It's the Climb

Hey Student Leadership Team!! (or “Hey Ya’ll” as they say here in Tennessee :)

My name is Meredith Tarplee and I graduated from AU in May of 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree  in Psychology and Sociology.  I joined the Student Leadership team as a junior when I served as a Peer Mentor and then again my senior year as a Prison Ministry Coordinator.  Currently I am living in Knoxville, TN and working at Youth Villages. Youth Villages is a social services organization that provides CCFT (Comprehensive Child and Family Therapy) for at –risk youth and their families.  My position is Clinical Supervisor for the company’s In-Home Program.

I could fill hundreds of pages with heartfelt stories, hilarious moments, and cherished memories of my time at AU, but for now I will share with you one of the greatest lessons I learned during my time as a Student Leader. I hope that it can encourage some of you. 

I was so blessed to cross paths with so many people that encouraged me, challenged me, and showed me what it really means to walk by faith.  I think we can all agree that being a part of Student Leadership has it’s challenges.  In the midst of trying to balance classes, jobs, relationships, friends, and hobbies (just to name a few) life can be stressful.  

My biggest stronghold when I first began as a Student Leader was believing that I had to do everything myself (because who knows better than me right?.... wrong!).  This is a lot of pressure and a very stressful position to put yourself in.  But this is where I learned what faith is: Faith is working and walking in a position where if God doesn’t come through you are in trouble. 

 

I realize this is much easier said than done and nobody desires to be “in trouble”.  But let’s look at it this way…if we know we can do something…what do we need God for? Living by faith requires you to be dependent and desperate for God to move.  Desperate? Dependent?....not typically how we want to describe ourselves, but this is where we are allowing God to intervene and  bless the work we are doing. 

When I am struggling to live by faith I catch myself saying things like:

“I can’t figure this out..”

“There isn’t time for me to..”

“I don’t have what I need to..”

“I won’t get enough volunteers..”

Does any of this sound familiar??  It is an easy trap to fall into because of what the world expects us to be; which is to be independent, to get things done, and to do it efficiently.  Sounds difficult, right??

 “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” - James 1: 2-4

As a leader you are going to be put into situations or put yourself in a situation where you are "in over your head.”  Let your vision be bigger than your worries.  See your struggles and challenges as opportunities to grow in faith.

How do we do this??

First of all, get involved in something bigger than yourself. 

Secondly, encourage each other (Negativity is toxic).

Pray about it.

Trust that God will come through and he will.

“Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for what he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4: 6-7

I am so thankful that I had teachers, leaders, and friends in my life who taught me to see that God is bigger than my problems.  It is such a relief to know that I don’t have to do anything by myself. Rely on God and he will surely bless you and bring you peace regarding any challenge that comes your way.

As a part of the Prison Ministry we held a day camp for kids with incarcerated parents every other Saturday.  This is a picture of a group that we were able to take to the Indianapolis Zoo.

Thank you all for using your gifts to serve others!  I wish you the very best in all of your adventures yet to come!

God Bless!

Meredith Tarplee

Peer Mentor, 2010-2011

Prison Ministry Coordinator, 2011-2012

Idolizing Success

Hey guys!  My name is CJ Holmes.  I graduated from AU with my undergraduate degree in 2012, and the following year finished my MBA. During my 4 years on campus I was able to serve as an RA in Smith as a sophomore, and on the IM staff my senior year.

       

Smith Hall Staff, 2009-2010

Currently I live in Cleveland, OH and am working in the finance department for Nestle. I am blessed to work for such an established company. My wife and I attend Parkside Church and I volunteer with the youth group once a week as a leader for the 11^th grade guys. I love it! Right now we are reading through a book called Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller (if you’ve never read the book, I strongly recommend it). Each chapter talks about a different idol we can have in our lives, for example, love, money and success. None of theses are bad in and of themselves, but the amount of value we place on each of these can be very harmful and can turn into an idol.

The main ‘idol’ I want to focus on is success.  A lot of the time we are told to strive and aspire to be the best and greatest we can be. For me, working in the finance field, success is getting recognized for hitting all of our financial targets. My team wants to be noticed for the decisions we make and the way we go about making those decisions. We work hard at what we do, and at the end of the day it is nice to be recognized for it.

CJ and his wife, Sarah

Looking outside my financial world, success can be defined as anything, really. Having a good GPA, getting into grad school, having a boyfriend/girlfriend, getting married, buying a house, moving up in a company, having lots of friends, making lots of money, owning nice cars.…just to name a few.  Again, none of these things are bad in and of themselves, but when our first motivation in life is not Christ, the ‘high’ of our successes will not last and we will be left feeling empty and disappointed. We will quickly look for our next goal in life, and eventually, a downward spiral will occur.

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Success should not be judged by what the world defines as success, but rather how the Lord looks at it. If we are following in His footsteps and listening to his gentle whispers, He will never disappoint us or leave us feeling empty. Having Him as our guide and striving to be more like Him should be our ultimate goal and should be the driving force behind our decisions and motivations. 

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Proverbs 1:2-3

CJ Holmes
Smith Hall RA, 2009-2010
IM Staff, 2011-2012

Sufficient, Able and Adequate

My name is Matt Beyland, I served as an RA in the Dunn Hall Basement in 2011-12! I graduated last May with a degree in Biblical Studies and I currently work for a non-profit Mission organization called TEAMeffort Missions where I have the opportunity to set up and lead mission trips for youth groups.

Matt, and the TEAMeffort staff he directed last summer in Gatlinburg, TN.

Student leadership presents you with an incredible opportunity to serve your peers. It also presents you with an incredibly difficult task of leading your peers. The two have to go together; to be a leader is to be a servant. Simply put, leadership is as equally rewarding as it is tough. In my experiences throughout college and now in my full-time job, leadership is a trial. There is nothing easy about it. You are expected to be an outstanding example to those you lead and constantly put your best foot forward. There never seems to be a break for people in leadership positions and it can grow wearisome and very easily can harden your heart to those you try to lead. And that can lead to so many different feelings. I had the opportunity to be an RA in the Dunn Hall basement my sophomore year of school and the hardest thing I dealt with was feeling as if I was failing at my job. Now, granted, I had a difficult floor, and there were a lot of things that went wrong but the thing I learned the most is that we cannot place a value on our role as leaders. There is no such thing as being “good enough” or “not good enough” when it comes to leadership. You are as good as Christ makes you. There is no scale to weigh your value on. The value comes through Jesus. Seeking Him, trusting Him, and turning to Him, are the keys to being a leader. And through Christ we are made holy and blameless (Colossians 1:22). And since we have been made holy and blameless through Christ, then there is no matter of being “good enough”. Christ is more than good enough.

2 Corinthians 2:4-6 says, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Isn’t that incredible! No matter what level of leadership we are in, our goal should always be to share the Gospel. In this passage Paul is writing to the people of Corinth about his ministry of sharing the Gospel and look what he says: essentially because of Jesus and his sacrifice, our sufficiency, our ability, our adequacy comes not from anything we do of our own accord, but from God who makes us sufficient, able, and adequate. 

2 Corinthians 3:12 says, “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold…” 

The hope is that our sufficiency comes from God and because of the sacrifice of Christ; the Holy Spirit can bring life. When we believe that, we are able to be bold in our faith and bold in our leadership. I said earlier that leadership is a trial. And I meant it. But the trials are always worth it. 

James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

So take heart in the ministry you are a part of. Be confident that God has placed you in the leadership role designed specifically for you. Choose joy with the understanding that Christ has made you holy and blameless!

Matt with friends from the Department of Religious Studies.

Matt Beyland,

Dunn Hall RA, 2011-2012

Plowing the Field

Hello friends!  My name is Tina Lipps.  I am currently a senior here at Anderson University studying Christian Ministries with Youth Leadership & Development and a minor in Nonprofit Leadership.  (Throwing out a shout-out to anyone else in this major…woot woot!)

To begin, I want to say thank you.  Thank you for choosing to be a leader on this campus.  Thank you for pouring tons of energy and loads of hours into relationships and conversations that will further expand the Kingdom of God.  Thank you for working hard.

Being a leader is hard work.  Sacrifices are often made daily for someone in a leadership position.  I want to say right now that your hard work is not being overlooked.  God sees you.  We must continue to push forward until the day comes when we are standing in front of the Lord with nothing else to give.  I don’t know about you, but one of my deepest desires is to hear the Father say to me on that day: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Passion Young Adult Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.  At this amazing and Christ-centered event, I was inspired by the words of speaker and author Christine Caine.  My hope and prayer is that these words will encourage and challenge your heart, as they did mine that day.

Reading from 1 Kings Chapter 19, Christine talked about what a true leader looks like.  In this chapter of Scripture, Elijah hears a message from the Lord instructing him to go to Elisha so that he can anoint him to take over his leadership position as prophet.  Verse 19 then reads:

¹⁹ So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.  

Elisha was a true leader.  He was a true leader who was working extremely hard.  Not only was he working hard and plowing the fields when Elijah found him, but he was working hard at the very back of the yoke of oxen.  This job would have been smelly and rather physically taxing. And let’s be real, his view would not have been the best from behind this team of animals!

Nevertheless, Elisha was working hard.  He wasn’t waiting until God called Him to do something bigger and better.  No, he was working hard as he waited. 

In the words of Christine Caine,

“God tends to work through people who are already working.  So start to plow where you are NOW.”

Right now, you are in the middle of the school year and you might be thinking: Why in the world am I serving here, in this leadership position?  

If that’s you, I want to encourage you to continue plowing that field.  God has strategically placed you where He has you for such a time as this.  He doesn’t make mistakes.  So keep pushing on.  

Plowing can be dirty, tiring and not very fun.  As a servant leader, there will be many times that you will want to throw in the towel and let someone else do the hard work.  But it is essential that you stay the course.  God has you where you are for a reason!  When the job gets hard, painful, lonely, stressful or boring, choose to stay so that the purpose God has called you to may be fulfilled.   

“Anyone can steer the ship, but a LEADER must chart the course.”

-Christine Caine

Martin Staff, 2012-2013

So, dear friends, never forget that God has placed a specific calling on your life.  Don’t worry about what is next, for ultimately it is God’s job to present you with the “promotion” that is just right for you at just the right time.  Until then, keep working hard where He has placed you.  After all, it is the plowing that prepares us for what God has in store for our future.

 

In HIS Name,

Tina Lipps

Martin Hall RA, 2012-2013