February 6, 2019
2019 Christian Union Summer Getaway
Join Christian Union leaders, staff, alumni, friends, and ministry partners (and their families) for the third annual Christian Union Summer Getaway, July 13 - 20, 2019. Enjoy the beautiful CAMP-of-the-WOODS, in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, for a week of spiritual and physical refreshment. Registration is now open at www.CUSummerGetaway.orgChristian Union's friend Eric Metaxas will be there, and he invites you to join him!Learn more about the getaway details:February 5, 2019
Thankful for Son's Engagement with Christian Union
"My wife, Miryan, and I met at Penn (many more years ago than either of us would care to admit). Miryan found the Lord there. Our oldest, Matthew, is a sophomore transfer (from Rice) who just finished his first semester as a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics major at Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences.When he left our home in Los Angeles last year and headed to school, one of our most fervent prayers for Matthew was that he might find a committed community of faith, willing and able to confirm, strengthen, and encourage him in his walk.January 30, 2019
Present Day Miracles; Authentically Seeking God; Encouragement is Key; She Asked Everyone to Pray; Unique from Day One: Pro-Life is Pro-Science; The Christian Union Summer Getaway and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. — Ephesians 3:20-21
January 28, 2019
In Finland, Camille Zimmerman, Columbia ’18, Continues to Lead in Prayer
Columbia University refers to her as its “Best-Ever Basketball Player.” Camille Zimmerman ’18 is “the highest scoring basketball player ever in Columbia Athletics history.” She was also, up until graduation last spring, considered a leader at Columbia in more ways than one. Camille led by example on and off the court, earning the profound admiration of teammates and the athletic department. She was also a spiritual leader, as Christian Union ministry fellow Ava Ligh can attest.January 28, 2019
Christian Union Teaching Fellow
Columbia University
"If then you have been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." - Colossians 3:1-4
In Colossians 3, the apostle Paul reminds his audience of what God has already done for them in Christ. They have died with Christ to both the penalty and power of sin, and likewise they participate in Jesus' own resurrection life through the indwelling of the Spirit. The old has been done away with; the new creation has arrived!Yet Paul does not stop there,
January 25, 2019
Student Spotlight: Jose Reyes '19
Jose Reyes is part of the Class of 2019 at Brown University. The biology major, on a neuroscience track, hails from El Paso, Texas. In addition to being a student leader with Christian Union at Brown, he tutors peers in organic chemistry and immunology, and he is also part of an Alzheimer's research lab. Recently, Jose shared his thoughts about the important qualities of a leader and mentor:January 21, 2019
Salon with Mark Reynolds
On Thursday January 17, Christian Union New York welcomed over thirty guests to hear Mark Reynolds (of Redeemer City to City) teach on church planting in global cities. Through a Salon entitled The New Frontier of Mission, Reynolds outlined effective ways for Church planters and Christian leaders to engage the city around them, along with advice on how to avoid common pitfalls.The central point of the discussion focused on what Reynolds described as the “Two-Cities” theory. As outlined in a simple diagram Reynolds handed out at the start of his talk, the church can often be described as one smaller “second city” within the larger “first city.”January 16, 2019
The Global Sexual Revolution; Temptation!; My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience; Cornell Students' Summer of Service; How History's Revivals Teach us to Pray and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?— Psalm 85:6
January 14, 2019
Christian Union Ministry Director
Cornell University
Temptation to sin (and actually sinning) is, unfortunately, an abiding aspect of the Christian life. How do we get better at resisting?Genuine change comes about by the Lord’s doing. If we want to be people who relish (not perfectly, but genuinely) righteousness over sin, Christ over counterfeits, our wills need to be changed. How does God do that?
January 9, 2019
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. - Isaiah 54:10It was about 3:30 am, January 9, 2018. One year ago the rain unleashed over the coastal community, loosening boulders the size of firetrucks from the mountain range. These tore through mature trees, gathering them along on torrents that ripped through dry creek beds, channels now overwhelmed with the explosive force of earth racing the short miles from the craggy mountain range, through homes and businesses, to the beaches below.
January 2, 2019
Jonathan Haidt on the Coddling of the American Mind; Finding Your Five; Leaving Religion at Home: Engaging Religious Thought and Action in American Society; Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag; A Heart for Serving Neighbors and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!— Psalm 31:23-24
January 1, 2019
Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution and broken it? Have you ever set goals and then realized by the end of the year they remain incomplete? If you are anything like me, I’ve done this too many times. When I wrote my resolutions and goals in the past, like many of you, I had every intention to complete them, but life got in the way! Before I knew it, the year was drawing to a close and I had little if any progress. I made a decision to find a better way to handle the personal life change and goals that I wanted to achieve. Noted leadership author Dr. John Maxwell introduced me to a solution called, The Rule of Five.
December 19, 2018
A Christmas Concert; Calling Believers to a Ten-Day Fast in January; Look Forward to a Better Christmas; I'm Good, I Think...; Friday Night Lights; Everyone Believes in a Virgin Birth; Three Ways to Help Develop Christian Leaders and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.— John 1:14
December 17, 2018
Beyond my fear of snakes (and clowns), I have a deep-seated fear that the people entrusted to me (both my children and my Penn students) will hear from me an anti-Gospel of “Do better, try harder…just quit sinning and then everything will be okay!” The moralism message that most people have heard since they were toddlers (when Mom and Dad would say, “Don’t treat the toilet as a hot-tub ever again!” and we obey in order to win their approval) and which continues as we get older (when the Police Officer says “I got you going 45 in a 25…” and our heart sinks because we know we’ve broken the law and we’ll get a hefty ticket) is one that is often-times equated with the message of faith. The anti-Gospel is not particularly good news. It says “If you improve your behavior, then God will accept you.” Both progressive and evangelical churches fall into this trap.
December 6, 2018
The Witch-Hunt Culture; What is Jesus Worth?; John the Baptist Points to the Real Hope of Advent; A Powerful Lesson as We Remember President Bush; Ambassadors of Reconciliation; What Should Be the Goal of the Pro-Life Movement?; Three Ways to Help Develop Christian Leaders and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.— John 1:14-16
December 4, 2018
Salon with Aaron Renn
Christian Union New York hosted a salon titled, "The Fall of the Household" on December 4, 2018. Aaron Renn discussed the challenges posed to the family and the church by the changing nature and function of the household.December 4, 2018
I was recently rereading a chapter from a book that God used to get me through a very tough semester when I was a freshman in college. In the last chapter of The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee reflects on the story in the Gospels (only a few days before Jesus dies on the cross) when Mary comes to a dinner uninvited, breaks an alabaster jar of ointment—worth a staggering amount—and anoints Jesus with the jar’s entire contents (Mark 14:3–9). Even the disciples were indignant and cried out, “Why this waste!” Judas’s voice may have been the loudest among the disciples (John 12:4–6), but he was not alone (Matt 26:8–9). Nee remarks, “Human reasoning said this was really too much; it was giving the Lord more than His due.”
December 2, 2018
Gifts Must be Postmarked by Dec. 31, 2018
Congress made the IRA Charitable Rollover permanent. If you are age 70½ or older, you can make a gift to Christian Union by directly distributing funds tax free from your individual retirement account.
November 30, 2018
Christian Union Dedicates Ministry Center at Columbia
November 29, 2018
