Skip to main content

A Voice in the Wilderness

Mav Stampede!!!!!! Hanging outside with some of the gals we met!  


A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare

    the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert

    a highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:3

God has been so good and faithful the past two weeks in the middle of what has felt a lot like uncertainty and the unknown.  Despite limitations from Covid we have still been able to meet students and invite them into community. Students seem to be more desperate for friends and connection than ever before with many finding it difficult to make friends this year.

Hannah and I with two of the sweet girls we met in the past two weeks.

I got to have a really sweet conversation with one of the girls I met this week. She sort of grew up in the church but has been feeling distant from God recently and like she can't approach him. I got to share the story of the prodigal son with her and God's radical immense grace. It was a grace in and of itself to get to share how good our God is with her. It reminded me of how sweet our God is to let us participate in spreading his good news to others. She has joined my core and I can't wait to see what God does in her life this year. 

First TNF of the year. We streamed from Northeast Church.

Instead of doing Thursday Night Fellowship this year we have decided to do a series on the book of Mark that we are calling Deep Dive. We are unable to meet as a whole community due to Covid so we wanted to do something different this year and do it well. Each week we will dig into a chapter of Mark and have a longer teaching time for students to really encounter the text. I am so excited to see where it goes!

The first Deep Dive of the year! Did a zoom watch party with my core.

Cores also started this week and have been so successful and good. I am really excited to see what God does with our core this year. Be sure to check out the student testimony below and as always thank you for your support!

In Christ,
Emily Umstead



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let Justice Flow

Summer Leadership Training small group! Earlier this month we had Summer Leadership Training (SLT). It was a three day training for all the potential and past student leaders in our ministry. (Most of it was held online with the option of some social distancing in person.) Since we couldn't take our students to SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) up in Seattle, Washington like we normally do we developed this three day training as a replacement! Students learned new ways of walking with God, what servant leadership and discipleship is, why we do core, how to ask good questions and more! Each day we got to discuss with our small group what we had learned that day. Over 100 college students dedicated three whole days investing in their growth as leaders and disciples. This is not normal. I often forget how countercultural it is to value something like SLT. Yet these students have caught the vision. They are fired up and excited to spread the good new on their campuses.   My f
Post a Comment
Read more

December 2020

View from the South Rim of the Chisos mountains in Big Bend National Park where I spent Thanksgiving. It was very restful. As the semester comes to a close in the next two weeks everything has gone online. We are wrapping up cores and Deep Dive for the semester over zoom and the internet. As a result our typical Christmas party is not happening. Instead, as a staff, we are brainstorming different ways for our community to stay connected over the break in ways we haven't explored before. Many students have gone home since the start of Thanksgiving break. It will be another two months before they come back and many will be isolated due to COVID. Our staff is going to be providing book clubs, scripture readings, and virtual hangs for our students to get involved in over the break. One on one bible studies will continue virtually and we are encouraging our corefas (core facilitators) to get their core together virtually a few times over the break. So in many ways because of COVID minis
Post a Comment
Read more