Category Archives: Affinity Groups

Interview with Zach (Youth)

by Grace Wu

Editor’s Note: This week, the Youth affinity group brings us an interview with one of their members: Zach.

How long have you been a part of Lumos? What was it like when you first came?

I have been in Lumos since April 2008, and I loved it! It was smaller than other youth groups I previously attended. I was nervous, but the staff and youth were and are so kind. I had never met a group of people so kind as the Youth Group.

What is different about Lumos now?

The only thing different about Lumos is that JR and the Kims aren’t there anymore. It feels like nothing about Lumos has changed, because whenever I walk into Bible Studies or Sunday School, it is a part of the family of Christ.

How have you changed since first being in Lumos and now?

I definitely have changed a lot since the summer of 2008. I went to a Youth Retreat hosted by Pastor Chris Mueller, who taught on Jonah. He spoke of his hypocritical ways, and the messages he spoke got me thinking. And a few weeks later, I repented and became a Christian on 7/20/2008. I have grown into a higher spiritual maturity than before, thanks to JR’s epic Systematic Theology lessons. The lessons now are just as God-filled as JR’s, and encouraging and Scripture-filled also.

What is one significant lesson God has been teaching you lately?

One significant lesson God has been teaching me for a very long time (even today) is to not be anxious. I get hung up over all my sins, and when I’m not hung up over my sins, I think that I’m not caring about them, which gets me in an endless circle of emotional stimulation and fear. It is hard to learn, but I know I will learn it one of these days. For of God starts a good work, He will complete it.

What’s it like being one of the few guys in Lumos?

Being one of the only guys in Youth just makes you stand out a lot! The young women try to pick on you, you are an instrument of fun, or if you are like me, John Yang picks you up and spins you around and around! It is really fun! And its a blessing to be one of the young-and-growing men in Lumos.

How do you shine the light at your school?

It is hard to shine the light, because when I try, I feel an all-out war in my mind, one part saying “Do it!” and another saying “Don’t!” I am different, people know I’m different, it is just hard to show it as much as I would like to.

What is one thing you want people to know about you?

I want people to know that I am a great enemy of God, a scoffer of Christ, and a rebel to the Law of God, who was redeemed by Christ’s death, and that I want to be like Jesus.

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies are writing papers proving the truth of Christianity; reading; learning about things I do not know about; watching war movies; being a World War II know-it-all; hanging out with friends; playing the ukelele, violin, guitar and piano and my Xbox; and I absolutely love to sit in one spot, space out and think.

The Sparkler’s Preschool Ministry

by Mike Hasegawa

This may sound a bit strange, but my service in the preschool ministry traces back to Rick Holland’s DTR series. “What!?” you might say. Well, read on.

Like many college students, it took me a while to stop “church hopping” and commit to a local church. For me, this was during my sophomore year at UCSD. At the time, I had been listening to Rick Holland’s dating series. These sermons were helpful in learning who God wanted me to be, and the kind of woman I should be looking for. But more than thinking I was ready to date, the Holy Spirit convicted me that I needed to develop relationships with older “Pauls” in the faith who would challenge me with the truth, and younger “Timothys” that I could encourage to better follow Christ.

At the time I was going to a church in El Cajon, but it was difficult to cultivate these discipleship relationships since I didn’t have a car. Given this newfound conviction, I began asking friends where they were going to church. One of them, Tia Han (former LBC member), had nothing but good things to say about Lighthouse so I decided to give it a try.

I was hooked after just one service. On that Sunday, before Pastor Patrick gave the offering prayer he said, “Here at Lighthouse, all the other parts of our worship service such as praise-time or meet-and-greet have a set time (e.g. 15 minutes). But the main part of our worship service is the preaching of God’s Word. So we don’t really have a time limit on that; we just let Pastor John go!”

On a side note, not much has changed since then.

Besides the solid preaching, the main reason I settled on Lighthouse was due to the opportunities I had to get to know the older, godly men at church. I am thankful that God gives both the desire to learn, and to serve Him by ministering to others.

The preschool ministry is the first ministry that God allowed me to be a part of. Although I still enjoy being challenged by the older men at church, I am thankful that God has allowed me to invest in the next generation by teaching them about our awesome God and His glorious gospel.

The preschool ministry exists for two main reasons. The first is that God has called parents and the church to pass on the greatness of God to the next generation (Ps. 78:4-7). The preschool staff seeks to accomplish this by making every lesson about the person of God, and the gospel. We are using the Children Desiring God curriculum which is great because it covers the entire OT and NT. The second is that the preschool ministry exists as a help to the preschool parents. By teaching from God’s Word, we seek to give the parents more opportunities to discuss God’s Word with their children during the week.

The preschool staff hopes to help the children develop a good foundational understanding of God, the gospel, and their sinfulness so that one day, God-willing, they will be able to turn to Him to be saved.

If you ever walk down the hall and hear screaming and laughter, please make sure to poke in your head and say, “Hi!” to these precious members of our church!

Editor’s Note: To find the (in)famous “Rick Holland’s DTR Series” (complete with commentary on “sturdy Czech women” which caused drama with my fiancee!), please click here and then type “relationship series” (without the quotes) into the search box.

Update from the Wendlers (Grace Life)

by John Mark and Lauren Wendler

1) What have you been learning?

We have been learning a lot in the first chapter of the book of Mark. The purpose of Mark’s gospel was to prove that Jesus was the Son of God to a Gentile audience. We see that people reacted to the gospel the same way in John the Baptist’s time as today: some believed, some thought they didn’t need it, others thought it was crazy. Jesus was baptized so he could relate to sinners, and He then immediately submitted to the Spirit’s impelling him to go into the wilderness and be tempted by Satan. Jesus can sympathize with our weakness because he underwent this testing and trials. We then see how Jesus sought out the disciples, and Peter, James, John, and Andrew were immediately obedient by leaving their nets (and their father for James and John!) to follow Jesus.

2) What has been particularly challenging for you?

Having a Lord that sympathizes with us really challenges us to give all our desires and passions for what we do and want to accomplish to be more in line with the life Jesus calls us to(self-sacrifice, loving others, etc.) The disciples willingness to drop what they were in the middle of doing to follow Jesus is especially challenging as it is easy to hold tightly to the security a job provides, or the comforts of living in San Diego.

3) How has the study been stimulating your spiritual growth?

Seeing Jesus’ willingness to relate to the world by going through trials, calling his disciples with references to their occupation has caused a deeper love for scripture and has enhanced our prayer life by adjusting our mindset when talking to our Wonderful Lord and Savior who is also our Friend.

The Strengthening Your Relationship questions that we go through together, on our week off from Mark, help evaluate our spiritual health. We have found that the questions facilitate God glorifying conversations in which we can make it a habit to evaluate how we are doing and encourage each other along the way.

Single Life Devotional

by Pastor Patrick Cho

At our last staff meeting, I shared a devotional with the Singles staff from Ephesians 5:2. The simple command that Paul gives in that verse is to “walk in love.” I suppose the command is simple enough, but the application is not as easy. I love how Paul doesn’t move on without first explaining what he means by that. He adds, “as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” In other words, walking in love is all about sacrificially giving of myself to others. This of course has many applications, but for our staff it at least means that we need to be keeping a watchful eye out for the various opportunities given to us to serve and love others. When we show up on Friday nights or Sunday mornings, we shouldn’t just be thinking of ourselves.

This means that love is sometimes inconvenient and uncomfortable. It requires dying to self, looking to others’ interests, and considering others more important that ourselves. Jesus did this for those who hated Him. How much more should we seek to love those we call brothers and sisters in Christ. This application, Paul says, rises up to God as a fragrant offering of praise. God is pleased when we become imitators of Christ (Eph. 5:1).

In contrast, in Eph. 5:3, Paul also instructs the church that there is an ungodly way of “loving.” He writes that “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” These are self-centered expressions of “love.” These sins do not serve others but rather use, abuse, and take advantage of others. This sort of thing is not supposed to be associated with Christ’s followers.

In summary, Paul calls believers to do as Christ did. The love we show others must not be self-centered, but others-centered. We should seek to be a blessing to others – to love them even if it costs us. This is a huge challenge to sinners who are accustomed to thinking primarily of themselves. It is a call to put on a complete change in mindset. Paul instructs his followers to put off selfish love and put on sacrificial love. As a staff, this is what we are going to continue to strive to do each week as service to our brothers and sisters and as worship to our Lord.

Update from Caroline (College)

by Caroline Shin

Hello! I’m Caroline, a fourth year at UCSD, and this is my last year being a part of Lighthouse’s College Life Ministry. College Life was previously led by Pastor Patrick, but now that he is our head pastor (woohoo!) and heading the Single Life ministry, Hansol An and Johnny Kim have taken charge of the college ministry with Peter Lim as our overseer. It has honestly been a huge encouragement seeing the college ministry continue to thrive, even without our old college pastor.

We are currently going through the parable of the four soils (Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8). So far, we’ve gone over the path soil, the rocky soil, and the thorny soil, which have been taught by our male, senior staffers. It’s been awesome so far getting teaching from a different staffer each week. To sum up the past three messages, there are dangers to being a path soil, a rocky soil, and a thorny soil. Each soil represents the condition of a person’s heart. If you’re one of these three soils, it is due to the fact that you have a shallow view of your sins and do not desire to live in light of the gospel.

Aside from the messages, after every bible study, the collegians enjoy eating out and playing games together. Our after bible study hangouts have always been a highlight for College Life. These are the times when collegians and staffers get to deepen their relationships with one another. I’ve personally seen the benefit of fellowshipping during our trips to hole-in-the-walls and game time at the collegians’ apartments. Many of the collegians, who are members, have been intentional in furthering their conversations with newcomers by meeting with them outside of bible study and church. It’s neat to see collegians take on the discipler-disciplee attitude.

One blessing that I’ve seen from College Life this year is the number of freshmen who have decided to stay at Lighthouse. I’ve been really encouraged by their eagerness to learn, grow, and serve the church body. Although I’m notoriously known for being the grandma of the collegians, being surrounded by the freshmen’s presence really helps me to feed off their energy and make me feel younger. I’m truly excited to see how God will prove His faithfulness to the college ministry this year!

Interview with Kristen (Youth)

by Grace Wu

Editor’s Note: This week, the Youth affinity group brings us an interview with one of their members: Kristen.

1. How has youth group changed since you came in as an 8th grader and now as a senior in high school?

I officially became a part of the youth group in the summer of 2006, about to enter the 8th grade. At that time there were 3 middle school students, and 3 high school students. Now there are 5 middle school and 5 high school students. It’s still a relatively small group, but I’ve come to appreciate the intimacy that we have and how we all know each other pretty well.

I’m so thankful that throughout my years in youth group, amidst various changes, the staff have remained consistently the best staff ever! They are so patient and willing to do anything to serve us and point us to Christ. The only thing that has changed about the staff is the staff to youth ratio. There was a time when the ratio was 1:1! Even though there was a surplus of staff, the fact that they still wanted to remain in youth group and help us grow in our understanding of the Gospel spoke volumes to me. All the current youth staffers have been so encouraging and its been my joy to learn from their wisdom.

We used to have Wednesday night Bible study called WWF (not to be confused with the wresting group) which stood for Wednesday Workout Fellowship. During these times we went through the book of Proverbs, and learned about the way of the wise and the fool. Later on we switched our Bible studies to Friday night, and then began studying the book of Luke. I’m so glad that we are studying the life of Christ and seeing for ourselves who He claimed to be and how He deserves our worship.

All in all, youth group has not changed much in terms of the staff’s commitment to teach us the word of God and how our lives should change as a result of true salvation. And for that I’m thankful.

2. How have YOU changed since you came in as an 8th grader and now as a senior in high school?

When I first came to LBC I was not a Christian. That is the biggest difference between me back then and me now. Through the ministry of the youth staff as well as older Christians who showed me the love of Christ, I saw the Gospel being lived out. I had the head knowledge that I was a sinner, but I truly didn’t see my hopelessness in my depraved state until early high school. This was a miracle in itself and definitely the work of God, because I had grown up so prideful and judgmental towards others, looking down on everyone. Also during this time my dad wasn’t doing too well physically, so I was put in a position where I had the choice to give my life to Christ and depend on His strength or continue in my self-dependent ways. By the grace of God, I believed that I could only be saved through Christ’s sacrifice, and He gave me the desire to live for His glory.

Something that God has really changed in my heart is to fear Him more than I fear people. This is something that is still an on-going process, but I definitely see His work in this area. When the youth group studied the attributes of God during Sunday school, my eyes were opened to see how majestic and big God really is and that He is so much more mightier than any force or human being. I have the privilege of calling the God of the universe my Father, and I have the promise that nothing can separate me from the love of God. What am I to fear? Every week my heart is consistently saturated with the Gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ, and this fills my mind leaving very little space for my worries and anxieties to expand.

Because I have grown up going to church, many biblical ordinances were just habits to me. But now that I’m a Christian I’ve learned over the years the reasons why I should do the things that I do, like something as simple as serving at church. So to an outsider I may look the same in terms of the external lifestyle that I lived back then, but my life is completely different because now I’ve been washed by the blood of Christ and God gives me the ability to serve Him in a God-honoring way.

Also a big difference from the 2006 me and the 2010 me is that I see life with an eternal perspective. This past summer youth retreat the theme was Heaven. I was challenged to always set my mind on the things above (Col 3:23) and to look forward to the day when I will worship the Lord with no encumbrances. It is still a temptation to worry about the things of this world (such as grades and choosing a college), but ultimately I know that everything will work out for the good to those who love God.

3. What is one thing you want the people at LBC who don’t know the youth group well to know about Lumos?

The youth group desires to get to know the rest of the church body! I think it is somewhat easier for the upperclassmen of high school to converse with the older people at church, but I remember being in middle school and how intimidated I was to approach someone who was a lot older than me. The youth staff tells us to not be shy in getting to know people of other affinity groups, but I think it is still a little scary to do so, especially for the younger youth. I have been personally blessed by the kindness of older LBC members who graciously gave their time and energy to spend time with me, and I would love for the other youth members to be blessed by this as well. I’m definitely not saying that this isn’t taking place already, but I’m merely affirming your efforts in doing so. Thank you for your serving hearts and desire to pass down the greatness of God to us!

4. How are college applications coming along?

They’re going well. I’m only applying to a few colleges so its not too strenuous. The UC and CSU apps are due November 30, but my goal is to turn it in before Thanksgiving. As a Christian, the process of applying is not as stressful because I know that ultimately God is sovereign over where I get accepted or rejected. But that should not be a reason for me to be lazy in writing those essays, since God calls me to work heartily and be good stewards of the blessing of education.

5. How have you been able to shine the light at your high school?

I’ve been so humbled by how God has used me as well as the Christians at my school. For me personally, I’ve always been afraid of talking to my peers about God because I didn’t want them to dislike me. But its been so neat to see how God has been filling my heart with the fear of Him and placing various opportunities to share the Gospel with classmates. Earlier this year my English teacher gave us an assignment called a Self-Discovery project where we had to share with the class who we are (to help us brainstorm ideas of what to write in college essays). Another Christian in my class and I shared the Gospel through our testimonies. I was so nervous and fearful of how it would all turn out, but God gave me peace and the words to speak. I trusted that no matter how eloquent or inarticulate the presentation was, God was the one to change my classmates’ hearts, so all glory goes to Him. As I said before, I’m so humbled by how God would choose to save me and use me to do something that I would NEVER have done before prior to salvation.

Also LBC sponsors an on campus Bible study at Torrey Pines High School called TP Bible Study. Every Wednesday during lunch, either Cesar or Roger comes to teach us God’s word. In the past years Pastor JR has come and spoken, as well as other men from LBC. This semester Cesar is going through 1 John, which has going great! The book talks about what true salvation is and how to discern if you are truly a Believer or not. Praise God for His Gospel being preached at my high school!

6. What was your most memorable youth activity?

Hm, that’s a hard question. We’ve had so many fun and interesting activities! To name a few, we’ve had Christmas parties, a mini-golf night, a photo scavenger hunt, ping-pong & Foosball tournament, FWiiS night (which stands for Friends, Wii, and Snacks), ice skating, youth retreats, a bring-your-own-utensil dinner, movie nights, bowling outings, an attempted bowling activity that turned into a game night at the arcade (Jenna, if your reading this, you know =D ), joint college-youth and singles-youth activities, and many many more!

But my most memorable “youth activity” isn’t really an activity, but more of a memory. I will always remember when Roger proposed to Grace during the “Sunday school lesson.” None of us were expecting for that to happen, even though Josh Liu was there videotaping the “sermon” as part of an “assignment” for a class at seminary. That day is unforgettable!

7. What is your favorite subject at school? Least favorite?

My favorite subject is Math! I love how there is only one answer to a problem! My least favorite subject would have to be the class that I spend the most time in: English.

Fall Festival

by David Ahn

It seems the holidays come sooner every year, so don’t forget to be planning your costume for next year’s Fall Festival! On Sunday, October 31st, the Children’s Ministry hosted an event, but it definitely wasn’t just for the children. It ends up being a spectacle every year, where LBC-ers of all ages gather together for a memorable night of fellowship in the form of candy, games, and costumes.

The Fall Festival serves as an alternative to Halloween, selecting its best traditions, leaving out its more questionable aspects, and infusing genuine fellowship and an appreciation for the common bond that we share through the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the first highlights of the evening are the decorations, where members of the church take time throughout the days leading up to the event to transform the church to fit a theme. In past years, the church has been transformed into Candyland, a Dr. Seuss-like world, and even intergalactic space. Behind the scenes of the decorations, the great effort and teamwork required to make these themes come alive always serves as an excellent service opportunity for church members. If you haven’t participated in the planning for Fall Festival in the past, I’d highly recommend joining in the future, as I consider it one of the hidden gems of service opportunities at our church.

On the night of the event, there are multiple booths and activities taking place throughout the church building. These stations typically include carnival-like activities (eg. Balloon Popping), video games (Nintendo Wii), and crafts/activities (eg. Face Painting). Meanwhile, there is a steady flow of delicious foods and snacks, and handfuls of candy are distributed as prizes for participating in the various booths.

Later in the evening is my personal favorite: the costume contest! The format changes from year to year, but there typically are costumes handed out from judges for a wide-ranging list of categories. In the past, the categories have included Best Individual, Best Duo, Best Group, and Best Under Budget. The judges also try to segregate the prizes by age range as well, to ensure that the adults and children have equal opportunity to win. In past years, the quality of costumes have been refreshingly high, so I would highly suggest coming dressed to impress. Many a newcomer has come out to Fall Festival to feel shamefully underdressed. Some guidelines for costumes, however: please keep the costumes appropriate (no scandalous, cross-dressing, or horrifying outfits). This leads to more creative costumes, less nightmares for the children, and less embarrassing photos being posted on Facebook.

Also, don’t forget that there is a new tradition that was started at this year’s Fall Festival. There was a pumpkin-carving (and mini-pumpkin decorating) contest, so break out your carving knives and your clever ideas for next year. Knowing the creativity and joyful execution that our church members have, I look forward to being as wowed in the years to come as I was this year.

Grace Life 2nd Hour Ministry

by Pastor Patrick Cho

GraceLife, the marrieds/family ministry of LBC, is currently conducting a study in the book of Mark during the Sunday School hour. So far, it has been a good series examining Jesus’ earthly ministry. Since we moved the general meeting to the Sunday School hour, the participation has increased and is more consistent. It certainly helps that all the Children’s Ministries run simultaneously to free up parents to participate in the general sessions. During each meeting, we begin with a small memory verse quiz. We then discuss the previous week’s homework. When we eventually get to the current week’s passage, we start by breaking up into smaller discussion groups to work through general observations. The meeting ends with a short time of instruction to prepare the group for the week’s homework.

One of the biggest changes to GraceLife structurally is that we are taking a break from organized small groups. After meeting up with several men in the church, it became clear that one area of growth that was needed was to promote more spiritual conversations in the home. The homework for GraceLife addresses this need by providing daily discussion questions from the week’s study. Each individual is supposed to work through the questions on their own and then come together to discuss their answers as a couple. The hope behind the assignments is that having spiritual conversations would become more the norm in our homes rather than the exception.

So far the study has been very beneficial. The feedback being received is that the assignments are stimulating greater spiritual health in the home. The instruction from the general sessions are recorded and placed on the church’s website, as well as the weekly homework worksheets.

Once a month, we take a break from our regular Mark study to focus solely on improving our relationships. The questions for those weeks are geared towards providing accountability for our spiritual walks and marriages. All in all, the goal is to strengthen the church body by building up our married couples and families. As more and more interaction takes place between members, we are confident that the whole church will benefit from a stronger GraceLife ministry.

Single Life Car Rally 2010

by Abram Kim

“It’ll pretty much be the funnest thing you’ve ever done.”  (Pastor Patrick)

“What is a car rally? Well, it’s where we get into cars and rally together!” (Lillian To)

October 9, 2010 was a historic day in Lighthouse Singles Ministry history. That day witnessed the craziness that is the car rally for the first time in the Singles Ministry. Pastor Patrick had planned car rallies for College Life in the past, and those have become things of legend. Now it had finally come to Single Life!

Almost 40 guys and gals from the Singles ministry spent the morning and afternoon scouring the depths of San Diego to figure out clues and take silly pictures. You see, the car rally is a photo scavenger hunt that takes you to different locations in San Diego. Pastor Patrick and Randy Tsuchiyama planned the event to take the participants to four well-known locations throughout San Diego with a variety required and optional tasks at each location. The tasks involved finding unique and iconic items or places at each site and having your group take a picture there, as well as doing something silly as well.

The car rally participants gathered at church at 10am. During Bible Study the night before, each of the ten teams were given a costume theme, and Saturday morning showcased some creative outfits for themes ranging from “backwards” and “Hawaiian” to “80s” and “Hollywood.”  And of course, who could forget the “superheroes?”

At the start of the car rally, each car received a large envelope that contained four smaller envelopes with clues to the four locations, which turned out to be Old Town, Balboa Park, Horton Plaza, and Seaport Village. We were allowed to use any resource we could think of to solve the clues and find the places where we needed to take pictures. We also had to have lunch together at a sit-down restaurant and answer three questions designed to share more about yourself with the rest of your team. Pastor Patrick admitted that the car rally was designed so that we wouldn’t be able to finish in the time allotted, and most of the cars did not get to all four locations.

Regardless of each team’s result, the four hours spent together by those in the same car were certainly time well spent with one another. Obviously there was the time in the car and during lunch when we had the opportunity to get to know each other better. But the car rally also provided unique opportunities to reveal random facts people knew, to see how people deal with pressure and competition, and to work together as a team.

All the photos (and even video) taken during the car rally from all 10 cars were compiled and made into a slideshow to view once all the teams got back to church around 2pm. The video of E. Park’s team dancing at Balboa Park was particularly funny! (I tried finding it on YouTube but no luck yet.) Points have been tallied and the winners were announced last Friday during Bible study. Regardless of the fact that only one team won, everyone had a memorable and enjoyable time!

Pastor Patrick already has already begun to plan the next two car rallies, so stay tuned and be sure to sign up when the opportunity presents itself!

In short:

  • Gasoline for driving all around San Diego: $15
  • Lunch at a local San Diego restaurant: $10
  • Fellowship with 2-3 of your new best friends at church for 4 hours: Priceless

College Life

by Hansol An

God has seen fit to bring about many changes at Lighthouse Bible Church in 2010, the most notable being the San Jose church plant. That one stone caused ripples that have effected every ministry at the church and to no small degree, College Life. Since its inception in 2001, Pastor Patrick Cho stoutly led this college-centric ministry from a handful of students to a thriving presence on the campus of UCSD and a ministry plant, of sorts, at SDSU this past year. Now with Pastor Patrick becoming the Senior Pastor of LBC and taking on various other ministry responsibilities, for the first time since it’s inception, he would not be leading College Life. In addition there have been many changes to the rest of the staff as well. Some have left to be a part of the church plant while others were called to new ministry opportunities. The composition of the staff this fall is very different from graduation day only a few months ago.

When I was asked to help lead College Life, post-Pastor Patrick, along with Johnny Kim and Peter Lim, I had my concerns; many of which related directly to the staff. What member of LBC would step up and fill staff needs? Was there anyone willing or qualified that wasn’t already serving in other affinity groups? Who was going to preach every week!? As the summer went on God started to answer these questions. Several people would soon express interest in joining staff. Other were identified and “recruited.” Eventually Sam Chong, Terence Kim, Richard Shin, Alice Ting, Emily Kuo, Sarah Hu, Grace H. Lee, Jonathon Yang, Deborah Wong, Mike Hasegawa, Jen Hasegawa, and Michael Chung would all be affirmed as new staff members. They now join the 10 returning staffers to form what is the largest College Life Staff ever.

Each staff member brings their unique experiences, gifts and talents to serve the collegians, but more importantly they bring a passion for God and His people. As a staff they all understand how formative this life stage can be, having experienced it themselves. For most people the convictions they form in college lasts the rest of their lives.

As the school years begins God has once again shown his abiding faithfulness. The staff is working hard to prepare for messages and opportunities to fellowship. The teaching responsibilities will be shared among the men on staff. Every week a different staffer will rotate through a schedule that begins with the Parable of the Soils, continues on through the book of James and intersperses lessons on various other religions/cults throughout the year. The goals for the teaching schedule are to make sure they collegians know the true Gospel, respond to the Gospel and live out the Gospel.

With all that has changed, somethings will not. Many traditions will live on, many familiar events will continue and, God willing, the life of LBC collegians will be impacted by this ministry and the Word of God.