Here’s a quick look at what God is doing in the lives of some of the students involved with our ministry. God has been so faithful to bear fruit through our faithfulness, and on Saturday night, we celebrated his awesome work with many of our supporters at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church. We are so blessed by all of you who pray, give, and love us and our students!
Almost 100 students from all five schools came to the winter retreat this year to hear from G’Joe about how new life in Christ is “More Than A Feeling.” On Saturday, students and staff had a chance to spend time together skiing, snowboarding, hiking, playing basketball, or visiting downtown Asheville and Black Mountain. Look for the talks online under “Resources” soon!
On Friday night, things heated up at the gym for an intense dodgeball tournament…
Check out this video to get a taste of our New Year’s Conference!
Come join the New Year’s Conference experience by following online at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/alivedc!
Here are the main rally times and topics:
Wednesday night 8pm-9:30pm…R!SE, Mike Ross
Thursday morning, 9:30am-11:30am…L!VE, Mike Ross
Thursday evening, 7pm-9pm…L!VING WORDS, Joshua Harris
Thursday evening, 10:00-11:30…Concert, FLAME and Shai Linne
Friday evening, 10:30-?…New Year’s Eve Celebration
Saturday morning, 10am-12pm…L!FE TOGETHER, Joshua Harris
Saturday evening, 7pm-9:15pm…L!FE SAVER, Matt Ballard
Sunday morning at 10:15am-12pm…L!VING LEGACY, Matt Ballard
325 students came out to the Handlebar in Greenville on November 6th to see FLAME and the Josh Ridings Band perform! If you missed it, you can still see them in DC at the Campus Outreach AL!VE conference, December 29th – January 2nd. For more info and to register, visit aliveconference.com.
Today the Campus Outreach Greenville regional staff team along with the Campus Outreach Charlotte, Lynchburg, and Washington DC staff teams have been planning the upcoming AL!VE Conference. We are excited to plan a conference over the New Year’s Holiday designed for students to continue investigating Jesus Christ or continue learning about their relationship with Him. It will be held from Dec 29 – Jan 2 in Washington, DC, two blocks from the White House. Our line-up includes Josh Harris, Mike Ross, Matt Ballard, FLAME, Shai Linne, and the Josh Ridings Band! For more info or to register, check out www.aliveconference.com.
I recently read a great quote that encouraged me to the core because it reminded me of what we are seeking to do: to build kingdom leaders. It’s from Richard Pratt, a seminary professor who’s speaking with authority on issues that are near and dear to my heart – developing and deploying Kingdom leaders for the King’s service. Hope it encourages you and calls you to pray for our staff what Jesus prayed in Matthew 9:36- , the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few, ask the Lord of the Harvest to send forth His laborers into His harvest field… Pray that we would be these type of leaders and build these type of leaders that pray, fast, share with the lost, build up the believers, live on the front lines with the power of the Spirit, for His Glory and our Joy in Jesus!
Richard Pratt, founder and president, Third Millennium Ministries; former chair of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary:
If I were king and could wave my magical scepter, I would radically change the basic agenda of seminary.
After 22 years of teaching in a seminary, I slowly began to realize something. We were not preparing the kinds of leaders that evangelical churches in North America need. Let’s face it; evangelicalism has seen better days. God is at work in many places and in many ways, but on the whole, the news is not good. Our numbers are dwindling; our theology is unraveling; our zeal for Christ is dissipating. Now more than ever, we need seminaries to give the church leaders who are empowered by the Spirit for radical, sacrificial devotion to Christ and his kingdom. And they’d better do it quickly.
I was recently in China, talking with the president of a house church network of more than 1 million people. He asked me for advice on preparing the next generation of pastors. I looked at him and said, “The only thing I know is what you should not do.” He smiled and asked, “What’s that?” My reply surprised him. “You should not do what we have done in the West. The results of that approach have become clear.”
The agenda of evangelical seminaries is set primarily by scholars. Professors decide how students will spend their time; they determine students’ priorities; they set the pace. And guess what. Scholars’ agenda seldom match the needs of the church.
Can you imagine what kind of soldiers our nation would have if basic training amounted to reading books, listening to lectures, writing papers, and taking exams? We’d have dead soldiers. The first time a bullet whizzed past their heads on the battlefield, they’d panic. The first explosion they saw would send them running. So, what is basic training for the military? Recruits learn the information they need to know, but this is a relatively small part of their preparation. Most of basic training is devoted to supervised battle simulation. Recruits are put through harrowing emotional and physical stress. They crawl under live bullet fire. They practice hand to hand combat.
If I could wave a magic scepter and change seminary today, I’d turn it into a grueling physical and spiritual experience. I’d find ways to reach academic goals more quickly and effectively and then devote most of the curriculum to supervised battle simulation. I’d put students through endless hours of hands-on service to the sick and dying, physically dangerous evangelism, frequent preaching and teaching the Scriptures, and days on end of fasting and prayer. Seminary would either make them or break them.
Do you know what would happen? Very few young men would want to attend. Only those who had been called by God would subject themselves to this kind of seminary. Yet they would be recruits for kingdom service, not mere students. They would be ready for the battle of gospel ministry.
I read a great commentary on the desiring God website that was a great picture of our mission so I thought I would pass it along:
August 4, 2010 | By: David Mathis | Category: Commentary
Billy Graham once was asked, “If you were a pastor of a large church in a principal city, what would be your plan of action?”
In the modern-day classic The Master Plan of Evangelism (which has gone through over 100 printings since it was first published in 1963), Robert Coleman reproduces Graham’s response, perhaps a surprising answer to many:
I think one of the first things I would do would be to a get a small group of eight or ten or twelve people around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price!
It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers among the laypeople who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them.
I know one or two churches that are doing that, and it is revolutionizing the church.
Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in this personal interview and in the time he spent with his twelve. (page 103, paragraphing added)
For more on this kind of ministry strategy, see Coleman’s book.
From: http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2584_if_billy_graham_had_been_a_pastor/
Jake McCoun and I (G’Joe) are heading to RSA – republic of South Africa today. We will be out of the country till August 9. Please pray for, the CCP, but especially our families as we will be away from them…
Campus Outreach Greenville is an inter-denominational ministry targeting college campuses in upper South Carolina and western North Carolina. Founded in 1994 under the supervision of Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC, our mission is “Glorifying God by Building Laborers on the Campus for the Lost World.” Through evangelism and discipleship, we reach students with the gospel and train them to be mature Christians with a commitment to the Great Commission. Our desire is to see students leave college equipped for the work of ministry and ready to labor in the harvest fields for the glory of God!
