How do I explain what God is doing on the campus of UNC-CH? I don't quite know, but I am going to try!
This school year has already been AWESOME! So far, I have been able to introduce myself to both the Navy and Army ROTC commanders. During the first week of class, I was given the opportunity to introduce myself, and The Navigators, to the Navy ROTC midshipmen (or students). I addressed 30-40 midshipmen, and invited them to attend the weekly Bible study I lead every Tuesday night on campus. There have been 5-7 students showing up every Tuesday since we began 3 weeks ago (praying for more to attend, and hopefully branch out to more than one Bible study a week!)! So far, we have studied: Christ being the center of our lives, God's Word, prayer, and this week we will be studying living in fellowship/community with the body of believers. I have also been able to meet one-on-one with several students on a weekly basis in order to help them strengthen their relationship with the living God.
In addition to the students, I have been establishing relationships with the active duty staff (otherwise known as the instructors). At any point in time, the instructors have the ability to shut me down if they see fit; therefore, I must tread softly in order to appease them and be seen as a viable asset, and not seem like a threat. The good news is, the instructors see me as a volunteer "Chaplain". They are use to having Chaplains in the active duty military, so I do have some wiggle room, and I have not had many barriers thus far. Two weeks ago I was able to introduce myself to the Lieutenant Colonel over the Army ROTC program (LTC Megan Stallings - we just call her Colonel :-) ). She graciously gave me 15 minutes of her time to tell her who I am, and who The Navigators are. To my surprise she is very fond of The Navigators, and was involved with them in college. Did I mention she graduated from West Point (extremely impressive!)?!? LTC Stallings told me that she would allow me to introduce myself to the Army ROTC cadets in the spring semester during the first week of classes! She did advise me that I would have to go through her two top ranking cadets (her CO and XO) in order for the introduction to take place though. As an Officer in the military, and an instructor for the University, she is not allowed to force any student to listen to what I have to say, or publicly back a religious organization (i.e. The Navs.). Hence the reason why she has to steer me towards her CO and XO (who are students), and they are allowed to introduce me to the Battalion, and ask them to give me their attention.
One of the toughest lessons I am attempting to learn at the moment is "ministry of presence", which means just showing up, being there, and engaging in conversation. After every home football game, I volunteer to help cleanup the football stadium on Sunday mornings with the Navy ROTC midshipmen (soon to be some Army ROTC cadets in the mix as well). Stadium cleanup starts promptly at 0730 (that's 7:30am for us civilians). I can't always see what God is doing while I am there (especially that early in the morning!), but I am attempting to simply be present, and allow God to show me what He wants me to do for His glory. Although I want to bring out my Bible and engage with students about God, I feel the Holy Spirit telling me to just enjoy helping the students, and see how I can serve them.
I wanted to attempt to bring you all up to speed with what God is doing on campus, and how He is using me to glorify His Kingdom. I hope this has been a good snapshot of what God has been doing on the campus of UNC-CH, and how He has been using me to further His Kingdom!
I will try to get better about blogging more in the future...sorry! This has been a very busy time of the year with getting things up and running with the ministry...on top of family and work. Thank you for your grace!
