OSU excitement

Last weekend was a great weekend at OSU. The design of the weekend was to build relationships and excitement for our arrival on May 12th. The weekend was an encouragement for me as I interacted with the students. I have this underlying fear that I am not good enough to be a campus minister and that failure is imminent. But that seems to be my personality as I begin something new. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to stop me from continuing. Part of it is trusting in God and the result of my time here at WVU.

The positives about OSU were the excitement of the students and the support of the entire congregation and elders. Circle views the campus ministry as a primary ministry of the church. The members want to be involved in the lives of the students and want to engage them in the life of the church. At both OSU and WVU I realized that the students are still just kids. They are searching, developing and desiring to know more about the reality of God in their lives. This element will keep me in ministry for a while. I love this real life struggle and connection with God.

The struggle at WVU this year has been that the campus ministry seems to be only a disconnected part of the church. There are so many problems in the church that an internal focus has emerged and doubts have been raised as to whether we can support a campus ministry. Part of this I feel like is due to a lack of vision and leadership from the elders. But there seems to be an element of change in the air that is bringing excitement for this body that will continue after we leave. I believe that a major reason for this is prayer. I have encouraged every person with negative/fearful thoughts to pray for our elders and church and it's catching. It seems God wants to do great things and is doing great things in our campus ministry and church here as a result of our prayers. Two young ladies from our campus ministry were baptized while I was gone. This brings our total to 4 for the year which is a record for the MfC. Praise God for this. People are seeking God and finding Him here. Now the eldership needs to cast a vision and lead the body in doing God's work.