Dear friends and family,
If you have a desire to see people inspire one another this message is for you. If you love people this message is for you. If you value relationship this message is for you. If you have a desire to see university students have every opportunity to come to a understanding about truth this message is for you. And, if you love Jesus Christ and His unending love then this message is for you.
I want to share a bit about what has been going on in my life the last couple years simply to testify to the goodness of God. I believe each human being has been gifted with their own unique testimony and that each one of those testimonies is incredibly powerful. I do not claim that my testimony is anything great on its own, but I believe, whole-heartedly, that my testimony coupled with the truth found in Jesus Christ has unlimited power. With that being said I pray that my testimony may offer each person who reads it a better understanding of who God is and challenge each person to pursue Him more fully; whatever stage of life they are in.
Over the past two years my life has gone through an extreme makeover of sorts. Prior to March of 2010 I lived a pretty stereotypical “Christian” life while going to a Christian university. I played university basketball and enjoyed the benefits of living on a university campus. But in March 2010 the university campus would surprise me with an offer that would change my life.
In March of 2010 I was finishing up my fifth year of university at Trinity Western in Langley British Columbia. It was the end of an era for me. For five years in a row I had known what life was going to look like and then all of a sudden I had no idea what life would look like. My Bachelor of Arts in Human Kinetics was not going to be finished. I didn’t have a desire to pursue basketball professionally. What was I going to do? Then an job offer came that would flip my world upside-down. March 2010 I was asked to take over the campus ministry at Trinity Western university within the Athletics department. YA! Crazy! That’s what I thought too. I was only 21 at the time and had never, ever, thought that I would work in missions. Not once in my life had that idea crossed my mind. That day rocked my world and it just so happened that God knew that I wouldn’t be able to say no to the opportunity. Not because I wanted to say yes, but because I had nowhere else to run to. I had no other reasonable job opportunities. I applied for numerous out of shear fear of uncertainty within the life of ministry, but not one of them worked out. It became very clear to me that I was supposed to stick around Trinity and lead as best I knew how; which was shaky at best. Little did I know that God had big plans. I accepted the job offer to lead campus mission in Spartan Athletics in April of 2010 and so began a very challenging journey as a young leader.
The fall semester of the 2010 academic year was a bumpy ride of “what the heck am I doing here” moments. I had little, to no idea, what I was doing when it came to leading a ministry and it ended up being the best that thing could have happened to me because I had no other option but to lean on God for guidance. There are many challenges when starting a ministry and the biggest one was staying focused on what I could control and not getting sidetracked by the things I couldn’t. I came in thinking I could “change the world” so to speak and quickly realized that that was a very selfish and prideful way of thinking. I found out in that first semester that it is important to have high aspirations, but when working in missions your primary focus must first be on serving the God who placed you there to begin with. This was a difficult lesson for a prideful, stubborn former university athlete, but it was the most important lesson I have ever learned, not just in my ministry work, but in my life as a whole. I needed to influence the people that I had relationship with and build the momentum from the ground up. It was about sharing my testimony, like I am right now, and my vision of what God had in store in my life. My story had power now that it had God at its center.
As soon as I was willing to be humbly submitted to the plan God had for my life, whatever that looked like, my ministry started to bear its fruits. I began seeing myself open up more to honest, authentic relationships which in turn allowed other young men to do the same. God began breaking down walls in the lives of young men that I was living in community with and it was because God had softened my heart to the point of humble submission to His will. Two years after beginning my ministry at Trinity Western our student leadership involvement has more then doubled! That gets me excited. Please understand that my ministry is not at all about tallying numbers, but it is about seeing God move people to humble submission to His will for their own life. I have the privilege of seeing that happen weekly.
More and more young men are coming to speak with me about their personal struggles with habitual sin and wanting to begin the process of breaking those chains. Young men wanting to develop their leadership skills so that they can go out and mentor young athletes that they coach. People willing to have honest conversations about God and the implications he has in their lives. Young men and women making a first time commitment to having Christ be the center of their lives. Others recommitting their lives to Christ as they have defined their faith for themselves. The list goes on and I love talking about it, but that isn’t good enough. I, Jason Keegstra, have been called, as a Disciple of Christ, to go out and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) and that is what I will continue to do. As it stands right now I am employed to minister to the student athletes of Trinity Western university, but my mission field is beyond those confines and I understand that my whole life is a part of my mission not just my life while at TWU. I strive to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to as many people as the Spirit will give me courage to because “I know to much and I owe to much to let it rest.” (Cee-lo Green)
My ministry has recently expanded into the world of direct sales and I am very excited to open another chapter of my story. Once again I know very little about what I am venturing into, but I trust that the Lord has a plan for this business and that His name will be proclaimed loudly as a result of my efforts. If you have any interest in hearing about my business venture into the world of nutritional health and wellness please contact me. I'd love to chat about it with you.
Above all I covet your prayers as I begin my third year as the Spiritual Development Coordinator for Spartan Athletics at TWU. This involves working with approximately 150 athletes on 9 different sports teams. I also work closely with Christy Taylor who is my female counter part. Between the two of us we are responsible to supply spiritual support and guidance to all TWU Athletes. Christy and I are here to develop Disciples of Christ for the advancement of God’s kingdom and we look forward to this coming year to see what God has in store next for our community.
Thanks to all of you who have supported me in the past. Family and friends are who God has placed in my path to help mold me into the servant God wishes me to be.
May you be sensitive to the Lord’s blessings this day
All Glory to Him who gave me life.
Yours truly
Jason Keegstra
778-240-2288
link to Blog - http://jasonkeegstra.blogspot.ca/
find me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @JasonKeegstra
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