A Celebration of all that God is Doing

I was thinking about how to describe our recent Winter Retreat, and the above phrase came to mind. Being out there with over 700 people had me reflecting on the state of our mission. Growth can be exciting but also brings its own pitfalls--have we compromised the message to grow? Are we losing what makes this community what it is? We're more diverse than ever before, but that too can be fraught with hidden challenges.

The day I got back, I got an email from an alum who had come out for a day to speak at the retreat. His observations have stuck with me all week:

"This generation of students blew me away. They were so kind and sweet. I saw so many taking notes, engaged with the talk. I was looking at pictures from winter camp 2012 as I was getting photos for my slides and I scrolled through just laughing at all the board games, and Kuub, and volleyball and honestly just a whole bunch of nerdy white people things we were doing. Then I showed up to winter retreat this year and there is an entire building of people doing arts/crafts, a dozen people doing a hardcore workout, two dozen doing an Afro-dance class. I texted my wife and said “how is this winter camp.” I told her I wanted to write you an email but before I did I wanted to find the write adjective to describe the students. I couldn’t come up with a single word or two, instead it’s more of a title. These students are 'the ones that frustrate the cynic.' Maybe it’s just me, but in every interaction with the students I couldn’t find an ounce of cynicism in myself. I was so hopeful after each interaction, so eager to know how the rest of their journey goes but content with just the slice I got. The cynic in me had a frustrating weekend as he came home without a thought to sleep on. I know getting a group like that takes years of culture setting, praying, hard work and support. So thankful we got to interact with them."

I think he said it beautifully. This is all just a work of the Spirit, and it's one that we all, you included get to take part in. God is good to us! Please be in prayer for these students as we get back into the semester. Just this first week back, we've dealt with hidden sin being confessed, deep conflicts between students, students making new commitments to God, addiction, purposefully divisive behavior, theological questions, and new false teachings on campus. That's just a little bit of it! But we don't panic because God's got us. I hope you'll take a moment to celebrate how God is working in and through you to bless young people with the good news of Jesus!

Student Testimony