August- School is in Session!
Dear Friend,
The past month feels like a blur! August is definitely one of the busiest months we have when working in campus ministry. The month began with the closing of Adirondacks LT, where I spent the summer working with students in Silver Bay, New York. One of the highlights of the last days of LT was the chance to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with some friends I had made over the course of the summer!
Just a few days after that interaction, I made the trek over 700 miles back to Blacksburg to jump right into a season we call Kickoff, which is the first few weeks of classes and is the most critical time for meeting new students and connecting them to our ministry. With nearly every event of Kickoff, we strive to provide opportunities to build relationships with students not connected to the body of Christ. By forming relationships which turn into friendships, we have the chance to invite them into our church.
Kickoff started Wednesday, August 17th by helping freshmen move into their dorms with Hokie Helpers. That same night, we hosted a Vision & Worship night for our existing NLCF members to gain a better understanding of our goals for this semester. Thursday night was our annual Pizza Party Extravaganza, using 100+ pizzas to feed hungry college students, while having the chance to get to know them and invite them to other activities. Saturday morning, our Hokie Family (a subset of 4 out of our 16 Engage Groups) gathered for a hike up to the Cascades waterfall. Praise God for new students jumping in with us that day! That evening, we hosted another large public event, the 2nd Annual Quad Cookout, to meet students and tell people about NLCF. Even though it rained a little, we were thankful that many people laughed it off, stuck around, and had a good time. I was so encouraged to look around that night and see nearly every unfamiliar face was in a conversation with someone from NLCF. Our students clearly caught the vision that this cookout was not simply to have a good time, but for reaching out and building the Kingdom of God.
As you may remember, I’ve been asking you to pray for the guys of NLCF. As a response to the things we’ve seen in our men, we’ve decided to take action to step up the challenge in moving these young men closer to a more active faith. Called More Than Overcomers, or MTO for short, we want to model Romans 8:37 that “we are more than [overcomers] through him who loved us” by challenging our young men in their relationships with God.
There is so much more happening and so many more stories to share, but not enough room in this update to share it! Feel free to give me a call any time and we can chat more.
In Christ,
David
August By the Numbers
- 22+ students and staff that came to help make connections with new students by moving them into their dorm rooms as a part of Hokie Helpers
- 31 People at our Vision & Worship night that spurred everyone on towards where God is moving this year
- 46 people at the Hokie Family Intro to Engage Group night!!! I was praying for 30 and God moved above and beyond in answering that prayer!
- 54 leaders at our Learning Community, designed to equip and prepare leaders and apprentices for the Fall semester
- 301 in attendance at our second Sunday service of the year; an answer to the prayer asking God to bring 300 people!
- 57 students and staff at our Freshman/Sophomore/New Student dinner
- 18 students and 6 staff at our first intensive men’s discipleship time, More Than Overcomers
Some Further Reading
- One of our students wrote an article on her experience with us during Kickoff last year as an encouragement to new students!
David McCann 