The Overflow

2011 Campus Ministry United Workshop Around the Corner

The 2011 Campus Ministry United Workshop is nearly upon us, and in a few days my family will pack our bags and make the journey from San Francisco to Arkansas to join everyone else on the campus of Harding University for this event.

I’m excited, because the CMU Workshop is more than just a meeting for campus ministers and students – it is an annual celebration of a movement we are all part of to plant new campus ministries and encourage evangelistic activity among college students nationwide.

What started in 2006 as a small meeting of about 40 leaders interested in reaching college students has grown each year, and many positive things have happened in a short amount of time.

Several brand new ministries have been planted around the country, a number of young ministers have been trained to enter full-time ministry, money has been raised, plans for the future have been laid at God’s feet in prayer, and, just this year, two full-time staff persons were added in Lynn & Carol Stringfellow to promote CMU’s agenda to reach college students year round. A large, influential church in Tulsa, OK’s Park Plaza Church of Christ joined the team in 2010 through sponsoring the Stringfellows, and elders and leaders from other churches have approached us about getting involved in other ways as well.

New ministry sites are being researched, plans for new plants are being made, and new people are contacting us about being trained for ministry. We have much work to do, many interested in helping to get it done, and for that we are thankful.

All this has been an answer to prayers prayed by people passionate about reaching others with the gospel of Jesus Christ and seeing His Kingdom break out in power on this earth.

God has been behind all the good things that have happened so far, and I believe He’s just getting started!

If you are interested in reaching college students with the gospel of Jesus Christ or simply in evangelism (regardless of the form it takes), you ought to join us at the 2011 Campus Ministry United Workshop July 7-10 at Harding University.

A Facebook Event Page has been set up, and pertinent info has been posted on the Workshop Page of campusministryunited.com.

The CMUW is more than just a workshop – it’s a celebration of a Christ-centered movement to reach college students for and with Jesus. If you want to be part of something bigger than yourself, join us.

God is doing something special!

Ryan Dunn’s final photos

I was saddened to hear that ‘Jackass‘ star Ryan Dunn died in a fatal car crash early this morning.

More saddened was I after looking up his final Tweet and finding this photo (which has since been deleted):

A few hours after this picture was taken, the authorities were picking up the pieces of Ryan’s Porsche out of the woods where it had skidded off the highway, crashed among trees, and caught fire after Dunn apparently lost control of it.

Just plain sad.

Throughout the gospels the Bible records Jesus “preaching the kingdom”, but what did this mean, and what did the disciples following Jesus in the first century understand this kingdom would be?

This lesson based upon Acts 1:1-11 walks through a few key scriptures in the Old and New Testaments to give listeners a bit of perspective as to the first century Jewish understanding of the coming kingdom, and why their understanding was incorrect.