49th Ministry: One Lap to Go

March was a great month. It feels like in terms of days, March was shorter than February. The weather up here is becoming quite nice with temperatures in the mid 30’s to lower 40’s. I am enjoying the warmer weather except for all the slush. In front of my apartment, there is a six-inch deep pool of water. This pool makes it impossible to park out front. Lucky for me I can park next to my apartment on high ground. The latest report on daylight is good. The sun is up by 7:00 am and is setting a little after 9:00 pm.

With things coming to a close we have decided that our time would be better spent working with the students and colleges where we already have a presence. This means that we will not be doing anything further with Charter College. I am not even sure if there is anything we could really do there besides pray. Reaching college students at a campus were students only go to take class and that is all, is going to be very difficult. So I think praying for Charter is the best thing we can do for now.

I have really enjoyed ministry this month. The team has been busy with all sorts of planning. Chris has been planning a trip to Fairbanks from April 14-18. He has been contacting different ministry leaders in Fairbanks to talk to them about having a retreat there in the fall. Therefore, we will be going up to meet with these leaders and hammer out details. Scott and I will be passing out post cards that have everyalaskanstudent.com on them. This website has many resources for students to help them in their journey of find God.

Scott has been busy planning and getting things ready for the summer project that Crusade has for men up here. He needs to find a place for the staff to live, line up different events for the students, and he still needs to make time to meet with students to take them out sharing their faith.

I did not have as much planning to do as Chris and Scott but I did have to iron out a few details for an outreach at Alaska Pacific University (APU) on Friday the 13. Pastor Levi of Anchorage Wesleyan Church volunteered his service to help reach college students. The idea that came to mind was to have a “Stump the Pastor” out reach. As the name implies, we are going to have Pastor Levi on campus for students to try to stump him with whatever question they may have.

The hardest part about planning the event was getting a room on campus to use. The person in charge of conference service is not very nice or helpful. He would not let us use a room or even pay to use a room. What kind of school turns down money? Lucky for us, Chris and I have gotten to know the Chaplin at APU. He is a great guy and very helpful. The Chaplin gave us permission to use the chapel, which is out of the control of conference services. Praise God we now have a room to use! Now the only thing we need is for students to show up. Please be praying for students to come to our outreach on April 13 from 1-4 pm. And pray for God to give Pastor Levi wisdom.

I have continued to take Ben and Tyler to the University of Alaska Anchorage to go evangelizing. Our conversations have continued to go well. In the month of March Ben, Tyler, and I have talked with 25 different people. Tyler and I talked with a guy who I will call Mike, on March 28^th. He was in a motorcycle wreck five years ago and is paralyzed from the chest up. During our conversation, we found out that, Mike was already a believer and that it was his faith in God that really helped him get through the hard times. Before Mike left, he shared with us the joy of eating a sub sandwich all by himself for only the second time. I am not sure if we were more of an encouragement to Mike, or if he was more of an encouragement to Tyler and me.

Ben and Tyler still only have a few students coming to their bible study, but they are not discouraged in anyway by this. They view it as a success, and are excited about what next year may bring. Ben is already thinking of ways to reach out to students next year.

Another success that we have seen at APU is the forming of a club. Ben and Tyler were able to take over a club that already existed. A student created the club, Campus Ministries, last school year but has since then graduated. To become a club at APU, it takes a year from the time you submit your paper work. Being a club gives you access to the school’s passenger vans. This opens many doors for Ben and Tyler to serve their fellow students.

Things continue to go slowly in Juneau. We still only have one student, Macey. However, having someone there to disciple her has been great. Jolee, the woman discipling Macey, has been very encouraged at the growth she has seen in Macey. Jolee will be taking Macey out to go sharing on Tuesday the 10^th. I am excited to hear back from Jolee how things went.