The week of 9/27

Friends,

I hope your weekend was dandy. A few announcements...

Our meeting this week will be at a special time--6:00pm instead of 6:30--in ADM 204 on Tuesday. Having it earlier helps the Tuesday outing get to Food for Life on time, but if this is a conflict for you, please let me or Zach know.

It was be helpful if you would email

downtownimpactteam@gmail.com

and tell us which outing you will be attending (Tuesday or Thursday). It's a small formality that helps us prepare for the week ahead and minimize confusion. Thanks!

This week

Hi friends,

A reminder...we need you to email

downtownimpactteam@gmail.com

and let us know which outing you will be participating in--either Tuesday after our meeting or Thursday after BSU. Please do that by Monday night.

We have the largest (and coolest) impact team, and we need to be able to plan how many vans we need to take.

ALSO, our meeting will be at 6:00pm instead of 6:30pm on Tuesday in ADM 204 because of the bonus chapel.

For His fame,
Paul

This week

Hey friends,

So that we can plan out this week...we need you to email

downtownimpactteam@gmail.com

and tell us

1) which outing you will be attending

2) and whether or not you will be attending the meeting (6:30pm ADM 204).

Tuesday outing: 7:00-9:30ish

Thursday outing: 8:30-11:00ish

Obviously some of you have class on Tuesday nights. We understand if you can't make it. This just helps Zach and I plan accordingly. Thanks!

Good to see that you have found our super-awesome blog!

If you have questions, please ask.

Caleb Says Goodbye to the Impact Team Leadership

Three years ago I had no idea what the Downtown Impact Team would look like today. I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to serve the team through two years of leadership. And the thought never crossed my mind that God would grant to our little team such great influence over hundreds of lives in multiple cities around the country. How gracious God has been! I am so thankful to have witnessed God do so many incredible things through the Downtown Impact Team. He has shown his gracious faithfulness, he has advanced his gospel-kingdom, and we have had the joy of participating with him. What a joy it has been.

Many needs remain in Greenville, though. Countless neighborhoods and apartment complexes suffer from material and social poverty. Thousands of citizens wander the streets without any knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you attended the impact team meeting on Tuesday, you remember that I stated that the mission to Greenville will last far longer than our short time at college. We belong to a small movement; God's mission to rescue the people of Greenville from eternal suffering involves more missionaries than we could ever know. This truth makes our efforts significant. God is working in the city, and we believe he has called us to join him in his work.

As God's work advances, the leadership of the Downtown Impact Team must pass to others. Serving the team through my leadership has brought me such overwhelming joy in Christ. Your love, commitment, and passion for the advance of the gospel has humbled and challenged me every week. However, the team has much to gain by my stepping down from leadership. God is calling others to lead. I am honored and overjoyed to hand leadership of the team over to two very qualified men. Paul Conner and Zach Willis will lead the team in ways that I never could. Imagining how the Downtown Impact Team will grow thrills me with excitement.

Those of you on the team, I thank you for your faithfulness. I ask that you receive the leadership of Paul and Zach with enthusiasm and prayer. I love these men, and I have full confidence that they will follow God's leading for the team's future. Center your lives on the gospel and remain faithful to your calling.

For the fame of Christ,
Caleb Murphree

Meeting Tuesday

Don't forget to email downtownimpactteam@gmail.com by Monday midnight and let us know:

1) When you will be going downtown -- Tuesday night, Thursday afternoon, or   Thursday night

2) Whether you will be attending the meeting at 6:30 in ADM 204

At the meeting, we will be doing some role-playing and trying to learn to apply what we talked about last week. It should be a fun meeting.

Thanks,
Paul

Alert! Time change for Tuesday meeting!

Due to the student-led renewal service taking place tomorrow night at 6:30, we will be having our regular Tuesday meeting at 6:00 instead of 6:30. Sorry for the late notice, but we're trying to cater to everyone. 6:00 -- Tomorrow -- ADM 201.

Meeting Tuesday

Hey friends,

Don't forget the meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 in ADM 201. Also, please email downtownimpactteam@gmail.com and confirm your attendance, and let us know when you are available to go downtown -- Tuesday night, Thursday afternoon, or Thursday evening. Looking forward to a great week!

Paul

Engaging Culture with the Gospel

At this week's meeting we talked about how to define culture and how to understand the way the gospel relates to it. As we start gathering information about the culture of Greenville's urban poor, keep some of these questions in mind. You may even want to ask people some of these things on your own while hanging out downtown: 

• Where do people spend their time and money?
  
• What do people do during their free time?
  
• What do they fear?
  
• What do they dream about?
  
• Where do they shop?
  
• What cultural experiences do they value?
  
• What are the most painful experiences they have had?
  
• What music do they listen to?
  
• What film and television do they watch?
  
• What do they find humorous?
  
• In what ways are they self-righteous?
  
• What do they read?
  
• What is their spirituality?
  
• Whom do they trust? Why?
  
• What do they think about the gospel?
  
• What sins will the gospel first confront and then heal for these people?

Jesus was the perfect missionary, taking 30 years to understand his culture and then preaching the gospel and accomplishing the work of the gospel. Our missionary efforts are weak and often misdirected; however, we continue learning about our culture and seeking to share the gospel in it because Jesus died for our sins of cultural arrogance and insensitivity. The progress of the gospel is not tied to the quality of our efforts but to the sacrifice of our Savior. Jesus exchanged our sin-filled efforts for his perfect missional life.

As we take these first few outings to gather information, remember that Jesus made our acceptance to God possible on the cross; no amount of cultural relevance can make us more pleasing to God. We take time to learn our culture not for our own sake but for the sake of our friends living in culture. To understand them and take the gospel to them in an understandable way reflects the life of Christ and highlights him as the perfect missionary. In every way possible, we want to be highlighting Christ and pointing to him as our only hope.

I encourage you to further your understanding of these issues by reading this helpful article at TheResurgence.com.

Spring 2009 Family Talk

Friends,

I've always wanted to be a part of something much bigger than myself, and I'm humbled that God has rescued me and made me a part of his movement of missionaries, the Church. As college students, we have the choice before us to serve the Church in advancing the gospel into the shadows of our city or to demand services from underpaid staff members who strive to entertain us with funny-titled sermonettes. Which will you choose?

I know most of you very well, and I believe you are on board with Christ's mission to redeem the city of Greenville. The question our team faces is "How are we going to do it?" What part do we have to play in God's kingdom work? 

I believe Spring 2009 holds incredible opportunities for our participation in the gospel's progress. We are going to hold a family talk for all impact team members on January 15 immediately after the first Fusion of the semester. Our family talk will be held in the smaller Joyful Sound conference room; that is the room in the Student Center at the end of the Student Services and Campus Ministry halls (signs will be posted).

We are going to be asking God to do some ridiculous things this semester. I want to share with you the vision and strategy of the Downtown Impact Team for the current stage we are in and talk about where I see our team moving in the next several months. We must submit to Scripture and act like members of one Body if we hope to do all we set out to accomplish. I encourage you to set your eyes on Christ, lock arms with your brothers and sisters, and march forward with the light of the gospel.

For His fame,
Caleb