Many Base Hits

September picked up right where we left off in August, still very much in the process of building momentum. For myself, I started the month off getting my Core (our name for our small groups) going and meeting consistently. We only had time for one meeting right at the end of August, so most of the work that has been done to bring us together has been done in this last month. My group is made up of myself, and 10 other guys who have been there just about every week so far this year! Most of our cores are lead by two students who work together to lead their discussions, but I have been leading alone this year, which has presented some interesting challenges. It has been difficult to get one on one time investing in these guys, but luckily, two of the guys in my group have been to SICM (the student institute of campus ministry) and so I have guys I can trust to lean on for help leading our group. 

So much of what we have been doing ministry wide this month has been focused on building community momentum and teaching the values of being involved and being inviting. Our first sermon series, which ended the last week of September was focused on the ways in which Jesus displayed these values. The series, based on our overall theme in FOCUS this year was called "Come and See what Jesus is like". if you would like to listen to this series, we are posting the sermons on YouTube.  

The big event that we hit in September was our annual Fall Camp. Over the course of 22 hours, we take the small groups to Mt. Lebanon Camp and Conference center in Cedar Hill for a time focused on growing their relationships with themselves and with God. We have a couple of times dedicated to some guided testimonies that get at our ministry theme, and a couple of sessions of worship as well. All of that only accounts for about 4 of the hours, the rest is a combination of guided small group time and free time. Seeing the effect of this on my own group has been awesome! 7 of my guys were able to be there that weekend, and I have seen the impact of that time really bring them even closer together! We have an axiom in FOCUS that is "base hits not home runs", with the idea being that we are looking for steps forward rather than crazy life change when we are working with students. Fall Camp definitely accomplished a lot of base hits for my core! So many of the guys who came, I have seen them grow in the goals I had for them, just by how their investment in community has poured back into them.