Newsletters

September 2002

Our Overarching Strategy

Well, classes have begun. There are students all over campus once again, and we are beginning our fourth year here at Michigan. Hard to believe two Buckeyes have lasted this long “behind the lines”! As students return and the fall gets going we fall back into our “normal” routine. It is easy to get caught up in meeting with students and giving surveys and forget the reason we do all this. Why are these Buckeyes on a campus of Wolverines?

We want to raise up life-long laborers for Christ. We want to see students from here go all over the world into all sorts of professions and have an impact in people’s lives for Christ. The strategy we use to help bring this about is: Win, Build, Send. Everything we do revolves around these three elements.

Win—winning students to Christ

We desire to share with every student how he/she can know God personally and have a relationship with Him. Much of September is spent doing things that give students opportunities to hear how God loves them and to respond to His invitation and begin a relationship with Him.

The first day of classes we spent 5 hours passing out surveys. We want to find students who are interested in talking with us about God. We also want to quickly meet freshmen who want to be a part of a Christian organization. There are so many influences on  our campus that could easily squelch a person’s desire to grow closer to God. Throughout the year we will also be having smaller outreaches in the dorms. These are organized and run almost entirely by our student leaders.  The purpose of all of this is to see people begin a relationship with God.

Build—building up Christians

We desire for Christians to grow closer to the Lord. Each dorm has at least one Bible study meeting each week that give students a chance to discuss the Bible together and apply it to their lives. We also have our weekly meeting which incorporates a 20-minute talk that challenges students in their relationship with God. Other venues for “building” include one-on-one discipleship, the leadership Bible studies led by staff, our Fall Retreat in October and Christmas Conference in December.

Send—sending laborers to the world

We want to help develop students who are willing to go wherever God calls them, whether that be as a Christian in the marketplace or a full-time minister. Our spring break trips to Florida and the Middle East give students a chance to experience being a minister of the gospel.

It is necessary for us to revisit this strategy of Win, Build , Send often throughout the year as it becomes so easy to get caught up in activities. Please join us in praying that students would come to Christ, be built in their faith, and be sent into the world as Christ-centered laborers.

Update on Andrew

Andrew’s steroid injection into his knee went very well. We have been able to stretch his knee further than we could before, the swelling has gone down some, and he seems to be getting more active during play times. Thank you for all your prayers for him during this time!

Kids' Corner

I got to do some fun things with Mommy and sis-sis since Daddy was so busy for the past 2 weeks. We have gotten to go to parks and have picnics. I am climbing all over the playground equipment and jumping off the little slide in our yard. We went to a park  2 weeks ago where there was a farm. I “neighed” the whole way there! The horses were really big. Last week we went to the zoo where I saw my friend from summer, Aidan. I walked almost the whole time we were there so I could run from animal to animal. Lauren got to get out of the stroller and walk a little bit, too.  I got to go to the weekly meeting last week since it’s before my bedtime. The music was fun to dance to. And I got to see Daddy at work.

-Andrew

I just turned one year old! I love being big! I can walk all over the place now and am trying to run. Mommy doesn’t think I should be eating the grass and rocks outside, but I still try to taste them when she turns away. It is exciting to be able to keep up with Andrew more. I am trying to climb all over the playground equipment like him, but I think it’s making my mom nervous! She caught me up on the couch yesterday, too. I told Andrew he can only help me up there when Mommy’s not watching. I got to pet a baby pig at the farm. I squealed just like it did. It will be fun to see the students more often this year. Mommy and Daddy say I am very social. I like to smile at everybody because a girl can never have too many friends! The weekly meeting was so much fun. I never knew  I could find so many friends! They laughed when I kept running away from Mommy.

-Lauren

Andrew hold the blueberries he helped pick.

Thoroughly enjoying a homemade pudding pop!

Lauren had it easy while we picked blueberries.

The family reunion exhausted Lauren!

www.ardle.org

Staff Account #0484633