BEAVER NATION

Hello Family!

We are in process of finding out who wants paper newsletters and who would rather just read our blog. So if you receive a paper newsletter and would rather not, just let us know. Thanks!

Our first few weeks went really well!  Here's some pictures - first from the hayride, which was SO fun and we met lots of new students, and then the Pizza feed, in which we fed over 200 students. It's been a busy blast around here! (the cow picture is in there 'cause I want one. For real.) :)

During the Pizza Feed it was in the 90s, and one of the dorms set up a kiddie pool full of ice water. Elijah jumped in thirteen times. Yup. Thirteen.

And that's Al up there with his beast of a beard.

These guys are awesome.

Phil and I are reading a book called "College Ministry in a Post Christian Culture" by Stephen Lutz.  As most of you can tell every time you turn on your tv or internet news, or are randomly switching channels, or are reading your daily newspaper, our country is....struggling....to say the least. It is more urgent than ever before that campus ministry in the USA is critical - right now. Check these out:

·         77% of professions of faith come before or during the college years -but only 15% of current college students identify themselves as Christians

·         Close to 70 million people in this generation of college students are not Christians- they make up the largest mission field we have ever seen in North America

·         Of non-Christian people ages 16-29, only 16% have a favorable view of evangelicals

·         Nearly half of these agree with this statement: “Christians get on my nerves”

·         Two-thirds agree with this statement: “The Church is full of hypocrites”

·         The top 1% of the world’s population are privileged enough to go to college- they are the future leaders of the world

·         The campus is also significant from a global missions perspective, bringing students from nearly every nation of the world to our doorstep for these critical few years

·         In the college years, students make essential decisions about their identity, beliefs, and ethics – and whether or not God will have any part in their lives. College offers a window of opportunity before the rest of their life crowds in

·         The apostle Paul went to the synagogue, the marketplace, and Mars Hill to proclaim the gospel. Today, those places are represented in the college campus. 

So- we are extremely grateful to be back on campus full time. Our semester is full: Sunday Night Vive, Monday men's group, prayer in dorms on campus, prayer walking campus, Fall retreat, meeting with students one on one, movie/bonfire/game/hayride/canoeing/hiking events, Christmas Tea, international student events, and just plain being on campus and going to campus events, meeting people and building relationships, finding the gold in people that they don't see and telling them it's there. And telling them Who put it there. We are acutely aware that people are watching us and wondering if we are for real.

How can you help? Pray: for favor with all this stuff I just mentioned, favor with students, hunger in students. Pray we get a crowd for Fall retreat- those retreats really bond students together and give them the life-long friends and faith they need to be the leaders we need! Pray for our family as we juggle raising four kids/young adults in three different schools, and deal with the daily battle....pretty sure there are principalities that don't want us doing what we're doing. :) And pray that we can raise the rest of our budget- we are operating at about 60% currently. If you are able, click that donate button at the top right and help us out. You may not be able to take a student out to lunch or out for coffee and help them figure out who they are and who God is, but we can. We're also financing a new sound system and we need- desperately- a Mac Book Pro! Got one in my Apple cart.....can't quite push the "purchase" button yet...!

We really want to see the Kingdom come here in Beaver Nation! (Haha! that's our new school slogan for sports- I LOVE IT. I keep telling people that Beavers eat (fill in the blank) for breakfast....)  But it also tells us that BSU/NTC/Oak Hills are indeed a NATION that needs to be reached - so we can send healthy leaders that love Jesus out into our communities.

We love our job. We love you. Have a GREAT fall!!

us Thoofts xoxoxoxo