Prayers/Updates

It has been a crazy week of ministry!  We have had several large interaction events like the class crawl, picnic in the quad, and Get Plugged In, but I personally have also been spending a lot of time developing relationships with other groups and individuals.

Our ministry was invited to help freshman at class crawl by leading them around the quad and showing them where their classes were.  We also handed out freezer pops.  It was a great opportunity to interact with freshman and let them get to know our faces.

At Picnic in the Quad we had a few sign up as interested in small groups and were able to serve water and freezer pops to quite a few individuals.

Summit Coffee House serves students

 I personally feel that Get Plugged In provided some of the best interactions, as a whole.  Though we didn't have many interact at our booth (we gave out coffee, water, freezer pops, and information about game nights and small groups), there was tremendous interaction with students and many parts of the body.  We had a good number of groups show up for Get Plugged In, and we had a really nice inviting spread in the Quad.  It was open enough that individuals could wander around without feeling pressured yet had enough coverage of walkways that they were able

Encounter engages a student

to interact with quite a few groups.  Many of them stopped by to eat food provided by Cup of Joe's early in the morning or to get free coffee and doughnuts at Pastor Dave's Summit Coffeehouse tent (along with free laundry detergent, deodorant and other needed supplies).  I saw a good number interact with Renew early in the day when the played some music, and more students seemed to interact later with Challenge when they began to play music.  Encounter had several good interactions over the smores that they prepared, and quite a few students came by North Oak's table when they began serving a free lunch.

Challenge students play hacky sack with others

Liberty had more interactions later in the day (they gave students a chance to beat the ministry leader on a video game for a free supper), and I saw a few students walking around with the free bags provided by Trinity Lutheran Church.  First Presbyterian had a few internationals engage in conversation, and the UMSC also had a few people stop by.

North Oak serves food and information

More than just the interactions, though, what I really enjoyed seeing was the body of believers coming together to serve students as one.  Students had a great chance to simply be served and cared for, and I heard many conversations start up along the lines of 'Why are you doing this? Really, well why do you care about us?'  It led to some great conversations about love and Jesus.  I also enjoyed watching groups leave their tables to go interact with other parts of the body that they didn't know well.  It was great to see local college ministers and lead pastors having good discussions about what they were doing.  I feel that God powerfully used the day, and I am very grateful for it.

Beyond the big events, it has been a busy week of interactions.  I recently had a chat with a student until about five in the morning about faith and life.  It was a very awesome time, and I am grateful for that interaction.

I've also started having more interactions with a few new people in different ministries that I have been getting to know.  There is one young man who is working in the fraternities to start up Bible studies and love his fraternity brothers, there is a group living in a house in the party scene as a ministry house to reach out to their neighbors, and there are several ministries that have been around awhile who are just now getting their names out there.  It has been fun engaging in all of these arenas and more over the last week.

Additionally, I have been interacting more with Chinese Students and Chinese Student Association (I just spoke there last night and we have invited them to lead one of our game nights and perform at [alt] if they so desire).

Crazy as it's been, I want you to know that I greatly appreciate your prayers and support.  Have a great week and rest assured that the Kingdom continues to forcefully advance in Hays :)