Valentine's Large Group...

Our RUF Large Group meeting this past week happened to fall on Valentine's Day. There was something else going on in our usual space, so Redeemer Church of Knoxville (one of our biggest supporters, and also where I'm a member) generously let us use their building, which is very close to campus. Two of our very talented students, Lizzie Gallagher and Erin Grimson, documented the evening in pictures. Below is some of their work...enjoy this taste of what one of our Large Group meetings look like. 

Our music team getting ready...

Kelsey, one of our friendly greeters and name-tag artists

Students entering our Valentine's drawing for  2 pairs of tickets to a showing of
"The Vow" later that night, a $25 gift certificate to Nama (local sushi restaurant),
and chocolate! Brent's kids designed the box.

Milling around

Not everyone likes being at RUF, apparently...

Brent catching up with some students

Catherine (middle) and 2 of our soon-to-be graduates!

Scott and Mallory leading the worship

Emily on the cello

Jared mans the sound-board

Adeline won the $25 Nama gift certificate in the drawing after RUF. Looking
forward to some Valentine sushi!

Me with some of our awesome freshmen guys

News...

Friends and Family,

It's been a fantastic start to the semester here with RUF at the University of Tennessee. It's been encouraging to see many new (and familiar) faces in Large Group as well as our small groups. I'm also encouraged to see my relationships with students continue to grow and deepen. I look forward to sharing many more details from this semester with you in my next newsletter, but more immediately, I have some important news to share with you, my friends and supporters:

After much prayer and counsel, I have decided to stay in Knoxville and continue my internship with RUF for a third and final year. I believe this is where God has been leading me, and my discussions with others as well as recent circumstances have only further affirmed this decision. I would love to discuss this opportunity with you more in the months to come, but for now, I'll try to sum up the main factors driving my decision. 

1. Experience gained as a third-year intern will be invaluable: I have learned so much during this internship...about God, ministry, other people, and myself. However, one of the main things I've learned in my time at UT is just how much I have left to learn. It is still my intent and desire, Lord willing, to attend seminary when I finish the internship. However, I've been told that the practical lessons about people and ministry from the internship will be extremely valuable and will only enhance my future theological education. Coming back for a third year, with two years of experience, I will have the opportunity to hit the ground running in the fall and continue directly applying the lessons I'm learning now. With the added experience will also come additional responsibilities. I will have more opportunities for Bible study leadership, preaching in Large Group, and involvement in planning and vision for the ministry. I will also have the opportunity to pursue avenues of ministry here on campus that I'm only now discovering and seeing the need for. 

2. Others involved have affirmed a third-year as a good decision for me personally: While a third year would be a good continued learning experience in general (and a number of other interns in my class are making the same decision), there are other people in my life affirming that it'd be a good experience for me in particular. My campus minister, Brent Harriman, who functions for me as a boss, pastor, mentor, and friend, believes that I would greatly benefit from the experience of a third year. While it seems clear that God's will is for me to go to seminary, Brent believes that an additional year would allow me to continue testing my gifts and discerning more what my call to ministry looks like. He also agrees that another year of practical ministry experience would be very valuable for me before going to seminary. Other trusted mentors have also affirmed this decision.

3. Tennessee RUF will be getting a new campus minister next year: After eight years as RUF campus minister at UT-Knoxville, Brent Harriman has accepted a new position as RUF Area Coordinator for the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. His new job will involve pastoring the campus ministers, families, and interns within his area, as well as greater involvement in direction and vision-casting for RUF as a whole. While we are sad to be losing Brent as campus minister, we're thankful that he and his family will be able to remain in Knoxville, and we're also excited about this new ministry opportunity that God has given him. He has been an awesome influence in my life over the past year and a half, I have learned so much from him, and I will miss serving with him on a daily basis here at UT. 

The process is already underway to find a new campus minister for next year. Whoever he is, he will already have ministry experience, likely with RUF. However, as he adjusts to a new campus and a large group of new students, I will be able to help him with the transition and provide some consistency. While RUF approved of my doing a third year before, with this recent development, RUF has asked me to stay on for a third year to help with the transition to a new campus minister.

While I felt God leading me to do a third year before, this coming change in leadership and opportunity to help with the transition have only confirmed my decision to stay. I am very excited about the opportunities that a third year will bring, excited to see the relationships I've started with students continue to grow and deepen, and excited to spend one more year in the city and on the campus that I've grown to love. 

I have greatly appreciated all your prayers and generous support over the past year and a half. I could not be here serving the students of UT without you. I look forward to discussing these new developments and opportunities with many of you over the next few months, and I would love to hear from you. I continue to ask for your prayers as we finish out this year. Please especially be in prayer for Brent and his family as he wraps up this year and looks ahead to his new position. Also pray for RUF as they search for the the new campus minister that God has already called to UT-Knoxville, and pray for him and his family as they begin this transition to Tennessee.

My spring prayer letter will be in the mail soon. I hope you are all having a great month, and as they say here in East Tennessee... Go Vols.

Resting in His Promises,

Stephen

Playing Catch-up...

Yes, I'm about to sum up a large majority of last semester in one photo/highlights blog post. Since it's now mid-January and today was the first day of classes for spring semester at UT, I figured it was now or never! I apologize for not posting as regularly this year...I hope to do better in 2012!

Also, stay tuned for another post coming soon with more information about my plans for next year.

But for now...enjoy the pictures! (click them to make them bigger)

Our music team warming up before Large Group

Kelsey and Weston, two of our faithful music team members

Catherine and I before the Tennessee-UGA game...it didn't go so well for
the boys in orange...

One of the pastors at Redeemer hosted a student lunch at his house after
church one Sunday...I'm really not sure what face I'm making, or why.

I returned with a few freshmen to camp again on Max Patch, the mountain
featured in my previous post. However, it was much much colder and
windier this time around...

Before Fall Staff Training in Atlanta, a group of RUF interns gathered in
Chattanooga for a weekend of fun and fellowship. This is us outside
North Shore Fellowship (PCA) there in Chattanooga.

RUF's annual Halloween Dance, hosted by Redeemer Church.

Brent as Don Draper from "Mad Men," and Catherine and I as
Oompa-loompas. Upon later reflection, I realized oompa-loompas don't
have guts...and my suspenders fell off.

The roommates and I about to cut down our enormous
Christmas tree. It fit in the living room (barely!)

Our annual RUF Barn Dance, complete with live band and real square
dance caller...definitely a highlight of the semester!

YEEHAW!

The whole crew at the RUF Barn Dance!

The Reynolds family hosted our RUF Tacky Christmas party! (Don't look
now, but I think my mom used to own the second sweater from the right...)

The Tennessee RUF staff (Brent, me, and Catherine) at our Christmas party!

Cookie Delivery! Catherine and I baked dozens of
cookies, had students text us their location, and then
delivered all over campus and the surrounding
neighborhood during Finals week. Santa's little helpers!

Lessons & Carols service at Redeemer Church of Knoxville. So much fun
to sing in a choir again!

It was my turn to host the RUF interns for New Year's Eve this year in
Knoxville. About 12 interns came and stayed at my house. As you can see,
we were a bunch of party animals.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is filming a build in Knoxville, and they
staged a mini-Macy's Day Parade on UT's campus for the family before
they left. We had a great spot to watch! (the episode will air in November)

All of the Knoxville volunteers march in the parade, along with real floats
from the actual Macy's Parade.

The family and the show's designers (but no Ty Pennington!) head for the
crowd of cheering volunteers...Alumni Memorial Building is in the
background, where we have RUF Large Group! Make sure to watch the
show in November, and look for me in the crowd! Go Vols!

The Internship...

This video was put together by Isaac Gee, a former RUF intern at Georgia Tech. It is excellent, and it does a great job of describing the RUF internship program and it's impact. I wanted to share it with all of you, and I hope it will give you a little more insight into the ministry you're partnering with me in.


The RUF Internship from Isaac Gee on Vimeo.

My end-of-semester newsletters are currently in the process of going out, and there will be more updates and posts coming here soon as the semester draws to a close.

Thanks!
Stephen

Top of the World...

I had a wonderful Fall Break here in Knoxville. It was busy, but a productive busy, which has left me far less stressed and anxious than I was last week. It opened with an impromptu camping trip with three sophomore guys on a mountain in North Carolina called Max Patch. This has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. It's in the absolute middle of nowhere. It's just this bald, grassy mountain top, surrounded by 360-degree views of mountains. Absolutely spectacular (I posted some pictures at the end of this post...check them out!)

After getting a lot done around the house and in the yard over the weekend, I felt like I needed some alone time on Sunday afternoon. So after church, I hopped in the car, drove out to the National Park, and found a nice wooded place by the river to sit, think, read, and pray. It was a great soul-refreshing afternoon...but it did get me thinking about some things.

I definitely believe we all need time alone with God. That's for sure. I also believe that nature's beauty is a precious gift of God. However, as I sat surrounded by God's beautiful Creation, this place I felt I had to retreat to be alone with God, I was struck by the fact that Creation is just as beautiful in the middle of urban Knoxville. Why? Because in the Smokies, I was surrounded by trees. In urban Knoxville, I am surrounded by people. And which do we read in Scripture that God loves more? ;-)

We believe that the whole earth will be made new when Jesus comes back. The mountains will be made perfect, and so will the cities.

It all just reminded me about the importance of community, and the dignity of our fellow image-bearers of God (all humanity). God gave us each other, and we were designed to live in community and have relationships. When we aren't living in community, we aren't truly human. An afternoon in the mountains was wonderful and refreshing, but it was not the truest human experience. It's not what I was designed for. I was designed for community.

I'm sure there will be many more quiet trips to the mountains in the future, but I pray that I will have a similar attitude toward other people God has placed in my life...that I will see them as places of refreshment, places where I can experience God more fully than I can when I'm by myself. Relationships are messy, for sure...but it's in the mess that we find and experience grace.

Well, after all that...how about some pictures of mountains? At least some of them have people in them... [insecure hypocrisy disclaimer]

September Goings-on...

Tennessee RUF Staff: Me, Catherine, and Brent at our
Family Weekend Tailgate

It's been a busy month of September with RUF here on Rocky Top. Here are some highlights:

• Labor Day: Apparently, the Labor Day Freshmen Guys Hike is just not supposed to be. Just like last year's attempt, we didn't manage to do any hiking, although we did manage to do some eating at the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. Heavy downpours from Tropical Storm Lee kept us in Knoxville on Labor Day, but they didn't dampen all our fun. In a last minute decision (an audible, if you will...go vols), we headed to a local park here in town and played one awesome game of Ultimate frisbee in the rain. Due to the uneven ground, one endzone was guarded by a 6-inch deep puddle. It was muddy...it was freezing...it was fantastic. After the game, we headed back to campus and trudged into the freshmen cafeteria (also known as Presidential Court Building, or PCB more commonly...not to be confused with my hometown). We were still sopping wet, but no one seemed to mind. That evening, we met back up with Catherine, the freshmen girls, and some upperclassmen guys and girls and drove an hour to Pigeon Forge to eat at the ever-popular Apple Barn. We had about 25 freshmen attend, and it was a great trip! The rain may have stopped us from hiking, but it could not keep us away from apple fritters and copious amounts of apple butter. 

• Family Weekend Tailgate: UT's Family Weekend was September 9-11, and with so many of our students' parents coming to town, one parent and good friend of Tennessee RUF had the wonderful idea of hosting a tailgate for parents and students before the UT-Cincinnati game on Saturday. Our church, Redeemer, hosted the tailgate in their parking lot and fellowship hall, and a local restaurant named Gourmet's Market catered a delicious brunch for a great turnout of both students and family members! In addition to the food, we had plenty of information available about Tennessee RUF, and of course we had some tunes and corn hole going on outside. To make the day even better, our wonderful campus minister Brent bought me and Catherine tickets to the football game that afternoon, and the Vols whooped up on the Bearcats. Neyland Stadium never ceases to amaze. [go vols.]

Corn hole!

• Freshmen Guys Cookout: Freshmen Guys Bible Study has been going very well, and we've been averaging around 15-18 guys each week. After Bible study a couple weeks ago, we had the guys over to my new house for a cookout. It's so awesome now to have a house with plenty of space and a big backyard...it makes hosting things like this so much easier! Some of our awesome upperclassmen guys came over to get the grill fired up and get everything set up while we were having Bible study, and when we pulled up to the house, we could already smell the burgers around back. About 20-something freshmen attended (hard to get a headcount...), much food was consumed, we had some corn hole and lawn darts going in the yard, and the sophomore guys had an opportunity to share some of their favorite freshmen dorm stories from last year. 

• Camping and Hiking Trip: We were bound and determined to do that hike, and we figured why not throw a camping trip in there too? Unlike my dear alma mater, the football schedule plays a huge role in   our RUF calendar. If there's a home game, that weekend is out. If there's an away game, it's iffy...but only Friday. So when the Vols have a bye-week, you had better take advantage of it! The boys in orange were off this past Saturday, so UT RUF headed to the mountains! We camped at Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with about fifty (yes, fifty) students. We had eight campsites all grouped up together, and somehow had enough tents and hammocks to go around. We churned out some hotdogs and s'mores on two campfires and had a grand ol' time. We set out to take a night hike through some abandoned decrepit resort buildings, but in the dark, we couldn't figure which way to go. Luckily, we ran into a retired couple from Louisiana who agreed to walk with us to the right road on the one condition that we would sing "Rocky Top" for them. Of course, we obliged, and we had to sing it a couple more times as we passed camp sites of their friends. The next day we hiked 9 miles (round trip) on the Appalachian Trail to Charlie's Bunion, and oh, what a view! The clouds were below us, and it was incredible! A few more met us for the hike, and so yes, there were approximately 60 of us on the trail. Passing hikers had comments ranging from "go vols" to "what is this, a field trip?" Altogether, it was a great trip, and a great chance for our freshmen to get to know and bond with our upperclassmen.                                                             

• Sunday Night Fellowship: Tonight was my first time speaking at our weekly Sunday Night Fellowship. I used a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible called "The Terrible Lie," about Adam and Eve's first sin. The JSB describes the Fall as "a terrible lie" coming into the world, that "God doesn't love me." But even as they leave the garden, their beautiful relationship with God broken, God gives them a promise that He will send them a Rescuer. I'm definitely still learning when it comes to this kind of thing, but it was some good experience. Both Catherine and I will each have a couple more opportunities to speak at SNF this semester.

Well, that's the goings-on around here this past month. Fall Break is coming up this weekend, and I'm looking forward to a few days of nothing to do here in Knoxville. It will be a great chance to catch up on some reading and some jobs here around the house. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers. I'm continuing to learn and grow through this experience, and I'm so thankful to be here serving the students at UT-Knoxville.

More to come soon! Be on the lookout for my snail-mail fall newsletter in coming weeks...if you've never gotten one before and would like to receive it, send your me your address to stephen.moss@ruf.org