Third Times the Charm

Things up here are going well. We are losing about five minutes of daylight each day. The sun does not come up until about 9:00 and it sets about 5:00. I am use to the sun setting earlier in the evening but I am not use to the sun rising so late. The lack of light makes it a little hard for me to want to get up but other than that, I have not felt any impact from the lack of light.

The weather here has been nice until the last week of October. The temperature was hovering around 40-50 degrees almost the whole month, and then the last week of October the temperature dropped and the snow came. We received about 5 inches of snow on Sunday. The snow was a nice change from the rain that we had been getting, plus it is a lot easier to throw at people.

We have been going to small church on Sunday that meets on the campus of UAA. The church is going to begin remodeling a building that they have just purchased on November 4. Some of us plan to help because it is always fun putting holes in walls. Attending this church has been great for us to meet people outside of our team. One person in particular gave us his couches and his table. He has not used them because he is remodeling his house. I have gone over a couple of times to help him hang sheet rock and to put insulation into his attic. I have really enjoyed getting to know him.

Ministry was hard this month. We had to start calling all the students we met during our travels to UAF, UAS Juneau, UAS Sitka, and Sheldon Jackson. Calling students and getting to know where they are coming from spiritual, is fun when we are able to get a hold of them. When we are not able to talk with students on the phone then we are working on our new staff training assignments. This is hard to do after traveling all over Alaska because I do not feel like I am doing any work. I want to be out there meeting students in person and sharing life with them. So for me to sit and read a book is hard. Granted, the books we are reading are good and they help me in influencing students, but it does not feel like work. I think some of this mind set comes from years of working construction because at the end of the day, I had something to look at. I could see the progress of my labor. I may never see what becomes of my labor up here and this is something I have to be ok with it. God is working and doing great things. We have seen two students come to know the Lord. I have been able to talk with about 25 students about God and I have shared the gospel about 10 times.

Things in Juneau are moving slow. The students that I have been talking with have been busy and have not had time to read over the starter kit. This kit explains to students how to start a ministry on their campus. In this kit, there is an application that students need to fill out. We have this application because it gives us insight into the students and helps us see if they are ready to lead. We also have a sheet of paper that has Crusade’s statement of faith. Students are required to read this and sign it, indicating that they agree with Crusade’s statement of faith. By having every student leader do this it helps to ensure that the leaders are all on the same page and have a clear understanding of where they need take their ministry. The last important thing that we go over with the students is the critical path for the local leader. This paper explains the four pillars a ministry needs. These pillars are prayer, evangelism, discipleship, and sending. Most students have no problem with prayer, discipleship, and sending, but they do not feel like they need to share their faith. We work with them and help them understand the need for sharing the gospel. A ministry that does not share the gospel is one that is dying.

The team was planning on going to Valdez, but heavy rains in the area knocked out the bridge into Valdez. We looked into taking a ferry to Valdez but there was no guarantee when we could take a ferry back because of the large number of people trying to leave. Flying would have been too expensive so we figured that this was a clear sign from God to hold off on going to Valdez for a while.

Instead of traveling, we stayed in Anchorage and went to Alaska Pacific University (APU). APU was once a Methodist university but about 25 years ago it stopping being a Christian school. APU is now a very liberal school. The college is a private school, which makes it hard for us to reach because of all the restrictions. I met with the person at conference services who needed to give us permission to set up an information table. He told me “we do not allow religion on campus. We never have and we never will.” This was discouraging because the information table was how we were meeting students, but God put Chris and me in contact with three Christian students at APU.

Chris and I have since met with these guys a couple of times. We talked to them about what we are trying to get started and how they can help. These guys were ready to get something started right then. We went through the starter kit with them. We do this to make sure that if we are going to put our time and Crusade’s resources into helping them get something started, that they agree with what Crusade is doing.

Things you guys can be praying about are: ~ That we would be patient in getting ministries started on Campus here. ~ That Chris and I would meet strong Christian women to help lead the ministry at APU ~ For safe travel to our long distance training in Reno ~ Pray for the University of Alaska Anchorage student leaders

Take care and God bless,

Wesley Bennett

2 Samuel 22.33