“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

John 12:24-26

This is a very encouraging passage of Scripture. Jesus uses the metaphor of wheat and the idea of a seed falling to the ground to bear much fruit. Jesus is saying He is going to die and must die to bear fruit. This passage also describes seeing Jesus as better than this world, and treasuring Christ above everything. This is the heart of the Christian message. We needed Jesus to die for our sins to make us right with God. This is also a call to follow Jesus, to trust Jesus. To follow Jesus requires a death. Death to the desires of this world, death to the flesh, death to our own selfishness, but these earthly deaths lead to eternal life. These things in comparison to Jesus don't even compare. Jesus is better. 

A snowball is small as it begins to roll down a hill. A river is not fast-moving and dangerous initially, but rather a gentle and soft stream. Before it starts flying hundreds of miles an hour, even an airplane maneuvers around an airstrip hardly faster than a car on the road.

The beginning of the school year is a time to reset and cast vision for staff and students. We painted a picture for our student leaders that the upcoming year will primarily consist of these two things: abiding in Jesus and sharing the joy. As a branch abides in the vine, we are called to abide in Jesus. Spirit-filled abiding innately causes us to move towards others for their joy. As we disciple students, we desire to establish them in the gospel. With God’s help, we aim to teach, inspire, and model a Christian life rooted in gospel identity, saturated in the scriptures, and embedded in the local church. 

We need not look any further than God’s word to see that God is faithful. He has been and will always be. After we sinned, God promised to bring forth a Messiah to save us from our sins. He could have given up on Israel, given their constant unfaithfulness, but instead he keeps his promise and sends his Son to die on a cross to save us from the penalty and power of sin. After he rises from the dead and just before he ascends into heaven he commands us to make disciples, leaving us with a truth and a promise. He reminds us that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [him].” He then promises to be “with you always, to the end of the age.”

Our ministry has been blessed with incredibly devoted student leaders. We have 11 upperclassmen this year being discipled to grow in Christ-likeness with the intent to know Christ better. A key strategy for us this year has been being unified on a vision of evangelizing, and then moving to act it out. We strive for our student leaders to feel that they are constantly being equipped so that Campus Outreach at the UofM is not not just moving through staff efforts, but for students to take the calling of Christ to make disciples to a student body that is searching for something more in life.