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Rob Rynders is a United Methodist pastor serving his first appointment as the UM campus minister at Arizona State University. Born in the Chicago area, Rob primarily grew up in Southern and Northern California. He attended seminary at Claremont School of Theology where he received a Master of Divinity degree in May 2006. He has served in youth ministry in both California and Arizona and served four summers on staff with Sierra Service Project. Rob enjoys spending time with friends and family, playing guitar, following Oakland A’s baseball, reading, and watching movies. He is married to Melissa who is also a UM pastor. Their son Colby was born in April 2008.
Welcome New Students!
All of us at Valley Wesley want to congratulate you on your graduation from high school, completion of community college, or completion of your undergraduate degree and your decision to further your education. You must be feeling a number of mixed emotions as you prepare to begin the next step of your life’s journey. Along with the next step in your educational journey, however, comes an opportunity to continue your spiritual journey. Valley Wesley is the United Methodist Campus Ministry for Arizona State University, community colleges, and technical schools and is open to all college students looking for a welcoming and non-judgmental faith community. We meet every Wednesday night during the school year at First Tempe UMC for a free dinner followed by worship. Many students find this to be the best part of their week. Students who are unable to join us on Wednesday nights are still welcome to attend events and gatherings throughout the week or can join us for worship on Sunday mornings for traditional worship at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., or for contemporary worship at 11:30 a.m.
Through their participation in Wesley a number of students have built solid relationships with each other and with God. In our ministry we believe everyone goes at their own pace on their journey of faith. We offer an atmosphere where you can freely explore your faith amongst others who are doing the same. I would like to invite you to join us for one or more of our many activities that will be happening beginning in mid-August. You can stay up to date on those and all of our activities on www.valleywesley.com. There you can also find information about our fall sermon series, follow my blog, and stay up to date with the latest Wesley news. We will also be having a retreat to San Diego over Labor Day weekend, September 4-7. The cost is only $25 and you can read-up on the details and register here.
Being a part of Wesley will give you a spiritual home while at college and is a great way to build new relationships with other students. You can find us at 215 E. University Dr in Tempe. We are located on the grounds of Tempe First UMC at the beginning of Forest Mall. If you will be parking at the church, simply tell the parking attendant that you are there for Wesley or to see pastor Rob and he will give you a spot free of charge. You can always call us at 480-966-8425 or e-mail director@valleywesley.com. You can also find links to our Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and You Tube pages through our website. Congratulations again on all of your accomplishments, we hope that you will take a moment come check us out when you get to campus. If you do, it just may change your life forever.
Don’t forget to let us know that you are on your way by filling out our contact form here.
Fall Wednesday Night Sermon Series
I am excited to announce the “Origins” sermon series for the fall semester! During these sermon, bible study, and discussion times we will be exploring the origins of our existence, the nature and doctrines of the church, and belief itself.
We will look at what scripture, tradition, reason, and experience say about a number of topics. Nothing will be off limits and everything you thought you knew about your faith will be challenged. Join us as we seek meaning in our lives and in the world through the lens of early and postmodern Christian faith.
We will also be offering an extended talkback time with Pastor Rob following each service and an online discussion forum that you can participate in.
Here are the topics we will be covering (topics and dates are subject to change):
August 26th- Doubt and New Beginnings (Welcome and preview of series)
September 2nd- The Bible: It’s Not a Science or History Textbook
September 9th- Creation: Why Evolution is True (Rob and Rev. Dave Summers)
September 16th- Jesus and Christ
September 23rd- Faith, Belief, and the New Atheists (A look at our reasons for belief)
September 30th- Sin, Your Sex Life, and Not Feeling Guilty Anymore (Rev. Tina Rees)
October 7th- The Trinity: It’s Okay to be Confused About It
October 14th- Worship in the Early Church (Rev. Jenny Smith)
October 21st- The End Times: Why Being “Left Behind” is Good Fiction
October 28th- Paul, The Early Church and an Authentic Call to Discipleship
November 4th- Prophets: Micah
November 11th- Guest Preacher- Rev. Kevin Kloster
November 18th- Prophets: Isaiah
November 25th- No Wesley, Thanksgiving Break
December 2nd- The Birth of Christ and Hope for the World
So what do you think? Leave your comments below!
Wesley 2.0
As we approach the beginning of our third year of full-time United Methodist campus ministry I am excited to officially introduce our new website and promotional materials to you. With God’s help our ministry has been an amazing success these past two years. It could not have happened without the foundation that was built by former campus ministers and students. The original Valley Wesley website was actually created and managed by Brian Indrelunas, one of our recent alums. His work allowed us to have a presence on the web which alerted more than just a few out of state students of our presence. I always enjoyed getting e-mails that began with “hey I saw your website and want to know more about your ministry.” A website might seem like an obvious thing for a ministry to have, however, the volunteer work that Brian and other students put in jump started the Wesley revolution here at ASU.
The brand new version of valleywesley.com that you are currently experience is the result of a year-long effort by student Cameron Kopas who worked extremely hard to bring us into the Web 2.0 world. Not only does our site have a great new look but it is also equipped with the latest social media features. The best part is that this is just phase one. We will be adding additional features and content throughout the year that will make this site useful for prospective and current students, board members, and supporters.
I also want to lift up graphic designer, Rachel Hardy, who created our original logo and is currently re-designing all of promotional materials. As you can tell she is extremely talented and I look forward to the additional work she will be doing for Wesley.
If you have an idea or a suggestion for the website please do not hesitate to contact either Cameron at admin@valleywesley.com or myself at rob@valleywesley.com.
Summer Reading
Summers here at ASU are pretty laid-back compared to the fall and spring semesters. I have been using the time to organize the Wesley offices and computer files and planning for the fall semester. I have also been using the time to catch-up on a bunch of reading. One book I just finished is called The New Christians by Emergent church leader Tony Jones. I enjoyed the book and was inspired by many of the ideas, but one quote in particular popped out at me. Jones is re-telling a story about a church a friend of his worked at and his friend describes a staff meeting in which the pastor is leading a discussion on what they need to be doing to get more young adults to come to their church. The discussion is disappointing and Jones’ friend seeks his advice.
Jones asks his friend, “Does your church believe in the Holy Spirit?”
“Of course,” she replied.
“Then why in the world would you think that you can do anything to get people to come to church? Instead, why don’t you worry about being faithful–living out a beautiful Christianity–and see what the Spirit does in your midst? I think that people will be more attracted to the Spirit than to anything you could ever do to ‘hook’ them.”
This seems like a no-brainer. If God’s spirit is truly active and present among us then we need to be actively seeking to embrace it and let it guide and lead us. So many times we are so focused on a goal or an objective that we push God’s spirit aside. When it comes to getting folks involved in the church we are focused on numbers and demographics and if we don’t meet those goals then our ministries are failures. Or sometimes we strive to be a certain type of Christian, we want to be holy or ‘spiritual’ and feel like if we try really hard, complete a list of tasks, or subscribe to a specific set of beliefs, then we can get there. Often times, however, this ends in disappointment or perhaps disaster. We didn’t meet an attendance goal or we didn’t read the Bible or pray as much as we thought we should have and we label ourselves as failures.
But what if we stopped trying to force the issue and we put aside all the stereotypes of how we are supposed to believe, act, pray, worship, and study? What if instead we listened to and discerned God’s call for our lives, both personally and as a community? So let’s start being authentic to how the Spirit is moving among us and practice beauty. Maybe we can love more, give more of ourselves, act with hope instead of fear, and spend more time recognizing God’s presence in our lives and in the world. Let’s stop trying to lead God with our expectations and instead let God lead us through practicing a more “beautiful Christianity” and see who shows up and what kind of transformation happens in our lives.
