Campus Ministry: Reaping in the Harvest!!!!!!!!
"As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Genesis 8:22
In the bible, God tells us that there are some things that never cease. Of course we know that the sun will never cease to rise and the moon will never cease to set. We know the seasons will never cease to change. We know that there will always be some days that are hot and some days that are cold. However something else that God never wants us to cease to do is to plant seeds and harvest fruit.
The fall semester of 2007 has been a semester of reaping in the harvest for the UT campus ministry in Austin, Texas. We were very grateful to not only meet new people who were baptized into Christ but as Paul states in 1. Corinthians 3:6 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow", we also saw the power of God at work as he had been watering the seeds previously sown in the lives of people who had been invited out the previous semester.
The disciples started the semester in prayer as morning prayer meetings took place at both the University of Texas and Texas State University during the first week of school. God began to bless our prayers immediately. God answered our prayers with three baptisms in the first three weeks of school! Stephanie Hernandez and Lori Duran, from Texas State University along with Karla Benites from the University of Texas all of which had been reached out to in previous semesters, studied the bible deciding to make Jesus Lord and were baptized into Christ.
Amazingly, God did not cease to water the seeds that had been previously sown. Adam Farris who had been reached out to the previous school year by Jeff Smith (a student at TX State) started studying the bible again and was baptized into Christ!
With all the great things that were happening God did not cease to bring in the harvest. The students were not the only ones who's hard work in the Lord was being blessed. Paul writes in the in Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." This was the semester in which God answered the prayer of a faithful mother. LInda Gomez whom has been a faithful disciple in the Austin Church for many years and recently relocated to Phoenix, AZ. was able to come back to Austin and baptize her 18 year old daughter Shameka whom had studied the bible and decided to make Jesus Lord.
God in his faithfulness blessed us again when Nina whom Brigette Hammond (campus woman's leader) met began coming out to church and just about every other event the campus had. Nina soon began to study the bible and made the decision to make Jesus Lord. Nina was baptized into Christ and has been a complete joy to the whole ministry.
As the Spring semester approaches John 4:35 comes to mind; "Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." We believe that the University of Texas and Texas State are ripe for harvest. Please pray that God can continue to use us to reach the lost souls on the campuses in the Austin area and that the harvest will never cease!
May God Be Glorified!
Jeremy Lindley
