a2f newsletter.

happy wednesday.

wanted to welcome all of you back from spring break. it’s a good week to be back. warm + sunny. we got to welcome back the filter of hope team and got to hear an update from gracie + phil. praise god for the 14 salvation decisions our team got to experience and the many more families we got to plant gospel seeds into. a recap video to come soon.

wanted to highlight our student-led event coming up this saturday.

free kbbq + fun. but also a time to hear their testimonies + stories about how they discovered christianity to be both intellectually true and personally powerful + relevant in their lives. all our students have a variety of spiritual backgrounds (from churched, dechurched, and unchurched) so any + all spiritual backgrounds / exposure to church are welcome.

also update announcement on the 3v3 basketball tournament: we’ll be cancelling it since purdue vs. texas will be going on during the exact time of the tournament. sad. but go purdue.

again, if you have any questions, go ahead and use this form - q + a with dj form

and if you would like a coffee chat with either me or tabby, we created this standing google calendar link - schedule a coffee chat with dj or tabby

dj.

sunday. 3/29. 12p. walc 1018.

continuing our series in john that will carry us through the rest of the semester. for those still around, we’ll be having our usual service. same time. same place. afterwards, we’ll have lunch. come join us.

deadline - 3/31.

if you are interested in becoming a student leader for fall 2026 - spring 2027, please fill out this application form here: student leadership application form link.

friday. 4/3. 7p. classroom 1950.

good friday service. please note the change in time (7p) and change in location (classroom 1950). reason - iu + uiuc church plants will be joining us and so it’ll be a larger group so we needed a bigger room. worship. special video. message on luke 23. time to partake in the lord’s supper. then ending the night with a meal. please come join us.

sunday. 4/5. 430p. walc 1018.

come celebrate easter sunday with a2f. he is risen. please note the change - we will be meeting at 430p at campus house (1000 Mitch Daniels Blvd). worship. sermon. choir. afterwards, we’ll celebrate easter by having a big bbq dinner celebration + appetizer and dessert potluck. come join us.

jesus is arrested in a place he chose.

it happens in a familiar garden across the brook kidron. this wasn’t a hiding spot. it was a place jesus and his disciples returned to often. a place of prayer, of teaching, of closeness with the father.

and yet, it becomes the place of betrayal.

judas knew exactly where to find him. not because jesus slipped up, but because jesus didn’t try to hide. he could have chosen a different place. he could have avoided that night entirely.

but he didn’t.

because he wasn’t avoiding the cross. he was walking toward it.

when the soldiers arrive, jesus doesn’t wait in the shadows. he steps forward. he initiates the encounter. “whom do you seek?” he asks. and when they answer, “jesus of nazareth,” he responds, “i am he.”

and in that moment, everything flips.

the soldiers draw back and fall to the ground.

no struggle. no resistance. just his words.

this is not a helpless man being captured. this is a king revealing, even if just for a second, who he really is. the one they came to arrest is the one holding the moment together.

and then, just as quickly, he withholds that power.

he doesn’t run. he doesn’t fight. when peter reaches for his sword, jesus tells him to put it away. “shall i not drink the cup the father has given me?”

and then they bind him.

the same voice that just knocked soldiers to the ground allows himself to be tied up and led away.

not because he lacks power, but because he chooses not to use it.

this is the kind of strength we don’t naturally understand.

we think strength looks like control, proving ourselves, winning. jesus shows us that true strength can look like surrender. not passive resignation, but intentional obedience. not weakness, but restraint.

he is in control the entire time. he steps forward. he names himself. he protects his disciples. and he walks willingly into suffering. for us.

for students surrounded by pressure to perform, to stand out, to prove something, this passage offers a different vision of strength.

you don’t always have to assert yourself to be strong.

you don’t always have to win to be in control.

you don’t always have to avoid suffering to be secure.

the greatest display of power in this moment isn’t in escaping suffering, but in willingly stepping into it for the sake of others.

the soldiers thought they were taking control that night. but jesus had already chosen the place, the moment, and the outcome.

he wasn’t losing control. he was giving himself.

and the same jesus who walked into that garden with full authority is the one who walks with you now and is calling us to enter into something so counter-cultural.

until next time.

dj.