May Update

 Year 2023-2024 is in the Books!

Someone cue a song of celebration. We made it to the end. Above is a photo of our UTA leader team from this past year. 

I hope your May is starting off well. May marks for me the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. Which means... I'm even closer to having a baby. All prayers are welcomed and appreciated. I plan to send an update in June focusing on family and ministry in regards to our little bundle of joy. (I totally plan to continue in ministry, so don't fret.) This update is going to be centered on outreach and evangelism. I wanted to highlight some outreach efforts that have encouraged me this year! 

Every year I've been in ministry, we have approached outreach in different ways: whiteboards displayed with thought-provoking questions, pairs of students being sent to pray over people, and we've hosted giant events for international students. The most consistent question we have asked has been, "How do we develop a lifestyle of evangelism in our students that will continue as they go into the workplace?" The heart of our driving question is we want our students to have tools that will be applicable once they are gone. Our hope is that our students will become engineers, teachers, nurses and accountants who love God and who have been shown a variety of ways to share and engage faith. 

These photos are some different ways we have met students on campus: board games, a petting zoo, worship in the courtyard, and organization fairs. 

Our evangelism is marked by encouraging friendship over random encounters. We have tried to empower students to see their classrooms, majors and other clubs as opportunities to befriend people and show them Jesus. One way I have seen a student really embrace and run with this idea is my friend Ana. Ana is a civil engineering major. She has really taken on befriending her classmates and being intentional with forming study groups. This year, she found herself really wanting to invite a guy to our Thursday night service. He had experienced some church hurt and Ana felt that if he could just meet some of her friends that it would change him. He was understandably hesitant when she invited him. He did not want to visit out service. With his rejection, Ana chose not to be discouraged but she became creative. She would bring Jesus to him. She started a bible study group with her fellow engineering students. They have been meeting since the middle of the semester and are planning how they may continue reading scripture over the summer. This is a perfect example of someone has caught the vision of an invitational life. 

The next outreach moment from this year I want to highlight features my husband, Graham. Graham has displayed faithfulness trying to reach a difficult demographic: the gamers who play video games in the library basement. As our staff pulled back on displays on campus, Graham found time in his schedule to consistently go and play video games with these students. He found quickly that there are guys who come weekly and bring friends to play. Graham has been going this whole year and at points, he wasn't sure if he was making meaningful connections with anyone. He even invited guys from the basement to come over for the Super Bowl and play video games during it. None of the gamers came. As the semester comes to an end, I can say that God has rewards Graham's faithfulness in his pursuit. Graham has started a bible study with a guy named Eli and he has begun weekly time with another guy named Nico. This is a shining example of using your hobbies to connect with people, and I hope our students can look to his example. 

In closing, I hope you too can be inspired to pray and consider where God could be calling you to outreach. I hope these stories from campus encourage you. Pray that Ana and Graham's efforts will have an everlasting impact in the lives they are touching. Pray for Graham and I as we continue to prepare for the birth of our sweet girl. Pray that God will provide for us in this time. Thank you so much for your support and your prayers! 

Photos from the Month: 

Here is a photo from TCC core. 

A glimpse of some men in our ministry during worship. 

At our last service, we had a senior send off. This is a photo of our students praying over each the seniors. 

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. We are very excited for our baby girl. It feels surreal to be showing at the end of the semester. We are 9 weeks away. Pray for continued health for the both of us. (Not Graham lol).