Free Resource Friday | 9-20-13

We search the web high and low to bring you quality resources at the wonderful cost of $0. You can grab last week's resource here. 

Today's Free Resource » Getting The Most Out of A Retreat (Blog) 

This resource was a blog post recently published by Josh Moran. He serves as the Assistant Director at UVA Chi Alpha and is an avid blogger. Some of our staff in the district are frequent readers of his blog and we found this post extremely helpful for staff and students alike. 

It's a simple post with five main ideas that will help people process and prepare for an amazing encounter at a retreat of any sort. Here's just a brief snippet below. 

1. Embrace the Community. I mean micro and macro community. More than likely you came on the retreat with your Core Group. Embrace them. Love them. Get to know them. But also get to know the entire community. Make new friends. Submit yourself to the community. I believe the community of God can do a beautiful work in a person’s life if they’ll submit to it. Yeah, they maybe wouldn’t be the friends you’d pick, but they’re probably better.

Read Now »

We'd love to know if this a resource that you'd consider using or have used in the past. If you have a resource you'd like to share, just email us! 

A Suprisingly Strategic Holiday

This is a post by Blane Young. He serves on staff with Chi Alpha at American University and completed his CMIT through DC Chi Alpha several years ago. You can connect with him via his blog.  

 I used to work at a church and so naturally, Easter and Christmas were holidays when we were able to connect with hundreds of people in our community that may have otherwise never attended a service or been impacted by an outreach project. But it was during my internship several years ago that I realized that Thanksgiving was one of, if not the most, strategic holiday for building relationship with international students. 

I was surprised and I don't think I fully understood how true this was until I attended Mosaic Conference. It's a conference designed specifically for international students and provides an opportunity for them to have an unforgettable experience during Thanksgiving. 

I've had the privilege of attending for the past few years and let me tell you - it was incredible. To sing with over 50+ students in multiple languages is an experience that I won't ever forget. I met students from countries where Christianity is hardly spoken of and I found myself in multiple conversations explaining the role of faith in my life. 

We did everything from a talent show to shopping in NYC on black friday to offering classes on various topics including culture shock, financial planning and a survey of the Bible.  

I'm still friends with several of the students that attended and I know that they're forever grateful to Karen Keyser & Josh Fairchild for coordinating this event.  

As students are away from their families and their friends at school have returned home - I ask that we would pray for love and hope to be clear in the relationships each student experiences at Mosaic.  

Will you join me in praying over this conference, especially as student are deciding whether to attend in the next few weeks?  

Free Resource Friday | 9-13-13

We search the web high and low to bring you quality resources at the wonderful cost of $0. You can grab last week's resource here. 

Today's Free Resource » HD Videos

This resource has been used by Blane Young , primarily while working as the Communications Pastor at Family Life Church. He is now on staff at Chi Alpha at American University. For those that need a video background for a worship service or for announcements - these are perfect. Not only are they free (in terms of cost) but they are also royalty-free (which means that you can use them whoever you'd like without incurring any fees or breaking any laws). 

We understand. It can be so easy to get caught up in the tech/media side of ministry or ignore it altogether. So, we hope this helps! You can find 25+ videos that have a multitude of uses! 

Make sure to show off your footage to all  your friends, we promise, they'll be jealous. 

Sign Up for Free HD Footage Provided by Video Blocks

We'd love to know if this a resource that you'd consider using or have used in the past. If you have a resource you'd like to share, just email us!