Big Break

Big Break starts this weekend! Big Break is a week long conference during Spring Break down in Panama City Beach Florida. The conference focuses on evangelism and teaches students how to share their faith and then the students go out on the beach and do it. I am really excited to go down and for one, to be in 70 degree weather! (Nice perk of the job, haha) But this week we are taking 15 students down from Clarion University and Edinboro University. The students will be riding down in 3 cars and then Randy, Jana (they are on my team) and I will be riding down together. It will be a long week but a fun one. I recently sent out a list of prayer requests in an email list of financial and prayer supporters (email me at: haley.morgan@cru.org if you would like to be on that email list). I have included those requests down below.

1) Safe travels. Pray for me, Randy, and Jana as we ride down as a staff team together. Also for the 15 students from Clarion and Edinboro as they travel together too. It is an 18 hour trip at which people get tired and cranky driving straight through. Pray for protection and grace! :)

 

2) It is a long trip. We leave Friday and don't get back till next Sunday the the 24th. Again pray for grace for all 18 of us to have with each other. Also pray for great community within that time.

 

3) This is an evangelism focused trip in one of the biggest college spring break party spots. Pray that we will take steps of faith and trust the Lord in the conversations that we will have. Most of the students this will be there first time exposed to this environment and first time exposed to outreach in this way. It is tough and can be very intimidating.

 

4) Pray for the students that we will be talking to. Keep them safe and prepare their hearts.

 

5) Pray that we act normal....intitiative evangelism can sometimes be awkward. Pray our students will be able to befriend and create a relationship, including us staff too.

 

6) And finally rest...it will be much needed for this week.

 

7) Just kidding one more. Pray for protection against spiritual warefare.

 

Start of the Semester

So I am sitting here in Slippery Rock's Union waiting to meet with a student. It is my first week on campus and it seems crazy already. A good crazy but I am not use to being this busy all the time. Today has been somewhat uneventful but I ended up doing a lot of observing. Here are some of my observations as I have been sitting in the union all afternoon.

1) The obvious. It is a brand new union. I'm not actually that impressed with it since it cost so much money and I feel like they didn't use the space well. With that said, it seems like a lot more students come here to hang out than in the old union.

2) This new union looks like a great place to have some good outreach opportunities since there are more students hanging out here. In the past, the old union was so small and the same people were there all the time. The new place seems like it will allow more opportunity to get into more spiritual conversations.

3) There is a starbucks here. That is just a plus no matter how you think about it.

4) Girls clothes get tighter and tighter.

5) I have been eavesdropping too. There has been a lot of talk about what people are doing this weekend...mainly drinking, partying, and one convo talked about snowboarding (haha)

My conclusion: the need is still here.
People still need to hear the Gospel and it seems like the union is a great opportunity to do some outreach. I'm glad to be back to help students reach out to their peers. I pray that this semester me, my staff team, and students live with the urgency and understanding of the need of Jesus in peoples lives. We have something so awesome that needs to be shared.

A little bit of excitement

So I started writing a blog back in August and I never posted or finished it. Here is what I began to write:

So last week I got to go to PA for a week and it was sooooo much fun! It was so nice seeing my staff team and really feeling apart of the team for a short period of time. It's been well over a year since the I was last on campus and exactly a year since I started to raise financial support. Last week was such a blessing and a nice little boost to continue to raise support strongly.

During our staff planning week we discussed many things about the upcoming semester and how we as staff can be used to our full potential (at least my team that is actually able to be there). We discussed things like our area account and raising funds for that so we can buy materials for students and send them to conferences and retreats. We talked about Fall Retreat and how important it is in deciding whether or not students will be involved in the ministry. We also talked about the first 10 days of the semester and how crucial those days are to outreach to the incoming students. I can't begin to explain how exciting it was to be there and bond with my team. It also reminded  me how important ministry is for college students and also how important it is for me to get fully funded to help out my team and be on campus.

Over the past few months starting back in August, I have gotten to visit my staff team and students a couple times (which is why I started writing the past couple paragraphs). I got to see my team back in August for planning and then I got to go to Fall Retreat in September. Both visits we so refreshing and exciting! It was a great motivator to really work hard at and finishing my financial support. So the past 2 months have been the most productive months! I believe at the beginning of September I was at 54% and as of today I am at 65%! I feel as though I can see the end! Finally! It has been a long process thus far but there is no telling when God will bring support in. I can say I have been working really hard on it the past 2 months and God keeps bringing it in.

I am still praying to reach 70% by the end of the week, please continue to keep this in your prayers this week. If you are wondering what other ways you can help, last week I sent some letters out to people who have given one time donations. So if you received one could you please respond so I can keep an up to date percentage on where I am at? That would be so helpful and appreciated if you are able to do that. I am also praying to reach 100% of my goal by the start of the spring semester. Please pray for that as well!

As far as fall retreat went I don't want to give too much away because I am going to talk about it in my newsletter this month. So let's just say that it was fun, exciting, and great to see what ways God is working in our students and to be reminded of how effective (or ineffective) we are being at ministry on campus.

One last prayer request, pray for the next two months on campus. It can be a tiring time for students wrapping up classes and the semester. Pray that they will encourage there fellow peers, continue sharing their faith, and that they would consider going to our winter conference called Radiate in December.

What have I been up too?

Haley's Herald continues....

So in my newsletter this month I talked about some of the things that I have been up too! So here is more about them.

1) I went to see the band Needtobreathe twice in the month of April. Both times it was spontaneous and one of the times was a nice gift from my parents in exchange of cleaning the house. :) I first heard the band in college and there song "Signature of Divine" which I like to call the Yahweh song because it is in the chorus. The song had some influence on the tatoo that I have on my wrist, yhwh, which is how it is spelled in hebrew and is a sacred name for God. It is basically all vowels in hebrew and when you say each letter it is really breathy. Hopefully that made sense...anyways it helps start spiritual conversations which is nice when you get nervous starting them like myself.

Anyways, the first time I went to see them was in Pittsburgh. I went with some friends and managed to get in the front row right by the bass guitarist Seth, whom I find cute! :) hahah. Anyways, we weren't immediately in the front row but if you are an aggressive crowd member you can get up front. (Not pushy aggressive, more like passive-aggressive so if someone turns to the side, you take a step up and wedge yourself up another row.) So I did get up to the front row and got to be right in front of him.... :) It was an amazing show, I just love their music. You should totally check it out.

The second time I saw them was in Philly with a college friend Tracy who was involved in Cru with me in college. Her and I hadn't seen each other in a year since she graduated college. And if you have been getting my newsletter the past couple of years, I have talked about her a couple times in it. It was great catching up with her and we were totally "those people" that stood in line two hours before the doors opened to get a good spot inside. Needless to say we did! We were second row, of course right by Seth! We ended up making some friends around us who happened to be a 15 yr-old girl and her 16 yr-old cousin. Sidney, drug her cousin to the concert whom had never listen to Needtobreathe before and Sidney was overally obsessive (way more than me, haha). So we were talking about meeting the band and she said that if people wait by the tour bus the band with come out and take pics and autographs. So the concert was even more awesome than Pittsburgh and afterwards we went to the side door of the venue and got to meet the band. Sidney was there and being super awkard since she's 15 and obsessed with the band which therefore made me look cool...hahaha. The band was super nice and I got to meet Seth and talk to one of the other guys in the band for about 10 min. Super fun and cool. Here are my tips for getting good spots at a concert and meeting a band because my mom couldn't believe that I met the band so fast:
  
      1) Be aggressive in a crowd, not mean but be aware of what people are doing around you. Because if you don't move up into a spot, someone else will.
      2) Be willing to wait and extra couple of hours. Getting there early at least an hour before doors open is always a plus.
      3) Make friends. Someone knows more about the band than you. And you in turn won't get overcrowded by them.
      4) Make friends with obnoxious people. You will look cool next to them when you meet the band.
      5) Be nice to the band, they are cool people and sometimes way more reserved in real life than on stage.
      6) Encourage them. They need to know how there music is effecting people.

Anyways that was a long piece. There are pics on the bottom of this post.

2) I also got to run in a marathon relay in Cincinnati on May 6th and completed my first half marathon on May 20th and survived! It was so rewarding. I did well I both with the expectations that I had for them. And for the half I had a cyst on my tailbone that finally stopping hurting and went away the day before the race. Thank you for all the prayers for that. Will I do another half, probably. Maybe in october.

3) Finally I got to go to a Day of Prayer with my staff team and teams in the surrounding area of western pa and west virginia. It was great seeing them all and catching up with them. It was rejuvenating and encouraging. After the Day of Prayer I went up to Slippery Rock and spoke at the women's time that they had. There were about 20 girls there equally split between freshmen and upperclassmen. We talked about the summer and what that is going to look like. (After of course me introducing myself to the freshmen and telling them a little more about myself since they will get to see me at some point in their time at SRU. They probably thought I was a looney tune talking about my hatred for cats and dolphins and then gushing over my new crush Seth from Needtobreathe. haha) Once we got into the content I really wanted to emphasize that summer is not going to be like life at college. They have been free to do whatever they want, whenever they want. They have gotten to know and meet some great people through Cru and had gotten involved doing ministry. Unless the freshmen have come from a matching environment pre-college (which is mostly not likely), it kind of sucks. The first month or so is usually pretty good because you are visiting with friends coming back from college too and its all fun and dandy till that "mountain top" is over. (along with the one they just experienced for the last 9 months.) Summer for a freshmen college student is real life for adults and post grads. It is a trasition, and with transition comes change and struggle. So you need to have a plan. In Cru we generally always have a plan. We go into each semester with a strategic plan all with a mission in mind of reaching every student on every campus. If we don't keep the mission in mind, we stray from it and try to do too many things outside of what us (Cru) is called to with this ministry.

So I wanted to helped the students have a fresh perspective on summer and go into it with a plan. A plan in how they want to grow in their walks, do ministry over the summer, and come back ready to do ministry in the fall. To help with this, we paired the upperclassmen with the freshmen as accountability. So if any of my students are reading this, have you checked in with them to see how their first couple weeks have gone?



So those are some of the things that I have gotten to do these past couple months during this support raising season. I am currently at 54% and trying to seek out new people to join my team. If you would like to join my team you can go to give.ccci.org/give/0619522 and start giving there. If you have friends, family members, coworkers, a church family in mind that you think would be interested in hearing more about my ministry please let me know and we could set up a meeting time to discuss it. Thank you to all those who are on my team supporting me and who have supported me at one point or another on this journey through the past few years. I appreciate you so much and have much enjoyed developing growing relationships with each of you. Together we get to do ministry.

                                    Tracy and I at the concert

                       Seth and I, the bassist and new crush

                                     Tracy, Bear (lead singer), and I

                                         Tracy, Bo (guitar), and I

                                         We were pretty close

                      Walking to the startline for the Flying Pig Relay

                                 The whole fam after the race

                     My relay team: left: Carrie, Andy, me, Aunt Marla

                      Jess and I at the Health Expo for our Half Marathon

                 Jess and I at the Indians game during race weekend

                           Heather, me and Jess before the race

                             We did it!!!! We finished! Medals too!
                           

Radiate 2011 was a great refreshment this past winter. I mentioned a little bit about it in my last newsletter. I just wanted to pass along a website where you can watch and listen to the talks that were given at this conference. Also I wanted to post some extra pictures and list off some prayer requests.

Website: http://vimeo.com/channels/288699#36374899

Prayer Requests:

-Randy my friend and fellow staff member who is having open heart surgery on Monday Feb 13.

-Appointments. I have been dealing with a little bit of fear lately in setting up some appointments. I can't exactly pinpoint the source but pray that it will be resolved and that I will be motivated to do what I need to do.

-Half marathon training. I've slightly been slacking. But this is exactly why I signed up to do this because the first two weeks are always great with my motivation level and discipline and then it just goes away and I quit. So this is why I chose something longer term. So pray for discipline in my schedule and an attitude of wanting to complete something this big!

-Slippery Rock is going through some troubles. More of a denominational thing where one is trying to impose on the rest of the students and it is really starting to confuse a lot of people. Pray that us as staff would know what to do and how to handle and what our part is in this. Also pray for the students that are confused and the students that are really pressing this idea. I pray that all the students are challenged by this and really take time to dig into the Word and develop their stance and really back up the truths they believe.

Time of waiting

Raising support is a funny thing. You have so many expectations of how you think it is going to go but it never really goes that way. God likes to test you on so many levels. Raising support brings up so much sin and dirt in your life that you think to yourself "What the heck is going on?!?!" You are placed in a position where the only thing you can do is rely on God. Another great thing that he likes to spur on you in a little thing we like to call waiting. Ughhhhhhh it stinks! It never goes the way that I want it too!

This being my third time raising support you would think that I would understand what it is like to wait. My first intern year, I only had 25% of my support with one week left to raise and the rest of it came in then. My second intern year I had 60% of my support with two weeks left and it came in. This time around when I started raising support in August, I was hoping and praying that I would be done in October. October passed and I thought I would be done in November. That passed and then I was hoping and praying for January. Well look where we are now...January and I am currently at 45% of my goal. So far God has not come through on my timing :) Apparently he has a much different plan. But three things are true, God has called me to this ministry, he has his own timing, and he provides!

This is a different season of my life. I have basically been doing ministry with Cru non-stop for the last six years, full time the last two. And now that has all come to a halt. With that said, it doesn't mean ministry has stopped. This is a different season where I am learning different things and doing ministry in different ways compared to what I am use too. I am using the skills and gifts that I have in different ways and learning new things about them. I have actually come to really enjoy my time here at home while raising support. I know God has a plan with this time and I might not necessarily know why it is panning out this way or this long, but he does have a plan. And right now it isn't like anything any of us are expecting.

With all that said, here are some answers to some questions you may have or that have been asked of me. Raising support right now is what I am doing with my time. Once I reach 100% of my goal, I will return to PA. The money you are giving is still going to me in my Cru staff account. I am hoping and praying to return in March or at the very lastest the end of the semester. Outside of support, I have been volunteering at my church's coffee shop, helping out with my church's worship team and planning for the new year, so I am doing ministry while I am home and learning a ton from others through these things.

Will you join me in praying for me to be done raising support by mid-March? Also if you would like to help more, I can always use referrals. People you know who might be interested in hearing about my ministry with Cru. I have letters that you could give them and I can give them a call after they receive it, or we could have a small group dinner where you invite them over for dinner and I come too and we eat and talk about ministry.

Thank you for your support and prayers! I can't wait to start utilizing this blog more!