Fall 2013 Preview (we’re PUMPED!)
Hey friends! Can you believe it’s almost fall? We are so eager to have you guys back around. As we’ve been planning for fall there’s a ton of great stuff coming up that we want you guys to know about!
Our purpose in UMIN is to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples for the rest of their lives. The main way we do this is through Discipleship Groups. These groups are made up of a few of your friends, walking through life with a mentor who is a life-phase (or more) ahead of you, who will challenge you to look more like Christ during your time in college. If you’re interested in joining a DGroup, we’ll have two interest meetings when you get back – Sunday, September 15th after Sunday School in the Loft, or Wednesday, September 18th after Worship & Study in the Loft. Plan to be at one of those meetings to find out more and sign up for this central piece of our ministry! We kick off new groups the week of September 29th.
Speaking of Sunday School and Worship & Study, we’re really eager to walk through Scripture with you guys this fall. Sunday School kicks off August 25th at 11am in the Student Building. Each fall we offer four different classes in Sunday school that you can be a part of for the entire semester, and you don’t want to miss it! In Worship & Study we will be walking through the book of Hebrews, beginning August 28th at 8:30pm. Bring your friends and come worship with us!
Every year we look forward to sharing some free, warm, buttery goodness – this year our Pancake Kickoff will be Tuesday, August 27th from 9pm to midnight. We love to welcome you guys back to school, and what better way than with free pancakes in the Student Building!?
This year we’re planning another great Fall Retreat on October 4th and 5th! We’ll be heading to Camp Hargis – it’s the perfect chance for you guys to get away from the crazy start of school and enjoy time together in community, complete with a campfire, s’mores, worship and Bible study with some great friends to lead us. You’ll hear more from us about how to signup in August, but mark it on your calendars – it’s going to be awesome!
We’re praying for you guys as summer winds down and you start to think about school again. We cannot wait to see how the Lord works in the upcoming semester, and we really can’t wait to see your smiling faces again soon!
Fall Sunday School Preview
We are super excited over here at UMin about our fall Sunday School plan. Starting August 26, we are returning to our learning environments format where you get to choose which class you want to participate in this semester. Here are some previews of the four classes we will be offering:
“Freshman 101” with Rachael Milner and Jason Spires
So you’re a freshman, right? You’re about to make a LOT of decisions in college, some good… some bad (hopefully less of these). We want to walk through Scripture and learn what wisdom looks like as a freshman in college. We will talk about friends, dating, serving, church, and everything in between. Join us on Sundays to have fun and fellowship together, to study wise words from the Bible and to avoid gaining the freshman 15. Just kidding on that last part.
“The Journey” with Jason & Aren Williams and Amy & Adam Oliver
For the past year, the whole Shades family has begun a journey through the Biblical story, starting in Genesis and heading toward Revelation. This semester, we will be taking a romp through the Old Testament prophets. What was Isaiah talking about? What was God really doing through folks like Micah and Amos? What does their word have to say for us now? This class would be especially good for d-group leaders in preparation for your Sunday night meeting with your youth students.
“Finding God’s Will” with Matt Kerlin and Ryan Colley
What is “God’s will”? How can I know God’s will? Who should I date and marry? What should I major in and what career should I pursue? And what if we’ve been trained to think about all of these questions in the wrong ways? Our class will examine these issues in an effort to understand better what it means to live according to “God’s will.”
“Spiritual Disciplines” with the Chuck & Emily Hooten
Sometimes we approach Spiritual disciplines with an attitude of, “I need to do these things, so that God likes me more…” or “I feel bad/guilty, I better do these things to make myself feel better.” This kind of attitude leads to death. But together this semester, we want to explore the true richness of life in Christ to be found in Spiritual discipline. A man once found a treasure in a field, and because of the value of that treasure, he sacrificed everything to obtain it.
What’s God doing with you this summer, Becca Lafferty?
This summer we are posting a series of blogs looking in on various UMin students as they spend their summers studying, living at home, traveling, working, and just experiencing life. This post comes from rising junior, english major at Samford, Becca Lafferty:
When, in June, I was asked to write a blog post for August 12 about my summer, I thought to myself, “Maybe by then I’ll actually have something to write about.” You see, my summer was not exactly going according to plan. I had planned to live in Birmingham and work somewhere—the problem was, nothing was working out. All of the jobs I thought were a sure thing kept falling through. And then, that fateful day arrived—I got a call from the Walmart in Decatur, AL. My parents had forced me, while on my exciting spring break in Decatur, to apply for approximately 15 jobs around town. Walmart called, I went in for an interview, and they offered me the job of cashier on the spot. I was devastated. Mom and Dad called it God’s provision. I called it God’s version of a practical joke. Me? Working at Walmart in DECATUR, ALABAMA? Don’t get me wrong—Decatur is a lovely town. There are some wonderful people that live there (trust me, I got to meet what seems like every last one of them this summer). However, it just wasn’t my idea of a great summer job in a great summer location. I suppose that was exactly the point.
I started working at Walmart and I’ll admit that my attitude wasn’t the best. Sure, I smiled, and trained, and laughed at all the customers’ “jokes.” “Did you find everything okay, today?” “Oh yeah, I actually think I found TOO much.” HAHAHAHAHAHA. NEVER HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE. I dealt with creeps who called me “baby” and asked for my number. My purity ring saved me from guys that thought I was married, “The best ones are always married.” I dealt with a kid that peed on the floor by my register and whose lovely mother merely paid for her items and left without saying a word to me. I manned the 20-items-or-less register while a woman came through with 335 items (no exaggeration, you can ask my manager) and claimed, “Oh, I didn’t see it was 20 items or less!” Okay, sure you didn’t. LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE.
Slowly but surely I started to realize the theme of this summer—humility. Oddly enough, I had been wearing it on my feet every day to work without even realizing it. You see, I had a pair of TOMS that have painted in large black letters “WALK HUMBLY” on the toes—right where I can see it on a daily basis. After a few weeks of working at Walmart it hit me upside the head—God DID have a purpose for this summer. As my wonderful discipleship group leader, Amy Oliver, had told me at the beginning of the summer—God doesn’t give bad gifts, he doesn’t hand us snakes. This summer that I saw as a disaster was actually a time for me to grow in humility. People treated me like dirt. People treated me like I was uneducated. I wanted to scream on multiple occasions, “ I GO TO SAMFORD UNIVERSITY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.” People acted like I wasn’t a person that was due the same respect as any other human being on the planet. I was forced to bite my tongue and smile time and time again—to serve those I didn’t feel like serving and to love those I didn’t feel like loving. God reminded me of his love and his plan daily. There were those that were encouragements to me at work as well. Such as the elderly man that came through my line at least once a week to tell me that my smile was worth a million bucks and that he was glad someone showed “an ounce of personality around this place.” Or there was the lady that told me, “I had a niece named Rebecca that we lost at an early age to cancer. She was very, very special and I can tell that you’re very, very special as well. I hope you have a blessed day.”
This summer taught me so much. There were days when all I could do was cling to the thought that surely God had some sort of plan for this summer and there were days that I basked in the good gift that I was sure (without a doubt) that God had given me. God is good. All the time. We are called to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him—even if we are doing so behind the register of Walmart. I never, ever thought I’d say that I was grateful for this summer—but here I am, eating my words. Wouldn’t be the first time and won’t be the last.
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