Wow, It's been a month already! God has been so good this month, an I'm excited to share that with you guys a little bit here. Thank you all who have been praying and thinking of this ministry during this past month. Those prayers are not unnoticed I know, and I am so thankful for them and for you guys. Also thank you to all of you who are on my financial support team. This was the first month, and it was really possible in so many ways by you guys being generous and willing to be a part of this with me. Thank you guys. If you haven't set up that payment yet, now is the time! I can answer any questions about how to do that if you need me to.
A big part of this month was getting started on the campuses with outreach to the new students coming in. So the second half of this month has been a really busy and really fun time of being on campus, meeting students, and having what we call "welcome week" events. These are activities we plan on campus to bring students in and meet them. This is a huge part of our strategy for both campuses, and so many students have been met through these events the past couple weeks, which is really exciting. Our students leaders have been doing an amazing job of personally sticking with these people and looking out for them to make sure they have friends and people they can spend time with. This makes up so much of our small groups or "cores," as those students leaders invite these new students into those smaller and more in depth areas of our ministries where they can foster more one on one relationships with other students. God really has been faithful to bringing in students who are seeking him. We just seek to get to be a part of His work with Him.
The first half of our month as apprentices was spent reading through a lot of the Old Testament for our Old Testament foundations class. This class has really been such a good experience for me, and I think my fellow apprentices would say the same. One of the big lessons I've taken from this class already is just how willing I can be to fall into the original sin of Adam and Eve of doubting what God says is good and right, and wanting what I want instead. I've seen that in my life many times, and in the lives of others, and it's been something I've had a chance to think more about and learn about in this class. So far that class has been one of my favorite parts of this experience so far.
On another note, our big group meetings have officially kicked off! Here's a picture.
This Thursday night meeting is always such a good way to celebrate what God is doing on His campus and I get to do that with so many other people seeking God, which is a really neat part of the week.
Things to be praying for:
- Pray for our small groups, that the time spent there would really serve those students in there. More specifically, pray that they would be there seeking God and building good relationships with their fellow core members in the next few weeks. Those groups just started this past week.
- Join me in prayers of thanks to God for how good and faithful He is. I've really been able to see that multiple times in just these short four weeks.
Thank you all again for reading and being a part of this with me. These posts are a way for me to reflect on what God has been doing, and I hope you remain encouraged and excited about what He is doing on these campuses just as I am writing this.
In Christ,
-Ryan
