Momentum

Jackie and I right after her baptism

  

“I personally accepted Jesus as my lord and savior almost two years ago… despite that, I have not felt that my life has really changed… God convicted me a couple weeks ago.  He made me realize that I have been trying to do things on my own and not depending on him.  I want to be baptized because I haven’t done it before, and cause Jesus said to do it, and maybe if I do this it will serve as a symbol that I am now an official member of God’s family.”

When I met with Jackie, a student new to Chi Alpha this semester, to talk about why she wanted to be baptized, she had no answer to the question, “What is different in your life since you became a Christian?”  Hearing this testimony a few days later, right before she was baptized in the river next to the University campus, I was thrilled to get a glimpse of God connecting the dots in her mind as she came to understand that the power to follow Christ comes from God instead of her own effort.  I pray that this realization is a turning point and she soon sees new spiritual fruit and transformation in her life.  

Josh & Kyle 

I’m sitting in the Chi Alpha office of our Student Center, overhearing the strumming of guitar chords in the background as students pray.  A few minutes ago, I closed out the last Pancakes‘n Prayer meeting of the year.  Most of the students who had attended left for their last day of classes, and I moved to the office to do some paperwork.   Kyle, one of the handful of students who stayed in the main room, grabbed a guitar and suggested those left pray a little longer.  So now they are praying for their friends’ needs, for each others’ finals, for God’s glory to be seen on campus, etc.  It’s a beautiful sound.

I wrote this note in May to help me remember the momentum we felt in Chi Alpha through the end of the Spring semester.  The last Tuesday of classes, we had our final Pursuit worship meeting, followed by baptism and after-party, and the whole evening felt like a celebration.  At our planning meeting for fall semester outreaches, student leaders brainstormed fresh ideas to raise awareness about Chi Alpha and present the Gospel to their peers.  Some of these leaders were also planning new ways to unite Christians in the different campus ministries to better reach the nearly 15,000 students at UM.  In Chi Alpha, we strive to be “a community of worship and mission.”  It’s been exciting to watch students catch this  vision.  I look forward to seeing how God uses them in the next year!

hanging out at the Student Center