November Newsletter

Fresh Bread

In the momentum of a school year November tends to be a harder month. It’s getting cold. Students are busy with school. The promise of Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks loom in the distance making distraction certain. As I encouraged my girls to persevere through November I heard the Lord tell me, “Melissa, this goes for you too!”

            

I realized that our spiritual walk has ups and downs just like a school year. I don’t want to just  survive this month, but really thrive. In the day to day grind I want to   experience passion and joy in the Lord. Please pray for me that my personal walk with the Lord would really thrive this month. That as I encourage my disciples to persevere, I would do the same. That in the midst of the busyness and routine I would connect with God. That I would be like a “tree planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” (Psalm 1:3).

From Campus

I wanted to give Karly, the starting point guard on the women’s basketball team, an opportunity to share what has been happening on her team. God has been using her in huge ways to make and impact and Karly has grown a ton in the process. Here’s what she had to say about it:

When Melissa first approached me about helping out with the athlete ministry at MSU I was pretty apprehensive. After all, where would I find the time to commit to something like this? Between my senior year class schedule, 3 hour basketball practices, weights/conditioning, film sessions, game days, long road trips, and not to mention all the countless other obligations a D1 athlete has to fulfill, I would have been more than happy just showing up to the athlete Bible study on Wednesday nights and listening to Melissa bring the Word like I had done my previous 3 years of college. However, The Lord had  other plans. I knew that my basketball team was my mission field so what better way to get them to come to the study then for me to tell them I was going to be helping lead it? Besides, I knew this opportunity would be a big source of spiritual growth for me personally.

I told Melissa I was in, to which she replied something like "Great. You are going to lead a small Bible study just for your basketball team next year". Umm..... excuse me? How would this  ever work? For one, I had been inviting my teammates to come to the Bible study, CRU, and church with me for the past 3 years with no success. And secondly, I believed my spiritual leadership skills where less than adequate to take on something like this. After expressing my fears and concerns with Melissa she eased my anxiety and encouraged me that the Lord could and would work through me. After all, if I could just get one of my teammates to consistently come to our team study, then the number of Lady Bears to be involved in the study would double. So at the beginning of this school year I told my team about the Bible study starting up in our locker room on Wednesday nights and received a few passive "okays" in reply. After feeling out the team and   talking to some of the girls I thought that I could get 5 of them to at least check out the first study. When I walked into the locker room that first Wednesday night I was shocked to see 10 of my 12 teammates there ready to jump into the book of James. I was blown away. Not only were my   teammates there, but they were asking great questions and engaging in discussions and for the first time it felt like we were just able to be real with each other.

During this study we talked about trials and how it was possible to actually consider them joy. One of my teammates spoke up and told us that she had been wanting to tell us something for along time but just didn't know how. As she started to cry she informed us that she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer during the summer and that she was going to have surgery within the next couple of weeks. With tears rolling down faces, the room was speechless. She then said that she knows God wants her to be closer to Him and although her situation was by no means a good thing, God was going to use it for her good in the end. Wow. I was awestruck by God's faithfulness as I left that first study. Since then, I have learned so much more about my teammates and have been able to connect with them on an entirely new level thanks to the study. There has been a consistent 6-8 girls joining me in the word each Wednesday and our teams chemistry has drastically changed for the better. God is moving on the athletic teams here at Missouri State and He is definitely moving in the hearts of the Lady Bears. It just goes to show what one small act of obedience and what stepping up to a challenge can do.

I got to spend this past weekend at the Beyond Conference in Kansas City, MO with 130 upperclassmen from Missouri and surrounding states. These students are seeking the Lord about their future plans and are considering spending at year or two serving with Cru. I was lucky enough to see some of my students and fellow staff from the Cote d’Ivoire summer project. I’m so thankful that students all over our region are choosing to surrender the futures to the Lord. 

Ways you can pray:

• Pray for the 130 students that went to the Beyond Conference. Pray they would continue to seek the Lord as they decide what’s next after college.

• Pray Matthew 9:38: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." 

• Pray for our upcoming Denver Christmas Conference (Dec 27-Jan 2). This conference is a greenhouse of growth for students and we’d love to see a large number from MSU join us.