Ministry Interview with Joe

This morning I had a ministry interview with Joe.  We did this over eggs, which is always a great way to start the day.  I was able to ask him three questions, so here are each question and his response:

Question 1: Tell me about your ministry?

Joe is the present of ICF, a leader in FOCUS and also participates in SEGWAY and NEC, so he wears quite a few hats.  The first thing he told me he does is pray for the staff and volunteers that are in the ministries he is involved with.  Right now he is training leaders in ICF and spends a lot of time with both Christian and Non-Christian international students.  The point he kept iterating in the interview was being a friend.  Right now he is working with a few Non-Christians, one is doing a study and the other just bought a Bible for the first time.  One of the things he stresses with his ministry is being flexible and trying to help others.  He told me that especially with international students, they are always so surprised that he is willing to help them and be their friend.  They tell him Christians are the people who help, even if they do not know you.  We must be willing to take every opportunity to spend time with people.  When someone invites you over to their apartment, take the offer to spend time building that relationship.  His advice is to always reevaluate yourself.  Ask the people around you what they see, and be willing to change.

Question 2: How do you balance between Grad School and ministry?

The first thing he mentioned is having a time planner.  This is very important for keeping track of your schedule and making sure you are not overcommitted.  He stressed not being over committed, so you can have quality time with what you need to do.  He also recommend having flexible time in large chunks, so you are able to do something if there is a need.  He talked about bringing people along with the things you do.  This could be used to do tasks in parallel, like doing grocery shopping while spending time with someone.  He also recommended getting out of the apartment when you need to talk to someone.  Being at home sitting makes you tired and sometimes more lazy.  When he is doing ministry, he will try to find a way to get out, by just driving, or finding a place to go.  This of course requires more planning, but can be very beneficial.  He also talked about planning your semester and work well.  He tries to keep his evening free, since this is a great time to spend with others, so he tries to do work and classes in the morning and during the day.  Finally, he cautioned about doing too much and explained how necessary it is to keep God first.

Question 3: Why ministry with international students?

In my finally question, I really wanted to know why he has chosen to spend most of his ministry time on international students.  He told me this started as a summer intern project last year.  He started going to ICF (International Christian Fellowship) to see the international student ministry opportunities on campus.  He said he just fell in love with the people and the different cultures.  He said it was difficult at first, being one of few Americans, but said the international students responded well to him and were easy to make friends with.  Eventually, the task became a passion and a love for the international people.  He enjoys getting the fresh perspective of the students, many of whom are not as accustom to Christianity unlike many American students.  He is motivated by their openness and passion to learn.  He says many international students are seeking American friends to spend time with.  They enjoy learning about the culture and having American friends.  They are lacking people who can care for them and provide their basic and spiritual needs.  

I really enjoyed getting to hear about Joe's ministry, and I learned a lot from him.  It is very encouraging to see people in FOCUS leading the way in ministry, and I know I can learn a lot from Joe about how to be a friend to someone and minster to them. 

Spring Break Update (Wednesday)

And on the third day of service projects this summer...we had 13 people again come out to work on two difference projects.  The first group went back and helped Network Ministries.  In the morning they helped an elderly lady remove family valuables from an old shed.  The lady was concerned animals would get into the shed since it has getting really old, and she had many family pictures, letters and her mother's wedding dress.  The dress was fine, but apparently some of the letters had been destroyed by animals and were covered in dead animal bodies and rat droppings.  Luckily, I went on the other project!  After lunch, this group went to do yard work for some elderly in the area.

The second group from UTD participated in the Dallas Ramps Project, which installs free ramps for elderly who cannot afford them.  Dallas Ramps builds and installs 250 ramps each year.  After meeting with our team lead Bill, we went to a house in Dallas, and removed an old ramp and replaced it with a brand new ramp.  This was a lot of fun, using power tools and getting to work with wood.  Bill taught us a lot about ramp design, and let us do quite a bit of work.  Since Bill knew we were college students, he frequently discussed the physics, geometry and engineering of advanced ramp design and deployment.  No one was hurt, which was amazing considering Brad was allowed to use a saw. :)  Just kidding Brad!

Spring Break Update (Tuesday)

On Tuesday of this Spring Break, we had a group of 12 go to NorthEast Church for a service project.  We had a lot of tasks, and were able to complete quite a few.  We had people clean the base boards, remove stains from the carpet, clean the grout on the tile floors and polish the wood on chairs, benches, and picture frames.  After lunch, we took every white chair and table(42) and cleaned them with comet.  This was a very long and tiring process, and resulted in some of us losing our fingerprints due to comet eating away at our skin. :)  We also cleaned all the trash cans and almost anything large and plastic.  It was really great getting to serve NorthEast, especially with everything they do for FOCUS!

Spring Break Update (Monday)

On Monday of this Spring Break, we took a group of 13 students from UTD to Network Ministries in Richardson.  Network works with a wide group of people in the area, from providing food to the homeless, offering healthcare to helping elderly with basic house care.  We worked with their food pantry most of the day, and had two groups doing different type of work.  The first group sorted the large food pantry and helped reorganize the pantry so it was more assessable to the volunteers who pass out the food to people in need.  This group removed food that had expired, and also moved very heavy crates of food from tall shelves so volunteers, which are primarily elderly, could get the food easier.

The second group went to a storage building near by, and move a large amount of food to the warehouse.  This involved a lot of manly lifting, so naturally I took charge of this task. :)  This was a great opportunity for me because I was able to spend sometime talking to the coordinator of the Senior's Net Ministry, the ministry which primary works with the elderly.  He is an electrical engineer/minister, so it was really great getting to see an engineer doing ministry and helping the community.  It was very encouraging to see his passion and excitement for serving the elderly.  

Overall, I thought the experience was great, and I felt we were able to provide a lot of help.  As we were working, people would drive up to the warehouse to pickup food for their families.  It was really sad to see people in need, but I feel gave me more motivation to serve.  There are tons of people living with so little, and I feel very thankful for what I have, and hope I can give back more.  I want to thank everyone who can and served, you guys did a great job!