September Update

Welcome Week: A Story Better Told in Pictures

    Welcome back! This ministry update is always one of my most favorite ones to send- I have so many pictures and stories to share. God was truly at work these past couple weeks and I am so thankful for your faithful partnership in the midst of it. It is a gift to have your prayers and belief behind us on campus. 

Thank you for making another year of welcoming students on campus possible. I want to share about the last couple weeks in picture form & I hope it lets you see this campus and these students through my eyes. 

The Sights of Welcome Week: 

Welcome week is full of new friendships like this! We hit the ground running before school started with some events like capture the flag, line dancing and lawn games- the picture above is from capture the flag.  We were so encouraged by how many students were on campus for almost a week before school started because move in was a lot earlier this year than it's historically been. 

Welcome week is full of nights like this picture! This is from our first Fellowship Night of the school year, we had about 200 students show up to worship God and get connected to community. It is such a humbling thing to experience- moments like this reminded me how important it is to be on campus for them. These students are seeking God and want to know Him. 

Welcome week is full of getting texts like this one above- this girl Maddi got connected to my roommate simply because she heard worship in the middle of campus. She is not a Christian but now is perhaps for the first time connected to Christian community. Praise God. 

Welcome week is full of seeing these faces- this is our student leader team for this year. They are super stars! They've each decided to make the commitment not only to make time to study the bible with their peers one on one, lead a small group and attend multiple weekly meetings with our pastors- but also attend all of the welcome week events in order to bless and connect with new students. What a rare and special group of students. 

Welcome week is full of community like this! One of the new freshman we met works for RedBull & wanted to give some away and take a picture- so we got this fun group pic of some of our students! Over the past couple weeks we have connected with quite literally HUNDREDS of new students and at worst, simply blessed their first weeks of school with fun nights and welcoming friends- and at best connected them to Jesus & life long community. Only time will tell what God does with the seeds we sowed this month, but I am confident fruit will be borne. Looking forward to sharing the harvest with you in the months and years to come. 

Until next month, 

Sophie