God is taking the movement (ie: college ministry) at UW-Parkside to a whole new level. In the Spring students were asking for more one-on-one discipleship and opportunities to share their faith and talk to people about spiritual things on campus. During our two days a week there we have been meeting any student we can that seems to want to have a ministry at that school. A typical meeting in the past consisted of around 25 people. Last week we had 43, the most that have ever attended!
Ben regularly meets with four guys, and I meet with two girls, all of who comprise the leadership team for our ministry. I know Ben loves the guys, and he will just have to get on here and talk about them himself, but I want to brag about the girls: Stef and Steph. Two totally different girls, two very faithful women who have a heart for students at their school to know Jesus and live lives that reflect his goodness. They lead a Bible study together, and God is using them to challenge the girls who attend to take steps of faith and apply what they are learning to their lives. Steph has started meeting one-on-one with one of the girls on the softball team who is wanting to grow in her relationship with God and become more involved in helping others grow.
Four weeks ago Ben was in the dorms with Luke, a wrestler at UWP, when they saw a guy sitting in the lounge who had been coming to Cru events but Ben really didn't know. They talked about his spiritual background as they got to know him, and were starting to go through a booklet that outlines what the Bible says it means to be a Christian, when his girlfriend came in. They continued the conversation and Ben asked Sarah what she thought about all of this. She didn't grow up in church, and had never been given the opportunity to respond to Jesus' invitation to have a personal relationship with God. That day, she prayed with Ben and Luke and put her faith in Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
After finding that out an hour later, I got Sarah's phone number and sent her a text to invite her to my first Bible study that night. When I arrived ten minutes early, she was there waiting! The past month she has come to every study and we have also been meeting one-on-one in the afternoons to help her gain a foundation to help her grow in her faith. It is awesome to see her reading her Bible for the first time ever, and asking questions about topics all across the board. She is learning a lot and I am excited to see how God will continue changing her has she walks with Him.
