Prayer & Worship Night

There are a lot of things that a college student could be doing on a Friday night. You have a thousand pretty neutral options like hanging out with friends, having a movie night, going to see a show, etc. You have a lot of destructive options that I don't need to lay out for you. 

Then you have something a little different. You have our fifteen students coming over to our house, praying to see God show up in their lives and thanking him for who he is and what he's done. These students confessed to one another where they've been struggling and prayed for God's healing for each other. Then, after an hour or so of praying in different ways, our students gathered in our basement to sing to the Lord together.

Personally, I love it when nights like these are our leaders ideas because they have owned the vision that our community ought to be more than just good church kids hanging out all the time. They are intentional with how they serve our group and about getting us thinking upward and outward. 

It was a blast to be a part of the evening and to see our students lifting up praises, requests, thanksgiving and confessions up to the Lord last Friday night. I thought you'd be encouraged to hear about it!

Reasons to Believe

Doing ministry at a secular university can be challenging at times. As someone who went through the Religious Studies program at Mizzou, I know that sometimes the perspectives students get from the university can make us feel like Christianity doesn't have any viable responses to the challenges they pose to faith. Our churches may have not hit on a textual criticism approach to the Bible. They may have not hit on the geological challenges faced with a seven day creationist theology. And maybe our spiritual mentors or families never walked us through the philosophical and logical arguments that make us raise an eyebrow to certain claims within the Bible.

Those and countless other challenges that our students face are some of the things we try to walk through them together. Our college years, after all, should be times when we ask ourselves the big questions. They're defining years and if Christianity doesn't have much of a voice on campus, well, it can be hard to come to faith or stay rooted in a church if students don't hear what God has to say about theology, biology, philosophy or whatever they study.

Another church in town really helped us out in inviting Reasons to Believe, a Christian organization aimed at helping people see Christianity's voice in the sciences. They aim to help people see "where science and faith converge". We hosted an guest speaker event last Friday night and had the same man, Dr. Ken Samples, share with our students this Sunday.

The time helped us to engage students in the challenges they are faced with in assistance with someone who is more equipped to handle those questions. It was a great time and we're thankful for the opportunity!

Check them our at reasons.org

Honduras Missions Weekend

A couple weeks ago we had a service that celebrated what God has done through our partnership with a sister church in Choluteca, Honduras. For the past eight years, we have sent over 200 kids down to serve on mission trips with the church in Choluteca.

Revive Coffee. Over the years, the Lord has driven the men and women of the church in Choluteca to help the extreme poverty in their community. Tortilla, brick and coffee factories have helped the community grow bit by bit economically. Former Rock member Joey Soto began a direct trade coffee company over a year ago. He shared about how something as simple as buying coffee can help change lives in Honduras.

Mission Trips. We send a team to Honduras every January and Spring Break to help the church with various projects, evangelism efforts or assisting them with their orphanage, school and malnutrition clinic.

Child Sponsorship. Aimee and I have been supporting a child on a monthly basis since we met Jorge back in 2008. I doubt he remembers us but this is one way that we get to make a huge impact on an individual life. Jorge has gotten food, school supplies and an education through our monthly commitment. It's humbling.

Honduras LT. Pastor Ed Courtney leads a two-month summer program that we began a few years ago that we call Honduras Leadership Training. This year he'll take 15 students down to serve the community in Choluteca through, essentially, a very extended mission trip. This creates an opportunity to further develop our relationship with the church, help students to fully immerse themselves in the culture and provide assistance for long-term projects the church has.

I just thought I'd share with you a little about how we get to partner with our friends in Honduras for the Gospel!

We're Having a Baby!

In case you haven't heard!