School Days

So week one of school done. So far I've been lucky enough to have people I know in all of my classes. The one I was the msot nervous about was my Holocaust and Genocide class, but I was lucky enough to have my friend Tony in there too.

My IS370 - Systems Analysis and Design group BRS reunited for group projects in IS475 - Database Implementation and Design. Which is nice since we all know each other and know each other work ethics.

BRS stands for Back Row Slackers. We came up with that name because we all sat along the back wall of the classroom. But we are far from slackers, we actually get our work done. I like my group we all work well together and so this semester should be fine. I mean we passed a semester long project together, we can handle a few smaller projects.

I've been working on staying strong and continueally being in the word and praying. I'm working my way through 1 Samuel which is a lot of fighting and war. I want to get to the story of David and his friendship with Johnathan and his struggles with Saul. I'll get there soon though.

This semester should be exciting and filled with new adventures. CCN is having their first ever meeting tonight where we will go over the goals and expectaion of this new club.

Change Collegiate Network- It's a group that focus on evangelism and spreding the word of God on campus and off. It's going to be exciting to how God uses people through this venture.

Mission Field Reno

Tonight I learned that God has placed us in the cities that we live in for a reason. That maybe we might not want to live in the towns that we end up in, but that's where God wants us to be.

Instead of seeing a place that we live in as a burden we should see it as mission field, especially here in Reno. Reno is considered to be one of the top 3 unchurched places in the United States. With all the prostitution and the gambling it's no surprise, that 98% of the people in the Reno area don't believe or follow christ. People who experiment, or say that they are Christian but don't live Christian life are apart of that 98%. That's insane that only 2% people of the population here are actually trying to life a holy life that God calls us to live?!?

The sad thing is, I remember hearing all these stats before. The part that caught my attention tonight was that this is our mission field, if God is calling you to go out of the country then that's where you should go. But, if you think you need to go on a mission and that it means that you need to go out of the country of to a different city, then think again. Every city has people that don't know Christ. We talk to people all the time that don't know Christ and yet we don't say anything to them. I know I'm bad at that. Your home town can be your mission field.

Why does the thought of going on a mission mean going somewhere away from your home? I think doing mission work in the city you live in is harder than going to a different country. Back in 2006 I went on a short-term mission trip to Thailand for 6 weeks. It probably was the scariest things for me to do and it was hard, but God taught me so much through it. I think that taking on a mind set that Reno is a mission field has taken away some apprehension I have had about sharing the gospel with my friends. It made me realize that it's no different that being in Thailand, and that we shouldn't be apart of the 98% that say we are Christian and don't act upon it. We should take that step like the life God calls us to live and share the Gospel with others.

I joined a club on Campus that called Change Collegiate Network, which is a Christian group that focuses on evangelism on campuses. I'm excited that there's going to be a group that will allow Christian on campus to take their faith a step further by learning how to evangelize to fellow students and spreading the Gospel. I have always wanted to take that step but was too scared to do so. Thanks to God and my friend Tanner who's setting it up, I can encourage and be encourage by other students to go out and spread the word of God.