October 18, 2008

Dear Friends, Family, and Faithful Supporters,
Thank you so much for your consistent presence in my life and advocacy for the ministry I have been a part of, whether financially, prayerfully, relationally, or otherwise.  After seven years of ministry with InterVarsity (4 as a student, 3 as a full-time employee), I write to you with a mix of sadness and great joy to notify you of my resignation from my work with InterVarsity.  The sadness comes as this coming season represents the first in my adult life where I have not been explicitly involved with InterVarsity and campus ministry.  More than a quarter of my life has been spent in service of the Kingdom directly at UC San Diego, San Diego City College, and at particular moments and points at various other campuses across Southern California.
During the past seven years I have led many college students through a first-time commitment to Jesus and His purposes in the world, and have witnessed dozens, if not hundreds more commitments being made throughout InterVarsity’s ministry.  These students have ranged from two electrical engineering PhD candidates from Taiwan to an undocumented (‘illegal’) Mexican student at City College to students wallowing in despair and depression in various contexts.  Some of these students are changing the world in their home countries, while others are seeking to transform San Diego.  Overall, Jesus has been lifted up and God has been glorified as salvation has come to students, which has then compelled them to seek justice and restoration in their unique cities, campuses, and contexts.
However, even as I leave places where I have witnessed incredible transformation, I cannot forget the incredible pain, brokenness and fatalism that has haunted San Diego City College and the lives of countless students across San Diego.  It was difficult to feel like I was only scratching the surface of the multi-faceted contours of brokenness that enveloped our students like a deep fog, capturing believers and non-believers alike.  Even as we continually sought the Lord on campus, days of great joy seemed to be swallowed up with feelings of powerlessness when it came to breaking cycles of poverty, sickness, addiction, and despair.
I believe the Lord has called me to spend my life on behalf of the poor and the broken, and to seek the breaking of these vicious cycles that consume their lives, their resources, and even their physical bodies.  Thus, in an ironic way, it is with great joy that I move from working for InterVarsity and venture into the realms of community organizing and development in our very broken border-neighborhood of National City.  Jesus has placed a great vision on Bethany’s and my heart to open up a community development center, with the centerpiece being a free neighborhood health clinic.  Though the job ahead of us feels daunting at times, we are excited to pursue Jesus into creative avenues for healing the sick and bringing justice to our neighborhood, whose inhabitants battle many concurrent injustices, from their treatment as legal or undocumented immigrants to their inability to attain health care to the inability to secure healthy food choices on a daily basis.
We believe Jesus has called us to be voices and advocates for the marginalized in our communities, and we are jumping headfirst into what He has planned for us, our immediate community, and future adventures he is marking out for us.  We will be updating our journey at jubileeuprising.wordpress.com – please consider following us there for more regular updates, photos, musings, and perhaps a video or two if I can get my act organized.

Thank you to the many of you who have so graciously contributed financial resources to my previous work in campus ministry.  As our economy has ventured through quite a volatile year, your faithful, even sacrificial support of me and of the ministry at City College is a great testament to the Lord’s work in your life and your passion for Jesus and His Kingdom to become a reality here on earth.  I hope that choosing to sacrifice your resources for the sake of the Kingdom has been a blessing to your own life and has deepened your faith in Jesus.
As Bethany and I are preparing to embark on a journey of faith and service of the poor, we will assuredly come across situations where we will not have the resources to immediately satisfy the needs that are presented to us.  Would you keep us in prayer when you review your financial giving plans and as you respond to Jesus’ sacrificial call to restore the lives of the broken?
For those of you whose hearts are stirred by the Lord’s work in campus ministry, would you consider directing the funds and resources you have been supporting me with either to InterVarsity at San Diego City College or to my friends and house-mates Audrey Tom or Chris Wheatley?  You can do so at intervarsity.org/donate and continue as you see fit.

Ultimately, I am incredibly grateful for your support, prayers, encouragement, and well wishes.  May the Lord bless you deeply, and may you continue to grow in Him as you take risks for the Kingdom even in the midst of uncertainty surrounding us.

For the Healing of the Nations,
Lars