January Newsletter - BSU Director Review

At the end of each semester, I would like to give a review of the incredible things that the Lord has accomplished so you can glorify Him, and a review of the mistakes I have made so you can pray for my improvement.
Here is a quick summary of things to glorify the Lord over in relation to His work within the BSU.
- Our first bible study had 13 new students, and even as some students filtered out due to work and scheduling issues, we maintained 10+ students until the last month of the semester during “crunch time.” This is due to us welcoming a new student to our Bible study every few weeks.
- Our bible study was moved on campus to the Fireside Room in the Student Center, a public location in a room that has two walls that are fully exposed, meaning anyone outside or inside the building can see us studying God’s Word.
- We took a trip to the Exeter Corn Maze and brought a van full of students who had never attended Bible study before. This included several international students.
- 10 students were interested in attending the Defend Apologetics Conference at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. 8 signed up to go.
- Our core group is students who come to Bible studies, who meet us at the Wednesday lunches just to say hello, who go out to eat with us to discuss the Bible and life, who message us about things going on in their lives, who seek us for answers to their questions – these are our disciples. We have witnessed some amazing things within this core group.
- A student shared his testimony for the first time.
- A student is working harder than ever to make faith the priority in his relationship.
- A student is witnessing to his family for the first time.
- A student witnessed to her professor in a major way, we were very proud!
- Several students went around campus asking their peers how we could pray for them when I challenged them to do so.
- Several students practiced sharing the gospel for the first time in front of their peers.
- Several students began witnessing at their workplace, homes, and on campus after we trained and challenged them to do so.
- At least two students are now seeking opportunities to share the gospel on campus in a major, public way.
- Many of our students have made new breakthroughs and discoveries in their faith during Bible study.

Listed below are areas where I fell short of my expectations for myself and for the ministry.
- I was hoping to do more outreach events – events designed to make our presence known, or events designed simply to share the gospel on campus. This shortcoming was mainly due to my desire to “get a feel for my first semester” and not be too ambitious yet, as I tend to be.
- I needed to have more outings, hangouts, and fun events with our students – but I was concerned about spending so much of the BSU funds during my first semester.
- I did not visit the association churches as much as I would have liked.
- I received approval to have a weekly time of worship on campus, which would have been an hour of praise songs with a short gospel presentation at a set time each week. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a suitable host for the music side of things.