Last August at our Vision Retreat, I exhorted students in Cal Christian Fellowship to build God’s house on campus, and we prayed for our fellowship to become a temple- a place where God’s healing presence dwells and where foreigners could come encounter God. Nine months later in May, I spent time in reflection at our Regional Prayer Retreat and realized how faithfully God answered those prayers. Our fellowship is becoming more and more a place of worship for students of all nations and backgrounds!
After reading through 1 Chronicles 29, I praised God for the generosity of students, staff, and ministry partners like you who freely and wholeheartedly offered gifts, time, and talents to see the building of God’s temple at Cal this past year.
Here are snapshots of how God’s temple has been built through CCF in 2009-2010:
- Leadership Development: We had over 75 leaders in various positions this past year, up 20% from last year. In the coming year, we will continue to see growth, with 96 leaders in our fellowship, including 20 leaders who will serve on 2 entirely new teams.
- Prayer: This year we saw students start Daily Prayer Meetings, long for the moving of the Holy Spirit in their life, and pray bold prayers. We saw more students attend Saturday morning prayer this year as well. Next year, we hope to continue having daily prayer meetings and seeing students continue praying boldly for renewal and revival on our campus.
- Dorm Ministry: This year we saw a 25% increase in the number of freshmen regularly involved, from 60 last year to 75 this year. We have also seen a deeper commitment to mission in the dorms, with at least 12 students intentionally living in the dorms again next year do incarnational ministry. Next year, we hope to see our dorm ministry grow not just in numbers, but also in missional impact.
- Campus Engagement: We saw our ministry reach more pockets of campus through a new small group (Creative Arts), an increase in Groups Investigating God, and greater numbers of non-Christians regularly in small groups and Mark Study. Next year we will launch a new small group to reach the interfaith community and will send out one of our interns to pioneer a Greek chapter.
- Conversion: We have seen students like Bhavna Sharma and Jon Lai enter the academic year with no knowledge of Christianity and end the year as disciples of Jesus! Our fellowship as a whole experienced 8 first-time conversions and 32 students who re-committed their lives to Christ. We hope to continue seeing a greater number of students make first-time choices to give their lives to Jesus.
- Community Impact: Students in CCF have taken initiative to lead out in the community through raising funds for a non-profit serving teenage trafficking victims in the Bay Area, starting a weekly homeless outreach, and hosting a banquet in People’s Park, which served over 150 local homeless. We hope to continue developing students who seek shalom in our local community and beyond.
- Multiethnicity : We saw 82 students attend ethnic student conferences this past February to learn more about how their ethnic identity shapes their experience of God. We also saw a 40% increase in the number of white students in our fellowship this past year. We hope to continue developing students who are aware of their own ethnic identity while also seeing greater ethnic diversity in CCF.
- Conferences and Missions: Our conference attendance continues to grow, with 163 at Fall Conference (up from 155 last year) and 145 at Chapter Camp (up from 115 last year). We saw 12 students participate in a Spring Break Urban Plunge and will send 5 students to the Dominican Republic, 2 students on global projects, and 3 students to BAYUP (Bay Area Urban Project) this summer.
Thank you for giving me the strength, financial means, and encouragement to see God’s temple built this year. May the Lord continue to give to you as you generously give to the ministry at Cal.