Hey everybody!
Looking back on it, February was dominated by two things: Our youth rally and snow. The youth rally took loads of time and energy of course, but the snow was everywhere! Throughout the month, we had to cancel a Sunday morning assembly, a Wednesday night assembly, and a Monday night Bible study due to ice and snow. I worked our snow shovel so much, I had to buy a new one. The “Hero Of The Month” award goes to Dave Mielke from Northern Hills Church of Christ, who came by and fixed up our snow blower. Without his handy machine know-how, I would probably still be moving snow from February. It was a mess.
However, when we did have events and assemblies they were good ones. The biggest problem with our campus ministry these days is figuring out how to fit everyone in our campus house. We have a lovely facility, but we are maxing it out every week now. We are averaging around 15 people which is a pretty big crowd for a regular-sized living room. We repainted over the summer to make it feel more open and we are talking about swapping some couches out for chairs, but if we are going to grow more from here we are going to need to either remodel, relocate, or get creative. It is wonderful problem!
We could simply use a facility on campus. With the right paperwork, the school allows student organizations to use classrooms and other facilities. However, we would lose our close-knit “homey” feeling, we couldn't serve food, and the whole atmosphere would be different. Our studies would feel less like “Let's gather around the table” and more like “Where is the syllabus?” On the other hand, remodeling is expensive and time-consuming, so that's not a great option either. We could try splitting our group in two and offering two studies a week, but all the students would want to go to the same one anyway to be around their friends. So for now we are stuck in the happy conundrum of too many people and not enough room. Still, right now there is a great energy in air and most every week feels like a blow-out success (probably due to the lack of chairs), so our ministry is alive and well (if a little cramped) these days.
Here is a picture of our group hosting a Super Bowl Party with some of our church family:
Super Bowl Party 2018
The other big thing that happened in February was our 4th annual youth rally. It was a great time! We had about 25 teenagers and 15 adults, which may not sound like much for a youth rally, but when you consider that's from a half-dozen churches from a hundred miles West and East from here, that's not too shabby. Our congregation of 70 folks or so had 110 at our Sunday morning assembly that weekend. Our teachers also came from a handful of area congregations around us, making it truly an area-wide event. We played some games, made some friends, and heard some high-quality apologetics. The theme was “The Reason For God” based on the book by Timothy Keller and the big idea was to help students think through the reasons for our faith. It was a good weekend all the way around. One of our elders, Alan Hardison, said, “I think this was our best youth rally yet.”
Ernie Bishop Teaching At Our Youth Rally
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”
- 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Keanu And I At Our Youth Rally
In between the snow and the youth rally, we kept trucking with all our regular kinds of things. We had a couple of individual Bible studies. We had 7 students at one of our Sunday morning assemblies, which was fantastic. We had a student visit our church for the first time. I had to stay home a couple of days to take care of my sweet boys who got some nasty colds. We hosted the area-preacher meeting and our Bi-Annual Campus Ministry Board meeting. The ballast blew out in the lights in our kitchen, so we spent a couple days trying to cook in the dark (which I have discovered is not a great plan). Eventually Albert Hardy came by and fixed it up for us. He also deserves a “Hero Of The Month” award. I don't know what we would do without the great support we get from our church family in the area.
Anyway, that's all for February. Thanks for reading and you have a great day!
-Silas