Leaders go and leaders come. One of the hardest and most rewarding parts of working in college ministry is that our leaders and interns–whom we love and have invested so much into–graduate with startling regularity. Each spring, the majority of our leaders and interns move out of college and into their careers. We celebrate with them, we encourage them, and we send them off to all the wonderful places that the Lord has called them to go. It is so exciting. It is fun. And it is so hard.
But one of the best parts is what happens next. The Lord faithfully and generously raises up another generation of students to step into much needed positions of leadership: leadership for our worship teams, for our HouseGroups, for our marketing and media team, for studying the Bible and teaching it faithfully. This generosity became most apparent when we gathered at the end of August for our leadership retreat at Camp Geneva. As we looked around the circle of students gathered to lead our ministry and worship the Lord in Campus Ministry this year, I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of gratitude. The Lord has done it again.
In our Grand Rapids community, we had only three of our leaders not graduate last Spring, yet by time kick-off week began this fall, we had over twenty leaders and interns signed up and serving our community on five different campuses in Grand Rapids. We have leaders once again in our community. Praise the Lord! After sending and commissioning nearly our entire leadership team last year, the Lord has provided all that we need again. What a gift to serve a God of such abundance! In addition to these leaders, the Lord raised up a hundred more in Allendale! And not only is He actively raising up students, He is also mobilizing the church in much needed ways.
Each week, we have a different congregation kindly come and serve a meal to our leaders on Sunday evenings and snacks to our wider worshiping community. Each week these churches come and feed us, encourage us, and worship with us. If you haven’t had a chance to join us yet, I would love to invite you to come and see! It is a beautiful expression of the church as we continue to pursue the Whole Gospel, on the Whole Campus, for the Whole City.
Thanks for being a part of it!
– Cody Zuiderveen
