Almost done

Well...we are finishing up the last week of our first year as campus ministers. We have learned a lot and God has blessed us despite our mistakes. It has been a good year, but we are tired. We aren't used to the whole term thing yet. Our clocks felt like the activities should have ended a month ago.

Jason is especially feeling tired now. He is trying to finish up the school year while trying to prepare for a taking a class in Memphis which starts in two weeks. Working 50-60 hours a week and preparing for a Master's class is starting to take its toll and I know he is looking forward to July when he can finally take a break. If you have time say a prayer for God's strength to carry him through the next few weeks.

Here is a summary of what happened our first year in campus ministry.

Positive things that have happened this year are:
1) Our group grew from a core of 10 to a core group of 16. (Yeah God for working in the lives of our students to give them courage to invite their friends)
2) Jason was in 9 one-on-one Bible studies to help spiritually grow our core students. Some of student leaders were doing Bible studies as well bringing the total up to 16 students studying the Bible weekly.
2) Jason and I are studying with a girl who is thinking about becoming a Christian.
3) Jason has had weekly spiritual conversations with a student who claims to be an atheist and is starting to regularly hang around the UCC. (Satan has put some stumbling blocks in this students way. Pray this doesn't keep him from coming to know God)
4) God has blessed us with a solid, God focused, leadership team for next year.
5) We made it through the first year without any major catastrophes.

Things we don't want to repeat next year:
1) We had too many activities this year. Next year we hope to have less, but more focused activities.
2) Jason taught entirely too many classes on top of one-on-one Bible studies. He's training two students this summer to teach the Sunday morning class so he can have more time available for one-on-one Bible studies.
3) The church here wants to be more involved, so we are brainstorming ideas on to get them more connected with our ministry so we don't have to do so much work. :)

Right before the school year started, Jason and I began to realize the immensity of the task before us. Despite our incredible training, we realized that we just weren't completely prepared for our first year on our own. I went before a group of ladies at church and told them that we were scared about the year. I told them, if anything good comes out of this year, it will be because God did. As I look back on the year, I believe that statement held true. Despite our best efforts, a lot of mistakes were made. And all the growth that happened wasn't because we did anything special, it was because God was willing to use us despite us. It is good to know that we serve a God who doesn't expect us to be perfect, but obedient.

So we are excited about this summer. Excited to take a break. Excited about the brainstorming and preparation that we will be doing for next year. And though we may be a little more wiser next year ,I think I can still honestly say that, despite our best efforts, it will be God that brings about the growth.