Join the Journey with Katie & Taylor
Passionately Ministering the love and mercy of Jesus Christ by Using Athletics as a Weapon for the Gospel through Encountering, Encouraging and Empowering both the Body of Christ and the Lost for the Glory of God
Interview With Josh and Melissa Vander Hey of University of New Orleans
apr2008newsletter4 (click to download full April newsletter)
Here is a teaser and some of the interview that I couldn’t put in the Newsletter
How does your relationship with Jesus Christ look like in everyday life? What are ways you serve him and love others?
(JOSH)You know that is a good question. I ask myself that a lot. For me it looks like being a good friend and treating my teammates good. We have a lot of younger guys on our team. They are deciding right now how they are going to be for the rest of their life. I have to be a good example to them. It is important to be available letting them know where I am at. All the guys know that I love Jesus. It is being available. Guys have stuff going on and it is good to be there for them; being positive, encouraging for them. The whole world can claim to be Christian. But if you don’t live it then your Christianity is empty. Melissa and I pray in the morning for them. But having them over has been the best way. It has been the best ministry for us.
But personally you have to eliminate busyness to have a relationship with Christ. That has been hard. I have to say that spending time with God is more important than something because I can feel my day with anything. I am good at it sometimes and sometimes I am not.
I don’t understand why I am here. But here I am in New Orleans.
Something that is really cool with our Senior bequest. Everything is defined as pre-Katrina or post-Katrina. The day everything changed. That is the day that changed their lives. There is a lot of rebuilding; making things that are broken and terrible better. That was Jesus heart to make broken people new and that is cool to see that happening tangibly here. We are making something new!
As a team how do you guys see God using you together most effectively ?
(Josh)We were talking about it here (in New Orleans). Every guy on our team, the only married couple they see or are ever around is, us. So we have tried to have a bunch of the guys over to our house for dinner to hang out with them one on one. Their only other example of a marriage is their parents. We are their age and married. If they see us as being married and having something they want then they are not going to have a terrible picture of married and they are going to want a solid relationship. Not just to marry some chick and go in with very little hope of a good relationship. It has been wonderful that has been the best way that we can minister to my teammates. That is the best way that God uses us as a team together.
(Melissa )I would agree that God placed Josh and I here for a reason. God has really used Josh to speak truth into many of the guys here who have never heard it before in such a real way. When we have guys over to the house for dinner, not only are we building a positive relationship with them, we get the opportunity to share the love of Jesus whether in discussion or by loving them. Most of the guys on Josh’s team, I would say, are being exposed for the first time to a fully committed and Christ centered relationship.
Share this:
One Comment on “Interview With Josh and Melissa Vander Hey of University of New Orleans”
Leave a Reply
Join the Journey with Katie & Taylor 
Hey Tay,
Thanks for the update. Love getting your newsletters. Keep up the great work for the Kingdom.
Tim
LikeLike