Did you know that there are currently more than 1.3 million Collegiate Students in Texas?  That more than the total population of North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Delaware, and Hawaii.  That’s correct – 11 states have fewer people.  Don’t we sound a little silly saying there are not a lot of college students here?  Our local mission fields are truly massive when you really think about it.  The average SBC church is baptizing fewer people now than it did 5 years ago, yet people are still being born. 

On the flip side, we are seeing evangelism among college students second nationally among defined age groups.  This gives us great anticipation for the days and months ahead.  How many students came to faith through your ministry last year?  Could you ask the Lord to double or even triple that number over the next year? 

Without the good news of Jesus Christ, literally hundreds of thousands of students across Texas are headed for destruction.  Will you sit on the sidelines or play your part and help us reach the next generation with the gospel?  Let us pray that we become the latter…

“As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  And for their sake I consecrated myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.  I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me“ (John 17: 18-21)  

T Minus 3 Days…

As Collegiate leaders, the temptation is often to believe that we have the capacity, intellect, and ability to accomplish “great things” on our own for the Kingdom.  Are these things bad or unnecessary?  Absolutely not.  Kingdom work, however, is so tricky.  Students come to Christ, their lives get changed, communities get impacted.   In that progression, it’s easy to believe that we have personally engineered something great.  The problem is, our pride is always pushing back to the reality that we are merely agents through which God is ultimately working.  God doesn’t need us.  He simply chooses to let us be a part of the most incredible story in human history.  A close examination of 1 Corinthians 1 – 3 reminds us that any thoughts to the contrary should bring us to our knees.

6 Billion.  That’s 6 with 9 zero’s behind it, aka “a lot.”  That’s more than the number of light bulbs in Las Vegas.  That’s the number of estimated lost people around the globe.  The mission of God calls for us, those sent by Christ in John 17 and Acts 1, to go to them with the good news of Christ.   But do you realize that it would take the number of new believers doubling at the same rate for the next 15-20 years to reach all of them?  And what about those born during that time? You see, don’t fool yourself.  We are really a part of something quite a bit bigger than our britches. 

The good news: We serve a God who is in charge of His mission.  He will empower His people to carry out His mission.  He wants to give us a massive harvest of souls, we simply need more laborers who will commit to doing Kingdom work and submit themselves to hard tasks.   May we realize the bigness of God’s mission and ask Him to become a part of it.  How can we be of any significance if we are unaware of what we have been called to do?  6 Billion people,  let that sink in for a few minutes.  Your heart should break for our world… 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they have been sent?  As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! But they have not all obeyed the gospel.  For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?  So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ (Romans 10:14-17).

T Minus 5 days…

We often find ourselves with very small pictures of God’s glory.  John 1:14 declares that God manifested His glory by way of a Son, Jesus.  If we have seen Jesus, we have certainly seen the Father’s glory (John 14:7).  Christmas time often reflects back to the days of that small babe in a manger, the Christ-child who was born to the Virgin girl that cool night in Bethlehem.  Yet, the Scriptures portray Him, and thus God, as more vast and incomprehensible than anything that our minds can grasp (cf. Colossians 1, Hebrews 1).  Everything that has been made visible declares the infinite greatness and majesty of its Creator, most significant of which are His image-bearers.  We realize how immeasurably futile, insignificant, and incompetent we really are when we truly see His glory.  May we see God in Jesus as infinitely worthy of our praise, our efforts, our passions, and our commitment. 

Merry Christmas! We hope you have a great Christmas this year. We know that some celebrate this time of year while others are grieving. There were 2 deaths this past week that have really impacted me. My grandmother went to be with the Lord. She was 87 and had lived a wonderful life. She was a great influence on my life and was always an encouragement to me. She had been in pain for a few years and so even though there was great emotion we are at peace that she is with Christ. On another note, a friend of mine from elementary school lost his 1 year old in a horrific tragedy. In these moments we do not have words to express the grief or words that comfort. If you have ever been the minister or personally been in that situation you know that presence is crucial not so much the word that are said. These 2 deaths, the week of Christmas, just make me reflect on the hope that we have in Christ. I do not understand why one lives to 87 and another has only 1 year of life. What I do know this Christmas season is that we serve a good God that provides our only hope in this life and in the life to come. My prayer is that each of you will reflect on the hope we have in Christ and remember that he truly is our reason for living. We also know that in the midst of this season we can rejoice in our great king who understands our joys and our immense pains.

God Bless