This post was written by myself and my two roommates, Josh “JD” Davis and Joe Chandler.
The History of Camp Special
In the year of our Lord two thousand and one, real estate mogul Dave Wirgau completed his third foray into the Tallahassee housing market and purchased a home on Bellevue Way. This home was quickly dubbed Camp Special by James “Jimbo” Munson, a young padawan learner of Joel Helms, Jedi Master. Jimbo observed the unique sleeping arrangement in the home: all three of the beds were in the same bedroom, lending a camp-like atmosphere to the abode. Historians disagree as to the origin of the name of the camp, the prevailing view being a desire for pretentious elevation above their neighbours (a sentiment that carries on to this day).
Continue reading ‘The Camp Special Renaming Project’
I’ve uploaded some photos from the recent FSU Navigators beach retreat. You can find them on my website, on Facebook or on Flickr.
The summer has ended. Tallahassee has once again been taken over by throngs of college students. Monday, August 25 was the first day of classes at FSU for the fall 2008 semester. I’m amazed at how much can change in a year. Last year at this time I was beginning my first year on staff with the FSU Navigators. I have intentionally kept quiet on my blog about my plans for this fall and beyond, but I’m finally ready to start talking.
Continue reading ‘My New Beginning’
This past Thursday was the final Nav Night of the spring 2008 semester. We spent the first half of the evening honoring the graduating seniors. This year we had twelve students graduating. We had one person get up to speak on behalf of each of them. I had the honor of speaking for Aaron Gavila, my old roommate and good friend. We concluded our senior send-off by praying over them.
Continue reading ‘Nav Night: Spring ‘08 Finale’
Each spring since I’ve been at Florida State the Navigators have gone on a prayer retreat to spend time seeking God. Each one of these has been different. I don’t mean that the activity has been different. In fact, of all the things we do year after year, this is the one event that follows the same structure each and every time we go. We arrive on Friday night and start praying. We spend all day Saturday praying. Then we spend Sunday morning in prayer. When I say each one is different what I mean is that God says and does something unique each time. This time was no exception.
Continue reading ‘Prayer Retreat ‘08′
Last Thursday I gave the message at our weekly Nav Night meeting. Since most of our Bible studies are on Ephesians this semester Dave asked me to give a message on Ephesians, something that would be an overview of the entire book. I wanted to bring something to the table that the students probably weren’t getting in their study.
I decided to use Watchman Nee’s Ephesians commentary Sit, Walk, Stand as the model of what I would share. Nee’s take on Ephesians is that the book can be broken down into three parts: our position in Christ, our life in the world and our attitude toward the enemy. We sit with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6), we walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1), and we put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11).
The message was recorded and today was added to the ministry podcast. Listen to it and let me know what you think. I also encourage you to subscribe to the podcast (via iTunes or RSS).
Last week I was in Chicago for the FSU Navigators’ spring break trip. This trip has been a major part of my life since this past November when we first started cooking up the idea. I was put in charge of the trip, mostly because I had made a couple of key connections with Chicago Nav staff this past summer. Today I’d like to talk about the trip and a little about the planning process that led up to it.
Continue reading ‘Chicago Spring Break Trip 2008′
This past November at the Navigators National Staff Conference we were treated to the first three parts of a four-part animated series called “The D-Team.” The series is about fund raising and the Nav Development Team. Part three ended saying that the conclusion would be posted online. After waiting patiently all these months they have finally posted all four chapters here. They even made a Facebook profile for Zach and Kate (pictured).
There are a lot of jokes in these videos that, if you’re not on Nav Staff, you might not get. The first three episodes were met with uproarious laughter at each of the plenary sessions. I’d like to hear what you think of these videos, so leave a comment.
Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4
Saturday night was the second annual Valentine’s Day Banquet planned and hosted by the men in the Navigators ministry here at FSU. I have to admit that when the students first started planning this thing I thought it would be awfully difficult to top last year’s event. But I have to say that they did a great job making this year unique. I’m really proud of all of our guys. Let me take you through the evening.
Continue reading ‘Valentine’s Day Banquet’
The first weekend of this month I drove down to Hudson, Florida with a car full of students to the Navigators state-wide spring conference. Students from UF, USF and UCF joined us at Word of Life Camp, bringing the total number of people close to 130. Each year we only have one of these so it’s a pretty big deal. As you can see from the photo above FSU brought a pretty large group. Our guest speaker was Drew Frazer, Nav staff at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He spent the weekend asking us the question, “How big is your God?” He challenged our students to consider the God talked about in the Bible, the phenomenal power He has and what He has been able to do through people who trusted Him, verses our view of who He is and what He is capable of doing. Do we box God in, believing that He’s not capable of doing whatever He wants?
Continue reading ‘Spring Conference’
