Spring Outreach Week!

For the week leading up to Easter, we hosted 9 young missionaries from Western Washington University to help us tell the good news about Jesus on campus at UTD.

Each day from Monday to Thursday they were out on campus with our students and pastorsa engaging with people one on one. On Monday, they relived the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet by getting on their knees in front of strangers with shoe cleaning kits and cleaning their shoes for them. As they cleaned, they asked whether the person had ever heard the story of Jesus washing feet (many hadn't!), told the story, and started conversations about whether that was compatible with the person's views of God.

On Tuesday they engaged people to talk about what burdens them and burdens the world. They had them write those things on small wooden tokens that we took up and glued to a cross. Then, on Thursday, students were asked to share what they thought were the characteristics of a perfect world on colored tokens and glue those on top of the burdens. These kinds of conversations where we combine asking questions with acting something out physically create deeper interactions and memories that stick.

Wednesday was an extra special day, our annual Rez Fair (Rez for Resurrection as we celebrate Easter coming up) with all the other campus ministries and a bunch of area churches. Hundreds of students came through the fair for live music, giveaways, games, food, and spiritual conversations. At booth after booth they had the gospel shared with them in many ways as they experienced Christians of many kinds--Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant included--joining together in unity to celebrate the most important day in history!

Andrea from my team MADE this beautiful sign!

Our table that day was a classic--"Ask a Spiritual Question; Get a Cookie." This always leads to so many interesting discussions with people who don't yet know Jesus! We also ran all of the games and music, as well as all of the setup and tear down for the event. Many of our alumni and church members cooked and hosted so that we could make all these special things happen this week. Thank you for supporting us so that Jesus can be boldly proclaimed on campus. Salt and light! Pray that these seeds now planted and watered will grow.

Student Testimony

Darreyl is such a kind, godly man. I remember my first real conversation with him in Bellingham, WA, during SICM a few years back. He had a heart then to love and serve his peers in college, and he lived it out over the next few years! Now he is taking that same heart and the things he learned into a new context.