Recent Comments ARCHIVE - Love writes a letter to Hate - 19 things I want RUF to be about - Time to Start - Casa Hogar 2 - Casa Hogar 2 - Casa Hogar 1 - End of the Semester Report - A poem by Nicole Rowlette - Mexico - Poem by Anthony Plopper - My Poem - Patty Griffin Rocks My House - End of the Decade - The Gospel by Tim Keller - Sex by Marva Dawn - The Interviews - Becky Robertson - The Interviews - Katie Willis - The Interviews - Ian Puffenberger - The Interviews - The Moyni - The Interviews - Chris Schaefer		The Interviews -Amber Hendricks 8/5/09 Amber has been such a joy to get to know. I'm only sad (as she mentions below) that she found her way to RUF so later in her college career. Amber just finished her engineering master's degree (I forget in what), and was one of the very few women in the program. She is a servant. She has a huge smile and loves people well. 1. How did you first get involved with RUF? I thought it was associated with the RUF/NEKs for the longest time, but I learned what it really was from my roommate my junior year. I was going to a church that had Wednesday night prayer meetings at the time, so I didn’t end up going to RUF for quite a while after that. Then I stopped going to that church during fall semester my senior year, and tried RUF at the beginning of the next semester—and I was hooked! 2. What was/is your favorite part about RUF? Just one? I love that we sing hymns, and I love that there is solid Biblical teaching. I guess my favorite part is that there are a lot of other college students (my age or thereabouts) that have very similar beliefs to mine, and we can fellowship and worship the Lord together. 3. How would you describe your RUF to people interested in coming? Very warm and friendly, with a fair number of different kinds of people. It’s someplace you can go and be welcomed, hear the gospel, hang out with some pretty awesome people, and not feel judged—even if what you’re hearing is new or you don’t know the songs, etc. 4. What traditions did you have at RUF that meant the most to you? The hymn singing—a lot of college ministries don’t think that students would know or enjoy hymns, and don’t ever take the effort to try it. There’s a lot of good contemporary Christian music, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something deeper and generally more meaningful about the hymns that I really enjoy and feel ministered to by. They're just so full of gospel truth and the difficulties of real life and the wonderfulness of God that they can't help but be good! I also really appreciate how Doug takes time to gets to know each of the students who comes, and offers himself to counsel and encourage or sometimes just hang out with said students. - Do you have an appropriate funny moment that you can share? I think it’s funny how we all forget that we’re supposed to say “Go Sooners!” after Doug finishes…every single week. Also at RUF Summer Conference, there was one morning at breakfast when I wasn’t awake all the way yet, and I patted a random stranger on the head because I thought he was a friend of mine. - Do you have a favorite RUF hymn? What is it and why is it your favorite? How Deep the Father’s Love—it’s so encouraging to remember how much God really loves us, in spite of all the stupid things we do! I also love the music that accompanies it. 5. How did God use RUF in your life? Fellowship, encouragement, hanging out and having fun (a nice break from the stress of studying), and it was definitely nice not to feel like I was pretty much the only person anywhere near my age who believed in the absolute sovereignty and majesty of God. 6. Did RUF help you in your understanding and love for the church and for community? How so? Yes. Community—by providing some much needed community that I was not getting much of elsewhere! The church—by other RUFers acting like family and caring for each other when times were harder for various people, and by encouraging me to visit CtK, which I really appreciate as a God-honoring, people-loving church. 7. What are you doing now? Where are you in church? I am living with my parents and looking for a job! I’m going to my parents’ church for the moment. 8. What is the gospel and how is it operating in your life right now? The gospel is the amazing news that Jesus Christ, that God came down and was also fully human, that He lived life as a human, that He died for the sins of His people, and that He rose again and ascended to heaven, where He’s preparing an eternal home for His children in preparation for His second coming*! It operates in my life as I remember that my life isn’t really mine, it’s His, and I need to live to do what He wills, not what I want. And that someday I’m going to live with Him forever in a place and state of being that will be so wonderful and perfect that I can’t even really imagine it! Name: (optional) 10/7/09 2:40 pm Amber Hendricks: Aw, I didn't know this was going to be on your blog (or I forgot)! :) And you said nice things about me at the beginning, too. Thanks, Doug! :)