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This spring, I am reminded of why I feel called to work in the regional office, instead of being on campus full-time. I was reading Acts 6:1-7, a passage that our regional director uses often to inspire and encourage us.
In this passage, the disciples were increasing in numbers, but a group of widows were being neglected in the ministry. So, the brothers pulled together to choose seven men to appoint to the ministry of the daily distribution, while the rest devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
After they did this, it says that the number of disciples not only was increasing, but was multiplying greatly, even to the point of priests becoming believers. In other words, they increased their effectiveness and saw great fruit.
I do things in the office so that those in the ministry of evangelism and discipleship can focus on those things and increase their effectiveness. Lately, I have been working on developing a web program that plots the universities in our region on a map. If you click on a school, it will show the demographics of that school as well as other information. We are hoping this will let our staff at the local level target schools near the campuses we are already on and multiply the ministries we have effectively.
I am also working on websites for various ministries in the region, so the field staff can dedicate more of their time to evangelism and discipleship. We have also developed a tool for recruiting more students to the ministry, that has been widely used and other regions have asked to use it, too.
In my work in serving the region and the field staff, I hope to help bring them from increasing in numbers, to multiplying greatly, reaching students with greater effectiveness.
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On February 15th, I traveled to Indiana State University (ISU) for the first time this semester. I have been coaching Kelly on leading the ministry via phone, so it was fun to experience her ministry myself. The students had a Valentine’s Day party, which attracted several new students, including some international students. Two of the students were from Taiwan and one from South Korea, who wanted to experience an American Valentine’s Day.
The students had a blast, playing CUPID instead of BINGO and handed out evangelistic materials as prizes. They also had goodie bags and treats for all who attended. They invited me as a special speaker to share God’s love with the group.
It was my first time talking, and I was doing an evangelistic one besides. I told the story of Hosea, and how we are like Gomer, his prostitute bride, and Jesus, like Hosea, bought us and redeemed us. I had a blast sharing the Gospel with a room full of students, and I could hear Christian students answering the questions of students who were not believers. One girl came up to me and told me that she really had a lot to think about in her life because she had never seen her life like that before.
Afterwards, I spent a little time with the student leaders, showing them how to do surveys on campus to get contact information and set up meetings with students who want to know more about having a relationship with God. The student leaders at ISU have such a heart for the lost on their campus, and they really strive to reach out to them.
Please Pray
> A safe and fruitful trip to New Zealand (March 8th – March 18th).
> That the projects Ryan works on would continue to have an impact at the local level.
> For students at ISU, Ivy Tech and IUPUI, to have an opportunity to hear the gospel.