One critical ministry rhythm of college ministry is the Fall Kickoff Event. In spite of all the uncertainty related to COVID-19, we are extremely encouraged that over 3,500 college students participated in kickoff events at BCI affiliated ministries.

Campus Fellowship in Des Moines is a college ministry whose model is a fusion of church-based and campus-based outreach. Typically, we have our Midweek Campus Service every Thursday on the campuses of Grand View, Drake, and DMACC. Due to disruptions caused by COVID-19, which made it difficult for our students to gather on-campus, our directors decided to host a single, giant service at our church building, Walnut Creek Church, in downtown Des Moines. Our prayer was that God would do “more than we can ask or imagine” in bringing students to our building for the first week. He did! Between all our campus ministries, we had 200 students show up for our first Midweek and “Food Truck Extravaganza.” We brought in a taco truck, acai bowl truck, and coffee cart, which students could enjoy free of charge, thanks to the support of Walnut Creek Church and the Baptist Convention of Iowa. There was over 80 new students that show up to this event. Our returning Campus Fellowship students were the real story here: the majority of new students who showed up came with these returning CF students, who used this event as an opportunity to build missional relationships. We were humbled and amazed to have the opportunity to bless these students with a testimony from one of our Drake students, a clear Gospel presentation in the sermon, and a fun-filled time with food and community! Pray with us that God would bring salvation and sanctification to our ministry through the faithful follow-up by CF students and staff over the rest of the fall semester.

On Thursday, August 20th, 2020 at 8:00pm we had our Salt Company Fall Kickoff! Around 1,700 students came to our event to worship and hear the gospel preached by Sol (Salt Ames Director). At the event students were able to join a small group, which we call Connection Groups. Connection Groups are an important part of Salt Company because students are able to meet with a small group of people each week and grow deeper in their relationship with Christ! Over 900 students joined a connection group at the Fall Kickoff! In order to ensure safety for all who attended our event, we created a socially distanced space in our parking lot. We used chalk to create X’s 6ft apart to show students where to sit. Masks were also required to create a safe environment. We are blown away by God’s faithfulness and the amount of students who were able and willing to come to our event and hear the Gospel!

Our kickoff was a HUGE hit! We tried something new: The “Salt Company Olympics.” Over 250 students got together to compete in yard games and connect for the first time. Tons of students had fun meeting people and signing up for our small groups. A student who came for the first time was so struck by being around other Christians that she placed her faith in Jesus right afterwards!

The fall semester is officially here for the Cedar Falls Salt Company! Students returned to classes at the University of Northern Iowa on August 17th, and Hawkeye Community College Wartburg College students joined us in the area the week after. It’s been such a joy to have students back in the Cedar Valley after 6 months without them!

Last Thursday, August 20th, we hosted our annual Salt Company Kickoff. Instead of our usual central-campus gathering, we prepared a socially distanced version in the Candeo Church parking lot. It was a different setting than usual, but the buzz of being back brought so much energy! We had at least 353 students and staff attending the event this year, which was incredibly encouraging, especially given the unique start to the semester and the challenges the university is facing. The evening began with worship and a great Gospel presentation from Stephen Jones, our Salt director. He taught out of Luke 5 and shared the story of the healing of the paralytic man. The man desperately made his way to Jesus for a physical problem, but Jesus knew his greatest problem wasn’t his inability to walk, but instead his need for salvation. The Gospel was very clearly laid out for our students before we ended with an awesome worship set.

At the end of each kickoff, we are intentional about laying out the importance of community and invite students to get plugged into connection groups for the school year. We did a huge push over the summer and already had a lot of returning students connected, but on the evening of the kickoff, there were still 91 students that signed up for connection groups. Out of those 91, 79 were either new to Salt Company or didn’t get connected last year AND out of those 79, 49 were freshmen! Even with a largely scaled back Mission Trip to Campus (our yearly outreach week after freshmen move-in), God is clearly doing something amazing. We have the most enthusiastic group of student leaders who have dove headfirst into reaching their classmates, roommates, and coworkers. At the kickoff, all of our student leaders made sure nobody was left unmet or standing alone. Please continue to pray for the work God is doing in the Cedar Valley. It’s going to be an interesting semester, but we have no doubt that in the midst of everything, He is being incredibly faithful to us. We’re excited to see lives changed this year!

Tuesday night Sep 1st we gathered 90 Salt students together in the parking lot of Cottage Grove Church to hear the good news of what he has done for us. Although this year has certainly had it’s obstacles we had a great first couple of weeks with students returning to campus as we got to know a number of freshmen at both Drake and Grand View as they moved onto campus. With the momentum of those first weeks behind us we invited everybody we could to come together for some free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and games from 6:30 to 7:00, which is when we began our service. We sang praises to our God and King and then heard about the good news of what God has done for us through his word from Ephesians 2:1-10 as we were confronted with the bad news that apart from God we are dead in our sins, but God has given us life through Jesus Christ!

After the service we had everybody break into abbreviated connection groups around the parking lot for around 25 min. My favorite part of the night was that in the transition from service into groups we did not see one single person leave. Every person in attendance not only heard the good news but also got connected with one of our Salt leaders in their groups! Services are great, and hearing the word is powerful, but we know that the most real life change happens in those small groups as people build relationships with one another and are encouraged to take their next step in following Jesus. It was such a joy to see God use really average and broken people to preach his word, sing his praises, and love on one another. We are eagerly awaiting to see what God will do through The Salt Company Des Moines this year for his glory.

This last month has been crowded with God’s grace, presence, and provision at Salt Iowa City. We have had such unparalleled glimpses and reminders of the way He has gone before this ministry and the way He is continuing to advance His Kingdom through His people. This month, we had our leaders’ retreat and fall kickoff. And with these exciting steps into the fall semester with students, we had to pivot in a number of ways in response to COVID-19. Although our leaders’ retreat and kickoff looked different than they have in previous years, God was faithful to reveal just how fervently He is for His church. Our leaders’ retreat took place at Veritas, where our 121 student leaders gathered together Friday night and Saturday morning to be encouraged in the Gospel and how leadership will look this year. Because gathering on campus is prohibited due to COVID-19 restrictions, Salt Co. has had to get a little creative in how to get new students – especially freshmen – plugged in. Thankfully, our leaders have been unrelenting in their pursuit of students and their intentionality in getting to know them.

While this year has been marked by the loneliness, isolation, fear, doubt, and dread that the pandemic has brought, we have gotten the privilege of seeing how God has marked the lives of His people with fresh hope in the reliability of the Gospel and deepened assurance in His unfailing provision. And, how all of this is exemplified in His church. On August 27, we had our fall kickoff in the parking lot of Veritas Church where around 430 students gathered and 150 students live-streamed the service. The sheriff’s department cooperated with Salt Co. by calling Director Ryan Hamby and letting him know that in order to obey the governor’s most updated guidelines, students needed to wear masks and socially distance. Our staff and students did just that – and we had an uninterrupted night of worshiping, praying, and being reminded of the unwavering hope we have in the Gospel. God is so, so near to His people.

This year has had its challenges due to COVID-19 and college ministry is no exception. Much our planning was delayed due to UNI’s efforts to deal with cases which included the cancellation of the student organization fair. This brought initial disappointment, but we were determined to try our best to connect with new and returning students at UNI. Without a student organization fair we invested plenty of time on Instagram by following new UNI students and connecting with them before or as they arrived on campus. This already gave us new contacts and early promotion for our upcoming events.

In previous years we had done a root beer float party to attract students, engage them, and hopefully connect them to our ministry in a meaningful way. UNI’s restrictions kept us from root beer floats so we adapted to a simpler approach. We packed a cooler full of freeze pops, set up our sound system and games, and offered a simple text to connect option. Throughout the five hours on campus we served and connected with around 100 students! Most of these students were new and were checking out what the campus had to offer. We were able to have conversations, hand out Bibles, answer questions, and invite them to our other upcoming events. Overall, the event was a success and we anticipate God doing some sweet things in our community this year because of something so simple as handing out freeze pops. We are praying for more fruit!