A New Semester Begins

Tonight, students participated in the traditional Tiger Walk, a ceremony where the 6500-student class walk through our beloved columns, symbolizing their official entrance into the Mizzou family. I participated in my sixth Fall Concert, set up directly on campus where these students would walk past back to their dorms. We  got to meet several freshmen during the concert and had a blast doing so.

Today also marked our first Sunday morning service of the year. We packed over 225 people into Middlebush auditorium for our kick-off series, "Living Questions". Man, it was incredible, thought-provoking and Christ-honoring. There has been so much going on this week, I don't even know where to begin, other than the fact that we have interacted with dozens of new students so far and we're looking at having a great turn out at our first Canvas Group on Thurs. I'll be sending out a letter in the near future and can't wait to tell you some great stories!

GCM 2011 Annual Ministry Report

GCM's 2011 AMR is out and available for you to take a look at. There are some encouraging things in there, from GCM's growth in donations (despite the economy really) and even a spotlight on our church plant to Pittsburgh, PA!

http://www.gcmweb.org/AMR/

No Quick Fix

This is an interesting little insight to life in college ministry written by Jackie Knapp in a contribution article for the Gospel Coalition.

"Instead of discovering the quick fix, I am slowly learning how Jesus lived and loved as He lead his motley crew of disciples should be the heartbeat behind my ministry, and that there is not some hidden secret I am going to find. “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13). This is the way He calls us to live, with whoever is in our lives. In my particular context, there aren’t flashy programs or easy substitutes for the time, energy and love it takes to build relationships with students starting with a foundation of friendship."

It's definitely true that in our instant-gratification society, there is a strong emphasis on what the "best" program is for ministries to "win followers". My prayer is that I ever remained focused that there are no easy solutions to sharing the gospel in college ministry or in any other context, really. 

Please be praying for the students that God wants me to pursue this fall and begin building relationships with.

Chris

You can read the full article here

The Rock's Website Face Lift

As mentioned in my latest prayer letter, The Rock is undergoing some changes this year. I'm really excited to include you all as we unveil our new website. Fellow staffer Andrew Schulz put in a lot of hours over the past few months to upgrade our website, making it easy to navigate and hugely resourceful for anyone wanting to know who we are.

Feel free to browse who we are, maybe listen to some sermons, meet our other staff or see what we're up to.

You can visit the website at http://www.columbiarock.com/

July 2012 Prayer Letter

Hey everyone,

My latest prayer letter is out. This month, I talk about the final weeks of LT, particularly our Project Group, Staff Retreat and the life change that has been happening out here. Also, some fun updates on some changes coming to The Rock.

Take care,
Chris