Every time I have been to Asia I have heard the saying “Same same but different” when trying to describe something that maybe similar but used for different things. This is how I have been feeling about the coming school year. The campus will be the same campus but the way people will interact will be different. We are only a few weeks away from the start of a new school year. This school year as some of you have experienced or can imagine will look different than ever before. This Fall we will be walking onto a college campus we have never been on. No matter how familiar it may look, the policies, restrictions and vibe of the campus will no longer be familiar.
Currently the University of Central Arkansas has mandated that everyone on campus must wear face masks, must social distance and must limit group size to 159 max. Our large group weekly gathering of 500 students is no longer going to be an option, retreats altogether will no longer be an event and leadership meetings of 250 students will no longer be possible.
Looking ahead to the semester to come it is filled with challenge and opportunity. Since these are situations we have never handled before we can’t approach the campus the same way we always have. We have to surrender the idea of “this is how we have always done it” to then allow the Lord to show us a new way. The Lord has new plans in store for this year and I want to choose His creativity, His wisdom and His spirit to guide us.
As much planning as one can do during an ever changing world, we have been praying and planning for the year. We have ideas and dreams, both open handed before the Lord. We have been blessed with our large new building which makes gatherings so much easier with social distancing. Possibilities seem endless! We now have capacity to do small services every night of the week. We would like to have house churches. We are looking forward to having things be small again and seeing everyone take personal responsibility for reaching our campus.
As this Freshmen class comes to UCA they will be coming as a unique Freshmen Class. They will have new fears, new concerns and new challenges that no other Freshmen class has had to face. I have been praying that they would be like the woman at the well. In John 4:29-30, after she had encountered Jesus, she left her water jars behind to go and tell those in her community,
“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”
Missions Training Center
We are still $80,000 away from being debt free on the Missions Training Center! There is still time to partner with us and help us complete this building. I would like to personally invite you to come and see. Come take a road trip to Conway and walk through the building. I would love for you all to come see what God is doing in Conway!
Will you invest into seeing this place filled with college students passionately pursuing God and being sent to the ends of the earth?
The link to online giving to the Missions Training Center.
Will you pray with us for the incoming Freshmen? Will you pray and believe with us for 300 Freshmen to be involved in a Dgroup by the time school starts in August? Will you join me in praying for this next year of Freshman? Pray that the Freshman will be captivated by Jesus and would then take the gospel to those around them?
I would not want to do this without such a wonderful support team! Thank you for your support! I am praying for each of you.
- Alyssa
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