Colossians 1:3-6
Thanksgiving and Prayer
[3] We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, [4] since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, [5] because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, [6] which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
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Paul in the passage above is writing to the Colossians in thanksgiving, because of the work he has seen the Lord doing in their lives. This is a good practice for all believers to have, to reflect in thankfulness on how the Lord has been working in peoples' lives. With this being our last semester at Mississippi State, we wanted to share with y’all an example and reflection on a graduating senior and how we have seen her grow in grace and confidence in her faith.
I met Evelyn my first semester at Mississippi State, her sophomore year. I remember our first meeting in the basement of the coffee shop I now go to almost everyday. We talked a lot about movies because we had the same favorite genre (psychological thrillers) but I remember her being very quiet and reserved, wanting to get more involved in RUF and find friends in the process.
Throughout that year leading up to COVID, I watched her really put herself out there to try to meet people and make friends in RUF even though it was outside her comfort zone. Making friends is never easy, especially when COVID shortens a semester, but I saw the Lord bless her with some really sweet friendships that turned into roommates the next two years of college.
I’ve watched her become more bold in her faith, even leading a small group for us last year. Someone who was nervous the year before about meeting people, invited new people to come to her small group and invested in them both inside and outside the group. She strove every week to understand the text and help people engage with the text in small group. She asked people to get coffee and hang out outside of the small group to get to know them at a deeper level.
She is moving to Atlanta to work in a high needs public school with Special Ed. I’m so excited to see how to the Lord uses her there to bless those kids' lives and the community and friends she will build there.
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Our first event of the semester was a bingo night in RUF’s second home, 929 the coffee shop. We had a ton of returning students show up, as well as some new faces. Our two callers dressed the part (see pictures below) and it was a night filled with fellowship and laughter. The grand prize winner got a signed a picture of Joe our campus minister and he did not know who Joe was because it was his first RUF event! He said, “Guess I have to come to RUF Large Group now to meet Joe.” We’ve seen him now get really involved in the group, coming to both freshmen bible study and large group regularly. God is always at work to bring new people into the group even through bingo nights!
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Our two callers kept us on our toes and laughing all night
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Brannan was our grand prize winner! Don’t worry he has now met Joe!
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Ready to play some bingo!
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Who knew bingo could be so chaotic?
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Winter conference returned this year after a year hiatus due to Covid. We brought over 70 students to Red Oaks in Memphis for a weekend of teaching, fellowship, and staying warm in the freezing outdoors. Brent Corbin, our area coordinator, taught us about the Gospel and how we are not our own. We walked away from the weekend encouraged by the friendships we saw form between freshmen, the conversations that happened in small groups, and the fellowship between all our students. My favorite part of the weekend was when a sophomore, Cameron, guessed correctly how many cool ranch Doritos were in a single serving bag. In case you're wondering, it’s 15. Grant’s favorite part was the magician that tried to cut Joe in half! (See pic below)
We also had a student come with us who is considering the truth claims of the Gospel. We are praying that the preaching she heard that weekend and fellowship she had with other believers is planting seeds that will grow into conversion.
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Group photo!
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Playing gopher ball
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Our music team lead worship all weekend
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Joe didn’t quite fit in the box to be cut in half
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Not saying my Blundstones are trend setters but these girls all got a pair for Christmas
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Thanksgiving and Prayer Requests
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Some things we are thankful for:
- Large group and freshmen bible study without masks! It was so great to see everyone's' faces and sing without masks after the omicron surge.
- Grant, Joe, and I all meeting with weekly with students considering the claims of the Gospel.
- Our students who have become life friends over these three years!
A couple of prayer requests:
- Our upcoming mission trip to Yakima, Washington over spring break. We are bringing almost 30 students to serve for a week at the reservation.
- For conversions to happen with the students we are meeting with and for us to be able to explain the Gospel clearly.
- For the Lord to prepare both of us to transition out of the internship and into our next phase of life and work. We will be able to fully update everyone next newsletter!
As always, we are so thankful for you, our partners in ministry, who have supported us over the past three years financially and through prayer. We could not have done it without you!
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