The last week I spent in Ann Arbor was amazing. At 10 pm Thursday night, I gathered with the Southside New Life Team (at 25+ strong…in really cold weather) on top of the Thompson Street parking structure to pray over our dorm and our campus. The view from up there is so beautiful…seeing Ann Arbor all lit up at night. Looking over the campus and seeing the lights in nearly every room on campus ablaze as students got in their end-of-week studying is always a surprisingly humbling experience. It reminds me of how small our church community is, that we’re just a tight band of Christ followers asking God to to transform an entire college campus before our eyes.
It absolutely rocked my world to look around that circle and to think of that God has taken New Life’s presence in South Quad from practically “0 to House Church” in just 4 years. I was struck by the incredible maturity of the saints that God has raised up in our community in South Quad, and the impact they’re having on campus. We might be small compared to the campus we long to reach, but so were the original 120 (Acts 1:15) when compared to the task they had ahead of them: literally starting the Church.
On Saturday night, we hosted a pre-baptism party. Since our baptism services at New Life would take an entire day if everyone told their full stories (which I think I’d enjoy), they’re generally given about 5 minutes each to share some of what God has done in their life before everyone is baptized. We decided that we as a New Life Team wanted to give our three soon-to-be-baptized saints an opportunity to tell their story more in depth with their closest brothers and sisters, so we put on a Baptism Stories & DDR party. It included remarkable stories of redemption (which mean so much more when the hearers all played a role in the stories), homemade chocolate eclair cake (Leslie, if that’s not the gift of hospitality and/or miraculous powers, then I’m not sure what is…), and a totally fun time playing Wii DDR (with hand motions!!). I love college ministry.
Hopefully you were able to read Nathan and Elam’s stories. They’re amazing. And while I loved all the elemen
ts of the week, perhaps one of the most meaningful to me was to watch Nathan’s baptism. I watched as two men that I’ve baptized got to baptize another man (picture on the right). I guess in some ways that makes me a spiritual grandpa. That thought endows me with a false sense of wisdom that I generally attribute to grandpas. I’m only 22, people. And though my wisdom is not a product of my age, it is a reflection of my age.
Nevertheless, I’ve had the unbelievable privilege of seeing men come to Christ under my leadership, and then watching them help lead others to Christ. And I’m not sure how many 22 year-olds get to be a part of that. It’s crazy humbling to know that God, in his grace, has lavished such a rich life upon me. I could never have dreamt this up four years ago, let alone made it happen. And I pray that in the next four years to come, God might make me a spiritual great-great-great-Grandpa. That’s not a specific goal (I didn’t really count when I wrote that), but there’s just something uniquely beautiful about watching younger men that I’ve influenced continue in their faith by making disciples. I’ve heard literal grandfathers indicate similar things about the unique joys of beholding a grandchild. May that joy never leave my life.
As for Part 3 of the baptism series (no, this isn’t it), I hope to get that to you sooner rather than later. I promise it’ll be well worth the wait.
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That is awesome stuff Mikey!!!!!
hearing that story really encouraged me today love you brother can’t wait to hear more stories like this one!