April 2011 prayer letter and MCF update

Often I go from this. . . 

at the University of Michigan.
Topic: "Hypocrisy and Christianity"

. . . to this:

Man to man chat

That is, I go from addressing difficult questions in a large group setting to talking with students individually afterward -- or the next day -- or on email/Facebook the next week. Or the next month.

Recently at a campus a certain She shared with me about her broken, abusive childhood. She attends InterVarsity faithfully but hasn't taken that final step of trust in Jesus.

The reason is, Jesus was a man.

After the main InterVarsity meeting I asked Her if she had taken that big step during the call to faith at the end of my talk. I'm sure I saw three hands go up in response to my invitation.

But the hand of Her?

She smiled and shook her head. Still not ready.

I went home and hooked Her up on Facebook with a cool young woman at another campus who's worked through some similar issues. At the moment, that's where She stands.

Friends, thanks for sending me into the university world, not only to talk to 80 University of Michigan students about the checkered history of Christianity, but to sit down with a lot of individual students who tell me their amazing life stories.

You can give a gift to my work here: Give to Rick and Sharon Mattson

892 Howell St N
St. Paul, MN 55104
651.295.5814

Thank you!!

Places I've worked lately: Case Western Reserve U (Cleveland), University of Akron, College of Wooster (Ohio), Michigan Tech, Bemidji State, Winona State. 

Upcoming: Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Oberlin College (Ohio), Cedar Campus, then back out to Rapid City.

If you have time/interest: see Macalester (MCF) update below:

Giving thanks: The good folks at the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, including the college chaplain, have taken me in as a colleague and made me welcome again at the school where I once worked for ten years (1992-02).

Pastor Jin Kim
All Nations Church

As an outreach event recently, MCF invited Pastor Jin Kim to give a lecture on the problem of pain, suffering and evil in God's world. Pastor Kim has a national speaking ministry so it was quite a privilege for us to host him at Mac.

He challenged us with some heady theological points, but even more, to consider how we must serve God by ministering to the needs of suffering people in real life. Excellent stuff.




Worship tunes keep MCF fun and lively but also remind students of God's love in a campus environment that is sometimes unfriendly to Christians.

If you wish to give a gift to InterVarsity staff at Macalester (currently I serve in this role), here is the link:

InterVarsity at Mac

Thank you so much!