And so February begins!

Well January has flown by for me, and it was a good month! Hope it was great for you as well.
Recently I sent out support letters, and will begin starting to send them out monthly.

I don't know about you, but we've gotten a good bit of snow the past week, getting about five inches last Sunday and with more on the way. It's also starting to get a lot colder which makes walking across campus tons of fun. As you can see in the picture my beard for the year is coming in gloriously and I'm excited to see what it looks like in May. I'm debating if I want to shave it and shock the students at the end of the semester, but we'll see.

As for things that have been going on in the Burgh, we have been doing our usual meetings, Thursday's at 8:30 on campus. This semester we are looking at the idea of witness based on Acts 1.8 which reads, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judah and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The first week, we introduced the topic, the past two weeks we went through the first three chapters of Ecclesiastes. This week we'll be looking at the introduction of Luke and how the Gospel is something that we have examined, and have come away with the feeling that it is truth and how that plays in our witness. With me leading this one, I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to completely talk about, but I got a few days to get ready!

This is the 4th week of the semester, and only my 3rd week back thus far. I had class the first week of classes so I was down in good old Kentucky. My personal classes are keeping me busy, but I have been spending a lot of time on campus.

This past week I got have a really interesting conversation with a couple of students from China. It was great just sitting and talking with some students from different nations and cultures. We talked a bit about where we were from, what they were studying, what they do in their free time and what they do on breaks. It turns out that they only go home once a year, so my hope is that while I'm here I can meet them again and will be able to form a good relationship with them and show them come American culture. A recent study shows that ~80% of international students never set foot in an American home, and I don't want to be one of those that keeps them away. So please keep that in your prayers.

Something else that we have been doing in the ministry is meeting Friday afternoons with students just to talk about whatever may come up. So far we have talked about the issue of abortion, and that was the only time we've met so far (mainly because of scheduling issues). We are also trying to plan for the week of Easter a week we are calling "Witness Week" with the goal of witnessing to campus and showing that all are welcome to any group on campus. Our hope is to partner with other Christian groups on campus for worship, a Seder, and maybe a day of prayer.

In other news, while I was in Kentucky for my class a man that I know and respect came to me and told me about a big opportunity at Marshall University. He used to preach at a church in Huntington, WV and knows that many churches are wanting to partner with a campus ministry, but there isn't one there that they are willing to work with or that they know of (something along those lines, he keeps saying that there's nothing there). He told me of a church that is just a few blocks away from Marshall's stadium, and that they would be more than willing to work with a ministry. Recently I had to go to state college and was talking with our minister up at Lock Haven and he told me that the campus ministry at Morehead State, just 30 minutes west of KCU, was looking to plant onto Marshall's campus, and that one of the professors that I had and really respect was trying to help with that plant. Currently I'm praying through if this is what God has in store for me next, and I ask that you join me in that prayer. It definitely seems as if this is lining up perfectly, and I plan on making some contacts with churches in the Tri-State Area soon.

Well that's all that's been going on around here. I hope you all have had a wonderful week, and feel free to contact me at any time!