Hello BSU’ers
If someone were to ask you something like “what is BSU?” or “what does BSU do?,” what would you tell them? Right now, I’m not sure that you can easily describe our identity beyond our Thursday night meetings, but our leadership is looking to re-focus on a few things that have brought distinction to the BSU’s identity and great tradition. This re-focusing towards an identity rooted in missions, fellowship, and discipleship will require greater participation by its members, and thus your input is valuable and necessary, even crucial right now.
BSU will not meet the first Thursday that we are back in school (Jan. 8th) because all of the campus ministries will be participating in a campus-wide night of worship in D. Rich at 7pm. BSU will have its first meeting the following Thursday on Jan. 15th, and instead of having our typical meeting with a speaker, we will host a forum where we can all get on the same page with the spring’s opportunities and talk about how we can reform BSU’s identity while letting BSU help to shape our own identity as Christians and college students. I want to give you a couple of things to consider before this first meeting.
Theme
When re-focusing, it is helpful to have a theme in mind, and we are going to go with “Reaching Out,” as we will be learning how to love ourselves, others, and God in our spiritual journey. The idea for this theme came from a book by Henri Nouwen in which he says we are “called to reach out with courageous honesty to our innermost self, with relentless care to our fellow human beings, and with increasing prayer to our God.”
Bible Studies
One thing that BSU cannot afford to not reclaim is its discipleship ministry through small-groups/Bible studies. As of right now, Tyler Ward and I are considering three books for curriculum. Please check out the links and let me know if you have interest in joining a group that will study the book or if you have another book or topic to suggest. We are going to have signups the first night of BSU and they will begin the following week (the week of the 19th).
They Like Jesus But Not The Church – Dan Kimball
Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers – Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Tyler Ward and I will both lead Bible studies, however I would gladly relinquish this role to anyone who would like to take it up. Can I get some volunteers to lead a Bible study/small group? Which of those books interested you the most? If we get enough response, we may even have all-guys or all-girls groups in addition to co-ed groups.
Missions
Our support and actions related to missions is something that distinguishes BSU from the other campus ministries. Here are some things you need to be aware of.
IMPACT teams where we go to churches to provide discipleship weekends for the youth serve as an excellent ministry opportunity for us. Additionally, churches usually give an honorarium that goes directly to our missions fund. We need people to sign up to be team leaders and team members. We have already made commitments to churches for the weekends of Feb 20-22, March 13-15, and March 27-29. Other dates are being claimed as well, so we’re going to need your help.
Another good opportunity you have to help raise money for missions is to help out with childcare at Woodhaven Baptist on the following dates:
Jan. 11th (Sunday morning) from 11:30am-2:30pm -- lunch provided
Feb. 14th (Saturday evening) from 5:30pm-8:00pm -- dinner provided
Mar. 8th (Sunday morning) from 11:30am-2:30pm -- lunch provided
The church is expecting a team of eight on each date. We will have signups for Feb 14 and March 8 later, but PLEASE write me back and let me know if you will be available for January 11th.
Other Opportunities – Mark Your Calendars
Sabbath Retreat
We will be going to the St. Francis Springs Catholic Retreat Center (look at how beautiful it is) on Feb. 21-22 for a weekend retreat that is focused on Sabbath—physical and spiritual rest in God. We will leave Saturday morning and return Sunday afternoon. The cost is $45 and meals are included with that. I need to go ahead and start compiling that roster. If you are interested, please let me know.
Spring Fling
The last week in March is Campbell's Spring Fling week where they host a week of fun, but BSU has our own tradition that goes by the same name. On the morning of March 28th (Saturday), we will be hosting a day-camp called Spring Fling in Carter Gym for special-needs (or “differently-abled”) adults. Last year we had well over 250 campers, so as you can imagine, we need many volunteers. Volunteers are needed to help run the games (ring toss, parachute, basketball, etc.), face paint, and help with crafts, etc. Put it on your calendar!
Relay For Life – Operation Inasmuch
The weekend of April 3rd is going to be a big service weekend. Campbell will be participating in Relay for Life the night of Friday, April 3rd, and we will be participating in Operation Inasmuch again the following morning (April 4th). Go ahead and mark your calendars.
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As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities for you to get involved with BSU as well as a necessity for people to give their time and energy to the ministry. Nobody realistically expects for you to participate in everything, but please be in prayer for the ministry over the semester and the opportunities that you will be involved in.
Please write me at chadreedlovesyou@gmail.com or send me a message on Facebook to let me know:
if you would like to lead or join a Bible study
if you are interested in leading or joining an IMPACT team
if you will be available to volunteer to do childcare at Woodhaven on Jan 11th.
if you are interested in the Sabbath retreat
- Chad
