September Ministry Update - The Planting Season




September comes with a change of season as the hotter summer weather begins to fade and autumn arrives. Traditionally, autumn is often known as the harvest season. In campus ministry, though, September is our planting season. It has been such a joy to get to participate in the Spirit's call to do the good work of cultivating hearts and minds. I am so excited to share how God has been on the move in the lives of students at Collin College and how your prayers and support are making it possible!

Core 

I can not express enough how blown away I am by the young women in my core (small group)! As I mentioned in my blog from August, the Collin staff and students welcomed students to campus during their first week of classes. Many of the students we met during the first week of classes, have been so faithful and hungry to learn about Jesus and to participate in community! This group of women have exhibited such a great desire for friendship with each other! I think God has a way of honoring devotion and am excited to continue growing in the knowledge of God and deepening our friendships this year!


       

Friendships are blooming!


This is our Tuesday night core! Briana and I have the honor to lead 
such a wonderful group of ladies!

Focus on Jesus (FOJ) 

In addition to our weekly small group gathering, many of these women have also been committing to study Focus on Jesus which is our 10-week Bible study. On top of school, work, and small group, these women have also said yes to reading the Word of God and exhibiting the posture of curiosity as they seek to know Jesus and desire to become like him. 

This is my friend Reed! I was able to buy Reed her first Bible! We have started studying FOJ and are exploring who Jesus is and what it means to be a disciple! 


Sweet Sophia and I have also been meeting weekly to dig into the Word. 


Classes

This month, we explored the major and minor prophets. In one of his lectures, Professor Iain Provan talked about three transformations that the prophetic books as a whole point toward. The first is the transformation of the relationship between God and humanity as God gives a new heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33) that we might know the Lord and obey. The second is the transformation of human society when the Messianic King would inaugurate a new way of life to bring peace. The final transformation is of creation where humans are no longer alienated from the rest of creation. Instead, in the new creation, "the wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small leads them along" (Isaiah 11:16). In Jesus and the Holy Spirit, these transformations have begun and through Jesus's second coming they will one day be fully realized. For the faithful, God's message is to persevere in hope and in trust. This prophetic message has relevance for today and I am thankful for timelessness of scripture! 

Thursday Night Fellowship 

All I can say is Hallelujah! Each week students have streamed into the back of the campus cafeteria from all over the metroplex to listen to the word of God, to adore Him in songs of praise, to share testimonies of how He is at work in their lives, to confess publicly how they Spirit is calling them into deeper obedience, and to engage in fellowship events afterwards. In September we kick-started a sermon series on Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. Some particularly meaningful points that one of our pastoral staff members, Eileen, has shared throughout this series include the following: 

  • Being blessed leads to being salt and light
  • It's not enough to do the right things if your motivations are wrong, and 
  • Christ calls us to a higher standard of love by viewing all people as the image of God, being people of our word, and being people who love our neighbors as ourselves


The planting season has begun. My hope and prayer is that the messages of Jesus's heart for humanity and his teachings would be seeds sown into fertile soil that produce a bountiful harvest. Seeds grow best when cared for. Thank you again for partnering in this Kingdom mission! 

Grace and Peace in Christ, 

Tania Volosen 






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