Once again, it's been some time since I've posted. I guess I'm just not in the habit of it yet! I hope to post more soon. Here's my current prayer/update letter for partners in the ministry. Enjoy!
Begin prayer letter, dated January 18, 2006:
'We’re off to a great start to the semester and to the year 2006! We have had the most h2o services this school year than ever before, only breaking for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, coming back on January 8th. When we have services that are on ‘break Sundays,’ like the Sundays before and after Thanksgiving, the one after final exams week, before the start of the first week of classes, and surrounding Spring Break, we do them downstairs in the Waterhouse in our open mic setting. These services we call ‘h2o unplugged,’ and I always enjoy them. There is obviously a smaller number of people that come out, but it makes for an intimate atmosphere. The music is very low key, usually just an acoustic guitar (and maybe a hand drum), and Billy (or whoever’s speaking) typically just sits on a stool to give the message in front of the people sitting comfortably on our couches. So on Jan. 8 we opened the Waterhouse doors again and were happy to see about 20 people come in and worship with us. I definitely felt a feeling of newness and fresh hope for the coming year, and for me, after being refreshed by a week of vacation and then inspired by a large gathering for college students and ministry workers in Nashville (Passion06; perhaps I’ll blog more on that later), I felt encouragement and excitement to be back with those with whom I minister.
A retreat was planned for the following weekend, Jan. 13-14, inviting students and leaders out to Mountain Creek Cabins for a time to look at each of our life’s stories as they have unfolded thus far, seeking to determine life lessons that aid in the pursuit of our individual and corporate purpose, values, and vision. There were 14 people that came out, and we had a wonderful time of worship and prayer together Friday night; I really felt the power of God’s sovereignty in bringing each of these 14 lives together for a purpose, and I believe the bond that binds us in Christ was richly experienced. The next day spanned many emotions, as we looked at both the positive and negative events that have shaped our lives and actually wrote them down on post-it notes and mapped them out on poster board, sharing our stories in groups of 2 or 3. Billy led us through processing these ‘time lines’ and showed us the difference between our lives’ purpose statements (which we each wrote out), our actual values (ones we’re currently displaying by the way we live) and preferred values (ones that never change and that we’re always moving toward but that we sometimes fail in keeping), and our vision (very specific dreams God has placed in our hearts to live out for Him). We’ve already seen fruit from decisions made that weekend; one girl who attended had an opportunity to counsel a young girl who needed a friend and then led her to Christ the very next day! Please pray for these 14 souls as they continue to work out all these important things.
Sunday, January 15th marked our official start to the semester since the students are back, so we went back upstairs for h2o and my, my, we had some fun! Back to full band now, we rocked out at the beginning of the service with an instrumental to get people pumped up for some big worship, and there was energy in the air that could be sensed. Billy started a message series called ‘Trust’ that will hit on areas of stewardship during our time on earth with which God has entrusted us. Pray for our h2o services, that we give them excellently.
That’s all for now! See you next month...
In Christ,
Cameron'
Cameron'
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