Last Sunday, I heard adult after adult in our church tell stories of wandering from their faith in their college years. You see, during the final week of our church's membership class (Welcome 101), participants tell their God-story - how and when they came to faith in Jesus Christ, and what led up to that and followed. It was eerie how similar the stories of this group were - 'grew up and knew God in general or very personally, went to college and discovered beer, boys and bongs...etc...have travelled some very hard roads...etc...now I'm rediscovering the joy of Christ and leading my family spiritually again by joining Lake Forest.' I love the end of each story, but the middle scared me. After a while, I had difficulty listening to each new story, because I found myself praying SO HARD for my son who is just one month into his freshman year.
Those stories also made me thankful for what Velda Frowine and a bunch of other moms in our church just started in September, in order to spiritually encourage as many away college students as possible who are connected to us. Sometimes great ideas are brainstormed in a group, often by an individual. At her request, I sat with Velda upstairs at Summit coffee a while back. She was burdened by our need to encourage and pray for any college students connected to our church. AND (omigosh, pastors and leaders, don't pass out, but get this...) she didn't say 'you should do that, Mike.' Instead she said 'me and my friends will do that - is that okay, and would you partner with us?' Her concern mirrors the alarming statistical rate at which surveys have recently shown young adults are dropping out of active participation in the faith of their parents.
So - a bunch of moms baked cookies, I wrote a pastoral note targeted to the college situation (in which I told them I'm still their pastor until they actually fire me, and a suggestion to grow spiritually), a group of parents packaged the note, the cookies, PRAYED FOR EACH OF THE 60 students by name. And sent them. Our followup will be a gathering in October to pray for each college student by name - all of their parents will be invited.
I thought you might like to see two things. Here's the letter that was in the box. Download Collegestudentawayletter2012. And here is one of the many thanky you's received - its the blog of Michelle Burroughs, titled: "Mind, Body & Cake: Keeping Fit in the College Lifestyle." Thank you for your 'thank you,' Michelle:
There is no better feeling than receiving a package in the mail as a college student, and today was my lucky day. As I opened the door and picked up the box with my name on it I freaked out and ran inside to see who sent me something!
I first read the letter that was on the top when I opened the box. My church Lake Forest, that I have grown up going to and still attend when I am home, sent me the package! I quickly looked inside the box and immediately started drooling…..COOKIES!!!!!
Not just any kind of cookies though, I’m talking about homemade cookies! You can not beat that.
What is even more special about these treats is that they were made by people from the church who are praying specifically for me and all the other college students that attend Lake Forest. The letter sent with the package expressed how even though we may be away, we are still apart of the church and are always being prayed for.
Pastor Mike also gave advice on growing spiritually in college and his experience when he was in school.
Receiving this gift has really made me feel loved and blessed to have people thinking and praying for me.
My roommates and I have tried a few cookies and they taste amazing! Lake Forest really knows how to bake 
. I plan on keeping all these goodies in the kitchen to share with others so that I don’t eat them all myself….because they really do taste that good!
- What’s the best surprised gift you have received from someone?
http://mindbodyandcake.wordpress.com/
