Six months ago Matt, Chris, and I were in Florida dreaming up what it would look like to have a College Advance at the beginning of fall. A few weeks ago, after much planning, very little promoting, lots of sweaty fund raising, some desperate last minute praying and Facebook posting, God brought about 90 college students together at Warm Beach for our first ever College Advance.

We were blessed by some awesome weather that made for great games of football and hikes down to the beach, not to mention some intense 40 on 40 dodge ball that left many a participant sore and bruised. In between reactivating unused muscles and watching intense movies like No Country For Old Men, Pastor Bill Clem blessed us by clearly communicating some of the weightiest truths in the Bible.

Perspective changes everything. Pastor Bill taught us about God’s story and our place as his image-bearers. Everything we do flows out of our identity. We read the Bible to learn about who God is so that we can respond by imitating him and reflecting his image. One of the biggest takeaways from Pastor Bill’s teaching was how mission flows out of who God is. Jesus came down to us as a missionary God and calls us to imitate his example: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

The weekend was great. For me though, it wasn’t the teaching or the time spent hanging out that “made” the weekend. It was the conversation I had Saturday night with my Japanese friend Yuka, telling her that God created her and loved her so much that He came to die for her sins. Her response is one of the things that drive me and the rest of our leadership team: “I don’t know how to express it, but that is the best story I have ever heard in my life.” It was the first time in twenty years someone had ever told her that news.

“Jesus died for your sins.”

What is your response?

-Steve

Here are some pictures from the College Advance: