Dear friends,

Hello from the University of Illinois at Springfield! Our names are David Lasley and John Kelly, and we want to tell you a little bit about what your support allowed us to do this summer. This summer we had an opportunity to serve the National Association of Christian Campus Ministries (the NACCM) by traveling to Christ in Youth (CIY) conferences and church camps. In addition to providing whatever support the conference and camp teams needed, we gave a workshop entitled: “Fish out of Water: How to Keep Your Faith on a Secular Campus.” After a great deal of prayer, research and talking it over, we decided that our means of transportation for the summer would be a minivan. This summer was a fantastic ride, and we could never have done it without your willingness to support us. The following is a little bit of personal info from the both of us, an insight into what we learned this summer.

John: My summer was an experience in discipleship, road-tripping, worship and learning a deeper meaning of faith. Over the summer, David and I had the opportunity to invest so much time in so many high schoolers, and to share with them the opportunities for spiritual growth on college campus – which for me and most students I see growing, comes through campus ministry. My experience on the road is a time I will never forget – getting to see about half the country, since our driving destinations were (in this order): Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and lastly Oregon. What was really cool were the different styles of worship I experienced from the high schoolers all over the country. Their sincere passion and desire to grow pushed me to serve them with all I had. I also learned about faith. Since I began to follow Christ, I had thought that I trusted the Lord and knew what it meant to believe. This summer, I learned that faith is so much more than words – but faith inspires God-filled action, regardless of the circumstances. During the summer I learned that I couldn’t trust in myself, in my friends, or most especially in our questionable Dodge Caravan – but no matter what happened, I could trust in the Lord. I may fail, I might feel like my friend had failed me, and I know for sure that I can’t put it past the van, but by the end of the summer, I realized that no matter where we ended up or what we were doing, God was in control, and I could trust that His will would be done. Thank you so much for letting me learn these powerful lessons, and for letting me experience God from across the U.S.

David: This summer was a time of great change in my life in which God taught me about leadership, showed how He was working in high schoolers and led me to put my faith in Him alone, all while being exposed to His beautiful creation. I will not soon forget traveling across the U.S. in a van, learning about myself, my world around me and the God I love and desire to serve. The summer began with God convicting me and removing layers of lies so that He could replace them with His truth. He did this in a variety of ways, including through two men He had appointed as leaders in the Body. During the 2^nd and 3^rd week, the CIY morning speaker, who was a Professor from Florida Christian College named Les, invested a great deal of time in me, sharing his faith with me. Over late night junk food, we found that we had a lot in common; specifically the origins of our faiths, which were started in our homes. Through Les, I learned how easy it can be, after being exposed to the truth for so long, to be a Pharisee. My Pharisaical pride, exposed in my trying to “say it right” or “get it right,” blinded me (and still does at times) from my need of grace given only through Jesus Christ. Les was one of two important male leaders in my life this summer. The other was Aaron Pelsue, a worship leader who invested time in me at possibly the most difficult point in the summer for me. The insights and example Aaron set have stayed with me as I learn about leading others into worship through music on Friday nights at our campus ministry’s service.

God’s work through campus ministry, which was the reason we traveled this summer, kept us looking for the high school students who were hungry for love, life and community. And every week God would bless us, bringing at least one or two high school students who were living out their desire to love God and love people with their whole lives. Along with these, we were blessed with so many others who were close to taking the step or had recently taken it. These students were sources of encouragement to continue the ministry each week, giving hope that God’s light shines in even the darkest places.

I would say the biggest lesson I’m learning from the summer is about grace. I started reading the book of Galatians during the fifth week and I still come back to it. I was opened to a deeper meaning of grace and faith in Jesus Christ: “the redemptive work of the cross”—what He did; what He is doing, and what He will do because of that sacrifice. John (you know…the other guy in the van) was the one who said these words and they’ve stuck with me ever since. This faith in God’s unconditional love and grace looks pretty different to me now than it did before. For one, “trusting” no longer means simply paying lip service; instead, it means living for God in the midst of inconvenient or just downright difficult circumstances. Also I’m learning how important it is not only to desire spiritual maturity, but to take time to really trust that I don’t have to prove anything in order to be saved. Because of the way our Father looks at us through Christ’s blood, I really can take the time “to be ok” (thanks Robbie Seay Band), to enjoy nature, to put my hand out the van window and feel the wind push it back, and to let out a smile even when I don’t understand what the heck is going on. I’m starting to believe that these things are no longer wastes of time, but serious steps toward living out my faith in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Overall, I guess to really sum up my portion, just read Galatians 3 and 5:1-6 (or the whole book J ) and Psalm 116. I couldn’t get away from them. Thank you so much for ministering to high school students, John and myself this summer.

God used your generous support this summer to give the two of us an amazing, spiritual adventure that we will never forget. Thank you so much for that opportunity and blessing.

John Kelly and David Lasley

Jkell05s@uis.edu dlasl01s@uis.edu

We'll be posting some pictures on here as soon as we get the chance---hopefully by the end of the week!

soon and very soon

just to let everyone know...we will be posting more stuff on here (i.e. pictures and wrap-up posts) as soon as we can. R.A. training just ended and classes are starting on Monday so hopefully after the whirlwind of check -ins, new residents, and new classes, we'll be able to give some wrap up stuff.

once again I know I speak for John too when I say thank you so much to everyone who has taken any part in this ministry. thank you for allowing God to use you. (He did, by the way :) ) He was and is totally being glorified. Praise God that we all got/get to be a part of that.

love you guys

tty soon!


-dave

really quick...

Hey guys!

It's been a little while since we last updated. Hopefully you guys will understand...the last week has been crazy. I don't have much time but I thought I would try to leave something on here. We're currently spending a few hours at my Uncle James' house and just kind of relaxing and then we'll have to be back on campus for a meeting.

We haven't really had the internet available to us at SIU Carbondale so it has been kind of challenging to find any time to really sit down and write out everything that has gone on. Hopefully this will give some idea of how stuff is going.

Extremely quick recap:

Pennsylvania was good. Definitely a lot of deception and spiritual warfare that went on that week with a variety of stuff, but God wasn't phased and definitely has been bringing us through it all. I cannot express how important your prayers have been to John and I, especially the last few weeks. I have found so much of my strength in knowing that we have the support of more than a few members of the Body of Christ. God used the last few weeks' ups and downs to really teach me a lot about His grace and the importance of community in my life. Clearly, He's still teaching me (and I think He always will be changing and restoring us), but the last few weeks definitely felt like they were "crash courses" if you will.

So we're in Carbondale now and the first week was good. By far the biggest conference we've had this summer. Around 1800 people came. There has been a lot of walking and a lot of sweating this last week. The temperature was scorching up until the storms that came through on Friday.

On an extremely high note, we met THREE (not one, not two, but THREE...) campus ministers last week at SIU. It was so encouraging to find other people who were not only aware of our message, but were passionate and involved in the ministry. I can't remember their names right now but if you ask me in two weeks, hopefully I can look them up. All the campus ministers were there with their church's high school youth group, just helping out with the day to day stuff. Having them around really was encouraging.

So yeah, keeping this short, the CIY staff is good, the interns are fun, and the Bible College reps are pretty awesome as well. We are surrounded by a great group of people and we're looking forward to another week here at Carbondale. Once again thank you so much for your prayer support.

On a side note, kind of looking ahead---We're leaving for Oregon Friday morning. We've prayed that His will would be done for this summer and we are confident that Oregon is where we are called to be a week from today. We would ask for prayer as we hope to reach students in a very unchurched region of the States. Myrtle got new tires and an oil change a couple days ago and will be looked at by a mechanic who is apparently a Lasley family friend. Praise God for continuing to provide random awesome people in our lives!

That's all I've got for now. We'll try to update before we leave for Oregon if at all possible.
love you guys. thanks so much for participating in this ministry with us!

-dave

p.s. the weekend has been awesome. 4 people from UIS came to visit and we had a blast. Thanks guys! We were definitely reminded of the amazing community we have at UIS. cya in a few weeks!!

wow...crazy

Hey guys!
So wow. First off, I (and by "I," I mean "David"...although i think John would say the same thing...) want to apologize for not updating sooner. It actually wasn't our fault. We spent last week at Brandon Spring Campground with Covenant Presbytery(mr. spellcheck...er...bradjward could you help me with spelling???!?!?) Senior High Camp. no internet or phone reception could be found.

So yeah, sorry about that. I'll try to make up for it now by doing a recap from my perspective of the rest of Michigan, our week with Matt and Heather (-Trammel+Wallace = married!!!), and what we're up to this week.


So Michigan...wow...

Michigan was crazy. It was crazy because there were so many things, good and bad, jam packed into one week (although i suppose that has happened every week). For me, Michigan was a huge week. John and I were blessed with an amazing team around us. The Bible College reps were very awesome to work with and the director, Jason French, really did a great job of keeping stuff organized for the week. John was sick for the majority of the week (along with just about everyone else except me), so the team definitely had to fight to be on top of their game. Everyone handled it pretty well, especially John, who had a lot of stuff on his plate. Praise God for putting such an encouraging guy in my life!

So about Michigan being huge for me. There was this guy named Les there---

He's the guy in the black Levi-Strauss shirt with no interest in smiling for the camera :).

Les is a Professor who teaches New Testament and Greek at Florida Christian College. He was the morning speaker for both the Savannah conference and the one in Adrian. This meant that we got to spend two full weeks with him. The second week, especially, I got to spend some great time with him. What was so huge for me was the fact that Les' faith story was similar to my own. Being raised in the church, there was no dramatic conversion, but rather slow change over a long period of time. Hearing about his walk was a breath of fresh air for me, learning about the struggles of those with "Christian" upbringings. Among a bunch of other things, he talked about how pride can really plague those of us raised in the church and prevent us from seeing how broken we really are. This really hit me hard in Michigan. We had several long conversations and generally had a really good time talking. I'm still chewing on all the lessons learned. I guess i'm just re-thinking how deep the Father's love must be for us that He would love even those of us who know the good news and would prefer to so many times ignore it and live for the approval of man. Thankfully I think I journaled 20000 pages that week. I can't honestly describe to you guys how important the time with this man was for me. I'm definitely seeing a need for spiritual mentors in my life--people willing to step up and lead those younger in their faith. John and I have been talking about how we don't see very many guys who will take on that role. The Body definitely needs more of them I think! Praise God for this example of a spiritual mentor--a man who is passionate about loving God and willing to invest in people like myself!

Clearly, as can be seen from the picture, we didn't just talk. Les, John and I became pretty good friends by the end of the second week together and had several late night runs for junk food. The Spotted Cow was probably the best spot in Adrian. Ice cream was incredible and they had lots of nachos (for anyone who knows me well, this was definitely a huge bonus :) ).

Also in Adrian was the Aaron Pelsue Band. They led worship all week and did a great job with it. I was way excited about the Aaron Pelsue Band because Aaron has a similar range as mine (haven't found many worship leaders with a lower voice like mine). Hearing him lead worship and use his gifts (even though they weren't normal) was really encouraging for me.


So that was Adrian as briefly as I could manage.


Brandon Springs---





So Matt and Heather were there :)


Matt actually was the nightly speaker for the week. He did a great job. He talked about the two greatest commandments that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:34-39. Loving God and loving people. Such a huge message for me that I'm constantly going back to thanks to all the time I've been able to spend with matt. Matt and Heather's heart for God encourages and challenges me.

It was great to spend a week with those two. John and I were kept busy most of the week. We led small groups, mentor groups, nightly worship and special committees--- John co-led the missions committee with an awesome guy named Mitch and I co-led the choir with Heather and an amazing lady named Carol.

So the campsite was beautiful. It was right on a lake with an absolutely beautiful view from the deck of the cafeteria.

So i'd love to spend a couple minutes on two amazing people we spent time with this week. One of them was a mutual friend of mine and John and the other was in my small group.

1.) R.B.



This guy was so encouraging last week. He was the dean of the camp, and an amazing leader for both the staff and students alike. R.B. led the "energizers" every morning, which were basically a half hour's worth of songs and dancing. R.B. would literally yell and jump every morning in ways i never thought possible. His heart for kids was incredible and his desire to unify both the students and the staff was very awesome for John and myself. Praise God for male leaders who love God and pour themselves out into the ministry to which they've been called!

2. Adam Jones


Guy on the far left. Adam was a huge encouragement to me last week. It was amazing to see God working in and through such a young guy. It blows my mind that there are actual people seeking God in high school. High school is such a hard time and I can't imagine what it would really be like to try and put God first during those years. Adam showed a love for God that pumped me up last week. Thank God that He is working in even some of the darkest places!


So that was a brief look at Brandon Springs. There's so much more but it would take me all night...


So Aunt Adell and Uncle Dennis...we've stayed with them for three weekends now. Praise God for surprising us with amazing unexpected blessings (such as amazing Christian people). We got in from Brandon Springs Friday night and chilled out and were excited to realize that Saturday would be our first full day off when we didn't have any responsibilities at all. We took full advantage of it by going to the mall, the music store, the ice cream store (yum), and the movie theatre where we saw Pirates of the Carribean 2. When we got back we chilled out and read. It was an amazing sabbath---a Super Summer Sabbath Saturday as John called it.

So two days ago we were at the Land in between the Lakes in Kentucky/Tennessee, yesterday we were in Columbus, Ohio, today we're right outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Praise God for safe travel and an amazing weekend.

wow...crazy. We're both really excited about this week at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. A lot of teams that we've seen at different camps are all kind of grouped together at this one. Can't wait to see what happens.

i think that's it for now...simply because I need some sleep. have an awesome day! Thank you so much for your prayer and your support. I cannot say how important you guys are to us!

love you guys

-dave

a post!

Our second conference is halfway over and I had a little free time so I thought I'd update a little about the week. After an amazing week at Milligan College in Tennessee, John and I headed to Savannah, Georgia. The drive was absolutely beautiful.

From Tennessee---->




All the way to Savannah, Georgia --->






We are staying at the Savannah College of Art and Design which has been absolutely amazing. The campus is beautiful and it has been a joy to spend time here. This is my first time in Georgia (or anywhere else in the southeast for that matter) and I continue to be astounded by my surroundings.

The campus itself seems to be in inner city Savannah. We haven't had a ton of time to take in the sights, but we HAVE been to a couple cool places. Savannah is like an historian's paradise! Today, John and I were walking back from lunch and without planning it, stumbled across a random revolutionary war fort AND a memorial to THE Kashmir Polaski!



OK honestly, if it weren't for John, I would've missed the sights entirely because I was too busy being hot (heat index 106).


Anyway, we're staying in a really sweet house on campus, complete with spiral stair case and air conditioning. Our house is on Pulaski square and we're living in Pulaski house. Strangely enough, the Pulaski memorial is within a couple mile's walking distance from the area. :) Here's a quick look at the outside of the house. If there's time, we'll stick some up from the inside.---



The rooms are amazing and we're totally being spoiled. The food is TOO good and i'll probably walk away weighing at least 50 pounds more than when i arrived.

So enough about the stuff. How bout somethin about the people?

We have a smaller group this week, but we're still having a good time. John and I were excited to find out that Joey and Jonathan from Roanoke Bible College (who were with us at Milligan) would be at Savannah.


So we followed them down here and are now sharing a room with them again. They are amazing guys and it has been nice to learn even more about them this week. The rest of the team is a lot of fun too. There's a pizza place down the road called The Mellow Mushroom, which has some of the most beautiful pizza I've had in a while, with a nice, laid back atmosphere. We all went there the first night and got to know each other a bit.


Went there twice in one weekend. Good times...good food....good people.


As far as my personal thoughts, I've had a lot of fun. I would be lying if I were to say this week has been easy. The two conferences have looked totally different from the location, all the way down to the way staff members interact. This isn't a bad thing, but it has meant that we've been faced with different sets of challenges than we had at Milligan. It hasn't been easy, but it has been good, i think...as if i could really understand everything that is going on around me. :)

Also, I just want to make a quick plug for the book i'm reading. Perelandra is currently blowing my mind. That's all :)

Not sure what else to say. God is good and doesn't change in the midst of any situation. We have been richly blessed. Please pray for us that we would trust in Him and remember that.

cya guys
love you and miss you all
-dave

And it shall be called....

What's up guys?

After 24 hours on and off a Greyhound bus (with stops in St. Louis, Effingham, Terre Haute, Indianapolis, some random town, Columbus, some other random town, Pittsburgh, Du Bois, and State College), I landed in Lock Haven, PA, where I was shuttled to THIS!!!!!







And it shall be called....


Myrtle



Thank you for your prayers. The drive back from Pennsylvania went very well. There were so many what-ifs on the trip. I couldn't believe how everything worked out. That doesn't mean everything has/is going exactly how we planned it. But it's clear that it is going, and it's going well. And it's because of God, not us. Praise God!




John just got back from his family trip like, 5 minutes ago. Tomorrow we're headed to Lincoln to get Myrtle checked out and registered. After that, it'll be about time to hit the road. Not really sure what else to say right now.


more to come soon!

have a good night!
-dave

An Update! Woo Hoo!

Hello all!
So I(David, this time) just want to start out by saying that I'm getting really excited right now about the summer. A lot of people have been really encouraging to us during our preparations for this trip, giving us a lot of strength to continue.

Quick note--- if you're reading this blog for the first time, our previous post has more information about our purpose for starting it. Regardless of who you are or where you come from, thanks so much for reading this.

I opened up Biblegateway.com today. Yeah yeah so did John in the last blog...i figure you guys can somehow find a way to manage :). Anyway, the verse was Romans 12:10--"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." It was a great verse on its own, but I wanted to read it in the context of the chapter, so I read all of Romans 12 and found this--

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."
Romans 12:4-13

Thank you so much for reading our blog, loving us, praying for us, financially supporting us and/or in any other way, participating in this ministry. We are all equal members in it, though we have different gifts. Not one is more important than the other, rather, we are bringing all of our gifts together by the grace of God to work as one unit, one body.

a few updates--

1.) The workshop preparation is going well. As we reflect upon our experiences as college students, we are seeing community as one of the main reasons for our spiritual growth. This looks like it will be one of the key points in our workshop. We both believe that it is absolutely crucial for freshman believers to seek out a group of students to challenge them and build them up. It has definitely been a huge part of our lives. John and I have been blessed with an amazing group of students at UIS who God has used to challenge and strengthen us in different ways. We want to share these experiences with students so that they will see how important the body of Christ will be for them when they get to college.

2.) God continues to blow our minds with this whole thing (remember those untraceable paths?). We recently received enough money to get moving on purchasing the van and paying for its basic expenses(registration, insurance, etc). This puts us at the halfway mark in our support raising, which will now be focused on getting resources for the workshop and fuel for the vehicle. We will updating soon about the status of our vehicle.

3.) A few new things on the blog--our schedule can now be seen toward the bottom of the side bar. We have also made available a picture of John with horns and sharp, pointy teeth. :)

Random news: My little sister is graduating tonight! I'm in the north woods (Nett Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota) celebrating with her this week. She'll be heading to the U of Minnesota-Twin Cities in the fall. Congrats Em!

Well, I think that's about it. I'm sure there'll be more to come soon.


have an amazing day!
-dave