Wild game cookout brings Georgia Tech Fraternity men to our house

A fellow campus ministry director, Bill Boldt, gave me the idea of doing a wild game dinner in our fraternity ministry. Bill and the other staff at Auburn (my alma mater) simply called it Fraternity Wild Game Dinner. It made sense to me - since at Auburn many students go deer hunting several mornings a week and wear their camo to class. Wild game dinner at Auburn is probably like Pasta night at the University of Milan.

Another friend, Strib Stribling (no, that is not his stage name), gave me the idea to call our wild game dinner "Beast Feast." Student ministry must be creative and relevant to the students we are reaching out to. Sometimes a small touch like calling a cookout a "Beast Feast!" adds some excitement. We do things like this to build trust and deepen our friendships with the students. 

When it came time to get the wild game together for the beast feast, all I had to do was email 5-6 men from our church and ministry partner team. Immediately, an elder in our church, Jim, offered an ample supply of quail and pheasant. Then another man from ChristChurch, Bo, offered venison and wild hog. So, I had two large coolers full of beast but now I need help preparing the feast. Here is a 30 second video narration of the beginning of the preparation:

Thankfully three men, all Christian outdoorsman, offered to help. Mr. Kyle Ray, a Georgia Tech man himself, and an expert wild game cook, came all the way from Ellijay, Georgia and served as head chef. Later we were joined by my brother Bradley. Together we smoked a huge wild hog ham, friend venison and pheasant, and grilled bacon-wrapped quail. The yard smelled like Fat Mat's Rib Shack, the food tasted better than Dream land BBQ, and with the help of some great men, we were ready for our guests from the Georgia Tech fraternities. We had invited men from three houses where we currently lead Bible studies, Fiji, Sig Ep, and Phi Delt. We expected somewhere between 5-20 students.

10-15 students came. All of them were hungry Phi Delts. We nearly ate all of what we thought was enough food for 30. Most of these guys had never been to our house before. Most of them are new to our Bible study. From the smiles and comments I noticed, I am sure the first Beast Feast will  not be the last.

And, there are many more wonderful students at Tech who would be glad if someone invested in them and gave them the opportunity to hear about a relationship with Christ through Bible study and creative Greek Ministry events like Beast Feast.

The need for compelling community

Georgia Tech specializes in training students to enhance human flourishing with technological solutions. Perhaps the tougher issue is clarity about what human flourishing really looks like.

Our senior staff woman, Becca Gartrell, recently explored the issue of community in a short article. Becca works with women both at Tech and Agnes Scott. While both of these campuses have some of the sharpest student women in the south, many of them struggle with isolation, stress, and discouragement.

Part of bringing Christ to students here is bringing students together in real community. Relationships and community are the context for all human flourishing. So, we need to develop compelling community among our staff students so we can all better know and experience the love of Christ.

Here is an excerpt from Becca's article:

   Community. It’s quite the buzz-word these days. Everyone wants it, yet no one seems to feel like they have it. Especially in a city the size and pace of Atlanta, it can be easy to feel lost in the crowd. But I hear this complaint most frequently from people who are part of wonderful communitites. So I think the question begs to be asked: What exactly is community, anyway? And how do we attain it?



Becca Gartrell and Cole Price, a volunteer with our ministry through ChristChurch, PCA.



I’m no guru on this topic, but I’ve learned a few things along the way on my life journey so far. So here’s what I think, for whatever it’s worth.

I think community has multiple levels. We all need:

  

 a) intimate relationship with God,

  

b) intimate relationship with a few close friends (which includes family and a spouse for many people), and

  

 c) relationship with a broader community of people, with varying levels of aquaintanceship. (Is that a word?)

So, when you feel like you need “community,” I think it helps address the problem if you ask youself which aspect of community you mean. Are you missing a thriving relationship with God? Do you have any people in your life with whom you share your junk? Do you have a broader community of people to whom you belong?

For the rest of Becca's thoughts on community or to read some of her other personal posts visit her blog at http://www.beccagartrell.com/.

Thanks for your interest in Crossroads at Georgia Tech.



Leadership Summit 2010

I believe that if you want to influence the culture you have to reach the leaders.

One of the most important topics we can address at Georgia Tech is leadership. Georgia Tech students are bred to be leaders, but they are given little reason and vision for leadership. They have the abilities. Most lack the clarity that comes from knowing Christ. They have the drive. Most lack the boldness to pursue their calling with both high integrity and high excellence.

Leadership Summit was event designed to energize our minsitry with a vision to reach and build leaders. Our guest speaker for the Leadership Summit was Mr. Steve Zelnak. He is a devoted GT alum who is involved in major leadership roles in the College of Management and the Athletic Department. He is also a veteran CEO who determined early on to pursue his career with extreme committment to intergrity and excellence. The results of his career speak for themself but it was fantastic to have Steve share his perspecitve with the students.



Before the event on campus we hosted Steve Zelnak, a few friends and supporters from the community, and our student leaders for dinner at our house. Pictured L-R, Trent McEntyre, Steve Zelnak, Carol Skenes (Graduation Senior in College of Mgt), Darren McKenna, Matt George, Anna Oneil, and looking the other way, Darr Smith)




This table included student leader Aaron Parkman, Heather Phillips (returned from Crusade Stint in Italy), Andy Sellman, Madeline Phillips, and Mr. Drew Johnson (distinguished GT Campus Crusade alum)

Leadership Summit was a success because the Lord used it to move us a step closer to our vision of reaching and building world class leaders for the kingdom of Christ at Georgia Tech.

The next event we have on the docket for Crossroads is called "Beast Feast." We are going from high performance business topics to a down home men's gathering with lots of grilled and smoked meats and hopefully a good turnout of fraternity leaders. We will keep you posted on the developments

Pictures of Grace at Georgia Tech taken on Fall Getaway

Georgia Tech students are busy. I usually chuckle to myself when a college student complains about being busy. "Just wait until you get a real job or a family, then tell me how busy you were in college!"

But Tech students might have a real case for their busyness. As a result, time is one of the greatest challenges we face in helping students come to know Christ and grow in their faith. Since God normally works through exposure to His word and Spirit-filled believers to draw people to himself, we try to create a few getaways and conferences each year to get a concentrated block of time in which we can expose students to effective teaching and lifechanging fellowship.

Emily set me up for this post with post on our family ministry blog - but here are the facts behind the photos, each one a result of God's grace at work at Georgia Tech!

Justin Craig, our guest speaker. One of the main appeals of campus ministry is the idea that the people you reach today will be influential tomorrow. This weekend we witnessed this idea in fruition. Justin, a student who came to know the Lord through our ministry as a student back in 1997 today is planting a dynamic church in Atlanta. At our getaway Justin gave 4 excellent Biblical messages that impacted everyone at the retreat. So, today when I walk on campus I pray, "Lord, lead me to the guy who will become the next Justin!" 

Anna "I love Bosnia" Oneal in concert. Anna is an influential GT senior. Her involvment in the movement led her to spend two summers at our partnership campus in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Her heart for Bosnia is famous, atleast among her peers. She is planning to to to Bosnia as a missionary with our minsitry when she graduates.

Not your avg Christian students - two of these smiling students spoke with me about how the Lord was speaking to them at the retreat. When I asked Andy how the retreat was going he answered, "Good, this morning I realized major confirmation in my calling to fulltime ministry." Based on his gifts and experience, we agree! One of the other guys at the table is Daniel, a student with a special burden for people from a non-Muslim Middle Eastern nation. This weekend he shared with me how he is leading an investigative study on the Old Testament and how it points to Jesus as the Messiah.

The guy who had break-through - It seems like their is someone at every retreat who has a major breakthrough. Last year it was Matt. After the retreat he kept growing, ended up going to Bosnia for the Summer, and is now engaged to marry a strong Christian girl he met in our movement. This year I think it was Jim. He was an outsider to Crossroads until very recently. He opened up and shared with the group that he feels like his life is now changing. I can't wait to see what is next with Jim.

The hug photo - Devi and Amber, both fantastic girls who are immeging as fruitful leaders in our ministry. Devi was one of only a few women who got invovled from the freshmen class last year, but she is amazingly motivated to grow and to reach out at Tech. She and another students are starting an investigative Bible discussion group for pre-med students on campus.

The guy with the purses - meet Taylor, one of the sharpest and most fun Freshmen students we have met this year. He came to Tech all the way from California. He came with a strong desire to grow in his faith and a willingness to reach out to his friends. He was also game to deploy some silly props in an entertaining game during the retreat.

Fraternity men face two opinions

By Trent McEntyre
I love to lead Bible studies for men in the fraternities. Right now one group I lead is up to 8 men attending the group. Only three of these men have been in a Bible study before. Several of the guys have little or no prior exposure to the Bible, church, or any explanation of what it means to know God. Right now, none of these guys are attending a church. Thankfully, the Lord is working bring His life changing word to them via a surprizing choice of Bible study, the story of the prophet Elijah.

This past week I lead the guys through the account of Elijah'c confrontation with the Israelite people who had begun to worship the idol, Baal in 1 Kings 18. Amazingly this ancient drama became extremely relevant to this group of fraternity brothers.

When Elijah called the prophets and followers of Baal together to test and see whose God was real he said, "21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

After we read this part of the text, I said to men, "While there are plenty of things that are wild and different in this passage, the question Elijah asks these people sounds like something God should ask me today. How long will you waiver between two opinions? I think that might be one of the most important questions we can all wrestle with."

At that moment I believed  God was dealling with them. Posing the same question to them. Who would be their God?



Trent and Emily McEntyre hosting Greek students

 We read on in the Elijah story - where the prophets of Baal attempt to incite Baal to accept their sacrifice by miraculously lighting their fire. They chant, scream, and even cut themselves. Meanwhile Elijah calm taunts thems, ""Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." "Wow, this one prophet is taunting 450 of his enemies", one of the men said.

When it was Elijah's turn he prayed , "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

I asked the guys to compare the way the prophets of Baal prayed and how Elijah prayed. They noticed the obvious differences. But I wanted them to see the heart of the matter. When we serve false gods it is always on the basis of our duty and devotion. When you seek the true God is a always a matter of faith and grace.
Why didn't Elijah cut himself like the prophets of Baal? Because God accepted the cutting of substitute sacrifice. In the same way we cannot win God's help or attention by deeds or devotion but only by asking for the mercy of the cross where Jesus was cut and bled for us.

Still, these young men have to decide which opinion to accept - the Gospel or life on your own.

It is a decision you make once and then must renew daily. Which God do we find our life in? What way do we approach Him?

The danger of other vines

We were sweating and fighting off mosquitos, but we were determined to get the fence rebuilt in the back corner of my yard. First we had to clear a nasty looking quagmire of various vines, including sawbriars, poison oak, and poison ivy. My Dad had on long pants, a long sleeved shirt, a dust mask, gloves and protective goggles. I was wearing the same, minus the long sleeves. Dad warned me. I told him I knew the difference between the sawbriars and poison ivy and that I would be all right.

You can probably guess what happened. I ended up with severe poison ivy stripes on my arms where the vines had wrapped as I had pulled them up.  My trunk was covered in welts.  I was scratching and taking ibuprofen for weeks. 

This week in our teaching series at Crossroads, we come to John 15 where Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardner...you are the branches, if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit....apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:1, 5)

When Jesus announced he was the "true vine," the disciples understood immediately that they were the "not-so-true vine." They understood that Jesus was fullfilling one of the great promises of Old Testament scripture.

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly called his people Israel a vine. In Psalm 80 he calls them a grapevine that he uprooted from Egypt and replanted in the promise land. Isaiah 5, Ezekiel 15, and Hosea 10 each show how God's vine was meant to bear fruit, to be a blessing the nations.

However, in each instance the people became untrue to the Lord by trusting in other things, and ultimately just trusting in themselves. So, when the disciples heard Jesus say I am the true Vine - they would have thought of the terrible judgment their people had suffered because they had been untrue vines.

Next Jesus taught them that the whole Christian life comes down to this.  Forget trying to be your own succussful vine.  HE is the vine.  Abide in Him. Apart from Christ, the disciples could do, and surely we today can do, nothing.

But being our own religious vine is not the only danger.  

How might we abide in other vines? Maybe our roots are tapping into our career success in order to nourish our identity? Maybe we are abiding in a lifestyle of comforts or control in ways that we should be depending on Christ?

 This is one reason I am burdened for Georgia Tech students. These students are bright and capable, which often supports the notion that is okay to do a lot things apart from Christ. Jesus shows us that fruit apart from him will not last.  In fact, any branches that are not in Him will be thrown into the fire.  That is stark. 

The lesson of the vine is also a powerful portrait of the Gospel. Jesus, the only truly fruitful vine to ever live, was cut off by the Gardner and thrown into the fire. Now, the branches that had been abiding in other vines can be grafted into the true vine and experience a new fruitful, eternal life.

Recently, the students in our ministry here at Tech are learning to abide in Christ. On their own they have organized two weekly prayer meetings on campus. They are reaching out to their friends and are beginning to see fruit in these relationships.

I am confident that upcoming posts will include stories of evangelistic fruit as our students and staff seek to uproot themselves from false vines so they can remain more fully in Jesus the true vine.



And, after a few more Saturdays working in our backyard, my Dad and I finished rebuilding our fence. I thought my poison ivy would never heal fully - thankfully it did.

First Week

The first week of Fall Semester 2010 is almost in the books.

Highlights:

1. WOEP '10 - GT style acronym for Week Of Extraordinary Prayer. Students organized a 24/7 prayer chain for GT and our minstry for the week before school started. The GT Crossroads staff team joined in the effort and spent a lot more time than we usually do praying together for God to loved and enjoyed at Georgia Tech this year like never before!

2. Sunday - Leaders Ice Cream and Prayer at the McEntyre home - It was so fun to have most of our returning student leaders over to our home the Sunday before school started. Students chatted about their summers. We shared our burden this year for prayer and to be faithful in reaching out to our campus this year.

3. Monday Wednesday Freshman Welcome and networking - it is always fun to meet the new GT students. I have met students from Ohio, California, and Cumming, GA to name a few.

4. Thursday New GT Alumni Support - I (Trent) had the pleasure of meeting again this week with one of our distinguished alumni, Steve Zelnak. I met Steve a couple of years ago when I was asked to give a brief presentation to the alumni foundation board meeting. He is very involved in GT and encouraged us by offering to speak at our weekly meeting on Sept. 23rd. Come out and join us that night for a great talk on leadership.

5. Thursday pm First Crossroads weekly meeting - Thursday nights we gather for worship, teaching, and fellowship. We had a nice turnout of new and returning students despite meeting outside...it having just rained. We introduced GT to cookie dough pancakes. Student leaders, Isaac and Matt, manned the griddles and I dropped generous amounts of toll house cookie dough into the pancakes. The combo is rich, piping hot, and not good for you.

I spoke last night on John 13:1-17. It is the upper room scene when Jesus washes the disciples feet. The first things I noticed about this passage was how amazing a demonstration of servant leadership this is. Jesus the creator and sustainer of the universe, the Lord of all, stooping to the role of foot washer. Then I started to think about what is signified in the act of washing. Long story short, just before I was to give the first week message I realized that Jesus's washing his disciples feet was a radical pointer to what he was about to do. He was about to lay down his life for his friends so that they could be washed of the guilt of their sins and restored to a real relationship with God.

Trent McEntyre with his daughter Samantha

6. Sat Scavenger Hunt and Cookout - Saturday afternoon our staff member Greg and a great student named Palmer set up a fun photo scavenger hunt and cookout on campus. One of the scavenger hunt teams "randomly" asked a former mission team member of mine to snap a shot of their team in a pyramid in Centennial Park. My olderst daughter Samantha was part of the fun. She continues to convince us that she will be a Georgia Tech student herself one day.

Becca Gartrell and some of the Crossroads student women leaders