Discipleship

Jesus' last words to the disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 were, "And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." He commands for us to make disciples. What does that mean? For us it means being committed to a few hungry Christian students, doing life with them, walking through trials with them, helping them to have biblical perspective, and teaching them to love others well and share Christ with the people around them. Also, it means showing them that we don't have it all together spiritually.. we are horrible screw ups in need of God's grace.

You can pray that God would use us to lead these students into deeper intimacy with Christ.

Wyatt's Discipleship Group: Frank Collins, Corey Funk, Austin Garvin, and Cleve Cleveland 

My discipleship groups: Liz Justmann, Brooke Moran, Cassie Jones, and Emily Frederick

Community Group

This semester we started leading a Community Group through our church. The group is basically a missional community of college students who want to influence freshmen for Christ.  I am so lucky. I get to hang out with the coolest people! Seriously, spending time with these college students is so fun and encouraging. It is awesome to see their desire to walk closely with Christ and give their lives away that others might know the gospel. And they are so darn funny!

One of the coolest parts about spending time with them is their relationships with one another. They are mostly all sophomores at UGA and met in the dorms last year. They got so close their freshmen year that they decided to get houses right near each other (and conveniently, right near us!). The guys take such great care of the girls and the girls really respect the guys. You can really tell how much they care about each other just by the way they interact. The guys even got them walkie-talkies so that they can get in touch with them at all times! Adorable.

Here's some of them: Cleve, Frank, Corey, Elizabeth & Catherine 

I'm excited to see how God uses these friendships to display the gospel to their other friends and classmates. I'm so hopeful for all that God can do in and through their lives during their 3-4 more years in college. I feel very privileged that God would allow us to be an influence in their lives and serve along side them on the campus.

Tomorrow night we are going to play trivia, pray that many freshmen would be interested in coming to hang out with us. And also pray that anyone who doesn't know Christ would see a difference in us, and that we would be bold in conversations about Him.

New beginnings

It has been forever since my last post... not because nothing has happened since then, but because it feels like everything has happened since then. With school starting back at UGA, we have been so busy! I forget how much momentum there is with a new semester to meet new people and spend tons of time hanging out (before everyone gets busy with tests and papers). It seems like most nights Wyatt or I have been up at the dorms meeting freshmen, playing ultimate frisbee or flag football, baking treats for new friends, etc.

It has been lots of fun, but difficult at times. I have certainly wrestled with the fact that I stand out like a sore thumb... When a girl in the dorms asks what year I am or which dorm I live in it can be so awkward because how do I answer, "Actually I already graduated college and I'm married" without sounding like a creeper for still hanging out in freshmen dorms? ha! But even in those moments the Lord reminds me that my identity is in Christ and these girls can think I am super weird... and yet I am still loved, accepted, and treasured by my Savior. And in those moments it adds fuel to the fire of evangelism, because I want for others to know such a kind, compassion, loving and accepting Savior. I wanted their identities to be wrapped up in the God who has died for them. It has been cool to see God transform a question that I least look forward to into an opportunity to share, because in order to avoid strange looks I usually have to tell them that I work for a college ministry. And that usually opens the door for me to share a little glimpse of how God transformed by heart during college.

I'm actually going up to the dorms tonight, so you can pray for my time with the freshmen. Pray that God would provide opportunities to meet new girls to build a friendship with. Pray for boldness to associate with Christ and share the gospel with girls, not only with words but also with my countenance, peace, and interactions with them and others. I'm excited to see how God would honor our prayers to make tonight have an impact on eternity.