Feb. 4 - Staff Vision Day
Over the 5 hours we worked through the historical context of Isaiah, leadership development, and effective teaching that engages the minds by stimulating emotions, creating community and telling stories. We also moved around the building as we worked through “worst case scenario” (What do we do if our first Citywide Gathering only has 25 people?) which turned out to not be terrible at all but rather an exciting opportunity.
Feb. 4 - O Week Mission Launch Night
Over pizza dinner, I had the delight of meeting a gentleman from the northwest of our island state to came to our volunteer info night to learn how what we do might be replicated at the rural northwest campus of UTAS. I was able to connect him with one of my student leaders who had relocated to that campus and hoped to launch a Fellowship Group in Semester 1.
Feb. 17-20 - Orientation Fliering
Students, staff and local Christians worked together to contact as many first time UTAS students as we could. We stood outside their faculty orientation lectures and invited as many as walked in as we could to join us the following week for free pizza dinners: our way of showing hospitality and to get the word out that we are here for them. Our hope was that they would come to one or all and meet out students and have some great conversations. As a result our pizza parties had around 50 students attend each night. And more importantly we recognised some of them at our first public meeting! We were low on local volunteers and so missed some of the lectures or couldn’t cover all the entrances but we thank God that the students showed up and connected with us in meaningful ways.
Feb. 19-21 - Pre-Season Conference
Because we were low on student leaders at the beginning of this year, it was all hands on deck for staff. I did a sermon and two workshops in the Gospel and Christian Living and another on the Local Church with first year students.
Our theme this year was Kingdom Parables. During my sermon on Thursday, I took the young women through the parables of the weeds and mustard seed and yeast in Matthew. We discussed how there is an enemy and evil in the world and how we will live and grow alongside evil, pain and suffering. The sermons from the conference will be uploaded to our site soon.
Feb. 24-27 - O Week Campus Mission
Charlotte at the northwest Cradle Mountain Campus doing the same survey we did here in Hobart and connecting with students in the hope of starting a Fellowship Group.
Classes have begun and we are on the ground meeting students, surveying them about their beliefs, giving away re-useable coffee cups, and having some great conversations. I spent one day with a 1st year med student helping me connect with others at the medical building. I met 2-3 students who were interested in getting a new med student group up and running and was able to talk to them about what kind of group would best meet their needs and their busy, always changing schedules. Across all campuses we gave away around 600 cups, inviting each to our public meetings. We received nearly 150 contact details from people who wanted to know more. Each will be contacted directly and invited for a coffee and a chat. From there we hope they will join either a Fellowship Group or begin attending our Christianity 1a course.
Feb. 27 - Citywide Gathering
At the end of our campus mission, we held our first Citywide Gathering. The photo above is BEFORE three more rows of chairs were added as people came in a bit late. More than 60 people came along to our first event, half of them were new. Due to our earlier time slot, people rocked up after class and stayed for hours afterwards talking. One of our senior staff talked to some Catholic students and prayed with them after they seemed to have understood the good news of Jesus for the first time. Another staff member talked for hours with a fellow who is thinking through what it means for him to take faith seriously. I’m sure many other quality discussions were had as several students and staff didn’t get home till close to midnight. A very exciting start to the year for us.
Mar. 2 - Breakfast Session
A few years ago, the Uni Fellowship team decided to experiment with having a monthly breakfast sermon session. I’m pretty sure it was assumed that it wouldn’t work. Last year, however, it really took off and this year’s first 7:30am Breakfast Session was a massive hit. Mikey preached from Isaiah 6-8, giving a helpful historical background to the people and places mentioned in Isaiah. Tiglath Pileser III became TP3. Mikey also Meme-Splained “OK, Boomer” before connecting the meme with people of Israel with being set in their ways and beyond changing their mind or heart. God was giving them over to their hard hearts. Students are welcome to stick around for as long as they like afterwards to hang out or chat to staff. Future weeks may have cafe-quality coffee available afterwards, too.
All sermons from Pre-Season, Citywide and Breakfast Session will eventually be uploaded to our Sermon page.
First Fellowship Group Meetings
Four weekly Fellowship Groups have already kicked off (including Charlotte’s first group in the northwest). In fact, one group had so many this week that from next week it will split in two. These groups are committed to praying for their friends and classmates throughout the year, as well as our campus mission and events, other campus missions around Australia and global mission. Over Semester 1, they will read through a biography of Jesus together discussing the same five questions as they read. As the overseer of Fellowship Groups, my hope is as their praying for their friends to know Jesus, they will also grow in confidence in their ability to read a Gospel and help their friend meet Jesus in God’s Word. Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students has an excellent resource called UNCOVER that helps students do this with one friend or in a small group.
The Next 2 Weeks
Over the next two weeks, I’ll be meeting with students from the O Week Campus Mission who have given us their contact details because they way to know more. As we chat over a cuppa, I will learn where a student is at in their journey of knowing Jesus. A Gospel Gift of $10 will help cover the cost of mine and her coffee. You can donate using the “Support My Work” button below.