Captivating Kingdom: Winter quarter update

Winter quarter is in full swing, and it has been an awesome quarter so far! We feel like we have renewed vision and passion for what we are doing, and a big part of that came from the Passion conference. There was a group of about 15 of us there, and it was really bonding, fun, and impactful!! I think a lot of us were impacted most by John Piper's talk one night, followed by a Hillsong concert, which was an incredible time of worship. John Piper's talk spoke straight to my heart, reminding me that God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him, that my joy is made complete by forgetting myself as I am captivated by His beauty and glory, and that my purpose on earth is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever. The Lord alone satisfies! Something clicked in my heart when I heard that talk, and it made me realize how often we buy into lies that other things will satisfy or bring joy, wholeness, and fulfillment. Like when Isaiah says, "Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare," (Is. 55:2). It is amazing how you can think you really believe and know something, and then He sinks it ever deeper into your heart to where it almost feels like you are learning it for the first time again!

The first few Cross Trainings of the quarter have been amazing, packed, and full of life. I love that time of fellowship, worship, and challenging teaching. I think one of the most special and unique things about Cross Training is the way that it feels like a family. I love seeing students come in, breathe a sigh of relief, say they are so excited to eat a home cooked meal, and then to just see the joy, life, richness of fellowship, and healing that they experience in the Stenstrom home each Monday night. It really is an incredible group, and it is neat to see new faces literally every week as students bring their believing and non-believing friends to partake in the richness.

We are excited about all of our small groups this quarter (about 80 students total) because we are really taking the Great Comission to heart when Jesus told his disciples to make disciples and teach them to obey all that he commanded. We have asked ourselves the question, how do we teach people, and learn ourselves, how to obey Jesus? How do we learn how to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, be truly humble, selfless, surrendered to Christ, forgiving, merciful, filled with the Spirit, etc, not just on the outside but truly in our hearts? Obviously it takes a massive work of the Holy Spirit, and apart from Him we can do nothing. But we believe it also takes training on our part, and developing habits where Christ can be formed in us. We feel like Dallas Willard has a wealth of wisdom on this topic, and I once remember him asking the question how our churches and small groups can be more like training centers, where we are all learning together how to grow into the likeness of Jesus. So with our small groups, we are "training" together in Godliness: helping each other determine who we want to be based on Scripture, what is at stake if we are not that person, again based on Scripture, and baby steps/spiritual disciplines we can experiment with each week that will put us in a place where the Holy Spirit can transform our hearts. It is important to realize that a lot more is at stake than we usually realize if we don't become more like Christ--we miss out on the fullness of life, wholeness, joy, power, fulfillment, intimacy with God and others, etc that Jesus came to bring. It feels good to really focus on the application piece of Scripture working its way into our lives.

We are also doing a coed book study on Crazy Love and an in depth bible study on Romans, which has already been awesome.

We have been really asking the Lord to move in power in the hearts and lives of our students, because all of our planning is futile if His Spirit is not present and moving in power. We ask you to join us in praying that students at Stanford would not only come to Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but come to Him as their treasure of greatest worth! That is our greatest prayer for students (and ourselves:).