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“What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” — 2 Timothy 2:2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Note From Our Director
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2015 COM Staff Team
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Campus Updates: University of Northwestern St. Paul
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Bethel University
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University of Minnesota
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University of St. Thomas
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St. Cloud State University
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Launched to Charleston, South Carolina
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Launched to Sheffield, England
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Revisited 17 COM Mobilization
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COM Summer
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Resource Center
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COM Finances
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Director’s Note Paul Poteat Ξ COM Director Spring of 1997 found me as a young, upstart freshman on a Campus Outreach retreat at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. Across the table from me sat the CO staff guy. He opened his Bible, passed it over to me, and asked me to read the verse. I read 2 Timothy 2:2, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” He told me that he wanted me to be a part of that process: training and sending, multiplying and growing, knowing God and making him known ... I was in. When the apostle Paul said, “what you have heard from me,” he was talking about the ground-breaking news of the gospel that he had been teaching, and Paul was casting vision for Timothy to pass on this truth to others in a way that would impact generations (Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others). This is the process of discipleship. For discipleship to work, however, Paul and other leaders had to be launched to new places so that the opportunity for discipleship might expand. Others had to step into new positions of ministry and, in essence, re-launch what had already been going on. In 2015, CO Minneapolis has launched out key leaders: Andrew Knight to Sheffield, England and Matt Reagan to Charleston, South Carolina. We are in the process of relaunching our Twin Cities campuses with new staff, teams, and strategies. We are relaunching to continue implementing the same process of discipleship described in 2 Timothy 2:2. I think of the past 12 years (from our 2003 arrival until now) as “book one” in a series. It is a glorious story filled with people coming to Christ, wedding feasts, supernatural battles, sorrows, and joys. Now with our relaunch, we begin “book two”. And in case you didn’t know, you are characters in the story. None of this would have happened without you. Without your prayers, without your giving, without your involvement, there would be no launch, no relaunch, and no new generations of people impacted by the truth of the gospel through our ministry. So, thank you for being a part of this with us. Let’s rejoice in what God has done as we look forward to what he will do next.
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2015 COM STAFF TEAM Front Row (left to right) — Eric Lonergan, Holly Lonergan, Lynn Martini, Katie Stromwall, Charlie Schumacher, Peter Sontag, Kelsey Sontag, Justine Simmons, Samm Poteat, Elisa Horning, Ann Nelson, Maggie Anderson, Lucas Cecka, Ariana Cecka Back Row (left to right) — Mike Polley, Joanna Polley, Larry Martini, Nick Stromwall, Dan Grano, Nicole Grano, Zach Simmons, Paul Poteat, Nirmal Mekala, Alberto Ramos, Josh Haubrich, Devin Smith, Reid Jilek, Nikki Jilek Not Pictured — Karen Gangnon
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PRAYER REQUESTS Financial Provision — With an entire team needing to be funded, launching teams to new areas, and looking to hire new staff, we are trusting God to provide for us through his people. Supernatural Grace — What we want more than anything else is for people to come to radical faith in Christ. We can’t do this; we’re powerless. We need God to work through the prayers of his people. A Generation of Laborers — Jesus’ specific prayer request in Matthew 9:37 was to ask God to raise up laborers. We are asking that God would raise up new staff to replace those who were launched and new students with a vision to minister on the campus.
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UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWESTERN, ST. PAUL
“God has taught me that I have so many ways to grow in my relationship with him and he is the only constant I will ever have.” – Hannah Swanson, Junior
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Renewed Perspective Reid Jilek Ξ UNWSP Campus Director Relationships count, and there’s no better way to foster purposeful relationships than by sharing life in such an intimate way. Even though Northwestern is a Christian university, there are many students who do not know Christ personally. At least three students came to faith through our ministry here this year. One student, Chris, said he had never been to church, and he never heard the Gospel before coming to a Campus Outreach activity. Before, he trusted in what he could accomplish in athletics and found comfort in his relationship with his girlfriend... but that wasn’t enough. Through bible studies, oneon-ones, and our Summer Training Project, Chris’s perspective shifted and he realized we need Jesus to be complete and truly know God!
Campus Statistics 49 8
students being discipled intentional discipleship groups
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students studying the Bible with our student leaders
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total students involved
It is exciting to look back and see how God worked in students’ hearts at Northwestern in 2015. We asked God to bring students who were excited to learn about Jesus and share their faith with others. What happened was nothing short of amazing.
Chris said he had never been to church, and he never heard the gospel. What’s most exciting about stories like Chris’s is that the college years is the time when students decide what they are going to stand for and how they are going to live. At such a critical moment, we have an amazing opportunity to move students toward Jesus and help them grow in their relationship with him.
Our number of discipleship groups has doubled, with the majority of groups led by student leaders. We saw upperclassmen move into freshman dormitories to have greater ministry impact through life-onlife discipleship with younger students.
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BETHEL UNIVERSITY
“Discipleship has shown me how to walk in the light and let guys around me press in on my life. I have found freedom in the gospel by letting my sin be exposed by the light.” – Cole Nielsen, Junior
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Recharged Dan Grano  Ξ  BU Campus Director that they have been trained up into laborers for Christ who are equipped to make him known as they enter their next phase of life. Where does all that launching put us now? Back to relaunching again! Though our past director is leaving, we have four additional staff who are starting out at Bethel this Fall. We are recharged and excited to relaunch and grow our student movement by continuing to disciple our current students, while engaging new students over the good news of the gospel.
Campus Statistics 21 4
students being discipled intentional discipleship groups
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students studying the Bible with our student leaders
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total students involved
We are recharged and excited to relaunch and grow our student movement.
Similar to the CO Minneapolis region as a whole, 2015 has been an exciting launching year for Bethel University, on both a staff and student level. We are launching our previous staff director to Sheffield, England, to assist in starting a new multiplying movement in a very needy place. We also launched a graduating class of a dozen seniors who have been key student leaders in our ministry over the past few years. Some are starting careers in business and nursing, some are moving toward joining our staff team, and some are heading overseas to further the great commission. Wherever they are called, we are excited
What do we want to see in the relaunch? In a word, multiplication. By starting small, dreaming big, and going deep, we are praying that God would bless our efforts with a multiplying student movement. We desire multiplied laborers, multiplied blessings to the Bethel campus, and multiplied students putting their trust in Christ. Please join us in praying that God would bless our relaunch this year!
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
“Being a part of Campus Outreach has changed my life. Going on their Summer Training Project changed the trajectory of my life, and without it I don’t know what path my life would be on.” – Tom Hougard, Junior
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Reset Mike Polley Ξ U of M Campus Director
Campus Statistics 35 5
students being discipled intentional discipleship groups
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students studying the Bible with our student leaders
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total students involved
It is very fitting to use the word “relaunch” for the ministry at the U of M. All the staff who were formerly at the U of M are being sent to England and South Carolina, and we are relaunching with four new staff at the U of M. Three of the four are still in the support-raising process, so we are hoping to officially launch them soon. We are excited to launch a new team that will hopefully be constant for the coming years. In addition to this, it feels like we have pushed the reset button on the student side of the ministry as well. This year we
have sought hard to establish a culture of evangelism within our leadership group. The vision statement that we created for our leaders is to seek to do joyful, consistent, ministry together. In the past we have we have had many student-led groups at the U of M. This has been a sweet picture of multiplication and of God training up young leaders to think and lead others. But with our desire to in some ways do an evangelistic relaunch, all of our student leaders (from sophomores to seniors) are seeking to do evangelism. It has been an exciting and challenging way to begin the year as we are seeking to build as many relationships as we can and seeking to trust the Lord that he will draw many to himself. It has been exciting to just now see these relationships start to deepen.
We are seeking to build as many relationships as we can and seeking to trust the Lord that he will draw many to himself. There are four dorm Bible studies that have started from our students going to the dorms, meeting new people, and inviting them to investigate who Jesus is. May the Lord give us favor as we desire his gospel to spread on the U of M campus.
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UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS
“I have no doubt that that the strong tradition of relational evangelism and personal discipleship that have helped me see the truths of the gospel will continue at St. Thomas for years after I graduate.” – Alex Bates, Senior
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Renewed Calling Larry Martini Ξ UST Campus Director
Campus Statistics 13 2 16
With leading the campus and shepherding older students, we realized that we were going to have less time for evangelistic relationships than in the past. But the Lord provided with Jacob Klimik, a 2015 UST graduate, and Emma Button, a senior this year. Both Jacob and Emma are excited to invest in younger students and fill in where Lynn and I are unable to be involved.
It is encouraging to see our student leaders make sacrifices that have an eternal impact.
students being discipled intentional discipleship groups students studying the Bible with our student leaders
God has surprised us through student ownership. When our student leaders 29 total students involved realized that there were going to be fewer staff, many students felt a renewed calling Throughout our time on staff, Lynn and I to be a part of God’s work at St. Thomas. have often felt “in over our heads” with Katie Jo, a senior on the softball team, has heavy involvement in a relational ministry. been excited to share about Jesus with We especially feel the weight of it coming her team. Five guys decided to move back into this year with the Sheffield expansion, to the dorms for their junior or senior year growth in our ministry, and two staff at St. in order to share their faith with guys on Thomas transitioning to fill needs at other their hall. It is encouraging to see our campuses. Currently Lynn and I are the only student leaders make sacrifices that have full time staff to lead at St. Thomas, and we an eternal impact. are trusting God, who is infinitely stronger than us, to do the work on campus. We can clearly see that God’s hand is behind all of We are amazed to see God giving us everything we need. We are always “in over the exciting things happening this year. our heads,” but we’re thankful God never is.
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ST. CLOUD STATE UNIVERSITY
“God has been showing me my utter brokenness and his radiant glory of Christ in his redemption of me, and I’ve been able to share that redemption with students equally as broken as myself.” – Adam Shanahan, Junior
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Reassured Eric Lonergan Ξ SCSU Campus Director
Campus Statistics 10
students being discipled
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students hearing the gospel
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in Jesus Christ as Lord. Our staff, as well as some students, have been faithfully sharing the gospel and their very lives with these freshmen. On a larger group scale, we have taken advantage of the weather at the beginning of the semester to host a cookout, jump off of some cliffs at a local quarry, and participate in a number of events the school hosted.
We’ve had incredible favor with 15–20 freshmen who are not currently trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord.
students studying the Bible with our student leaders total students involved
From the Spring semester to the Fall of 2015, there has been quite a swing in favor for our staff and SCSU students. We brought five students with us to the Summer Training Project and were very excited to see what God did in those students’ lives. However, one of the students transferred and another was sent on mission (for which we’re grateful!). We didn’t know quite what to expect heading into the Fall. The Lord has reassured us he is in control as we’ve had incredible favor with 15–20 freshmen who are not currently trusting
All of these larger social events have provided a very natural way to have conversations and build friendships with students. We are in a season where we are patiently waiting on what the Lord is going to do through these conversations about Jesus. Our vision is to reason with students by explaining to them how life is found only in Jesus Christ. Many of these students seek life outside of Christ and have very little understanding of who Jesus is. Every other Sunday evening, we devote time to equipping and spiritually nourishing about 15 students whom we’re praying will become laborers in the lives of other students on campus.
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Launched to Charleston, SC Matt Reagan Ξ CO Charleston Director
In the present age, it is the nature of Christ’s kingdom to scatter. To relaunch. This was a painful realization for the small group of southerners who migrated to Minnesota in 2003 (2004 in my case). We had grown together with a like-minded team in Greenville, South Carolina, and we were in a thriving place of health and fruitfulness. But our migration north brought sharpness to our perspective on reality. We were confronted with the truth that eternal life was in the balance for college students everywhere, and that through those college students, the nations could be reached. So, for the last decade plus, we watched the Lord use that migration to bear fruit beyond what we could have asked or imagined. Souls upon souls have been and will be saved for eternity because of our scattering.
sharpen our eternal perspective once again. Whatever joy and health and intimacy had been built in Greenville all those years ago was reforged in Minneapolis, perhaps several times over. We lived, labored, and parented shoulderto-shoulder with our dearest friends. We shepherded the flock of God at Bethlehem Baptist Church and were deeply fed by his word. Our oldest daughter had just finished kindergarten in an amazing Chinese immersion school. My wife Lisa’s parents were a perfect twenty-three minutes away.
Over the last few months, my family has had to look back on that last relaunch to
CO Charleston is undergoing its own relaunch, having witnessed rampant
But it is the nature of the kingdom to scatter. To relaunch. So, with tears and more tears, we relaunched. This time we landed in Charleston, South Carolina, to direct the ministry of Campus Outreach Charleston.
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staff turnover the last few years. It is a true relaunch, as five of the eight campus staff, including both of our campus directors, have been on staff for less than a year and a half. In addition, they have felt the emotional effects of the aforementioned turnover, so there is a great deal of shepherding to be done here. But the harvest is plentiful, and our stingingly fond memories of Minneapolis will serve to remind us of what the Lord can do in his great mercy. We now staff two campuses, the College of Charleston and The Citadel, whereas only a few years ago, we staffed five. We now have 15 staff (including Lisa and me), only half of what we once had. But we know the spiritual soil to be fertile here. We know there are many, many future laborers on these campuses, and we believe they will be used to reach the nations with the wonderful gospel of Christ.
A snapshot of the campuses in Charleston The Citadel: This is a military school of approximately 2,300 students. Of those 2,300, about 120 are women. It is the most unique campus ministry environment I have ever seen, with a heavily regimented schedule and an extreme emphasis on discipline and toughness. With such a hardened backdrop, the gospel shines brightly. Grace is a foreign concept, but it is deeply desired among the cadets.
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College of Charleston: C of C is smack in the middle of downtown Charleston, with a student population of 10,000. The flip-side of The Citadel, C of C is 70% female. It is a highly artistic school known for its strongly liberal leanings. At this point there is a fairly robust women’s ministry there, but the men are more challenging to reach.
Prayer Requests • That our family would continue to adjust to the new culture, church, and team. • That our staff would grow in health as we cherish the gospel together. • That the ministry would expand to include the five campuses that once comprised CO Charleston (The Citadel, C of C, Charleston Southern, Francis Marion, and Coastal Carolina). • That students from these campuses would be sent to the ends of the earth to bring the good news.
Launched to Sheffield, England Andrew Knight  Ξ  CO Sheffield Director In the first 30 days, each of our staff has committed to building relationships with at least 30 students on a deeper level. We have also committed to sharing the gospel with 15 of the 30, as well as to praying for 30 minutes a day specifically for the campus. Getting to know 30 in this way will probably take meeting over 100 students each on campus in the first month. May God grant us favor with this number of students. May God grant us our first English convert soon! We have committed to three nonnegotiables in our Fall term ministry launch to Sheffield, England. If God does not work, may it not be for lack of building a breadth of relationships with unbelieving students. May it not be for lack of intentionally sharing the gospel with the lost. May it not be because we lacked prayerfulness. We cannot be committed to everything, but our hope is to focus on relationships, evangelism, and prayer at very high levels. Though the laborers are few, we believe in a plentiful harvest field that will be tilled by these three commitments (Matthew 9:38).
We have joined sports clubs and sports teams, attended classes, signed up for university gym memberships, dined in the student union, and have joined in on University pub quiz nights, all with the aim of meeting students on their turf. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). We come to serve and share this type of Christ with the lost.
Christians have estimated that among the 60,000 students in Sheffield, there are less than 600 Christians. Less than 1% know Jesus Christ personally. For these 60,000, there is one full-time student worker spread across a number of other cities. The needs are staggering. But the gospel is enough!
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Revisited James Lechler Ξ CO Student Alumni
God is an amazing multiplier of laborers.
A little over a decade ago, I began my first year at Northwestern College of St. Paul. My aspirations were to find success on the basketball court, find a career, and hopefully find a wife. God’s aspirations were much bigger. That first semester of freshman year, the Lord used the persistent intentionality of Matt Reagan to show me what selfless gospel freedom looks like in everyday life and how it is rooted in God’s word.
Fast forward a decade; God has recently called me to serve as a small group leader and elder at Bethlehem Baptist Church. This is the same local body of believers that sent Matt and Andrew onto my campus to make disciples like me! God is an amazing multiplier of laborers. Now, my passion is to see this same type of everyday life discipleship happen in our church, neighborhoods, and places of work. This discipleship may look different off the college campus. But through Matt’s and Andrew’s intentionality, I caught the principle that carries over into any context: share the gospel through sharing your life.
After being discipled by Matt for two years, he transitioned to ministry on a different campus, and Andrew Knight began to mentor me. Andrew’s passion for all peoples to come to know Christ, both his neighbors and the nations, inspired me to live with increased intentionality on my basketball team and in my dorm for the sake of the gospel.
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COM Mobilization Jared Wass Ξ Mobilization Director
Success to us in Campus Outreach is not simply that students graduate from college as Christians. Success is seeing these students decades after graduation still walking with Jesus and helping others walk with Jesus. Our hope is for these college years to be a springboard to help them live in light of the gospel and labor in God’s harvest field (Matthew 9:36–38) for a lifetime. Our mobilization ministry exists to help our seniors and recent graduates make the critical turn from college into a new season for life and ministry. There are three main categories into which our students have been launched. Some of our students have gone back to the college campus as staff with Campus Outreach and they are making disciples at one of our five schools. As those who were personally discipled (and in many cases saved) in the college years they understand the strategic placement of this ministry.
Others have been called to the neighborhood and workplace. Our Twin Cities Summer Project was offered for the second time this year and thirty students (two thirds of which were recent grads) received initial training on discipleship in a new context. There are dozens of grads settling into new jobs, small group life in the church, and figuring out how to evangelize and disciple in the neighborhood and workplace.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” — Matthew 9:37–38 We also are sending laborers to the nations. Graduates are currently serving in South Korea, China, and Lebanon, to mention a few. We have also launched a new Campus Outreach team to England. Please pray for the hundreds of graduates who have been “exported” through our ministry, that they would stick with Jesus and tell others about him. And please pray for our seniors who are on the cusp of a challenging transition.
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CO MINNEAPOLIS SUMMER
Cross Cultural Project Lynn and I spent nine weeks with a team of nine students on this summer’s Cross Cultural Project. This was Campus Outreach’s second summer in Sheffield, England. The purpose of the project is to learn from a church and to share the gospel in a different cultural context. Our time was divided between investing time in our Life Groups from The Crowded House Church and spending time with students on campus. We were invited to be a part of Life Groups for the summer in order to learn from their church community. The Crowded House blends community and mission in a really beautiful way. They try to make people who are new to church feel like they belong right away. People from the church told us that most Brits aren’t initially interested in hearing about Jesus, but they enjoy being invited into Christian community. When they see that Christians interact differently than the rest of the world, they want to understand why.
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One of the best ways we found to meet students on campus was to invite them to play sports or have a barbecue in the park. As we got to know students, we told them that we were Christians and asked about their beliefs. Most British people assume Americans are very outgoing and direct. With the encouragement of a couple British pastors, we were able to use that stereotype to have gospel conversations. A handful of English students had a lot of questions about the existence of God and what Christians believe. We tried to connect students we met to the new CO staff in Sheffield and our friends from The Crowded House so that they could continue spending time together after we were gone. We are grateful to have been part of this year’s Cross Culture Project. We are excited to see what God will continue to do through The Crowded House and Campus Outreach’s long-term team. — Larry Martini, Staff Leader of CCP
Twin Cities Project
...CO MINNEAPOLIS SUMMER
Summer Training Project
The theme for this summer was “Worth lt,” inspired by Philippians 3:7–8: “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” We chose this theme to emphasize that Jesus is better than anything the world can offer; Jesus changes everything.
Every year at the Summer Training Project we get to experience God at work in the hearts of 100+ college students. Over the course of nine weeks, we see hearts healed, life trajectories drastically altered, and people transformed. What is the secret formula that makes all this happen? We simply set up students to encounter the word of God and the people of God ... and then we get out of the way. Summer Training Project is all about students making the most of every opportunity for a concentrated chunk of time—their summer break. While on Project, they work full-time jobs, participate in evangelistic outreach, learn how to study the Bible, and learn how to lead others through the process of discipleship. This busy schedule helps students grow and develop lifelong patterns of pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus somehow counted us “worth it” to become human and die for our sins so that we may be made right with God, even when we had nothing to offer him. With that knowledge, we now know too much to live ordinary lives. With that knowledge, we are challenged to live life in pursuit of Christ—beginning right now, and for the rest of our lives.
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Twin Cities Project
neighborhoods and businesses that God may call us too. We learned from guest speakers to view our calling of working in business not as secondary to being sent to the campus as a college minister or being sent cross-culturally to the world as a missionary. Instead, we learned to view being sent to the city as just as high of a calling.
The Twin Cities Project (TCP) was an opportunity for students and graduates to taste and see what it’s like to be a laborer off campus in the neighborhood or workplace. We had 26 students participate in the project. Many of them were taking classes or working internships in the Twin Cities, and wanted to grow and cultivate their vision for what ministry will look like in their future careers.
We also spent a weekend at the Engage Global Seminar to learn how to be a catalyst for the long-term engagement of unreached peoples around the world. We had a weekend of intensive World Christian Training among unreached people groups from the 10/40 window who live in the Twin Cities.
We spent the summer casting vision for the Twin Cities as well as other major cities and encouraged our students to begin dreaming about being sent to the cities. This idea of being sent comes from John 17:18: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.� God has established a pattern of sending through sending his son Jesus, and now we have the call to be the sent ones to the
Pray with us that students would continue to be equipped and resourced to be laborers no matter the location or vocation into which God calls them.
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Resource Center Nick Stromwall Ξ Resource Director Looking back at the past year, I stand amazed at God’s faithfulness to us as a ministry. This season of launching an international franchise, launching the Charleston, South Carolina, team, and supporting a very young staff team has called for lots of coaching and shepherding of new staff. We faithfully steward and advance all that God has given our team and church and pray for God to richly and abundantly bless all that he is doing as we seek to glorify God by building laborers on the campus for the lost world. Our resource team has enjoyed this season of launching new teams and ministry while creating and advancing forward our systems and structures to support this new growth and change. Throughout the day, our resource team is processing donor requests, providing Bible studies to students and staff, planning and coordinating events, managing our
finances, and providing internships for students to gain skills in the fields of accounting, media, communications and business. We also forecast future needs and provide opportunities for launching to new campuses and in new cities. We thank God for answering our team prayer of raising up new resource staff. We welcome the addition of Devin Smith who joined us to faithfully steward and advance Campus Outreach Minneapolis. Pray for our team as we... • Focus on developing and fine-tuning our Human Resource abilities • Develop our documentation of critical event processes • Streamline and relaunch our online resource directory
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COM Finances Josh Haubrich Ξ Finance Manager in Christ, though even one changed life would be worth it all. The Lord continues to provide abundantly, and it’s a joy to see what he is doing though this provision. And we pray for more. While some staff have been sent out to Sheffield and to Charleston, two singles and one couple are working to raise support to begin ministry in Minneapolis. We pray for more willing workers like them, more faithful supporters like you, and more partners in prayer, so that one day soon the nations would be reached.
Each year I’m more amazed and humbled by the generosity of so many. Nearly 1.5 million dollars has been raised this year already, our highest year yet. These donations provide for staff needs, fund student trips, and push expansion to new cities. Every one of our 3041 donors has joined in partnership with our staff and students to bring the gospel to classmates, teammates, family, friends, and co-workers. We’ve witnessed many come to saving faith
Thank you for your sacrificial giving. We pray that it will be a joy to partner with us in ministry and that through all of this, lives will be radically changed for the glory of God.
Budget Items* $1,035,000 Payroll & Staff Expenses $230,000 Training Project in Myrtle Beach $60,000 Cross Cultural Project in Sheffield $80,000 New Year’s Conference in Milwaukee $60,000 Ministry on Campus $15,000 CO Sheffield Launch * As of October 20, 2015
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