2015 Slideshow

Here is a slideshow that one of our students created from the year!

Reliant

Great Commission Ministries, who I work for, is transitioning into a new name. 

I am really excited about this process and glad to tell you about it. 

To hear them say it better than I could, though, visit the website below.

reliant.gcmweb.org

February 2015 Prayer Letter

Click the picture to see my latest prayer letter. In it, I share about our latest series in Exodus, the end of my time in the Music Team & some exciting stuff about our upcoming Men's & Women's Retreats!

Shannon Tatum

I found out that I had missed a few texts from one of our pastors at 4:30am Saturday morning. He had asked if I knew Shannon Tatum and said it was an emergency. I scheduled a text to ask what had happened for when I was planning on waking up that morning to prepare and leave for a leadership mini-retreat that would last half the day.

Shannon was a part of Aspen, the Community Group that Aimee and I have been a part of since late September (we have matching t-shirts). She's the girl pictured in the wheelchair and the big afro up above. Shannon was a transfer student here from Mississippi and was actively involved in our church last semester, even braving the Fall Retreat (not the greatest terrain for a wheelchair). I didn't know her very well but I enjoyed her tell-it-like-it-is, sassy attitude that mixed with a joy to be around.

After my text went out, Garrett let me know that she was in critical condition and that John (our other pastor) and Ami were going to the hospital that morning. Aimee and I headed up to meet them and we encountered her mother and grandmother in Shannon's room in the ICU. It was hard news. A kidney infection, which was a fairly common occurrence for Shannon, had flared up and entered her blood stream. This had steadily worsened her condition and since being found in her apartment, she was now unconscious and virtually unresponsive. She was on dialysis and was being kept alive by a machine. They were declaring her brain dead and had a few tests to run before confirming.

We all felt pretty shocked and helpless.

We prayed over her with the family and asked to be updated if they heard anything else. Heading out to the car, my heart was heavy as I thought about how to process with the core team that I would see within the hour and how I would process myself.

The day was long. We announced the news to our leadership team at the church (a group of about 50), our Community Group core team cried together and we began to walk through grieving the loss of this wonderful young woman we had just gotten to know. That evening, we brought pizza to the ten or so family members who were at the hospital. We shared stories and did our best to tell them how sorry we were.

A couple hours later, we had our Community Group over to grieve together. We had individually called everyone we could in the group to tell them what had happened with Shannon but now took the time to catch everyone up. We shared how we were feeling and prayed. That was it. What else can you do in a time like this?

Sunday, we learned that Shannon was gone. She had been taken off life support. John shared the news with the church and we began thinking about having a memorial service for her before the family went home. It was a tender request to ask them, but they were more than glad to have something for her. Monday morning, John and I sat with her mother, grandmother and father to talk through details. It was a delicate process but thanks to the Baptist Student Union being quick to host, we put together the best service we could under a short amount of time.

Though everything unfolded quickly and we were all so raw with emotionally processing this death, it seems like the family was touched by our service. They got to see and hear stories from staff and students about Shannon's brief time at Mizzou and we had some level of closure in getting to share with them.

Shannon came from Mississippi not knowing anyone at Mizzou. She was handed an Icee Pop by us at the beginning of the year in our attempts to meet new students and get them plugged in. From there, she ended up at one of our services where she met Ami, a recent grad and member of our group. Ami invited her to Community Group and she was a constant attender ever since. Shannon got plugged into a women's small group, lead by Ami, in which she was known and cared for by these girls.

After our Fall Retreat, Ami asked Shannon if she was a Christ follower. She wasn't, but told Ami that she would think about it. A couple weeks later Shannon told Ami that she had given her life to Christ in the straight-forward and non-nonchalant way that Shannon was.

This is what hits me so heavy during this time. Seeing how the Lord orchestrated Shannon's story to draw her to himself has been made so evident to us. The programs, events, services, small groups, friendships and intentional conversations we put so much energy toward were all tools in how God saved Shannon during her short time in Columbia.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, 

so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort 

we ourselves receive from God."

2 Corinthians 1:3,4

The gospel must enter into our times of grieving, into our times of confusion and sadness or it bears no weight at all. This week, I have almost tangibly felt the Lord's presence as he has walked us through grief and hope. We had the opportunity to see this young woman give her life to the Lord and as we were crying out to the Lord ourselves for comfort, we got to live out the gospel for her family. We got to send them out thanking us for walking through such a difficult time with them. This is not to our account but to simply seeing the effect of Christ using his church to care for others.

I am humbled, sad and hopeful as we stumble through this loss. Please be praying for us but also please know that you play a part in this as well. Without your gifts, we don't have the chance to shepherd our students through times like this. This story plays out very differently without the church working together. So, with deepest sincerity, thank you for your prayers, your encouragement and your support.

Please lift up Shannon's family and friends during this time. Thank you.

Chris

Here is a link to a thoughtful article covering her memorial service.

Baby Dedication

A couple weeks ago, we had a dedication ceremony for our daughter, Eliza and Graham Schulz (son of Andrew and Kirstin). It was a simple piece that fit in the middle of one of our services with a couple different purposes.

To Celebrate. Having a little one in a college church is a unique thing, and something worth celebrating. As we embark on parenting, we are trying to minister to these students through a new facet of our lives. We hope to give them a window into the joys and trials of new parenting as we try to follow the Lord in this new phase.

To Submit. We can't save Eliza. The church can't save Eliza. Only Christ can save our daughter. With our dedication, it is a public declaration that we are going to do everything we can to point her to Jesus and we asked the church for help in that. This is not a baptism or a christening ceremony, but simply one that says with open hands, Lord take our daughter.

We are overwhelmed by the support of our friends, family and those who give and pray so that we can minister to the students here at Mizzou. Thank you for blessing our family with your kindness and Spirit-led submission to the Lord.

Fall Retreat 2014

Before I kick out a prayer letter, I thought I'd give you a look at our Fall Retreat.

Our prayer goal was 183 people. We had 186.

It was incredible, crazy, overwhelming and powerful. Here's a look in pictures.

We start off with a huge Thanksgiving style dinner

It was Eliza's first retreat!

We have three worship services

Our guest speaker, Dave Megill

The next day we play some crazy games.

One of our freshmen going nuts at four-way soccer.

One of our Community Groups was super excited.

We have baptisms later that day.

Our current Community Group, Aspen, made t-shirts!

Finally, a look at everyone who came!

I can't wait to share more about such a full month in my upcoming prayer letter!

For a full look at the retreat, check out our photo album.

Chris

Hey Day

One of our students, Joel, isn't a Mizzou student. He goes to another local college, Columbia College, which is less than a mile away from where I live and is about the same distance north of the MU campus. He saw a need for the gospel at his school of just of 3000 students and pursued launching a bible study that just got started this past Sunday. Recently, he applied for a spot for The Rock at their "Hey Day" event, which is essentially a student activities fair. Joel asked me and another student for some help working the event.

I spent my midday with him and Jacob passing out Icee Pops, handing out information on our church and having great conversations with students at Columbia College. We passed out about fifty flyers for his bible study and we have about as many people to contact about Community Group and church on Sunday.

It was a fun opportunity to help meet a need in a nearby campus. We're thanking the Lord for prompting Joel to reach out to his fellow classmates and I'd ask you to pray with me that the Lord stirs in the hearts of students at Columbia College.

September 2014 Prayer Letter

Click the picture above to see my latest prayer letter! We've had a busy past couple of weeks and I'm excited to share with you.

Chris

First Service

Just a quick update for you all! We have been working a ton since Move-In Week and the Lord brought 276 people to our first service last weekend! That's over 40 more than our highest attendance ever! We're so pumped. I can't wait to kick a prayer letter out soon but we're still spinning our wheels and hopefully I can get one out early next week.

Thanks for praying with us!

Rock Welcome Video

One of our students, Sarah Bell, created this Welcome Video for our church over the summer. She is a joy to work with and I'm really thankful for her to lend her creative eye and skills for us. Take a look!

Move-In Week 2014

Things are about to go nuts here at Mizzou. 7000 freshmen will begin pouring onto campus this week and we at The Rock will do a lot to try and reach them. Move-In Week creates so many opportunities for us to gather back together as a church, consider the new wave of students coming in and join in mission to do some heavy outreach as the new school year gets started.

Vision Night

We begin with Vision Night - an opportunity to reconnect as a church and dream about where the Lord might be taking our church this year. We roll out new outreach plans, goals for the year and train our students for what we will be doing the next couple weeks.

Survey Tables

 For three days straight, from 9am-4pm, we will set up a tent and pass out over 5000 icee pops (currently stored in various freezers, including our own) while we get 2200 students to fill out our Spiritual Interest Surveys.

Follow Ups

From there, we follow up with these students personally. I conduct a Welcome to Mizzou email, letting them know about events we have for the first couple of weeks. Each community group will send people out in pairs to visit the people who showed interest, about a couple hundred people in all. These visits are crucial for us, allowing us to meet freshmen early on, build friendships and invite them to our first few events.

Kick-Off Service

After various BBQs, dorm hangouts and games of ultimate Frisbee, we'll have our kick-off service. This year, we will begin looking at various encounters with Jesus throughout the gospels, asking students to consider what an encounter with Jesus might look like for them and to interpret what he might be trying to share with them as they begin a new school year.

Please be praying for these events! We can't wait to get started!

Staff Retreat 2014

Last week, fifteen of us gathered in Estes Park, Colorado for our annual Staff Retreat. Five paid staff and 10 associate (or volunteer) staff. Our goals were to connect, dream, plan and seek the Lord together as we approach another school year. We sought the Lord in prayer, had some honest conversation and brainstormed about two big ideas we have for this upcoming school year that the Lord has put on our hearts.

Eating at Poppy's Pizza is a tradition for the staff to do once we get into Estes

It was Eliza's first cross-country trip and she did so well (except for those times she was scream crying through congested Denver traffic - that was not such a fun moment). We got to bring her to the place that Aimee and I became good friends and first had thoughts of being together. It was so cool to be there with her, looking around at all the mountains Aimee and I had climbed together and to sit on the porch of the administration building where we had had many meaningful conversations that were foundational in our relationship together.

A little putt-putt tournament with mountains as the backdrop

I'm grateful for another opportunity to visit Colorado and to be with our staff. It was a timely chance for me to get refreshed and to really get thinking about the Fall. 

Please be praying for...

• Coffee Table. We're planning to pass out free coffee each week on campus as an opportunity to meet students and build relationships with those who wouldn't typically come to a church service. Please be praying that we solidify a spot on campus and develop this outreach opportunity well.
• The Well. We're seeking the Lord about using a discipleship curriculum that many of our sister churches use. Please be praying if this is the right fit for us and how we could incorporate it into our schedule.
• First Series. I'm currently leading the Creative Arts team in designing and dreaming through elements for our first series. Please be praying for creativity and clarity as we attempt to put the gospel on display for students at Mizzou this Fall.

June 2014 Prayer Letter

Here is a link to my latest prayer letter, including Eliza Rose, Summer Rock news and a support update. Enjoy!

Chris

April 2014 Prayer Letter

Whoops. I realized that I sent this out to everyone a couple weeks ago but I had not yet posted it here on the ministry blog. April was a busy month to say the least. We had our annual staff conference, went through a series that highlighted God as an artistic creator and had one of the girls in our small group put her faith in Christ!

Click the picture about or read about it here.

Seniors Dinner 2014

It's always tough to say goodbye. This year, we had 20 seniors (+1 high school senior, our pastor's daughter) come to our annual celebratory dinner to say goodbye and to thank them for their time at The Rock. These men and (mostly) women are some of the most influential Christ followers in our church. There are a lot of leaders from this bunch and each one is a life transformation.

We got to hear some of them share stories of how being a part of The Rock has affected their lives. The students you see here are more than just members of an organization - they are like family to us. I have sat down personally with several of them, navigating this stretch of life they've been on, trying to figure out how to trust God and celebrating where he has come through.

Some are sticking around next year and will continue to co-labor beside us for the gospel. Most, though, we are trusting God to take care of as they go to influence wherever they live next for his kingdom.

Please be praying for our seniors as they graduate and transition.

New Life

A few days ago I got a message on Facebook from Amy (dead center in the photo), a freshman girl who has been a part of our community group all year. It was a message to one of our new groups in which she shared with us that after church this Sunday, she was going to accept Christ. We all began writing back about how excited we were for her, proud of her and thankful for her friendship.

Just a few days ago I was talking with one of our girls who has been consistently meeting with Amy and continually been sharing the gospel with her. We were talking about how long it can take sometimes to see the fruit in our efforts to share Christ with others. I visited with Amy a couple months ago as we unpacked several things that had been holding her back from trusting Jesus. I remember thinking how close she was as that day she took one step closer to realizing that God is bigger than the objections that can really hang us up.

Then yesterday, while a crowd gathered outside after service, aided by John, she prayed aloud, declaring her trust in Jesus. It was a good day.

Collegiate Staff Conference 2014

I took a 10 hour road trip to Michigan this past weekend as over 140 staff from 16 different campus churches around the country gathered for our annual conference. Having been on the road so much this semester with raising support, it was a welcomed break to go get energized, refreshed and to reconnect with so many others who are co-laboring for the gospel.

The Lord was good to me in just showing me how good it is to reconnect with others who care tremendously about the gospel being brought to these campuses and lives being changed. I spent some time with some brothers from Texas, dreaming about how and when the bridge between Missouri and Texas could be filled with other campus churches. I heard stories of evangelism efforts from our close friend at the University of Pittsburgh and thought about different things that we could adopt at Mizzou. I got to visit with a couple from Illinois that we love on how crucial it is to humbly show vulnerability to students and when to realize the boundaries you set for your own lives are examples you're telling students to follow.

I caught up with staff that affected me greatly when I was a student, others who trudged through initial support raising with the same insecurities as me and met younger staff who are navigating the first few years of trying to figure out how to be effective at ministry and how to stay motivated when things are tough. And twenty hours in a car with two pastors meant a lot of brainstorming and dreaming about doing ministry here at Mizzou and how to be more effective next year.

One of the talks we heard was entitled, Reload. I feel like I did just that. Though I'm exhausted from the trip, I believe that overall God will use it to propel me in these final weeks of raising support before baby gets here. My prayer now is that he continues to remind me just how vital it is that we have a presence on campus and continue to make disciples of this generation.

Thank You!

I'm so honored and glad to send out some thank you cards tonight for so many new gifts set up within the past couple of days. Evidently with this storm rolling through Missouri, it's been a good night to set those up!

I'm coming back from a trip to Kansas City feeling refreshed and thankful to connect with some incredible people. Thank you so much to those who give, offer up their homes and for whom I've gotten to visit with over a meal or a cup of coffee. Your generosity, prayers and encouragement are so appreciated!

March 2014 Prayer Letter

In my newly redesigned prayer, I'm excited to share with you a support update, what's been going on at The Rock and a little about our Spring Break trips.

Please let me know what you think of the new format!

Chris

Visit to Soulfire Ministries

I had an incredible opportunity to get to speak at Soulfire Ministries last night in my high school town of Ash Grove. My long-time friend and supporter, Austin Houp, asked me months ago if I'd be interested in sharing and get to meet some of the folks involved there. Of course I jumped at the chance.

Started a couple years ago by Nic and Melissa Keith, Soulfire has become a growing outreach ministry in Ash Grove that serves the youth in the community and provides worship services and small group experiences for people to be a part of as well. I loved the chance to get to meet such a dynamic group of people and have a little time to try and unpack some Scripture with them.

I've been reading Philippians recently and just figured I'd share what the Lord has been revealing to me in this short letter. Paul writes this line early on which many of us have heard before. He writes, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Translating that as an instruction to become like Christ and to long to be with him, this changes our perspective of who we are, what we're meant to live for and how we are to treat others.

Please be praying for the youth, that the Lord spoke to their hearts last night. And if you want to check out what they're about, you can find their website here.