Dear Friends,
Every May we say goodbye to all of our graduating seniors. Have you ever stopped to consider what that means both for our ministry as well as the local church? I want to start by answering the latter question. For the local church a new crop of leaders are ready to graduate and begin putting into practice the gifts and graces that were cultivated through campus ministry. Two soon to be living examples of this are Sarah and Stephanie.
Sarah just graduated from OU and recently accepted a full scholarship offer to attend Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago. Sarah has felt called to ministry for many years, but over the last four years she has received practical ministry training and was given numerous opportunities to serve in ministry. She has faithfully served on our discipleship team, she started and led our sorority Bible study, she led our dance troupe, she has preached and given testimonies on Wesley retreats and when representing the Wesley at various local churches, and she has been active in multiple mission and fellowship events. Sarah is on the ordination track to become an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. In three years, upon completion of seminary in Chicago, she will return to Oklahoma to pastor churches in our conference.
Many times we trumpet the number of clergy that come out of the OU Wesley Foundation, and we fail to recognize the great lay leaders that are being produced. Stephanie just graduated from OU with a degree in nursing. For the last four years she has served on our discipleship team, led a cell group, served in the Chinese ministry, led mission projects, and overseen the Wesley Cousins program. Stephanie, along with many others, has learned that we are all called to be in ministry. Knowing that her time in campus ministry was coming to an end, she found a local church to begin serving. For the past six months she has been volunteering as a youth sponsor on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings at Bridgeview UMC. She plans to get a job in OKC and continue serving in ministry at Bridgeview while her fiancé, another Wesley student, serves in music ministry at FUMC Moore. Sarah and Stephanie are just two examples (of many) of why we support campus ministry and how it benefits the local church.
We are very proud of all of our graduates and excited about how God will continue to use them in their lives beyond college, but what happens to our ministry? Each year, because of graduation, dropouts, and transfers, we have to replace about 35% of our parishioners! Can you imagine losing 35% of your church every single year? What this means for campus ministry is that ministry never ends.
We will spend countless man hours this summer calling churches to get names of incoming students, speaking at youth camps, and serving with new student orientation and camps. We will spend many hours continuing to pour into our current students, teaching them the Word and training them in how to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We will also spend many hours planning small groups, sermon series, Bible study curriculum, mission projects, and fellowship events for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year.
I hope you will join us in celebrating a wonderful, fruitful school year and begin praying with us as we plan and set a vision for an even greater school year ahead.
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