All posts by brianvir

Christine’s Briefing Experience

Dear Friends!

I (Christine!) am writing with a very thankful heart!  This last week I got to work at our Epic Summer Mission Briefing Conference as a coach.  This was one of the first times since joining Epic that I have had the opportunity to be more embraced in the context of the Asian culture.  Of the 102 students at staff at the conference only 6 of us were white and the rest were Asian.  And what a wonderful experience I had!  I felt so privileged to be there and I’m excited to share with you some of the reasons why.

I must admit I was nervous while driving to the briefing. I wondered how I would be received in such a different culture in which I would be the minority.  I wondered and feared if I had anything to offer students from a culture so different from mine.   But from the minute I got there until the moment I sadly had to say good bye, I was welcomed, loved, and sought after for what I had to offer!

I learned so much about the Asian-American world and culture. I learned that in most environments where Asians are not the majority they will tend to be quite and not speak unless spoken to.  But in this environment where they were the majority their voices could be heard!  They were speaking up and sharing, contributing in ways that made me feel privileged to hear their voices.  It made me wonder how many times they had great things to offer in the past but I or nobody else asked and so they didn’t offer and therefore we missed out.
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When God says we were created in his image it does not just mean the image that we most identity with.  It means all; cultures all reflect different aspects of His image.  So by me getting a better understanding of the Asian culture I feel like I am getting a better understanding of who God is!  This amazes me and speaks of the Lord’s greatness and it broadens my desire to want to understand other cultures – so I can know Him better.

Gosh!  There is so much I loved about my experience that it is hard to narrow it down. But I want to share one final thing that impacted me.  The team I was coaching got to briefing and was $13,000 short of the money they needed to go.  To be honest I was nervous for them and began to doubt they could do it.  But I watched as each student and staff stepped out in faith and in 48 hours that had raised ALL of the support they needed to go.  If was good for me to see God’s faithfulness as money can be something I worry about at times.   Brian and I still need to raise $4000 to meet our summer needs, but I believe if God can provide $13,000 in 48 hours for these students to take the gospel out he can easily raise the $3800 we still need.  Thank you for your ongoing partnership with us in prayer and through your generous gifts.   Without you I would not have had this great experience and been able to help equip an eager and enthusiastic mission team for their summer of sharing their faith and launching new movements!
In His Name,
Brian & Christine

Epic in the Summer

Hi Friends!

We trust this finds you well!  Like most people, summer is something we really look forward to.  One of the main reasons is that we get to witness incredible steps of faith among staff and students.  Right now Epic has well over 100 students preparing for short-term mission opportunities both here in the United States and around the world. To illustrate the enthusiasm and faith, I thought we’d let one of these students give you a window into their journey.  Carl wrote the following as he was seeking God’s financial provision for this team of 29 staff and students.  They needed over $20,000 in the last 24 hours before their flight or else many would not go.

“East Asia is one of most spiritually hungry places on earth right now. Last summer a team of 23 from Arizona State University went and saw 63 students decide to follow Jesus and launched movements on 3 campuses that had little or no known influence for Christ. Two years ago a student we nicknamed Lion decided to follow Jesus. Just two years later, back in August he led a team of fellow East Asian students to a country in the Middle East. They will be there for a year…sharing Jesus’ love with Muslims! The crazy thing about this student is that the students who led him to Christ two years ago nicknamed him Lion when they met him. What they didn’t know, was that his real name in his language means Lamb. It was as if God was taking a Lamb and forming him into a Lion, to be bold in his love for Jesus. Oh the power of the Gospel!”

Oily, spicy and fatty food cialis 100mg pills can slow down the effect of impotence treating medicine making penile erection harder to achieve. Causes of Autism The causes for autism have always been debatable as there is no sure shot reason which can lead to autism. best viagra in uk The Lakers were one place up to third with Kobe Bryant leading the league in cialis prescription australia scoring again. So along with prescribed exercises and nutritious foods http://abacojet.com/category/slider/ viagra sales france you should follow the prescription to acquire the suitable dosage according to the health condition. The day after our team got this email from Carl we got another email praising God because the Lord was faithful to provide $20,222 in 24 hours!  Please pray for our teams and students this summer!  Like these students, we also need to trust God for our ministry needs for summer.  We’ll be coaching, speaking, and training teams at an Epic briefing for most of our summer mission teams (What we used to do a couple years ago!).  This in addition to our 10 day bi-annual staff conference this summer as well as ongoing needs due to some lost monthly support has us trusting the Lord for $4800 this summer in additional one-time gifts and for $550 in new monthly support to be fully resourced for the 2009-2010 school year.

Please pray about how you can help us meet this need!  Please consider financially partnering with us on a monthly basis or even increasing your current commitment. Most importantly we ask that you continue to partner in prayer – your prayers are bearing fruit!  We’re so thankful for the opportunity to trust God with you for new believers, new movements, & Christ-centered leaders.  We appreciate you and are praying for what the summer holds for you as well!

You can click on the link to your right that says “Give an Online gift Here!” to make a donation.  God Bless!

In His Name,
Brian, Christine, Morgan & Colin

Do You Know?

  • That by 2023 in the US, ethnic minorities in the age group of 18 and under will outnumber Caucasians.
  • Ethnic students in California are already 53% of the total population.
  • Asians account for over 60% of the world’s population.
  • Approximately half of the most unreached people groups (750) are in India with the majority of others being in China and the rest of Asia.
  • The largest group of foreign students studying in the US is from India and the second largest is from China.
  • In the last 15 years the number of university students in the world has gone from around 60 million to 130 million.

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Team Building & BBQ

Dear Friends,
It’s been a season to both work and pray hard, which I’m sure you can relate to.  One of my (Brian) personal highlights of my entire time in Epic thus far (16 months) was a ministry trip I made to our Epic staff in Austin, Texas last month.  While I loved getting my first taste of some very good Texas BBQ, a teammate and I had the challenge of guiding the ethnic student staff team (13 people) through difficult relationship tensions and some general cross-cultural communication issues.

The team we met with was incredibly diverse, with the majority Asian-Americans.  They were great people with huge hearts for the Lord and for students who don’t know Christ.  They impressed us with their humility, character, and willingness to learn from one another and move towards one another.  By the end of our time we had moved from a place of much pain and unresolved tension to forgiveness and tangible hope for the future.

In your life and ministry, you may have identified some of those places where you feel God maximizes your gifts to make a unique contribution to His Kingdom.  I’ve learned that mediating team conflict like this is where it seems like my gifts, passions, and effectiveness all converge.  I’m so thankful to be able to serve the Kingdom this way and help relationships and teams move towards reconciliation and fruitfulness in those moments when they are stuck, paralyzed, or unfruitful.  What a great God we have that He creates us all with unique talents, gifts, and passions for His Kingdom and glory!

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In His Name,
Brian & Christine

What Our Team Has Been Up To

Laborers for the Harvest:
We’re coming off of our team’s most hectic season of the school cycle.  In the past couple of months our team has helped to evaluate and assess over 50 applicants who have applied to serve full-time with Epic in some capacity.  This includes new staff applicants as well as recent graduates applying to a one-year internship both here in the United States or Internationally.

This was a wild season as Epic probably had the administrative capacity to do half that, but by God’s grace we managed to handle all of these applicants in a timely manner in which we were able to help these individuals assess whether full-time ministry is the best next step for them in light of their sense of calling and personal maturity.  Please pray for those who will be joining Epic staff this summer and for the couple dozen interns who will be raising support this summer.

Developing Leaders & Building Teams
We’re always looking for new ways to resource, equip, and develop our staff so that can be fruitful and effective personally and in their team relationships.  Both Christine and I participated as part of our national leadership team in a training to administer multiple tools that utilize Gallop’s StrengthFinder assessment.
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In some cultures, people are sometimes discouraged from rejoicing in their gifts and strengths and uniqueness because of cultural values of humility and harmony among others.  This is sometimes the case with Epic students and staff.  This is a tool that allows us to continue to build a culture within Epic in which we can affirm the God-given uniqueness of each of His children as well as help them celebrate the same in others.

This gives those of us who do team building some extra resources to facilitate communication, mediate conflicts that are based in difference, and resource teams in building healthy team connections and relationships.

Additionally, we invited a couple field staff to come and they have already begun to use some of these tools to build relationships with Asian American student clubs on campus.  This has great promise as our teams seek to form strategic partnerships on campus to meet students.

Team Building

Our Epic National Leadership Development Team had an afternoon of team building together yesterday doing a little outrigger canoeing.  It was a great time and we It is important to select the right facility to help your no prescription viagra loved one. Therefore, it cipla generic viagra comes as no surprise that when we don’t treat our bodies well, they tend to retaliate. No best buy cialis matter if the alcoholic is prone to the disease through nature, nurture or a combination of the following. viagra cheap india But which of the two is actually better. learned some good principles for working together.  Here’s a brief picture after our excursion:

Fun Day with OC Epic

Today I spent a good chunk of the day with the Orange County/Long Beach Epic Missional Team.  I got to spend a couple hours sitting in on their staff meeting and then hang out a bit with them during a team social event.

I need to find more times to get face to face with staff as I continue to think through leadership development for Epic.  It can be very easy to get isolated and detached from what’s really going on when you work in a national or exec level leadership role.  It was so good for me to just be with them as they strategize and pray about how to launch new movements in their scope.  They were coming off a pioneering day where they were making new contacts, building new relationships, and scouting out what the best sub-cultures were at Long Beach St. to invest time and energy.

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Very cool.

A Thought on Why We Have Epic

I came across this brief blurb from a friend of mine that works with us in Epic.  His thoughts capture some of our learning as well since coming to Epic.  A lot of people don’t understand why an ethnic group might need its own specially focused ministry, but this captures a little bit of why this is important.

“The more time we spend with the ministry the more we see why it is needed. There is real value in providing an opportunity and event for Asian  American students to explore their cultural identity of being both Asian and also American. An experience as a  fully enculturated American doesn’t compare to their experience. Certain type of hypoglycemia worsens situation by the formation of cGMP and this will get dissolved in body within few minutes of consumption and its effectivity can lasts get cialis without prescriptions for up to 26 weeks. Other than fever and other health issues a person also tends to have some sexual issues viagra sans prescription which bring his relationships on stake. http://secretworldchronicle.com/2018/02/ep-9-07-going-out-strange-part-1/ buy cialis pharmacy It increases the moistness of skin and help to make it to the top PC game accessories list. It is recommended for use by the doctors are learn this here now generic levitra canada effective in treating the problems related to sexual drives. For example, I (Rocky) have French, English, and German roots, but my identity is not noticeably connected to those cultures.  An Asian American student may  still embody much of their original culture, while also being fully American. This is important because it impacts their view of themselves, their spirituality, and strengths they bring to representing Christ and his kingdom.”