From Sunday. Tyler delivers a message about the Great Commission and shares his experience with campus ministry at Georgia Tech and Globalscope.
Edit:
I talk to Shalynn about my latest blog entry…
Tyler: I watched myself give a sermon today. It was the most awful sound I have ever heard. Shalynn: Oh, come on. Everybody hates the sound of your voice. Tyler: … Shalynn: I mean their own voice. The sound of their own voice.
churchill brought flashing gang signs to mainstream english culture
It was Winston Churchill that famously said: “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Good advice for those whose task at hand is to endure. I wonder what advice the British Prime Minister (1940-1945, 1951-1955) would have for me, who must not endure - but procure another 60% of monthly support to leave for Germany. Probably something like “When you come to the end of your rope, swing wildly and yell obscenities,” or, “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and use it as a bludgeon. I don’t know. Be creative.”
Great advice from a great man - especially that “be creative” part.
As it turns out, raising support full time is significantly less active that I could have guessed. I had imagined my days being filled with writing letters, making personal contacts, and meeting people to discuss Globalscope. But a week and a half into the job, I have found my weekdays relatively relaxed and empty. After sending out so many letters and asking so many people for support, it is mostly a waiting game at this point.
So here’s how I am filling my days:
I send an information packet to at least one Atlanta-area church every day. (I follow up a week later with a call to see if they are interested in partnering with me.)
I eek out those few people I have not yet contacted on Facebook and send an email with a brief description of what I’m doing and an invitation to get together to talk about it more.
I do favors for supporters. (P.S. If you need a favor, let me know.)
I make extended trips to run everyday errands - and I usually see someone I know in the process. This is one of the greatest parts of my support-raising day.
I practice guitar and blog.
As support trickles in, I continue to hang by the knot at the end of my rope, and as per Mr. Churchill’s advice, I will seek to “be creative”.
It was a weekend of ups and downs in sleepy Tucker, GA. Mighty Joe Espresso announced much shorter hours in the hopes of fending off shutting the shop down entirely. Despite increasing business, Joe has been in the red for a while, and getting to the black will take a super-caffeinated effort. I also attended my first Ignite Worship Sunday evening service at Briarcliff UMC - only to find out that this was the surprise last time that service would meet. The service is being closed for now due to financial constraints.
Meanwhile, six hours to the south in lively Panama City Beach, FL, it is a totally different story. Georgia Tech CCF is on its annual beach retreat, and the stories that result from the two days on the beach are remarkable, hopeful, inspiring stories of lives transformed… Hundreds of students attended; seven students decided to get baptized, including some of the students I worked with as an intern; countless more connected with God through worship and listening to Globalscope ministers Mark and Lukas talk about Globalscope Chile. Shalynn comes home bubbling over (having not taken the time to shower the entire weekend) and talks about how a freshman student she invited who had only heard of Christianity read a Bible for the first time and joined in singing the worship music. She is confident he will become a Christian.
Here is what Globalscope England minister Jason Tatum has to say…
The fact is, I never had one moment. I have had about a million. And every time I sit just sit there, and I gaze off into nothing, and I make up my mind once again, “This is what God made me for.” And I am grateful, once again. I am humbled, too. Because this stuff doesn’t happen on our own. It happens when God decides to show up, when he decides to move, and only his timing is good, only his timing is right. Sometimes we feel like we are waiting for so long, but when he is there, when he moves in the fullness of his power and his love, we are never the same again. We are never the same.
God was definitely moving in PCB this weekend. And, despite the sore economic news in Metro Atlanta, it was a good weekend for support raising. I continue to find doors opening for finding new partners in campus ministry in Germany in talking to Sunday School classes and other churches. This will happen - it is just a matter of when.
Before every newsletter I send out, I traditionally ask my teammates for their input. Teammate Chandler provided lots of feedback, but not all of it was included in the final version. Of his many edits, perhaps this one was my favorite (Chandler’s additions in red):
To those who are considering committing their support: please send in your support as soon as possible! With our fourth team member practically boarding the plane to go to Germany, it is imperative that I join my team soon, but don’t take my word for it: “Tyler is vital to the Globalscope team. His creative, hardworking, and humorous attitude pushes everyone around him to be better.”
Called three churches for contact info for missions. Sent out three more big-A letters.
Three personal notes to people supporting me already.
Three thank-you’s to the Sunday School classes where I have spoken.
Create a facebook group dedicated to getting me to Germany.
Call folks in the evening. Really pushing for people to make monthly commitments, even if isn’t that much. Commitments made ranged from $4/month to $50/month.
Today’s goals:
Vote.
Find more churches in Tucker/Atlanta to ask.
Need something to do during the day while waiting on info to reach churches… supporter websites.
Call more people in the evening. I am expecting calls from now on to be a push for that needed monthly support.
please help us make sure skit goes down in tübingen
There is a crisis in Germany.
Many of the things we take for granted here in the States are simply not available in central Europe. Peanut butter. Marshmallows. Pickup trucks.
But we are a group that aims to rectify perhaps one of the most cruel and unjust absences in the lives of German university students: quality, funny, enjoyable skits that may or may not have moral lessons embedded in them.
The increasing presence of Globalscope Germany in Tübingen allows our group, the Commission for Quality Skits, an inroad for a Tübingen branch. We are asking to join our group (henceforth referred to as QSIT) by committing to support Globalscope team member and skit writer Tyler Crawford on a monthly basis - at $15 a month (50 cents a day), or more, or less.
Not only will your support allow us to give German students opportunities to see quality skits for the first time, but donors can secure their legacy… All supporting members will have their names written into a skit, given an appropriate opportunity. You can make sure your name lives on forever - or at least for the length of a four-minute skit.
Those who have enjoyed CCF skits know what a valuable and necessary part of campus ministry - and, indeed, life - this is. Please help us. Please help German students. Please make sure skit happens.
usain bolt, olympic gold medalist, knows something about pace - he heard about it once from an acquaintance he ran by at a sprinting party
Tomorrow is the official start of the first work week dedicated completely to raising support. It is important that tomorrow set a precedent for the level of productivity I want to achieve on a daily basis. Setting the pace. It is an art I learned on those 8-mile stretches of cross-country practice in high school and am perfecting as a Crossfit athlete (hello, Gewichtheben small group).
A list of people who have earned notoriety for their ability to pace themselves: Cool Hand Luke, who managed to down 50 boiled eggs in an hour; Lance Armstrong, who has patiently circumnavigated France quicker than any rival (fact check) seven years in a row; Jason Tatum, who has managed to lose more than 100 pounds (approximately one seventh grader) over the last year on his path to losing 150 total - quite the foil to Cool Hand Luke.
A list of people who have not paced themselves: anybody who competes in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest; the Trix Rabbit, who, although determined, always ditches his clever disguise too early and gets caught by the kids to whom the cereal is really for.
So, with the goal of 50% by week’s end, here’s what I plan to do tomorrow:
Wake up early.
Call churches for contact info for missions. Send out four more big-A* letters.
Personal notes to people supporting me already.
Thank-you’s to the Sunday School classes where I have spoken (3).
Create a facebook group dedicated to getting me to Germany.
Call folks in the evening. Focus on offering businesses the chance to make those 501(c)3 contributions and get the big tax break.
The goal is to celebrate Christmas in Tübingen.
*The “A” stands for “Ask”. I am asking for a lot more support from churches than I am from individuals.
Today was my last day of work at echo11media, the eLearning company that has employed me for the last year as I have worked to repay student loans before taking off for Germany. With finances in hand and counseling in the works (and reading assignments complete), my personal development plan is complete. As of tomorrow, I am a full-time campus minister.
Allow me a paragraph to reminisce about the old times as a software developer. A system of independent accountability and direction, a jump from school to leading developer on company products, and a close-knit group of employees - all-in-all a very close feeling to the work environment at a campus ministry. Aspects of work not like campus ministry: sitting at a computer all day and the notion that not talking to people means you are doing good work.
Happy? Yep. It is a sprint to Christmas to make 100%.
Scared? Check. 60% will not come easy in a slower economy.
Thanks to all the good folks at echo for seeing me through the year. Break out the big envelopes. Now support raising gets serious.
It has been almost a year since Globalscope ministers first moved into the university town of Birmingham, England. It has been 365 days of meeting students, building relationships, and knitting together a community focused on Christ. It is not a community of Christians - in fact, as you see in the video, many of the students are agnostic or atheist - but the presence of the ministry in their lives is leading them to reconsider the idea of a loving God.
This past week the team threw a party for the grand opening of their new building on campus - and had a turnout of over 100 students. Two days later, they held their first Bible Study. This is what Globalscope is all about.
This is our dream for Globalscope Germany in Tübingen - that we can get German students to start thinking in engaging ways about Christ’s message. It is only with your help that it will happen! Head to our support page to commit to help us make this dream possible!
I had the privilege of giving the talk last night. Check it out here: link.
Some highlights:
…those who were not as good at memorizing the rules were weeded out, until after years and years only those who had all the rules memorized were left to become Pharisees – the Top Gun of Judaism.
[Jesus was] a threat to the authority of Jewish law and to the Pharisee’s source of income. That’s a double-whammy.
And then Jesus shoots the moon when he sums up the ten commandments in two.
Following God’s commands now means our highest priority should be on showing God’s love to the world rather than condemning the world in God’s name for violation of God’s Law.
Support raising: Made 40% of monthly on Sunday morning. Next stop, 50%. How do we get there? I’m open to suggestions.
Other news: Globalscope England, known to the natives as Canvas is having their first Bible Study tomorrow. They have a huge following - an opening party with 100+ students last week - so we are looking forward to news and student reactions!
