Our parts compose a more beautiful whole

As most of you know, I work at the Wesley Foundation.  What you may not know, is that we pray... a lot!  We have 2 morning prayer meetings a week, 2 evening services, a 36-hour prayer watch before our Wednesday night service, and interns have their own personal intercession times throughout the week as we prepare for discipleships ("dts"), meetings, and generally prepare our hearts for ministry.  Here's a picture of 7:30 Tuesday morning prayer!  It's a bit blurry-- but the beauty is that a bunch of people show up just to pray for UGA's campus, for Wesley's leadership and service, and specific needs that arise in our community.  It's AWESOME.

We also kicked off a new sermon series called IMPRINT last week.  The series is all about leaving an imprint on Athens and on UGA- and what kind of legacy each of us leaves here.  The most amazing, fantastic, out-of-this-world, blow-your-mind cool thing that is happening right now is that there are 8-10 other college ministries in Athens that are also doing the Imprint series!  On Sunday night, we all joined together and prayed for unity among our ministries, for breakthrough on our campus, and just for good things to happen here in Athens.

 It was incredible.

I was so blown away by the uniqueness each ministry brought to the table and to prayer-- for example, at Wesley, we're generally known to be the loud pray-ers who generally stand.  People from other ministries come to the Lord more quietly, are more ready to sit and pray, and sit in small groups to pray.  But as we worshiped together and prayed together for Athens and for UGA, our differences began to be stripped away and we began to simply be the Body of Christ- contending for our friends, classmates, sorority sisters and fraternity brothers, teammates, professors, and coworkers.  We prayed for those held in the strongholds of addiction, depression, negative self-image; those consumed by anger, fear, jealousy, and hostility.  Most of all, we just asked to love people well-- so that we can share our faith well.

As we prayed, I began to really understand a part of truly being the Body of Christ: it's understanding that our parts-- all of our parts-- are constantly shaping and composing a more beautiful whole.  Our ministries are set apart to be good at different things, to be gifted in certain areas, and to attract people who feel at home in that ministry.  The most beautiful thing about differing ministries is that no person is the same. So, as ministries beneath the banner of Christ, we serve a higher calling than our numbers or our lights & sound.  We serve Christ the best way that we know how- digging into the Word, relying on the Holy Spirit, trusting Christ's promises, and pressing into the heart of the Father.

And when we pray collectively for our campus, we know that our God hears us.  As we trust and believe big things for Athens, I know that our parts are composing a bigger, more beautiful whole than imaginable.  I'm so excited to see what's in store for Athens this year-- and what imprint each of us involved will leave.

August Updates

Tomorrow, deeply felt thank you notes and August updates hit the mailbox!  Do you know how grateful I am for your support?  You all make me feel so brave!  Thank you for your kind words, your generous support, and your hearts!  I am so grateful for you!

Welcome Back

Nothing says "welcome back" quite like an 80-person whipped cream fight. Am I right?

This is one of the Wesley leaders, Anne, and I at the Athens First UMC welcome back brouhaha whipped cream free-for-all to welcome our students back for another year of fun, fellowship, and a whole new curriculum as we dig in deep and learn more about Jesus!


I love my job.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who make my presence here in Athens possible!  I am exceedingly blessed... and I think I still have whipped cream in my ears.

Interning is not the Olympics

Hello, blogsphere!

July was an insanely busy month, and that is why I have been neglecting this page since the end of June- yikes!  On June 30th, one of my dear friends, Laura, was married to her beloved, Scott.  I was privileged to be one of her bridesmaids, and the whole day was wonderful!

 Besides, perhaps, the fact that it was a whopping 107 degrees outside here in Athens!  Wow!  Can you tell?  I thought we kept our cool pretty well during pictures! Below is a photo of some of the bridesmaids as we walked outside to take group pictures after the ceremony.  As you can see, I'm pumped for Laura & Scott... but maybe not so much for the heat!

 Then, on July 6th I turned in my final paper for my final class of my undergraduate college career!  Woohoo!  In celebration, my roommate Kelsey and I ate a big bowl of popcorn and watched Stick It- a really funny movie about gymnastics!  The very next day I trekked far up in the hills of Georgia to good ole Berry College to celebrate the wedding of my dear friends Ellen and Stephen.  We met as first-time counselors at Camp Glisson in summer 2009.  Ellen and I were never co-counselors, but were soul sisters from the start!  Stephen and I were co-counselors for 2 weeks at Glisson's Outpost program.  He's an all-star in my book- very wise and very funny!  Here's a picture of us fist-pumping for Ellen and Stephen's wedding with our friend Kay!

The next week was dedicated to packing up the 3-bedroom house that I have shared with 3 of the most wonderful ladies I could be blessed to share a year with!  It doesn't sound challenging, but somehow all of my things exploded in the 12 months that I lived there.  It was a bit of a nightmare, but we made it through!  I polished off the week of July 13th with a celebration of my friend and roommate Melissa, as we bachelorette-partied it up in a cabin in Dahlonega, GA in celebration of her upcoming wedding!  Here's a photo of Melissa, her wonderful bridesmaids, and her wedding coordinator at the end of our weekend.  It was so great to relax with friends, eat the BEST baked potatoes I think I've ever had, and watch hilarious movies together!

Immediately following the Bachelorette Party, I turned right around and headed through the gates of Glisson to work as a Gap Counselor for a week.  My co-counselor's name was Ashley and she was such an incredible friend and teacher that week!  Together, we shared 12 AMAZING rising 8th and 9th grade girls.  We worshiped the Lord, hiked 3.6 miles in one day, had a princess/craft day, went kayaking, and rewrote Justin Beiber's song "Baby," which, I must say... our version would certainly make top 40 on the radio!  Due to our media policy, I won't post any pictures of my campers... but here's a photo of Ashley and I right before we scooted off the zipline platform to fly through the air!

When I returned to Athens after a whirlwind week of goodness at Glisson, it was time to move to my new apartment, fondly nicknamed 'The Palace.' I live with 3 incredible women, 2 of which are fellow Wesley Foundation interns!  The 3 of us share a carpool, and the incredible gift to be on staff at one of the most amazing College Ministries we know.  I moved up 3 flights of stairs with the help of my rockstar parents (thanks, Mom and Dad!) into a room with a big closet and a ceiling fan!  It doesn't sound like a big deal... but it is!  After surviving (literally) in a house last year with practically no air conditioning and no ceiling fans, a ceiling fan feels like a luxury and I am certainly thankful for it!

Last Friday began the opening ceremonies of one of my favorite sporting events in the world: THE OLYMPICS.  I love them.  I watch the NBC nightly replays.  I follow the Olympic twitter account.  I feel super American as I cheer on our finest to victory... and sometimes I yell at the TV.  It helps, right?

Finally, this past Monday we began Intern Training at Wesley.  {If you're on Twitter, feel free to search #it2k12 to find all of our silly and serious tweets about our day to day at training!}  The past 4 days have been all that I could have expected and more.  I am more pumped than I thought possible about the vision, the ministry, and the fellowship Wesley is going to bring to UGA's campus this year!  Incredible!  More about training and pictures coming soon!  Along with: consistent weekly posts and youth quotes... I maintain my stance that there is no human being more hilarious than a middle school boy.

Over and out,
Jess