in baptism and different things like that and we have I think he said like 15 to 20 people who have someone responded to his message, which was like raise their hand and then well No, we had this baptism Sunday this past week. Oh, yeah, like eight. No, I can do math seven people Get baptized and we're having another one in a few weeks to do more people getting baptized He's just been really cool to see like what God is doing at our church in like a yeah, like just like like I mean, we're putting a lot of effort in but it also just feels kind of like he's just like Giving us lots of favor with people. We're like not Not doing anything. I mean we are doing stuff Yeah feeling I feel I feel like I'm like wow like we don't we don't deserve this and this it feels like he's just pouring Yeah, and I'm like what is going on? Yeah Really cool to watch and yeah, just see people like responding to the gospel and but also people taking like a personal responsibility to Invite people to Easter. Yeah, cuz that's what it really is. Yeah Everybody in our church is taking personal responsibility and that's creating Yeah, yeah, so that was really fun Related to that we had so we usually do our Center College United in the church Which is about 10 minutes from grounds at Center College United is our college event where everyone? Unites on Thursdays at 8 to worship and to hear a message And we've been doing that the church for about a year and a half or so but just the week before Easter on that Thursday night, we moved to grounds and so we We didn't have to rent it, but we booked. Yeah, we booked the reserved the chapel Yeah on grounds, which is like 200 years old. It's been recently renovated But it is it's like really ancient looking you can see it if you look at our email There's like a kind of a picture of the outside, but it was awesome. We had a really good time Let's see we had how many students do we 69 59 total Which is awesome. I mean we usually run around like 35 to 45 Yeah, maybe 50 students And so I think being on grounds and all the invitation we generally like headed a whole I stood at a table for My the freckles are out it was March and I was looking like it was the summer because I was outside so much advertising for The CCU a whole movement a whole week before so a lot of inviting a lot of preparation went into that But it was awesome. We saw and we because Justin did a similar thing after his Talk that he gave sermon to just like invite people to respond if they wanted to to go pray with somebody and I think we had We technically had two people respond and then another person who like responded but never got to pray with anybody but so that was Incredible honestly, once again, just like I feel like you mentioned the Lord just showing us favor because like we are working hard, but it's like It's not like we are Forcing people to come, you know what? I mean? Yeah Happening. Yeah, we're just out there and people are people are coming and so we're really excited about that move though because we're gonna stay on grounds from now on and The purpose behind that is just so that we can do more ministry We're at the place that we are trying to minister to and it's been so cool people's walking by me I'm like, oh, I'm just gonna poke my head and even if they don't stay they're like early seeing Like worship of God like just on grounds. Yeah, but you don't get this. It's not as visible Especially there's other Christian clubs. They're like that you have to like walk into a building It's like deep in the building and like that's great But I just like it's been really cool for us to be really visible and it'd be like Okay, I mean when the doors are closed but it's like they can hear the music coming out of the chapel and it's just like Worship of God is happening and for these like non-believers on grounds to be able to be like Oh, like people are using the chapel for what it's supposed to be for. Yeah No, it's it's really incredible. And then the other cool thing is that like Center Church is named Apply that because when they were planting the church in Charlottesville Like one of their big goals was to reach UVA because it just has a large lost population but it was named that because like we wanted to like Thomas Jefferson Yeah, I'll explain the actual I went to UVA So Thomas Jefferson our founder he placed the rotunda which is the library at the center of Library at the center of like grounds or campus whereas every other university that had been founded up until this point was a like theological Institute where pastors would go to think like Harvard Dartmouth all these like places that we know and like now we're not Christian schools were originally places to train pastors and so the chapel is at the center but Thomas Jefferson thought knowledge should be at the center and Then they placed the chapel like off to the side later and so That's like why Center Church wanted to come first of all like part like part of that and then like why we named centers because like putting Christ back at the center of the whole city of Charlottesville, but also like the University Yeah, and so it was kind of cool because the the chapel is like right next to the rotunda And so I feel like it's been like a little off Center But Center College to me maybe it was like cool because I feel like it was like a step you know what I mean like it's like I feel like we're such like a fringe ministry kind of and that was like maybe like one of our first big steps to being like people began to hear our name more and more like You know cover big step to be like, oh, you know We're here for this University and more so so that the gospel can be proclaimed and we're right next to the center of grounds Which is cool. So Anyway, that was so fun. We're really excited for that day to keep going on the next thing. I have here a city project so fun we Have total so we have five students that are participating in City Project with us this summer And then Jenna says it doesn't count, but I think it does I impaired counts, but he doesn't count when we write the letter That's what I feel. Yeah, but we included him didn't I think we did So when you see six what it really means we have five With us and then the Summit Church and Raleigh Durham does City Project as well Which is where Ben Perry is from it for you guys probably don't even know who been various by elusive been Perry But he is down there and so he is going to go back for the summer and participate with City Project So he's doing City Project and he's been up here with us all year long. And so I count him Yeah, but you just won't see him in any pictures and then we have two interns so Sarah and Adam Mary who did City Project two years ago when me and Keaton met which is fun We met doing their orientation. So but Sarah and Adam Mary are going to be our They're just gonna go overseas and kind of just yeah help out especially cuz I'm Peter this summer So yeah some extra hands on deck It'll be really nice honestly And then we have we have also three other students who aren't participating in a program that we have But once again, they're going with the summit For a two-month overseas second city kind of similar to what Keaton did this summer that him and I met. Yeah in India and so it's a total I mean a total of 11 students that we have her Participating in some sort of like City Project and mission all thing which is honestly awesome because like we said we have 45 to maybe 55 or 60 people You know at our on-grounds event and so that's like quite a few people that we are trying to like send out So that's been that's been a blast Honestly seeing them and they're all like raising support and you know doing the whole thing for their summer project Which is which is so fun So yeah, I think that's pretty much what anything else on the on the docket that's been happening I feel like student leadership. We have a student leader team New student leader team is going from 15 People to 21 and that's like we're losing some and we're adding so we're just super excited about that I'm a new student stepping into student leadership and we're kind of like Reviving what the student leadership mean because like giving it some more like like this is what we're about like reaching University students have like clarifying for them like what does this really look like? And like that looks like sharing the gospel with people and how do you do that? And it's like equipping them and so I think we're all just really excited for this next year of ministry where we have like You know this year been like trying to share more with the students. We already have how to do these things Yeah And then even the people who are stepping into student leadership have all done a lot of yeah Like what we call gospel appointments and discovery Bible studies Like they've a lot of them have been a part of these things and so they already know like how they do And so It's really exciting Yeah It's like a lot to look forward to because as much like we talked to you all about who are our supporters like as much as me and Jenna Can do you know the ministry at UVA or Jose and Aaron who are our co-workers like as much as we can do it like Those students are the ones who are really able to do the ministry and our job is mainly just to equip them to do it and so to see how much of like a movement we already have and and How much the student leaders have grown this past year in this semester and then looking for them to next year like really exciting and The crazy thing is we have six Student leaders that are incoming that their first years right now, which for us it's cool. It feels crazy Yeah, because last year we had one like one like one first year become a student leader Yeah and I was like that just is amazing because it's like those people are going to be here for three more years and those are The ones that are most likely to meet a new first year next year Yeah and like that's I mean that's when a lot of people are making decisions about who they're going to be in college is right when they get here and so it's just really Encouraging. Yeah, encouraging and like exciting to see like what is the Lord gonna do with the team that we have this next year? Yeah, truthfully That's so so exciting. So Jenna the last thing on the list here Explain to us like what exactly I mean, I don't know because we're married but you're my guest Explain to us kind of what your transition is going to be like we I know we included some information In our email, but just to explain a little bit more depth What's that gonna look like with you where our babies do in May? And so what is that kind of kind of look like leading into that and then also after the baby's born? Yeah So I'll be wrapping up work at the end of April beginning of May kind of air like that general area and What I'll be doing until then is just like passing off connections I already have or kind of like, you know having final meetings with the girls that I leave like what does next year look like? What does a summer look like? those kinds of things and then Finishing up my things that I need to get done for City Project so that City Project can run smoothly and then What the transition looks like? Yeah, so I'll be off From the beginning of May until About the end of July. Yeah, and then as you know Keaton Jose Aaron and then our incoming staff members live in Mike might come back for For The new school year. I will come back also, but in a part-time capacity And I will be I mean essentially remote Doing like computer work so that's for first 10 that's data entries like we don't lose any information Yeah, so I'm like I'm writing phone numbers people's names how we met them Organizing and then I've been different seasons administratively different things looking things for fall retreat and like ordering things Emailing because that's I mean that's already part of my job now But just yeah keeping that and then yeah Like winter conference basically just coordinating doing a lot of the things that take up time for our like full-time Staff members kind of just using the load for them, but still being able to Yes, stay home with the baby. Yeah, we're really excited for it Honestly is we're looking forward to it's going to be a big shift in about the next month and a half But we will send pictures. Yeah, we will send pictures. Yes, we will but the Lord has been faithful thus far We're excited to see what he is going to do in the next in the next year So if you guys have any questions, whoever's listening to this about like support raising or anything like that, we are still support raising We're kind of starting up like a new kind of wave of that for starting our second year of ministry So because during the year you have people joining and dropping off and you know, all those sort of fun stuff So if you guys have any questions about support raising those you guys can just feel free to reach out to us You have our phone numbers and emails and everything. So in the meantime, thank you guys for listening We will talk to you next time who can say when that will be hopefully soon. Yes Oh, yeah, it might be after the baby's born. Yes, but else it might not be yeah, you can never tell. Yeah Well, well, you'll know it you'll know it. Hey, you'll see you you'll see when the email pops up. All right Thank you so much to you guys