I
have been offered a promotion within InterVarsity, and I’m going to take
it. Let me tell you why.
As
many of you know, directing the LA
Urban Project has been my dream job:
it lets me connect my influence of college students to our ministry in the
inner city. I’ve had the chance to see
God give students his heart for the poor, and to become relevant disciples of
Jesus in a cynical generation.
At
the same time, since moving to Seattle to finish my master’s degree, my family has been thriving like never
before. Jenny’s theatre career
has really taken off, we found an amazing school for our kids, and our whole
family—including Lucy and Tyler—has had a sense of shared mission that we’d
never had.
“How
do these two realities fit, God?” That
became my question. For the past year, Jenny and I have been seeking God with this
tension. God has been teaching
me to really see and hear Jenny in a way I never have. He has also revealed a deeper sense of my own
vocation that transcends any particular city:
to fan the flames of what God can do at the intersection of the rich and
the poor.
It
was in the midst of that seeking, last November, that I was offered a job as the Associate National Director of Urban
Projects for InterVarsity. The
job involves developing the 25 urban projects across the country--including LAUP--stepping into
more national influence within the InterVarsity movement, and launching in
Seattle what’s been build in Los Angeles.
I suddenly felt like God was answering my question by offering me a new
version of my dream job, with more influence, that was based in Seattle where
my whole family could thrive.
After
taking the next two months to pray and seek wise council, I accepted the position at the end of this past January. Not only am I incredibly excited for this
next chapter of life and ministry, but I am deeply grateful to God for
providing for our family as we have tried to seek Him above all else.
For now, I am still running the LA
Urban Project,
and will still spend two months of this summer running our 7-week inner city
internship in Los Angeles. This will
also involve training the new LAUP director, and then I will transition to my
new role on September 1st.
Even after September 1st, however, in my new role, I will continue to mentor and train the next LAUP director over the next two to three years.
In this transition, LAUP needs your prayer. We are in the midst of taking applications for a new LAUP director. The past five years have seen better partnership between LAUP and the campus work than ever before, and we want to see this continue and deepen. It will take the right person, and we need God to bring that person to us. Pray also for a strong finish to my tenure as LAUP director, and that God will give me wisdom to set things up well into the future.
Additionally, I (Scott) am seeking $30K of financial support as I transition out of the LAUP job, into my new national role. If you feel led to help me in this transition, it would bless me and my family.
Thank
you for walking with me and my family through the journey of ministry as the LAUP director. You are a spiritual family of partnership
that have surrounded me in prayer, giving, consultation, and friendship for
many years now, and I am grateful to have you behind me as God opens up the
next chapter of life for my
Scott
