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.