Important Announcements and Reminders for the Week

1) I am solidifying plans for next weekend. I plan to be working with the Sotos at Verbo with their food distribution Thurs and Fri. Potentially, I may do some clean up work with another team, or just in my neighborhood after Verbo closes up at 2pm. Evening curfew is 6pm. I will stay at my house, and not take a bath -- woohoo! Others will be welcome in my home, as I do not expect a large group, and it shouldn't be too difficult to smuggle a couple of you across the parish line. There will be a middle aged couple from Gentilly staying in my house, as well, I think (friends of Jen and I).

The Tulane football game is in Lafayette, LA on Saturday. I hope a bunch of you can make it for that at 5:00pm. We could have a blast!

!!RSVP ASAP!!

2) We still have giving commitments to support Alex at Rancho for $20 / month, and we still need about $150 to complete our $400 pledge to Speed the Light for Kirk and Amy Priest's projector (missionaries to the campuses of Berlin). If you would like to give, you can send a check to Chi Alpha New Orleans, 4536 Mikandy Dr NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144

Also, I will be working on getting a PayPal link on www.nolaxa.com if you would like to give that way.

3) Specifically to Leadership Team: Please remember to sign up for at least 1 hour of prayer per week on the prayer calendar (link is on www.nolaxa.com) You can do 1 hour at a time, or break it into 15 or 30 min sessions. Also, 1 hour is the minimum I'm asking from you. Please feel free to pray more, and record it for us. =)

Thank you to all who have already taken the plunge. Lead on prayer warriors!

4) Don't forget to register for The World Missions Summit! And, please let us know when you do so, so we know who all is coming. This is an event to not be missed. We truly will be making history there. I don't doubt it for a minute.

woohoo for ugly emails!!!
//matt.

October 6-9 : XA is getting dirty

The details are not settled, but here's the general idea:

Matt will be heading to New Orleans next Wednesday to help with the distribution and clean-up efforts on Thursday.

Friday morning will be more of the same, although the evening is up in the air. We may be able to help UL-L XA feed the Tulane football team dinner. Those plans are not solidified yet.

Saturday, if we are still in New Orleans, we will work in the morning, and then head to Lafayette. Tulane (the #1 defense in the nation!) will host the University of Houston at Cajun Field at 5pm. It will be a blast to cheer for the homeless Greenwave.
We'll head home Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Keep your ears and eyes open for more details, and email or call if you are interested. Costs will be getting yourself to New Orleans (email if you need a ride, and we'll see what we can do), and the football game (we don't yet know what that will cost, but it should be free for Tulane students).

A Letter from My Heart - from Matt

This letter was sent to the student leadership team, but belongs to all who claim affiliation with Chi Alpha New Orleans.

What is Chi Alpha New Orleans? Are we more than a student organization at a couple campuses in the Big Easy? Are we more than a club for mutual good-feelings and social functions? Are we more than a religious collective keeping each other busy with good deeds to assuage "Christian" guilt? Are we more than Matt's vain attempt at significance in a world that scatters plans and purpose with 150mph winds and rising water?

Each of you will need to answer these questions on your own during this diaspora. Immense distances separate us for much more time than we imagined. Our plans have been demolished, as well as some of our property. If we are nothing more than an organization or a club, nothing more than a religious duty or a vain ambition we will disperse and go our separate ways. We will keep our memories, but little more.

I am convinced that we are more than all of these things. God answered my tears over it yesterday morning. He has promised me that He will preserve the community He has built. Vanities that I may have added as a leader, or that we have clung to as an organization, or just religious people will be burned away. The true foundation of Jesus Christ will remain firm. The gold, silver, and precious stones God has given us to build with will not be consumed. The living stones of this building will remain. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and no one can snatch us from His Hand.

Does this mean that we will all return, and begin right were we left off? How could that be true? Those who do return will be changed. I hope we will be eternally changed, transformed by God's grace in this difficult time. Some may not return. My prayer is that those who do not return will only be those called to new adventures in God. Please pray with me, as we are all vulnerable to distractions and diversions on our journey. May God keep us off the path of selfish indulgence and fear, and lead us into truth and light.

This is a time of testing. What dross will come to the surface of your life in this time? Will it confuse you, and pull you away from your destiny, or will you lay it at the feet of the one who took the Cross for you? Through repentance we will be transformed in forgiveness and grace. Through sincere prayer for one another, and whole-hearted desire for God we will persevere into a time of unprecedented life.

Before I go any further, it's time to pray. At the end of the summer I opened up a prayer blog and a prayer calendar for all of us to coordinate our prayers. I want to get this thing off the ground. I am asking that every student leader sign up for at least one hour of prayer a week for Chi Alpha New Orleans, and our campuses. This foundation will build into a movement of prayer that will not leave New Orleans untouched. This flood will be a flood of life far more powerful than Katrina's deluge of darkness and death.

To sign up for prayer click on the prayer calendar link to sign up for prayer times. You can also post prayers, answers, and requests after you get a membership to the blog. If you need help email me. I can post your times if you have trouble with it, answer your questions, and help you get a membership to the blog.

Chi Alpha New Orleans, what are you? If you don’t yet know, it is time to pray.

Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.' Jeremiah 33:3

Lovely Rita

Well, they said it's a very active hurricane season.
Unfortunately, that makes us less active, as Fall Breakout has been called off due to New Orleans being closed, and the potential threat of heavy rains from Rita's outflows reflooding the area. Hopefully, Chi Alpha New Orleans can put together a work trip in the coming weeks to replace this one. Be on the lookout for the news!

Good news, though!
The staff page is updated with whereabouts and activities of the Chi Alpha New Orleans staff:
Matt & Jen, and John Roger & Deanna.

We pray for our nation, and the people in the path of this storm. May God have mercy on us all.

Blog of the Week 19.Sep.05

John Roger made a xanga post! This must be the blog of the week. It's fairly lengthy, so just click here to read it.


They're such a cute couple...awwww...

Fall Breakaway becomes Fall Breakout

Next weekend (the 23rd-25th) is supposed to be Louisiana Chi Alpha's annual fall retreat: Fall Breakaway. However, the campground where we host this event is still being used as a shelter for folks displaced by Hurricane Katrina. So, the UL-Lafayette Chi Alpha is spear-heading a radical change in plans:

Friday evening, we will meet-up at the School of Urban Missions in Gretna. We will have a special worship gathering, with last year's Fall Breakaway speaker, Eli Geatreaux (Sam Houston State Chi Alpha pastor). Since the school is not in session, their dorms, that we helped repaint over the summer, can be our dorms for the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday will be spent serving in the New Orleans area distributing food and other necessities, as well as doing clean-up, etc.

More details are on the way. One cool detail is that Chi Alpha New Orleans folks will get to go for free, as we have money set aside for this fall that was not used.

Email or call us if you are interested, ASAP.
678.445.8782

Blog of the Week 12.Sep.05

From Scout

Friday, September 09, 2005

The XA UT people are great. I can't give them enough kudos for being so cool. They have taken me in and given me some work to do with them and the girls are friendly and the guys are friendly and their pastor is like John Roger as far as pouring out appreciation. Incredible and beautiful people. Last night at all campus worship, I was trying to take off my shoes and I hit my scab from my mole removal against the back of a chair and bled some. It sucked. I even had dreams of a friend of mine stepped through her computer hung out with me before a monkey came out of nowhere and ate off my fingers one by one, some little cloth monkey that materialized from the internet and began attacking me. Imagine my distress when I woke up. Nothing a shower can't dispell. But falling apart after the excitement dies down has been the toughest part. I've turned around recently and seen how I've been a riding a leaf of grace on the outside of these hurricane winds. Now that the leaf has touched down, I can look behind me and see all of the destruction that's passed in Katrina's wake, how all of it missed me so narrowly. It's startling and disarming. Now that routine has set in, maybe more and more students can slow down and begin to feel the way that Karla does, though I know she's very sensitive. All of the money and all of the aid won't do what all the hearts affected by this storm need most, and that's love. Even surrounded by it to smothering (thankfully), I still feel less complete than before, that even my God-routine has sufferred some. It's not like God is the band aid or anything, but I think that He's the only one with the resources to cover this entire gaping hole in the people of the gulf coast. Pray for them, reach out to them, hold them when they break down. He's busy. Busy teaching me to rest up for the big game, whenever and whatever that means. He's busy trying to get me to take some time and not save the world on an empty stomach. And I'm convinced that the encouragement that I've only heard from outsiders and not the wounded (understandably so) will spread until we can stand again unaided. Special thanks to XA UT and winningthelaurel (from my subscriptions list) who have made this much more bearable by loving a miserable recalcitrant turd of a human being stuggling to become real. You guys are awesome.

10:52 AM - 2 eprops - 1 comment - email it

Let's Stay Connected

Hello Chi Alpha New Orleans. We need to stay connected, and this website is a great tool for doing that. Please log in and leave a comment on this post regarding where you are, how to reach you as campus email addresses are still down, and what your plans are for the semester.

Also, please pass the word around to others you are in contact with that may not regularly visit the website, so we can hear from them as well.

News for Tulane Students from Boston University

Wow, big news! Matt's best friend, Dan Johnson helps direct Chi Alpha at BU. He would definitely be a resource for helping to find well priced housing, and for help getting around the city.

September 2, 2005

(Boston) - Boston University (BU) today opened its doors to undergraduate students from hurricane-stricken Tulane University. University officials announced that fully enrolled Tulane undergraduates are now eligible to enroll tuition-free and attend classes at BU during the fall semester.

Tulane graduate and professional students may also contact BU schools and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. BU’s Medical and Law Schools have already made arrangements for several Tulane students to attend BU programs this semester.

“Like so many schools across the country, we are mobilizing to help a sister institution,” said BU President Robert A. Brown. “Their situation is dire, and opening our campus to displaced students so they can continue their education this fall is a critically important thing to do.”

The fall semester for undergraduate students at BU begins September 6 but Tulane students would have until September 12 to start classes. Nonetheless, university officials encouraged interested students to contact the university as soon as possible, and once they do, officials will help students register for courses that are relevant to their respective degrees.

Although no on-campus student housing is available, BU housing officials will also provide students with resources to search for off-campus accommodations.

We invite interested students to submit our brief questionnaire, which we will process as soon as possible.

Information for Students

We are working to get information gathered together for New Orleans students as they face a semester without school in New Orleans.

Here are some websites:

www.uno.edu
emergency.tulane.edu
loyolaneworleans.blogspot.com

I have not been able to find information for the other universities in New Orleans. Please post it, if you find it.

If you were at SUNO, UNO, or Delgado, you can apply to any Louisiana state school for this semester, and if you are accepted, all of your financial aid is supposed to transfer completely.

The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is accepting students from New Orleans area schools with a 3 or 4 month hold on tuition with the expectation that financial aid would be able to transfer by the end of the semester.

We hope to see most of you back in New Orleans come January. We pray that our city will be in working order by then, and that our Chi Alpha community will be reunited. Of course, some may choose to stay in their new locations. You will be missed.