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Minister's Corner

Anticipating the Fall Semester

By July 20, 2017July 27th, 2017No Comments

This is the time of year where the college minister side of me starts to get a sense of anxiety, but a positive kind of anxiety that begins to anticipate the fall school semester. I love the summer time and spending time with the students who come home to Southside, but there is something about the fall semester that brings new hope each year to see how God will work.

It’s kind of like the movie Groundhog Day – every fall there is a new chance to do ministry in the same setting, having another year’s worth of learning under my belt. I can try new things, shape new students (and shape present students in new ways), and see new developments, all in the same context as the previous year. Each fall gives me a chance to correct mistakes, understand student populations more deeply, and get the church more involved in college ministry. It’s not that I can’t do these things during the school year, it’s just that the beginning of the fall semester is like a great big reset switch, and it comes with excitement and anticipation.

All that being said, I am also reminded each fall of how minor my own contribution to the ministry really is. No matter how much work I put in, I still make up a small part of the larger picture. Much more influential in ministry is the contribution of God and His people.

In ministry, there is always an eager anticipation for seeing what God will do, and much of ministry hinges on the hope that God will work in great ways, and that his church will step up to take active roles in fulfilling needs. So, although I pray often over our college ministry (and other Southside ministries), it’s during this time of year that I begin to petition God strongly to send students our way, to raise up students who want to become spiritual leaders, and to cultivate a thirst for His Spirit on the campuses near us.

Soon, the campuses at TCU, TWU, TCC, and UTA will be teeming with students, eager to learn more about the world and explore what might be in store for them in life. Their time at school means they will be open-minded and willing to explore new and exciting ideas–my goal is for those new ideas to involve learning about Christ and developing a faith in Him. And so I pray hard, starting now, that God will begin to work on the campuses we reach.

I hope that you will join me in this prayer too, and if you are interested in reaching college students, visiting a campus with me, or joining the college ministry for an event, then please let me know. You can check out our website at sscofc.org/college, or email me directly at chrisjeter1988@gmail.com

Thank you for your prayers,
Chris

Chris Jeter

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