ALL THINGSTO ALL PEOPLE

SEEKING TO MEETA STUDENT’S

GREATEST NEEDS

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CLAIMING THE CAMPUSGET A GLIMPSEOF RESONATE CWU’SLAUNCH SERVICE

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By: Keith Wieser “When are you going to be a just a regular church and not a church plant?” At seven years into this journey, it’s becoming a question I get asked with increasing frequency. I understand that on one level there are the realities of systems and organizational protocol. From the outside, we treat church plants with extra care and extended support because they are fragile and sometimes struggle to survive, but this kind of special attention cannot last forever. On another level, I think for a church plant itself the subconscious transition from church plant to regular church can be a dangerous one. In fact, I think that many times a church plant can transition and not even know it. Last fall, we launched a new campus at Central Washington University - our first launch outside of an existing support system in 5 years. As the church plant team hit the ground in Ellensburg, it quickly became evident that there were amazing things happening. The massive initial launch followed by regular stories of people deciding to follow Jesus revealed that a missional force had been established on the campus. It was electrifying;

it was as if the gospel was unstoppable and contagious. When asked how these incredible things were happening, the staff replied, “We knew that we had to live missionally. We knew it was our responsibility to engage people with the gospel and bring them into community.” This wasn’t new and crazy, it wasn’t innovative, it wasn’t deep-pocketed glitz - it was a few people who moved into the town and lived life on mission. When those of us back in the Palouse heard about what they were experiencing, it became clear that at some level Resonate had lost a little of that church planting missional mandate. This didn’t mean that we weren’t healthy or effective, but there was something subtle that had changed. It was like a color that had faded, a change that you can’t see until you place it beside the unfaded version. It’s in that moment that you can see the difference. Since August, we have seen an amazing amount of evangelistic fruit. By the end of the fall semester, we were able to celebrate 54 names of people who had decided to follow Jesus. I am incredibly excited about this reality because 10 years ago, when I arrived in Pullman to take over a

campus ministry, 54 was the average amount of people we had in our weekly worship gather-ings. This is something to rejoice over, but what really inspired me was thinking about what could happen if we lived out the mission-al mandate that is second nature to church planting every day. I began thinking: 10 years from now, is it possible that the number of people we are averaging in our worship gatherings today (1000) could be the number of students in a semester who decide to follow Jesus? Ironically, we had to plant a church to remind ourselves that we were still a church plant. Not in the organizational protocol sense, but in the sense that we cannot ever afford to stray from the urgency of the missional mandate given to us by Jesus. If we can take the missionary actions that are required to start churches and imbed these into our culture as a church, we will always be a church plant at some level. Maybe that will allow me to respond to the question “Are you still a church plant?” with a resounding “Yes…. do you want to support us?”

By: Jessica Dahl Jesus told Peter that upon him He would build His church, a bold statement that came after Peter proclaimed, “You are the Christ.” The church was to be built upon this confession; it was a simple start to an eternal movement. Since those words were spoken, a Savior has died and risen, and this story has changed everything. The glory is God’s, and with Peter long gone from this earth, the proclamation is ours to carry to those that don’t know. We can look at movements in Acts or in recent revivals and get lost in awe and wonder. How do we leverage our lives to be part of such a thing? Our team carried not much more than that calling and confession upon moving to Ellensburg. Our Resonate systems were stripped down due to zero momentum, no student leadership, and no one knowing who we were. We had to cling to a risen Christ and a confession, and watch God build a church. We had to return to the basics. At church planting boot camp, we made a flow chart with things that had to happen leading up to our launch date of September 28. Along with the obvious events, fliers, and logistics that starting a new church requires, we felt God calling us back to thebasics of the early apostles. We each made a

commitment to share the gospel every day with someone on campus, and trust that on this proclamation Jesus would build His church. Every morning our team gathered in the main student center on campus to pray that God would allow opportunities to proclaim and invite. Every day came the thrill of new relationships and conversations about why we had moved to Ellensburg, which always turned into a proclamation of why Jesus had come to this earth. Every day ended in exhaustion from doing the opposite of everything that comes naturally, because what comes naturally is hanging back and playing it safe, hiding behind a computer and a task list and telling yourself “maybe they’ll hear from someone else.” We found that while not many people believed, or had even heard about a relation-ship with God before, there was something powerful about the invitation to explore that with us. This was not a new idea: “Exploring God is better in community” is the tagline on our website, the motto of our church. But with no one who went to our church we had no choice but to invite everyone we met to do that with us. We couldn't assume that people would know the gospel, know about Village,know about a God that wanted them, whether they had stepped foot in a church last month,

ten years ago, or never. We had to tell them, we had to invite them. As hard as this has been, it has also been easy. While we have committed to meet people, every day He has met us. We initiate, we proclaim, we invite, and He has done the rest. Like meeting a girl who told us she had never belonged anywhere but feels like she does with us. Or the girl who heard for the first time that Jesus loves and came for sinners. Or the football player who was mesmerized by this story, eyes locked and unwavering, hearing it for the first time. Or the girl whom we invited to Village and barbecues for weeks, and when she finally let her walls down, decided to surrender her life to Christ and now spends every day learning, growing, and telling people about this Jesus who changed her desires. As the early church was built upon the confession of Christ, so we desire to see this church built. As our church grows in recogni-tion campus-wide, we will still be meeting people, proclaiming and inviting. The same confession Peter made thousands of years ago is the same basic, earth-shattering confession that will build churches, start movements, and change lives: the proclamation and invitation to see Jesus for who He is – the Christ.

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CLAIMING THE CAMPUS // by Jacob Dahl

There is a story of a young missionary named John G. Paton, who in 1858 sailed with his wife to a remote island full of savage natives in the South Pacific. At thirty-three, Patton was compelled to leave a very successful church ministry in urban Glasgow, Scotland so that the lost might be saved on the New Hebrides Islands. I can only imagine Paton holding his breath with fearful anticipation as he approached the shore, where years prior his fellow missionary friends were killed and eaten the moment they hit the beach. To his initial relief, his family’s lives were spared – though his wife and son would both die of illness within a year. Thus began a grueling missionary career for Paton, as he spent the rest of his days evangelizing the island. The hardships of apostles and missionaries are uniquely harsh. I think about the brutality and sheer hopelessness Paton must have experienced when he first arrived on the island. Impenetra-ble spiritual, linguistic, and cultural barriers coupled with the fear of losing his life stared him in the face daily. How did he have any chance apart from the hand of God through prayer? How did he persevere faithfully for so many years? Paton was a man convinced of his calling and nothing would steal that from him. There is something that burns within a man who has caught a glimpse of God. He can’t be stopped – slowed maybe by barriers for a while – but he will relentlessly push to see the kingdom of God break into earth. It happened to the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. It happened to Paul and Peter and Paton. And it’s happened to us – a fire has been started that can’t be put out, one that burns to see college students come to know Jesus. Our team has now landed on the shore. Thankfully, we were not met by cannibals in Ellensburg. However, we can’t help but partially relate to the fear and wonder of thinking “what will greet us there?” as we experience the invigorating plunge into a new mission field. Hardships are certainly present. Having to say our gospel goodbyes to so many friends still stings, not to mention the countless barriers that prohibit the work of the kingdom advancing among college students. The steady decline of the collegiate spiritual life is a trend that can’t be ignored. College students are among a generation that is the most unchurched in history. Startlingly few people desire any relationship with God. College students have nearly no concept of tithing. They let pop music form the basis of their theology rather than the Word of God. They are more hesitant than ever to trust traditional institutions such as marriage, family, authority, and the Church. Truth is completely relative. Many people have given up on reaching college students and just hope they’ll return to the church someday in their late twenties. Not us. September 28th, 2014 is a day that I’ll never forget. After months of fervent prayer and furious preparation, we launched a collegiate church on the campus of Central Washington University with 387 people. It was spectacular. There was standing room only. And it smelled like a locker room by the end of the night in the SURC Theater. The CWU launch was not a glimpse but a burst of light that gave hope of the possibility of collegiate church planting to our people. For our Ellensburg team, it was one of those moments where we got to sit back and watch the fireworks after a long season of waiting, enjoying the fruit of our labor. But for the many students present that night, it opened up a brand new dream: collegiate church planting is not only possible, it’s now the absolute passion of their lives. The ripple effect across the Northwest is starting to change the way college students at Resonate Church view graduation and what comes after. The culture is shifting from “Is God calling me?” to “Where is God calling me?” I frequently hear students say, “Where are we heading next and how do I sign up?” Our hope is that every disciple in Resonate would graduate and be sent intentionally as a missionary to the corporate world or reinvested to reach more college students through church planting. Church planting is glorious. It engulfs your heart with joyful passion for the gospel. It’s also gritty. It toughens you and tests your spiritual mettle like nothing else. It will drive you to your knees, crying out to God in desperation, begging Him to break the barriers and sweep salvation across the city. Though the road ahead is grueling and discipleship comes at a heavy cost, we also know the sweet and transcendent joy that comes from laying down our lives. Returning to the roots of missionary work involves this kind of joyful sacrifice because it’s the essence of the gospel: a burning love that moves people to forsake everything so that others might be saved. It’s what Jesus did, enduring the cross with joy, knowing that what He was accomplishing was bringing the world salvation. It’s also what John G. Paton did – by the time he died, the entire island of Aniwa had turned to Christ. When asked about his forty years of missionary work there, Paton said, “I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace of God, Aniwa now worships at the Savior’s feet.” May we have such faith and courage to claim more college campuses for Jesus.

By: Jacob Dahl There is a story of a young missionary named John G. Paton, who in 1858 sailed with his wife to a remote island full of savage natives in the South Pacific. At thirty-three, Paton was compelled to leave a very successful church ministry in urban Glasgow, Scotland so that the lost might be saved on the New Hebrides Islands. I can only imagine Paton holding his breath with fearful anticipation as he approached the shore, where years prior his fellow missionary friends were killed and eaten the moment they hit the beach. To his initial relief, his family’s lives were spared – though his wife and son would both die of illness within a year. Thus began a grueling missionary career for Paton, as he spent the rest of his days evangelizing the island. The hardships of apostles and missionaries are uniquely harsh. I think about

CLAIMINGTHE

CAMPUS

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the brutality and sheer hopelessness Paton must have experienced when he first arrived on the island. Impenetrable spiritual, linguistic, and cultural barriers coupled with the fear of losing his life stared him in the face daily. How did he have any chance apart from the hand of God through prayer? How did he persevere faithfully for so many years? Paton was a man convinced of his calling and nothing would steal that from him. There is something that burns within a man who has caught a glimpse of God. He can’t be stopped – slowed maybe by barriers for a while – but he will relentlessly push to see the kingdom of God break into earth. It happened to the prophets Isaiah and Jeremi-ah. It happened to Paul and Peter and Paton. And it’s happened to us – a fire has been started that can’t be put out, one that burns to see college students come to know Jesus. Our team has now landed on the

shore. Thankfully, we were not met by canni-bals in Ellensburg. However, we can’t help but partially relate to the fear and wonder of thinking “what will greet us there?” as we experience the invigorating plunge into a new mission field. Hardships are certainly present. Having to say our gospel goodbyes to so many friends still stings, not to mention the countless barriers that prohibit the work of the kingdom advancing among college students. The steady decline of the collegiate spiritual life is a trend that can’t be ignored. College students are among a generation that is the most unchurched in history. Startlingly few people desire any relationship with God. College students have nearly no concept of tithing. They let pop music form the basis of their theology rather than the Word of God. They are more hesitant than ever to trust traditional institutions such as marriage, family, authority, and the Church. Truth is completely

relative. Many people have given up on reaching college students and just hope they’ll return to the church someday in their late twenties. Not us. September 28th, 2014 is a day that I’ll never forget. After months of fervent prayer and furious preparation, we launched a collegiate church on the campus of Central Washington University with 387 people. It was spectacular. There was standing room only. And it smelled like a locker room by the end of the night in the SURC Theater. The CWU launch was not a glimpse but a burst of light that gave hope of the possibility of collegiate church planting to our people. For our Ellensburg team, it was one of those moments where we got to sit back and watch the fireworks after a long season of waiting, enjoying the fruit of our labor. But for the many students present that night, it opened up a brand new dream: collegiate

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church planting is not only possible, it’s now the absolute passion of their lives. The ripple effect across the Northwest is starting to change the way college students at Resonate Church view graduation and what comes after. The culture is shifting from “Is God calling me?” to “Where is God calling me?” I frequently hear students say, “Where are we heading next and how do I sign up?” Our hope is that every disciple in Resonate would graduate and be sent intentionally as a missionary to the corporate world or reinvest-ed to reach more college students through church planting. Church planting is glorious. It engulfs your heart with joyful passion for the gospel. It’s also gritty. It toughens you and tests your spiritual mettle like nothing else. It will drive you to your knees, crying out to God in desperation, begging Him to break the barriers and sweep salvation across the city.

Though the road ahead is grueling and discipleship comes at a heavy cost, we also know the sweet and transcendent joy that comes from laying down our lives. Returning to the roots of missionary work involves this kind of joyful sacrifice because it’s the essence of the gospel: a burning love that moves people to forsake everything so that others might be saved. It’s what Jesus did, enduring the cross with joy, knowing that what He was accom-plishing was bringing the world salvation. It’s also what John G. Paton did – by the time he died, the entire island of Aniwa had turned to Christ. When asked about his forty years of missionary work there, Paton said, “I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace of God, Aniwa now worships at the Savior’s feet.” May we have such faith and courage to claim more college campuses for Jesus.

By: Drew Worsham We’ve been back from the sunny beaches of southern California for an entire semester now. It’s been six months since we packed up our bags and drove away from the place where we helped launch and grow four church plants. The place we saw four of our friends start following Jesus. The place where 70 students were trained to lead a Village, taught how to share their story and their faith, learned what their spiritual gifts and personali-ty types are, and how to use them to further the Kingdom of God. The place where 70 students lived with, were poured into, discipled, and mentored by a Resonate staff member. This was the place we called home for ten weeks: Elevate in San Diego, California. Elevate feels like a distant memory now. We are all looking a little more pale as the tans have worn off. We’ve traded our swimsuits and tank tops for winter coats, and the palm trees have been replaced by a blanket of powdered snow. Although these external things have left us, the internal effects that Elevate caused in the hearts of the students are being seen in every corner and space of the five sites of Resonate Church.

ELEVATE: THE AFTER EFFECTS // By Drew Worsham

We’ve been back from the sunny beaches of southern California for an entire semester now. It’s been six months since we packed up our bags and drove away from the place where we helped launch and grow four church plants. The place we saw four of our friends start following Jesus. The place where 70 students were trained to lead a Village, taught how to share their story and their faith, learned what their spiritual gifts and personality types are, and how to use them to further the Kingdom of God. The place where 70 students lived with, were poured into, discipled, and mentored by a Resonate staff member. This was the place we called home for ten weeks: Elevate in San Diego, California. Elevate feels like a distant memory now. We are all looking a little more pale as the tans have worn off. We’ve traded our swimsuits and tank tops for winter coats, and the palm trees have been replaced by a blanket of powdered snow. Although these external things have left us, the internal effects that Elevate caused in the hearts of the students are being seen in every corner and space of the five sites of Resonate Church. Elevate students are a unique breed. These students have been injected with life, energy, passion, creativity, availability, and courage and are on the frontlines of our church serving and leading in every capacity. Our Lead Pastor Keith put it this way, “Students go to Elevate as one kind of student, one kind of Christian, then they come back and it’s like you’ve pressed the fast-forward button in their lives as followers of Christ. They come back, and they lead. They come back, and they’re bought in. They come back, and they set the tone for the church.” As you walk into our church, it’s easy to spot those students that spent their summer with us in San Diego, and it’s not because of their laid back SoCal attitude. Elevate students come back to their campuses as culture-changers. This is reflected in the choices they’ve made for where they live, how they spend their time, and what they prioritize. 13 of our Elevate students now live in dorms or Greek houses for the primary purpose of being missionaries in those places. 58 of our students are now serving in high-level leadership at Resonate, 32 of whom are leading Resonate Villages. The huge takeaway from Elevate for these students is that they’re learning what the gospel is and how to articulate it. They know how to have normal conversations and transition them into spiritual conversations centered on the gospel. They walk in a confidence and intentionally that is affecting the campuses of WSU, UI, and now CWU. I’m not sure what component of Elevate has caused the most lasting effect. Maybe it was spending every waking moment doing life on life with Resonate staff, maybe it was the intensive discipleship and training, maybe it was watching their co-workers come to know Jesus, or maybe it was taking ownership in a church plant in San Diego and helping launch something new for the Kingdom of God. Regardless of what it was, there is one thing that is for certain – almost all of the students that were a part of the Elevate experience now have the heart of a church planter. And most of them, if you asked them, would say that their primary reason for being on a college campus is no longer to simply be a student but rather to be a missionary for the sake of the gospel.

“I believe the program is life-changing and I've seen the changes in my son’s life. He has turned his life around and I would attribute the bulk of these changes, through Christ's leading, to the experiences, training, and friends he had at Elevate.” -Kenneth Suchy (parent of an Elevate student)

"I have seen and been involved with hundreds of ministries and groups over the last two decades all across North America and even around the world. I can say with full integrity and enthusiasm that I believe Elevate is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, disciple-making ministry for college students I have ever seen.” -Wes Coddington (Lead Pastor of New Song Church Seaside)

Elevate students are a unique breed. These students have been injected with life, energy, passion, creativity, availability, and courage and are on the frontlines of our church serving and leading in every capacity. Our Lead Pastor Keith put it this way, “Students go to Elevate as one kind of student, one kind of Christian, then they come back and it’s like you’ve pressed the fast-forward button in their lives as followers of Christ. They come back, and they lead. They come back, and they’re bought in. They come back, and they set the tone for the church.” As you walk into our church, it’s easy to spot those students that spent their summer with us in San Diego, and it’s not because of their laid back SoCal attitude. Elevate students come back to their campuses as culture-changers. This is reflected in the choices they’ve made for where they live, how they spend their time, and what they prioritize. 13 of our Elevate students now live in dorms or Greek houses for the primary purpose of being missionaries in those places. 58 of our students are now serving in high-level leadership at Resonate, 32 of whom are leading Resonate Villages. The huge takeaway from Elevate for these students is that they’re

learning what the gospel is and how to articulate it. They know how to have normal conversations and transition them into spiritual conversations centered on the gospel. They walk in a confidence and intentionality that is affecting the campuses of WSU, UI, and now CWU. I’m not sure what component of Elevate has caused the most lasting effect. Maybe it was spending every waking moment doing life on life with Resonate staff, maybe it was the intensive discipleship and training, maybe it was watching their co-workers come to know Jesus, or maybe it was taking owner-ship in a church plant in San Diego and helping launch something new for the Kingdom of God. Regardless of what it was, there is one thing that is for certain – almost all of the students that were a part of the Elevate experience now have the heart of a church planter. And most of them, if you asked them, would say that their primary reason for being on a college campus is no longer to simply be a student but rather to be a missionary for the sake of the gospel.

“I believe the program is life-changing and I've seen the changes in my son’s life. He has turned his life around and I would attribute the bulk of these changes, through Christ's leading, to the experiences, training, and friends he had at Elevate.”- Kenneth Suchy(Parent of Elevate Student)

"I have seen and been involved with hundreds of ministries and groups over the last two decades all across North America and even around the world. I can say with full integrity and enthusiasm that I believe Elevate is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, disciple-making ministry for college students I have ever seen.”- Wes Coddlington(Lead Pastor of New Song Church Seaside)

:THE AFTER EFFECTS

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LIFE ON LIFE // By Matthew Young

Jesus was really good at making disciples. He had twelve, and of those, eleven turned out pretty good. History tells us they went on to start the Church we know today through planting churches all over the ancient world. The fact that there is church history speaks to their success. But if we back up to what Jesus did that affected these guys so greatly, we learn a lot about making disciples. Really, Jesus’ number of “how many” was not so staggering. I mean, He was the Son of God – is twelve really all He could manage? This reveals that the “how many” question is not as important as simply the question of how Jesus accomplished this. When we look at how Jesus lived with His disciples, it seems that He did everything with them. Once Jesus gave them a clear invitation, they stayed together. The exceptions were when Jesus would slip away for some alone time with the Father or when He would send them out to do what they had seen Him doing. But the rest of the time they were with Him, doing life. They walked or rode in a boat together from place to place and slept alongside each other. When Jesus taught, they listened. And when He taught, while there were often other people around, the disciples were regularly the primary audience, as seen in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Jesus used the people nearby as illustrations to help His disciples understand what He was saying. But they wouldn’t spend hours in lecture and go back to life as usual after class was over. With Jesus, class was always in session, and every day was a lab. And not a boring lab with lots of lab reports, but the good kind that feels like a field trip. The kind where people get healed from lifelong diseases. Jesus’ disciples spent time with Jesus and watched Him. They learned from what He said, but also from what they saw Him do. As Mike Breen says in Building a Discipling Culture, “Teaching and theology were ways of describing reality, and then He showed His disciples how to live in that reality.” The learning that took place was enhanced by the depth of the relationship. At Resonate, we are experiencing our second year of implementing a discipleship structure that focuses on transferable principles that are communi-cated through shapes, and easily related to life in the real world. But we know that successful discipleship is dependent on time spent with each other, as Jesus had with His disciples. This truth of life together, time spent with each other, is becoming more and more evident and changing the way disciplers in Resonate orient their lives. Taylor Tosaya, a first-time Village Leader in Moscow said, “Friendship and just hanging out helps make the programmed, structured time of discipleship more significant. Building the relationship with trust helps make the spiritual conversa-tion deeper and more authentic, moving beyond right answers to real answers.” Taylor has discovered what is important and has made changes in his schedule for the important work of time spent together. He said last year he would have spent the bulk of his study time alone, doing his own thing. Now he intentionally invites guys he is discipling over to his house for study parties. He also tries to connect with them as often as possible in impromptu ways. This creates valuable relationships and extends the opportunity for discipleship to take place beyond the scheduled weekly meetings. The discovery of this truth for Taylor happened when he was discipled as a freshman last spring and through his experience at Elevate this past summer. Elevate is where this time spent together was made clear to him and became a personal experience for him. Now he’s helping make it an experience for the guys he is discipling in his Village. While not every Resonate disciple has the chance to live with their discipler like Jesus’ disciples did, we are seeing more people choose to push into each other’s lives as part of the discipleship process than ever before. We are trying our best to make disciples who follow Jesus the way His first disciples did.

By: Matthew Young Jesus was really good at making disciples. He had twelve, and of those, eleven turned out pretty good. History tells us they went on to start the Church we know today through planting churches all over the ancient world. The fact that there is church history speaks to their success. But if we back up to what Jesus did that affected these guys so greatly, we learn a lot about making disciples. Really, Jesus’ number of “how many” was not so staggering. I mean, He was the Son of God – is twelve really all He could manage? This reveals that the “how many” question is not as important as simply the question of how Jesus accomplished this. When we look at how Jesus lived with His disciples, it seems that He did everything with them. Once Jesus gave them a clear invitation, they stayed together. The excep-tions were when Jesus would slip away for some alone time with the Father or when He would send them out to do what they had seen Him doing. But the rest of the time they were with Him, doing life. They walked or rode in a boat together from place to place and slept alongside each other. When Jesus taught, they listened. And when He taught, while there were often other people around, the disciples were regularly the primary audience, as seen in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Jesus used the people nearby as illustrations to help

His disciples understand what He was saying. But they wouldn’t spend hours in lecture and go back to life as usual after class was over. With Jesus, class was always in session, and every day was a lab. And not a boring lab with lots of lab reports, but the good kind that feels like a field trip. The kind where people get healed from lifelong diseases. Jesus’ disciples spent time with Jesus and watched Him. They learned from what He said, but also from what they saw Him do. As Mike Breen says in Building a Discipling Culture, “Teaching and theology were ways of describing reality, and then He showed His disciples how to live in that reality.” The learning that took place was enhanced by the depth of the relationship. At Resonate, we are experiencing our second year of implementing a discipleship structure that focuses on transferable princi-ples that are communicated through shapes, and easily related to life in the real world. But we know that successful discipleship is dependent on time spent with each other, as Jesus had with His disciples. This truth of life together, time spent with each other, is becoming more and more evident and changing the way disciplers in Resonate orient their lives. Taylor Tosaya, a first-time Village Leader in Moscow said, “Friendship and just hanging out helps make the programmed, structured time of disciple-ship more significant. Building the relationship

with trust helps make the spiritual conversation deeper and more authentic, moving beyond right answers to real answers.” Taylor has discovered what is import-ant and has made changes in his schedule for the important work of time spent together. He said last year he would have spent the bulk of his study time alone, doing his own thing. Now he intentionally invites guys he is discipling over to his house for study parties. He also tries to connect with them as often as possible in impromptu ways. This creates valuable relationships and extends the opportunity for discipleship to take place beyond the sched-uled weekly meetings. The discovery of this truth for Taylor happened when he was discipled as a freshman last spring and through his experi-ence at Elevate this past summer. Elevate is where this time spent together was made clear to him and became a personal experience for him. Now he’s helping make it an experience for the guys he is discipling in his Village. While not every Resonate disciple has the chance to live with their discipler like Jesus’ disciples did, we are seeing more people choose to push into each other’s lives as part of the discipleship process than ever before. We are trying our best to make disciples who follow Jesus the way His first disciples did.

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By: Craig Lovelace What’s the difference between a church and a business? Is Jesus’ bride nothing more than an organization led by Christians whose members are Christians? I think if that were the case, the writers of the bible would have used different language to describe the church. They would have called it an “organi-zation” or a “corporation.” But we know that’s not what they said, that’s not the language God chose to use. Instead, He describes us as a body, a bride, a living thing that grows and changes and matures as the people of God grow and change and mature. Like all other living things, the church needs to be cared for, protected, led. Like all other living things, the church must do certain things to remain alive. This year, as we seek God's face and His desires for Resonate at the University of Idaho, that truth has become more apparent than ever. Jesus desires to reach students at the U of I but along with that, He desires for His bride to flourish and experience abundant life. His calling for us is clear: we must go back to the basics. We must adopt a survivalist mentality as a body because the living thing that is Jesus’ bride must be cared for. After all,

Jesus takes care of His bride - He lived, and died, and rose again for the good of this bride. If Jesus had a whatever-it-takes mentality, why wouldn’t we? Here’s the beautiful thing: the things that keep us alive, the things that keep the church alive and growing, are simple. God hasn’t called us to complexity, He’s called us to do the simple things that speak to the depths of the souls of men. The gospel is a simple and infinitely powerful message and Jesus is all about the basics. Jesus went to the mountain to pray, invited people to the Kingdom, and called the crowds to receive salvation and be united to Him. And yet, He only did what the Father asked Him to do and lived a perfect life of wisdom and power in the Holy Spirit. That's why we believe we must go back to the basics with a whatever-it-takes attitude. Just like Jesus, we need to pursue deep devotion to the Father by submitting to His word and praying fervently for the work of His Spirit on our campus - it’s an upward relationship. We must have an inward dimen-sion to our lives as well. Like Jesus, we value and pursue other believers in our community

and those we are discipling. And finally, we must have an outward dimension to our lives like Jesus did as we seek and save the lost by the power of the Holy Spirit, so we share the gospel over and over. As I’m sure you’re realizing, there are three dimensions to the balance of a gospel-centered life as we see modeled by Jesus: UP, IN, and OUT. We want to return to the basics of a Christian life with a whatever-it-takes attitude so that we might be the kind of people God wants to use mightily for His glory. The church isn’t a business, the church is Christ’s bride and He loves to see His bride grow, flourish, and be aimed at new life. When we rightly live in the light of the gospel, when we go back to the basics, when we possess a heart that says “I’ll do whatever it takes,” we pray, we live on mission, we invite others into community, and we see God work. In the week prior to writing this we’ve seen two students decide to follow Jesus. Praise God that Jesus is alive, at work, and continually showing us what it means to be people who do whatever it takes to bring glory to His name.

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By: Chris Routen I wonder if the church in Corinth was puzzled by Paul’s words to them in 1 Corinthi-ans 9:22, saying “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” I think about these words often. Paul is clarifying for the church that while his convictions and intentions for engaging culture remain steadfast, his approach changes with his surroundings. The next verse clearly states his motivation, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel.” His thesis is simple: context should dictate a believer’s missional methods for engaging the lost around them. Paul adapted his methods to better connect with the culture he was in, so that even a few might be saved. This is called contextualization: without sinning, adapt to a sinful culture, so that by any means sinful people might hear the gospel. Jesus did it by telling parables that the common people could relate to. Paul did it by giving Old Testament references to the educated Jews in the synagogues. And we as the church are to do it as we engage people in our current, local contexts. As a collegiate church, we know that the deepest need of the thousands of lost students on our campuses is the gospel. This is sure and true. But often students don’t recognize this need, and before the gospel can be shared, trust must be built between the believer and the non-believer. Granting a desire before identifying a need can create a bridge of trust that leads to a willingness to hear the gospel. Because of this, we find ourselves daily asking “What are the desires of college students, and how can we satisfy these in order to fulfill their greatest need of salvation?” What do college students want? A walk down Greek Row on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night will answer that question

definitively. Every college student wants to party. The desire to lose oneself in sinful party culture is a symptom of a deeper problem. At its core, college students party because they want acceptance, to feel wanted, to be “in” with the cool kids. Most Greek houses have bouncers standing at the doors when they throw parties. If you’re not in their social group, you’re not coming in. Admission to a party is acceptance into their group. And if you’re not cool enough, you’re not invited. So how can the church engage college culture? How do we appeal to this desire? We throw parties. But not just any parties – the best house parties on campus. Play the best music, provide free food and drinks, have a bonfire in the backyard, and decorate the house with lights to make it the coolest thing a student can do on any given night. Here’s the catch: we invite everybody. The invitation to a house party is always well received. It says, “We’re cool because we’re throwing a great party, and you’re cool enough to hang out with us. You’re allowed in our house. You can be in our circle.” This is not the script of a movie, this is the story of many of the freshmen, athletes, and Greek students who attend Resonate Church - “I met Christ because what I truly wanted in college was acceptance. I felt this for the first time at a party thrown by a church.” When our church throws a house party, it is with missional intent. We swarm the dorm floors and invite everybody we can find. We understand the fundamental correlation between the reception of the gospel and building unconditional relationships. The invitation to a house party is a stepping-stone to gospel conversation. About a year back, a young leukemia patient made national news when his home

town of San Francisco, California transformed three city blocks into a real-life Gotham City. Every heroic scenario this young, batman-lov-ing boy could have imagined of was acted out by his community. San Francisco was changed into exactly what this boy dreamed. Thousands of people lined the streets to make him feel loved and celebrated. And all this was done despite the boy having absolutely nothing to offer the city, the corporate executives, lawyers, policemen, or adults. It wasn’t done because of the boy’s accomplishments or credentials, but simply because he was loved. Walking into a Resonate house party is like that. The local church will provide the college experience that incoming students dream they’d have. If it’s your first time coming to one of our parties, we prayed that you’d be here. You don’t just get to be around the cool kids – you are the cool kid. As you walk through the front door, the speakers are bumping your favorite song at 95 decibels. The 6-foot 4-inch athlete with tattoos and a high top fade gives you a hug. The fraternity guys in the kitchen begin chanting your name when they see you. The person who invited you tackles you from behind and throws you a soda. You meet 150 new people that you didn’t know yesterday. People ask you real questions about your life, your passions, and your future goals. Soon the realization sets in that everybody who threw this party believes that Jesus is the cause for celebration – and they’re not afraid to say it. You’re in disbelief as all your previous concep-tions about Christians being boring are shattered. You’ll leave three hours later saying, “That was the coolest party I’ve ever been to.” Tomorrow morning you’ll wake up and remember the whole thing. Best of all, you’re invited to the next one. No, we didn’t throw this party for us. We threw it for you.

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By: Chad McMillan Recently, I helped my daughter with her homework. It was one of those times that even though both her teacher and I had explained the concept that lay in front of us, she struggled to understand it. As much as I tried to explain fractions in new ways or bring in life context and various strategies, she still couldn’t grasp the how-to. Unfortunately for her, math isn’t like writing cursive or learning another similarly less-than-necessary skill. It is one of those things that she will need in life, and so her understanding and mastery of the idea is necessary both now and for the future. Had it been sentence diagramming or prime numbers, I’d likely have let it go. Finally I declared, “You just have to start doing it. You’ll understand it once you begin.” As the words slipped out of my mouth, they came right back at me. I realized that so often this same principle plays out in our spiritual lives. We don’t understand a particular concept before us, or we struggle to know how to put it into practice. And while

God is patient with us, sometimes He whispers, “Just start doing it. You’ll understand it as you go.” Nowhere is this idea more applicable in our lives than in the area of giving. It doesn’t make sense to us that giving is so intricately tied to our spiritual maturity and faith in the Lord. We struggle to understand that an all-powerful God wants us to give back to Him. It is perplexing that, if we are already strug-gling in the area of finances, adding another obligation to the mix will bring something other than more chaos. At Resonate, we use the phrase, “We don’t want generosity FROM you. We want it FOR you.” The idea is that generosity is as much about the needs outside of our own world as it is about the needs within our hearts. The living out of generosity gives us a frame-work with which to gauge how we are maturing in Christ. And it is through giving we are transformed; we don’t wait for transformation before we begin. The process of God working in our lives is revealed as we begin to answer questions like: Am I able to leverage the seen

for the unseen? Am I able to trust God with every aspect of my life? Can I find joy in the midst of sacrifice? Regardless of how we answer those questions, God promises that if we will just take the next right step, He will reveal to us more of who He has created us to be. His promise starts to work in our lives that if we “just start doing it, we’ll understand it as we go.” It is then we see Jesus’ words come true that God takes care of birds and flowers, so surely He will take care of us (Matthew 6:26). We live out the concept that God models to us what we should do for others (1 John 4:19). We learn how giving is the only cure for our tendencies toward materialism (Philippians 4:11-12). In this, my daughter has become my teacher. She has helped me see that I don’t need all the answers before I begin. Often, it is through the process of doing that I actually learn the lessons of life. ...Now if I could only find a usefor cursive.

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By: Josh Martin “Reach the Freshmen, reach the world.” You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it. And it’s true. College students are among the top 1% of the world’s influencers. These freshmen become upperclassmen, who become graduates, who become world-changers. They are strategic to the core. And the first year of college is foundational in establishing commu-nity and rhythms that sustain and enrich their experience. It takes a lot of resources and man hours to reach freshmen, and we are more committed than ever to stay the course. But what happens after those first 30 credits? When the skills and knowledge and ramen noodles of year one come to a close. What do we do differently—uniquely—for a group of Sophomores to Seniors? We call them SUP’s (sophomores and up). How do we shape the students in our SUP culture into leaders and givers, not followers and consum-ers? That question has been on our hearts and our white boards for years now. If you are the oldest of your brothers and sisters, then you will understand this illustration. Whether it was spoken or not (most times it was), there was an intuitive expectation of you—as the oldest—to be the kind of person worth looking up to. Being the oldest meant you were a leader. You were either a good leader or a bad leader, but there was no such thing as a non-leader. My younger brother would do anything I would do, whether good or bad. He was watching, and I was modeling, at all times, in all things. This is the picture we want SUP’s to see when they think of their role in our church. They need to be men and women worthy of being looked up to. They need to lead out in mission, community, generosity, and evange-lism. It’s a shame when little brother has to step up because big brother isn’t walking in his calling. We’ve asked our SUP’s to own the calling, bear the weight, be examples, and invite the freshmen to follow. To sum it up in a sentence, freshmen

learn skills and knowledge and SUP’s learn to walk in wisdom and power. In this subtle transition you find out if they will stay the course for the rest of their life. We see this model from Jesus. He was never satisfied with the disciples simply knowing how to do something; He committed to making a disciple into someone. Person-hood is what Jesus sought. A person so filled with the Holy Spirit, they learn to walk as He did. No one walked in more wisdom and power than Jesus, and He invites us into that as we mature as followers. Wisdom and power is the fruit we bear when we learn to battle through failure and frustration. Wisdom and power is the purpose and practice of the Holy Spirit granting us breakthrough. The whole Christian experience is learning how to battle against our old nature, and learning how to lead others to battle. So many people leave the faith because they don’t know how to battle, they don’t have wisdom, and they don’t walk in power. We’ve committed to shape our culture around this truth: We want to make disciples who make disciples teaching them to battle through failure and frustration and lean on the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and power to lead them to breakthrough. Over the last semester we’ve seen unprecedented growth in the SUP community. We currently have 18 villages for SUP’s, having added 3 more during the fall semester. Our average attendance from the SUP Sunday service has increased by 75 people weekly. We are praying that by May we will average 350 in worship and see 35 death to life stories from SUP’s. Changing a culture is difficult. But we’re seeing God grow up a generation of older brothers and sisters who desire to walk in wisdom and power—in step with the Spirit—and have impact on the campus and the world. Continue to pray for us as we continue to ask God to mature our SUP’s and make them more like Jesus.

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