By Dirk Wiese, Pastor, Redeemer Church
This month we hosted our first “Spring Training” event for college students. Our goal was to equip students with a greater understanding of the gospel, God’s mission throughout the Bible, and practical application for evangelism and discipleship. Students committed to being in a classroom for eight hours on a Saturday to be shaped and sent back out to the campus.
Not only did students commit to class time, but every student leader prepared a lesson to teach the group. They taught on the topics of the global gospel, sanctification, hermeneutics, leading others through scripture, evangelism, and sharing testimonies. These leaders had almost two months to choose their topic, develop outlines, and provide hands-on application and practice in the classroom setting. As a staff member I was blown away by their confidence and excitement as they taught clearly and effectively to their peers. I would have felt comfortable with them teaching our community members at Redeemer!
Perhaps the greatest highlights were the lightbulb moments that the students had when they went through the various group work and saw the way God was showing them greater ways of evangelism and discipleship in their own lives. Students created network maps of fellow students, coworkers, family, and others that they desired to know Christ. We then all took time at the end of the day to pray for them as well as plan changes in our lives in order to see that happen by God’s grace. Students have since experienced moments with their network maps that only God could have done!
As we continue to go through the spring semester we continue to pray that God would provide in glorious ways to build up our students in order to see the Kingdom continue to grow and expand at UNI and Hawkeye Community College!
