Moving Forward

Someone asked me yesterday how I am dealing with so much disappointment on all fronts and not be just crushed. There is only one answer, you just have to keep moving and leave it be. God is not the one responsible for the disappointments. He is not the one ill-treating me.

Psalm 23: 1, A declaration

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. Psalm 23:1

I make a choice to believe this verse that -
I will not lack direction. I will always have His leading.
I will not lack affirmation, support and encouragement. Even if no one supports this, God is still on my side. The Holy Spirit is my Comforter.
I will not lack material and inspiration for teaching His word. The Holy Spirit is my Helper and has inspired every word in the bible.
I will not lack any money that this ministry needs. Jehovah Jireh is my provider.
I will not lack any physical thing that this ministry needs.
I will not lack personnel and helping hands for all that needs to be done.
I will not be found wanting in a battle because Jehovah Nissi is the Lord of Hosts, the Lion of Judah.
I will not be in want because I am found in Jesus. I am righteous and justified by Him. Amen!

Starting a Church

God has me in training, I know. I don't know what your opinion is but some are trained in seminary, some are not. I happen to be one of those who gets on the job training in almost every area of her life. When I was at SC, I could have had a minor in music ministry. I just needed one more class.

I have started many different organizations since grade school but starting a campus ministry is a new experience. The paperwork doesn't faze me but starting a ministry brings with it a different set of questions and issues. The blessing of starting a campus ministry here is that we already have the physical infrastructure ready - a room, music instruments and projector equipment.

Some of the issues I've had to consider are these, knowing that the ultimate answer is GOD WILL LEAD:
- Target Outreach Group?
Yes, we are called to preach the gospel to everyone but God lays on each of our hearts a burden for certain people. For now, it's the group of people who are tired of religion and a bunch of rules, but want a closer relationship with God. They need a revelation of God's love and grace, as everyone does. How do I get everyone plugged in? Small groups and what types to offer.

- Sermon Series?
There is so much I want to communicate to the students but where to begin. The biggest issue I want to tell them about is the love & grace of God, followed by their new identity in Christ. I think that whether or not I use someone's study series, God will lead me.

- Altar Call? Prayer Ministry?
I am open to having an altar call after the message, if we're led to. I'm waiting for more (peer) prayer ministers to identify themselves. I know that students will need to share their responses, questions or prayer needs.

- Fellowship Time?
College students spell LOVE as FOOD. As soon as we are registered and recognized, I will be writing to all the area churches to see if any of them would be willing to provide snacks/refreshments between 8:15 & 8:45 pm.

- Bibles?
Do we give out bibles or not? Do I purchase full-sized or compact-sized bibles? On other's advice, I purchased a case of full-sized paperback bibles to start with. We will now also need a rubber stamp to mark them as property of the fellowship. The compact bibles are really nice but perhaps that will be another month's purchase. Perhaps these compact bibles will be ones we could give away as gifts.

- Software & Licensing
I am not going to use worship music illegally and I remember some of the information from my Music in Worship class with Steve Rankin. I'm thankful that a student came up to me to say he has the software for the lyrics and bible verses. We just need to purchase the license. We will start with the smallest license since we are in the infant stage.

CCF Approved Step 1 - SGA

We were approved by the Student Senate and our petition has been forwarded to the Board of Trustees. The board meeting will be on September 20. They are certainly welcomed to see us in action. We will meet in the choir room BC 209 until we have full approval. Thereafter, we will meet in the band room. Praise the Lord!

First Meeting - Aug 30

We found out Monday afternoon that the SGA meeting is on Sept 1. Thank God that we already have all our paperwork and 80 signatures on our petition. The meeting may have caught us by surprise but God already knew, so we are prepared. I didn't take pictures of our first meeting but here are some highlights:

Announcements:
Diane & Mark are leading a study by Chip Ingram on "Love, Sex and Lasting Relationships." Lindsay will be leading a women's bible study.

FCA at 9:00 pm and they are hosting a film on Wed Sept 1, 7 pm on the Arab World.

We are doing Puttin on the Hits, a lip-sync contest on campus.

There are volunteer opportunities with the sound/set-up team, worship team, welcome & fellowship team and the drama team.

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Will Austin led worship. Carly did the announcements and projector. It was quite an interesting announcement time about our small group bible studies. We had a different group of students than the our initial meeting so we know there will be more coming. The teaching on Monday was entitled "Jesus the One Mediator." I hope the message reached some of the young people that night.

At the end when we called for volunteers and helpers for CCF, it was an amazing response. Almost everyone signed up to help in at least one area. This was a surprise and a blessing to me. Someone came up to me and said he used to run the projection for his church and has the software to do it. It is an urgent need for us.

I have decided to make the following purchases for our group - CCLI License, bibles and the Freedom in Christ Youth study series. There will be more needs coming up for sure.