Celebrating Passover

Monday night was the beginning of Passover and once again I hosted a Seder for our student leaders and a couple friends from my church who love college students. Only a couple of the ladies had ever attended a Seder, which made for a really fun evening of watching girls make new connections and learn more about our story as God’s people.

Even though favorite gluten-free matzah recipe did NOT work this year, everyone enjoyed trying traditional dishes and learning about the symbolism of different foods in the meal. The students asked some incredible questions that fueled some great dialogue. One of my friends who joined us has traveled to Israel and it was fun to hear about her experience there and have her share more about the things she has studied. 

I appreciated the conversations that stemmed about what it may have been like to sit around the table with Christ and His disciples during that meal and what it would have been like to try to watch the events we celebrate each Holy Week unfold as you are in the midst of it. Despite the fact that none of us at the Seder were Jewish, we challenged each other to remember that the Exodus story is our story. Israel’s wandering in the dessert is part of our journey.  He is our God and we are His people.

SMiCpact Night of Prayer

After our Collegiate Day of Prayer gathering, our student leaders wanted to set aside another night to pray specifically for the St. Mary's campus. Tonight we did that and had an incredibly powerful time of confession and encouragement. I'm excited to see what the rest of the semester brings.

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Prayers for the Oppressed

Prayers of Submission

Prayers for Unity

Prayers of Adoration

One Year of SMiCpact

Tonight at our Impact St. Mary's gathering we celebrated one year of being an official student organization. To celebrate we ate plenty of Hacienda chips and salsa and took time to tell our story. The ladies made a huge time line of the last year marking major events and times when they encountered God in powerful ways.

Let's go to Kenya!

Inside the school at Choki-Chok, a village we will visit.

Impact Campus Ministries’ president, Bill Westfall, has been dreaming, studying, and working diligently for nearly three years developing a special initiative called Impact The World. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have been asked to participate in the pilot group’s trip to Kenya as Bill continues to refine and develop the program.

Impact the World is a discipleship tool that Impact will use in the years ahead to equip college students for a life-long commitment to Jesus as Lord of their life. Specifically, it is a service-learning experience that will utilize a cross-cultural setting with high intensity activities to capture the hearts and minds of students. It is designed to help participants understand their purpose in life and to give them the tools/skills/perspective necessary to set them on a life-long trajectory toward spiritual maturity.

Ultimately, the goal is to see the participants actually living out their faith in Jesus through a dedication to self-sacrifice and kingdom service. It purposes to engage students at multiple levels (heart, mind, and strength), and is packed with intellectually stimulating lessons that are coupled with heart-captivating activities that serve to solidify the learning process. It examines the negative elements of the student’s own culture from the perspective of a foreign culture.

We’ll be heading to Kenya on May 19^th and spend time in three different parts of the country and return on June 1^st. If you would like to hear more about the trip or help contribute to the project, contact me at sarah.koutz@impacttheu.com.

Collegiate Day of Prayer 2013

Students praying for their campus

Yesterday was the annual Collegiate Day of Prayer where Christians around the country focus their prayer efforts on colleges and universities: the campuses, students, faculty, and staff. Impact St. Mary’s decided to host a prayer room on campus that was open to both the St. Mary’s community and the public. It was a great evening watching students, supporters, community members, and their families pray alongside each other for the campus.

As a result of this event, one of our student leaders was lead to create more moments like this where there is a priority for students to come together and pray for their campus. I’m excited to see how this vision becomes reality and to see how God works through this desire to seek Him.

Praying for the oppressed and marginalized

Local families joined us to pray