A great Night

In a nutshell, tonight's first large group worship meeting was really good. I had some really fantastic conversations with several guys and saw the same thing happening pretty much the whole entire time after large group ended for a couple hours. 

There wasnearly 70 students there, which is a pretty good start for the semester I think. 

We have probably 2 to 4 dozen people interested in Bible study so please pray for wisdom and how to best proceed... We only have six Bible studies. 

222 is the Mark of the Lamb

If 666 is the "mark of the beast", 222 must be something, right? I've determined, through careful exegesis, prayer and much magic-8 ball staring, that 222 is the number of...students that we had fill out a survey on Sunday afternoon.

Actually, it was just the total that we counted afterward.

And it was good, 222 surveys is a very good day for us at the booth where thousands of students walk through.  We had some amazing student leaders and volunteers working the booth all day, and there was a high percentage of people who filled the survey out who gave high numbers in response to the question "What is your interest in knowing God more?" or "Interest in learning more about God with others in a small group?".

AND, we had over 200 students attend the Kickoff BBQ last night.  I always enjoy the BBQ a great deal, but I also have a love-hate relationship with such recruitment things, so although I'm glad it's over, I'm also very thankful that God blessed it by bringing many students, and seemingly many students who seemed genuinely interested in getting involved.  I tell them a bit about Equip during the middle of the meal, share the gospel and essentially briefly implore them to consider Jesus.

It was a good night, and I would very much covet your prayers for tomorrow night, when I tell them what we're passionate about as a ministry and give a better explanation of the gospel.

• Please pray God would move in my heart and mind as I finish preparations and delivery tomorrow evening
• Please pray that we'd have ready what we need for large group to most effectively connect the students to Bible studies and relationships with believers
• Please pray for the student leaders' ability to facilitate small group discussions well, leading toward the Bible and being outward focused during the night for the benefit of others.

Thanks!

Running out

Booth day is going great! So great, we are about to run out of surveys so I am going to print some more. Pray that we could do a sufficient job with follow up with so many. 

Tomorrow!

So, tomorrow in some way marks the official start of the school year / ministry year for us!
Campus and Community Fall Festival (C2F2) starts around 2:00 tomorrow on campus.  We'll have a booth set up, meet dozens or hundreds of students, hopefully having the same fill out the "Spiritual Interest Survey" that we had 500+ freshmen fill out this summer and begin the first few weeks of kickoff events and relationships.

It's kinda a hectic, full and frenzied time, but it's also great.  The first few weeks (3-6ish) of college ministry are pretty darn significant, in that it's perhaps the most ideal and important time to meet and engage with these incoming students (and returning, seasoned, wise returning sophomores and on up).

So, please pray!

Pray for faithfulness for us and the student leaders.

Pray for genuine desire to seek and save the lost.

Pray for God to bless the work of our hands, and that he would grant faith to believe that the fields are white for harvest...and that the fields are ready for planting.  There's lots and lots of planting, and lots of harvesting to be had in this thing we call "college ministry".  It really is a huge opportunity, ask that the Lord would give us peace and faithfulness as we seek to fulfill what he is calling us to.

Pray that God would truly be lifted up, honored and magnified as great and awesome to save.

Leadership training & retreat

This weekend, starting tonight, we have our annual summer leadership training and retreat. I'm very excited and eager to see all the guys and gals again. 

This will be the first time that Brandon wont be there, and so I would appreciate prayers that God would grant an extra blessing of passion and clarity for ministry. 

Perhaps half the time is simply bonding and time together as a team. The other half is some various vision and training regarding Bible study, discipleship and odds and ends of ministry for this coming fall semester. 

We left our oldest (Asher) in northern MN with my family, and although we already miss him, it'll truly free up Emma this weekend to be involved. 

Lewis, however, decided to not sleep last night, so we are both exhausted (especially Emma). Prayers for energy and reliance on God would also be fantastic.