September Update-Under the Lights, Gospel, what else do you need?

Hello my few and precious readers.  It's been a month since my last post, and if life continues to proceed at this rate (you know, 24 hours in a day etc)  I may just be updating this blog monthly, life is busy, as you all know, and I'm in the thick of a lot of things.  

But September has been a great month thus far.  Michigan is 5-0.  If you haven't seen high lights from the UofM vs. Notre Dame game, I suggest you check this out.  This was the first every night game at Michigan Stadium and the craziest game I've ever been too.  I'll add one more personal video from the game near the end, for now let's talk about more important items. 

So here are some of the ministry highlights and prayer requests thus far from September!

-Small group: The small group that I lead is going very well.  We have consistently 8-10 guys weekly which is a blessing and guys so far seem fairly open to share about their lives.  A lot of them struggle with living a double life- enjoying the party scene in college while trying to grow in their faith.  Pray for the group to continue to grow in vulnerability and that we could be a group set a part for God.  Also pray for my leadership.  I'm also mentoring someone to take over for me when I leave, our relationship continues to get stronger, pray that we grow closer as friends and that God would lead each other as we continue to interact.  It's been great thus far, I love seeing people's lives changed.

-Off Campus Community- OC Blue as it's termed has been off to a great start too.  I'm a part of the lead team and help plan weekly meetings for both men and women to come together and have fellowship and share their lives with one another.  This past week our numbers jumped from 30 to 40 which is an awesome blessing and shows that more and more people are inviting students to come to our community.  Pray for unity within our community.  With more people getting involved, it's easier for people to slip through the cracks.  Pray for God to impact and change lives within our community and for God to send more people to us (and raise up leaders).

-A small group member:  So I meant this individual through my work.  He is a recent transfer student from outside the country and is trying to get connected here at UofM.  He expressed interest to me about attending church, something he is unfamiliar with based on where he is from.  After service two Sundays ago my friend and I shared the gospel with him and invited him to our small group.  He's come the past two weeks and after our last meeting he pulled me aside and said he wanted to be a christian.  He said he's never seen people be so open about their problems and he desired to go to heaven.  We stopped on the side of the road and he prayed in front of me.  Add another member to the kingdom of heaven. It was beautiful, his life will never be the same here on earth, and for eternity.  Praise God : )

-I was also able to share the gospel with another member from my small group the other day.  I have a feeling God is going to pursue him during this semester.  Pray for this individual.  Pray that God would transform his life and that he could accept grace (and while you're at it you can pray the same things for me : )

-Campus Life Banquet: I was recently asked to speak for Campus Life at their annual fundraising banquet.  Campus Life is a para-church organization that works with high school students around the country. (check them out! campus life ).  I was asked to speak about how this ministry impacted my life, why it is important and ask the donors if they would be willing to give money towards the ministry.  First of all, it was an honor to go back to my high school and speak.  It's a testament to what God has done and is doing in my life and without Him I would never have had this opportunity, seriously.  I talked about how High school ministry is vitally important because college has become four years where debauchery is acceptable.  To sleep around, binge drink, experiment with drugs is natural because you're in college.  College has become a filtering system.  Everyone has to pass through it in order to get a job and the consequences are tremendous in society.  Alcoholism, divorce rates, pornography (which is a multi-billion dollar industry sadly) these are the repercussions of societies acceptance of this behavior in college and more and more students are losing their faith and throwing away God's word.  This is the next generation that will be raising children someday, a generation that does not know God, His character and does not want to live for Him.  I stated that Campus Life is important because it is a vital force in stopping this cycle and building a foundation in students's lives, just like it laid down a foundation for me.  I was also able to share the gospel while I spoke also : ).

So yes, those are some of the highlights through September.  Below is a video of the community I help lead, OC Blue.  It's from the summer, but you get to see some of the people that make up this beautiful community.

Besides the prayer requests listed above, I have some for myself.  The amount of work and responsibility I have this semester can be overwhelming at times (especially thinking about my future since I graduate in May).  I'd love for you all to pray against my anxiety.  Pray that I God still is my number one priority in the midst of chaos and for God to reveal and confirm what he wants me to do with my future.

Also, this coming weekend Oct. 7th-9th we have our Fall retreat.  It's an awesome weekend of worship, sermons, football, friends and community.  Seriously, it's an epic weekend and many people have had their lives changed through these retreats.  Pray that many would come and for God to move mightily.

I apologize for the lack of structure in this post, I am very busy and am doing my best to keep you all updated.  I'll leave you all with one  my of personal videos from the Notre Dame game.  Gosh that was a gift from God.

God bless you all

-cam