Fired up...

"Wish that I was on ol' Rocky Top, down in the Tennessee hills. Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top, ain't no telephone bills. Oh Rocky Top, you'll always be home sweet home to me! Good ol' Rocky Top. Rocky Top, TENNESSEE!"

Rocky Top keeps on getting closer!

I just got back from an excellent week of RUF staff training in Atlanta. Where the last week of training in June was only 1st year interns, this week was for all RUF staff (all interns, campus ministers, etc.)

In June orientation, we covered a lot of logistics, but this week, we learned a lot more about what we would actually be doing on campus. It was awesome to be gathered together with men and women who are faithfully ministering to college students all over the country (and even outside the country). It's so cool to see that RUF is so much bigger than just our own respective campuses.

I had the opportunity to eat dinner one evening with the campus ministers from the University of Alabama and Yale. It's hard to imagine two schools on further ends of the spectrum, and thus, you would expect the RUF ministries at each to be just as different. In many many ways, they are. However, it was again so cool to see that while the two different groups have vastly different sizes and methodologies, they are united by RUF's mission statement of reaching students for Christ and equipping them to serve. (and ultimately, they are united by Christ Himself). It was so encouraging to hear how God is working through the RUF ministries at both of these schools!

Another helpful talk we heard was on RUF's emphasis on the individual. RUF does not believe in a "one-size fits all" ministry style, as seen above in RUF Alabama and RUF Yale's differences. But not just with campuses! RUF also emphasizes that each student is created specially by God, and what may work with one students may not work for another. This is why relationships are so important. Ultimately, it is our job to point students to Christ and the gospel, but we do so by building relationships and trust with them...not as projects, but as people. This emphasis on the individual also comes into play for interns. We interns are also created and gifted differently, and therefore, our own personal ministry styles will also look different. We will be stretched outside our comfort zones, but we don't have to be someone we're not. God doesn't want to change our personalities...He wants to redeem them! That is so encouraging, freeing, and exciting!

It was also wonderful to continue building relationships with my fellow interns. What a great group of people! It's already been a blessing to get to know each other, pray for each other, and yes, even have some fun together. It's great to know there are people who will be going through the same issues and struggles that I will be facing, and it's awesome that we can all share in this experience and lift each other up in prayer as we spread out across the country this upcoming month. Please continue to keep all the interns in your prayers as well as many continue to raise money to get to their campuses by the time classes start.

On that note, I am also excited to report that as of yesterday, I am only $1,478 away from 85% and being able to move to Knoxville! (If you got my email report, I mistakenly said I was at 84%, which was not accurate. I'm actually at 80%. What can I say? I was a journalism major...)

If you have planned to give but have not yet done so, I would ask that you please consider doing so this week. My campus minister wants me in Knoxville by this upcoming weekend, and therefore, plans are underway to move on Thursday! However, this can only happen if I reach 85% of my support by then. Pledges count towards the goal just the same as actual gifts do. To set up either a pledge or make a gift, you can go to www.ruf.org/donate

Most of all, though, I continue to ask for your prayers as I head into this final week of the summer. Lord willing, I will be settled into my apartment in Knoxville by this time next week. Please pray that the remaining funds will come in (as well as the final 15% I will need to complete my yearly budget after moving to Knoxville). Please also pray for me as I face the struggles and anxieties of moving to a new city and starting a new job!

Please also continue to pray for the students at Tennessee (especially the freshmen) as they get ready for a new year, and also pray for the Tennessee RUF campus minister Brent Harriman, his family, and my 2 co-interns, Anne and Mary Beth.

I have already learned so much this summer, but I know there is oh-so-much more to learn. God is teaching me to trust in Him alone, and not myself. In just a couple short weeks, I will be learning very quickly that I have nothing in myself to bring to this internship, but only what He has given me and only by His strength that I rely on everyday.

I will keep everyone updated as the target move-in day approaches!

In Christ,

Stephen

Getting close...

Hello everyone,

I continue to be amazed at the ways the Lord has provided (and is continuing to provide) this summer. The funniest part is that while I can get so wrapped up planning, plotting, and strategizing on where this money will come from, He continues to reveal His own plan for my support-raising needs. I look over there, and He provides right here.

I was reflecting today on this summer, and I see how God has been at work in every detail. While I greatly appreciate your financial support, it's your prayers that I have especially felt as God not only provides the funds, but also the peace in my heart. I still have a good bit of support left to raise, but I will always be in need of your prayers.

As you can see in the figure to your left, I am currently at 73% of my yearly budget. That leaves $3,698 left to raise before I can move to Knoxville and begin my internship. My target move-in date is August 6, which leaves just a little over 2 weeks!

If you would like to give, the easiest way is to go online to www.ruf.org/donate. There you can either make a one-time gift or set up a monthly pledge of any amount...and any amount is greatly appreciated!

You can also mail a check to Reformed University Ministries, 1700 N Brown Road, Suite 104, Lawrenceville, GA 30043. Write "Stephen Moss - Tennessee Intern" on the "For" line. If it's a pledge, you can include a note indicating such.

But as I mentioned earlier in this post, the most important way you can help (even right now!) is to pray. Please pray for the following things:

1.) Support Raising: Pray that the remaining support will come in time for me move to Knoxville on August 6. Please continue to pray after I move in, as there will still be $4,771 left to raise to complete my yearly budget.

2.) My personal walk with Christ: I'm already experiencing how easy it is to get caught up in the details of Christ's work and neglect our relationships with Him. Pray that I will stay planted in His Word and I will remain always on my knees. Especially once I get to campus, when the distractions will increase dramatically.

3.) RUF Training: Next week is RUF Staff Training in Atlanta, which will include all RUF interns and campus ministers. Pray for the entire RUF staff as wegear up for a year of ministry on college campuses all across the continent. Also pray that I will have an open and receptive heart, and that I will learn things that will greatly help me in ministry to students this year.

4.) RUF @ Tennessee: Pray for Tennessee RUF's current staff. Pray for Campus Minister Brent Harriman and his wife Emily (and of course their kids William and Abigail). Also pray for Anne and Mary Beth, who will be my fellow interns. Anne is entering her 3rd year as an intern, and Mary Beth is entering her 2nd. Also pray for all the students, especially the incoming freshmen. The summer before college can be a strange and awkward period, filled with a lot of excitement and a lot of anxiety.

Thank you all for your love, friendship, encouragement, support, and prayers!

Resting in His Grace,

Stephen

Encouragement from a Napkin...

I'm sitting here in the Panera Bread at the Summit in Birmingham...and I'm in awe. I shouldn't be, not after all the lessons God taught me this past year. He provides for our needs, and He brings us encouragement just when we need it.

I've had my laptop open here in Panera since 6:30ish. Besides the typical email correspondence and facebooking, I've been doing some major number crunching on the support raising. God has already provided in amazing ways through the prayers and generosity of so many of you, but my human mind often tends to focus on the ways He hasn't provided yet instead of the ways in which He has.

I've been looking at my contact list, planning my calls and meetings, ordering more postcards, and going through all the grunt work that support raising involves. It's not that I was particularly discouraged today, but I've definitely been wrapped up in the "how" today. Trying to figure out how I am going to make this work, rather than trusting and praying about how He will work it out.

Settled in at a table right by the front door, I look up to see a dear friend walk in. It was a welcome sight, as it's been far too long since we'd had a chance to talk, at least a couple years. We talked about what we were each doing, and I was excited to hear about what God was doing in her life. She asked about my internship with RUF, since she had heard about it on Facebook. We talked about it for a few minutes, and she was very interested and encouraging.

She was meeting someone for dinner, so we said our goodbyes. I returned to my business on the computer, plotting out my next busy week of support-raising. About an hour later, she was on her way out of the restaurant. She stopped by my table, and we said our "great to see you agains" and "good luck withs." As she walked back to the door, she left this napkin on my table:



















I didn't read the note until she had left, and I then realized that there was something tucked inside the napkin...it was a check for a generous amount of money.

All I could do was smile and give a wave through the window as she climbed in her car. What encouragement! Through this friend's love and generosity, God showed me this evening that I can do all this stuff to raise support, but He knows exactly where this money's coming from. In many cases, it's from places that I least expected. I certainly never expected a check in a napkin from a friend that I haven't seen in far too long...what a blessing!

There's still a good ways to go until I'm able to move to Knoxville, but what a wonderful encouragement to keep my eyes on God and trust Him for whatever else I need.

Support-raising has been an incredibly humbling experience, and I stand humbled and amazed tonight at the love and generosity of friends and at the marvelous and wonderful ways that our Lord works in our lives.

I hope this story will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me...especially to those of you who are in this same boat of support-raising.

In Christ,

Stephen

Looking at the Waves...

"If there is a single event in all of the universe that can occur outside of
God's sovereign control, then we cannot trust Him." -- Jerry Bridges, Trusting God

Thankfully, there is no such event. However, it seems like I've been living as if there is. RUF Assistant Coordinator John Stone told us interns at training that many of our transmissions would go out over the summer. From what I hear, that has unfortunately come true for many of my fellow interns. (How does he know???) Well, my vehicle is still chuggin' along just fine, but it seems like as the summer goes along, I'm the one who appears to be breaking down.

Okay...so that's a bit of an exaggeration. However, over the last few months, it's been one health problem after another that's popped up. Some were due to end-of-the-year stress and have since passed, but other conditions have stuck around. None of it is serious. It's more at the level of a nuisance right now, but for someone who's had hypochrondriac-like tendencies, any kind of medical conditions aren't exactly good for my peace of mind.

The truth is, if there's one particular area of my life that I have not trusted God in, it's...well...my life. This is why even the mildest unexplained symptoms can sometimes leave me almost paralyzed in fear. It's not a mental issue. It's a trust issue. The Scriptures say that God has ordained the number of our days from before the foundation of the world, but it seems that I just don't trust God to pick the right number for me. I know He has it under control...but what if I don't like His plan?

So what better distraction during the summer I'm supposed to be focused on support raising and preparing for my internship with RUF than a seemingly endless parade of health issues to deal with? He knows how to get our attention, doesn't He?

Unfortunately, while these issues have gotten my attention, I haven't kept my eyes on Him. Instead, like Peter, I find myself looking away from my Savior toward the waves crashing around my feet, and I start to sink. Panicking, I only make it worse, and I sink faster. I try to look back up to Jesus, but each time waves crash right in my face and I find myself plunged back under the surface, not even knowing which way is up. That's when I feel His hand firmly but lovingly grab my arm and pull me back above the waves. And then, just what He said to Peter, "Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

I have been so blessed, and I'm almost ashamed to admit that such minor trials as the ones I face have thrown me for such a loop. If I'm not able to trust God with such small concerns, perhaps my faith in His sovereignty and His goodness isn't quite as solid as I had thought.

While I do ask for your prayers about these several (but minor) health concerns, my main request for prayer is for my heart condition. Not my physical heart, mind you, but my spiritual heart. This has been a wonderful summer already in so many ways, but it has also been very difficult as I often find myself struggling with worry, anxiety, and fear. Just the smallest obstacles and distractions are causing me to take my eyes off of my Savior, just when I need to be drawing closer to Him.

Part of me says this is the worst possible time for all of this to happen, but then I have to think that perhaps this is the best time. The whole internship is going to be a lesson in trusting God and depending on Him. These are lessons I need to learn now...not just for the internship, but for life.

God is indeed in control. He holds my life in His hands, and His plan is perfect. He is sovereign to do whatever He pleases...and He loves me! Why should I worry and fret? I can take steps to get these issues under control, but even those plans are futile without Him. I pray that God will use these minor issues now to develop a deeper sense of trust and reliance upon Him.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. I have already felt God working on my heart through this internship process, and while I know it will be difficult, I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation.

In Christ,

Stephen