Well yesterday and today made for a great weekend! The Rochester staff team hosted the Leadership Retreat at the Country Inn & Suites for the student leaders of Rochester. It was a time for the staff and students to come together to envision what the ministry will look like this coming school year on the campuses of Rochester.
We started off the night with prayer and praising, which we feel really focused our hearts for the evening. Next, Deanna (one of our wonderful interns) led us in a time of reflection. We answered 4 questions: Where are you at with God?, 3 Goals for the semester (personal, spiritual, and ministry), Who can I talk to who will keep me accountable to these goals?, Who's my sphere of influence? We spent quite awhile discussing question #2. It was so neat for us to hear the different goals of the students and to hear their hearts. Many of them have the desire for transparency and authenticity in their relationships, developing deeper and more meaningful discipleships, and valuing people for who they are. These students truly seem committed to impacting their campuses, and we are blown away by their example of leadership. God has raised up a core team of students in Rochester that earnestly desire to reach their campuses for Christ. That is so encouraging to us! Last night we also made of list of specific scriptures we are praying about for the campuses. I (Emily) love the idea of praying scripture...I don't do it often enough...yet it can be so powerful and effective. One of my favorite passages is Ephesians 3:14-21 (definitely take the time to look this one up!), and I plan to pray this passage often for the campuses of Rochester.
Today, Sarah (another of our wonderful interns) led a team building exercise (pictured below), and we did some discussion on what it means to be a team and some positives/negatives of being a part of a team. Then, John (my bro-in-law and senior staffer) encouraged us by casting vision and how we can use prayer, evangelism, discipleship and sending to lead on the campuses.
Overall, we were greatly encouraged by the leadership retreat. Many times these past 2 weeks we have said to each other, "I love my job." We could not ask for anything more in an occupation! God has blessed us abundantly by calling us to the campus ministry. We're doing something we LOVE!