Extensive Update

So many updates!  Thank all of you who have been praying so much!  Our first week in action went very well.  During Picnic in the Quad on Monday August 23 we were able to have a booth that provided free ice-water from an igloo to anyone who was thirsty.  Since it was very hot and muggy many of the students and other ministries were able to take advantage of it at the low cost of hauling the Igloo back and forth to be refilled with ice and water.  We also had several students sign up as interested in small group Bible studies and were able to take several to other campus ministry tables at the picnic.

Thursday was our ‘Get Plugged In’ event.  We had about five students who took time to hit almost every table on their way through in earnest search of a place to connect to.  We also had a dozen or so who picked up information from various tables and more who just picked up a brochure from just one table or two in passing.  I know that it was quite a bit smaller turnout than many had expected, but to me it was a rousing success.  It is apparent to me that God loves each person more than we can comprehend, and so if even just one student made one connection into the body who wouldn’t have otherwise, four hours of event plus quite a bit more planning and contacting everyone is a VERY small price…  I was greatly pleased.  It was also cool to see so many of the churches in town respond—we had over 2/3 in attendance, which was over our goal.

Friday and Saturday August 27 and 28^th were our training with Doug Schaible of New Tribes.  We had very few attend, so Doug opted to have discussion instead of a lecture for both sessions.  Doug and I also had an opportunity to pray with a young lady who was deeply stressed by a lot of difficult things in life at the time, so that was really cool.

Our game night went extremely well—we had around 18 in attendance and several games going (Friday night is standard game night—geared more as an alternative to going out and drinking/partying).  We have at least a couple congregation members trained up for our International themed game nights on Saturday (geared to be an interaction opportunity between members of the body of believers and International students over games once a week in the same time and place next to campus).  We’ve had several chances to interact with international students to invite them, including a welcome back picnic put on by Community Connections tonight.  Afterwards we walked about ten of them by the United Methodist Student Center so they knew where to come and so they can bring their friends if they want to.  Please keep both game nights in your prayers as they recur weekly.

Our small groups are still assembling—I have several congregation members who are interested in trying them out but who are not yet committed.  I also have quite a few students who haven’t gotten back to me about their schedules yet.  Please pray that God help all who should be involved come together in the right place at the right time—I hope to launch a couple of small groups by the week after next and to continually launch new ones throughout the semester as we get enough interested new congregation members and students.

Prayer requests: 

First:  Please pray first that the Holy Spirit help all involved listen to His voice and hear exactly what He has to say.  I have invited three men to prayerfully consider being on Unite’s board, and we have five students who have committed to be on the student leadership team with several others praying about it.  There are also a large number of congregation members who are prayerfully deciding if they’d like to be involved in our small groups or international themed game night.  The Spirit must lead all and make all the connections between us.  Please pray that we all listen and hear.

Second:  Please pray that the Spirit help all involved see things through His perspective.  One could see the ‘Get Plugged In’ event as unfruitful based on numbers, but I explained earlier how I found it to be a rousing success.  It’s all about perspective, and it is INCREDIBLY important that we ask God to help us see everything through His perspective.

Third:  Please pray that more prayer warriors begin praying for us.  Thank those of you who have been praying SINCERELY!