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Summer Plans

I have personally been reading through Proverbs again over this summer as a way to perhaps give myself a little refresher on wisdom and what it means to be wise. While reading I recently came across this well known passage.

Proverbs 6:6-8
"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander or overseer, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gather its food at harvest."

Similar to the ant, we as a staff are working hard this summer to make sure that when the fall comes there will be a great harvest  of students excited to hear about and live for Jesus!

One way that we are doing this is by working every orientation that is available! There are over 30,000 students at UT Arlington. If you divide that by class it's safe to say that there are around 6,000 freshman coming in every year if not more! These orientations are the first opportunity that we have to meet these incoming freshman and invite them into Christ centered community. In the last month we as a team have made personal contact with several hundred students who are coming on to this campus for the first time, wanting to get involved in Christian community. It excites me beyond belief to think about who God will bring out of that group. What students will radically transformed by encountering God's word? Which of those students will be a shining light  of life to their peers and classmates in the darkest  of places? The possibilities are endless. It can almost be overwhelming to work these orientations because there are so many different organizations that these students could choose to be a part of so they've got a lot to pick from! But if just one student decides that they want to spend their time growing in discipleship and forming deep spiritual friendships, I really believe God can and will change the world through that one person! Now how neat is it that every year God is so faithful that through college ministry, he not only leads just one student, but many into this sort of life? Please be praying for our orientations as they continue throughout the semester! Pray for God to lead students towards Christian community. Pray for future leaders of the church and future evangelists. All it takes is one!

Colton Benge, one of our future student leaders in the next school year.

 Another way that we are hard at work over the summer is in selecting our student leader team for this next year! I personally have been meeting with a number of different guys over the summer having discussions with them about what it might look like for them to come on to our leader team in this next year. These students that I am meeting with will be the ones leading our bible studies, and singing on our praise team, and studying scripture one on one with these incoming freshman that I mentioned earlier. So the selection process is a big deal! It is one of the main reasons why I've been consistently praying for wisdom over this summer. I would appreciate any prayer for wisdom you could offer up as well! Please also be praying for open hearts from these students. Pray that they would be open and willing to respond to God's call on their life to make disciples. So far we have 8 new leaders joining our team in this next year and I fully believe that God will use them in incredible ways as ambassadors of His kingdom, to bring life to so many of their peers through love, correction, service, and friendship.

Thank you for everything that you personally offer as a ministry partner. I would not be able to work hard to spread the seed for the harvest in the fall if it were not for you and your generosity. Thank you for praying for our students, both the ones that have been with us for a year or more, and also for the ones that we have yet to meet. And also I want to thank you praying for me. Hayli and I are 3 weeks away from getting married and I'm about to begin another huge chapter of my life. But I go in confident, knowing that I have such a wonderful community of individuals, such as yourself, beside us, supporting us in every sense of the word. I am so grateful for that. I praise God for you as I think about what He is accomplishing through each one of you because of your willingness to be a part of this mission. Now to Him who is able to do far more than all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to Him be all glory and honor and praise for ever and ever, amen.

Don't forget to check out this neat student testimony!

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