March Newsletter

I hope that this Discipleship Inc newsletter finds you well. There were a couple encouraging things that happened last month that I would like to share.

The first was a text that I got last week from a PFW student. He wrote, ‘Hey Steve, I wanted to express my gratitude for you and your heart for ministry and sharing what God has placed on your heart to me.’

He then continued, ‘The last 3 times we have met it has been a topic that was incredibly relatable to where I was in life, and I have been able to put that in practice what has been shared. So thank you for walking in humility enough for God to use you as an instrument of truth and love! May God continue to bless your ministry and conversations you are able to have with other college students.’

Those unexpected and encouraging texts are such a blessing to my soul. They reveal His Kingdom work that is not always seen, but still going on.   

Another uplifting event was meeting someone new in Campus Ministry. He is not a student, but took a construction job right out of high school. We met at a large group meeting and for the next couple weeks I kept running into him.   

His story is very interesting. He told me that he went to church with his parents up until the age of 12. When they stopped attending church, he did too. However, on a recent extended business trip he became quite lonely. One night in the hotel he took out a Gideon Bible and started reading it.

This created a hunger within him to learn more about Christ. When I found this out I asked him if he would consider doing a Bible study with me, just the two of us. 

He texted back the next day, ‘That is definitely something that I would like to do.’ We had our first Bible study this past Tuesday; I gave him an ESV study Bible to help him grow. What a joy it was to feed his hungry soul with the “the Bread of life.”   

One final way that Christ has been working is through Bible reading accountability. I continue to hear of students struggling in their faith and Bible reading. When this subject comes up my standard response is to tell them the importance of feeding on God’s Word. 

My next step is suggesting they read the Bible 10 minutes/day. To help them do this I propose to create a weekly accountability plan. I offer to call, or text them, once a week to see how they are doing. By the grace of God there are now a half dozen students signed up for this Bible reading plan.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) 

May the Lord bless you and your family in the month ahead.

Steve 

I hope that this Discipleship Inc newsletter finds you well. There are several things that have happened in January that I would like to share this month. The first was that I spent a long weekend with my brother in Florida. We traded in subzero wind chills for 65 degrees and sunshine. There is a picture of a west coast sunset on the website; just scroll down on the ‘about us’ tab. (www.discipleshipinc.org) 

Another exciting thing has been starting a Bible study with two PFW students. They are both good friends. After spending time talking to them, I suggested doing a weekly study of God’s Word. They were both excited and we started three weeks ago.

Unfortunately, our first meeting was when PFW was closed due to cold weather. When I texted to cancel, one of the girls responded, ‘If you still wanted to meet I would be open to finding someplace else.’ We ended up meeting at Panera and had a great dialogue on absolute truth. Her enthusiasm has set the tone for these studies. 

Last week I got a text from a former PFW student that was in the apologetic study. She texted me, ‘Hey Steve … I have a ‘friend of a friend’ that is asking some theological questions … if you aren’t too busy would you look into putting some answers to his questions?’

This friend is an atheist. He had many questions, and accusations, against the Christian faith. After emailing my response I told her it would be best for us to meet face to face. She gave me his name and told me she would ask him. My prayer is that the Lord would open a door for a dialogue about salvation in Christ. 

One of the many blessings with meeting students in person is this gives them an opportunity to ask questions. This happened a couple weeks ago at breakfast with a former Concordia tennis player. I had a copy of the book ‘The Case for Christ’ and was planning to give it to him.

As we got talking about it he asked me, ‘Why does the Protestant Bible not have the same amount of books in it as the Catholic Bible?’ He told me he has a Catholic friend who inquired about the differences. We had a very good discussion and it enabled me to explain some of the differences between Protestants and Catholics.

What a blessing it is to work with these young adults that are seeking to find answers to their theological questions.

May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and your family in the month ahead.

Steve