Meet Kerry. She is one of my dear friends from college. We met at Impact, a camp for incoming freshmen at Texas A&M. She and I became fast friends. Kerry is the kindest, most gentle-hearted woman. I’m sure you will discover that as you read her precious letter. 

In her own words: I am a singer-songwriter, worship leader, wife to an amazingly godly man, and a mom to hilarious kiddos and a sweet but socially awkward dog that keep me humbly in need of a Savior. I’m just doing my best to seek the Lord and rest in His grace so I don’t become a crazy lady. I am passionate about pursuing and knowing truth, and I’m passionate about the Church being a breath of fresh air to the world. 

Dear precious Church Family, those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

You are chosen and our Father cherishes you. By His grace, not by our goodness, He has rescued us and forgiven us for our sins. He is a kind God.

As a Family, there are things that we are often noted for doing wrong. Yet, as I think about you, I can honestly say that overall I am filled with joy. You are passionate. You aren’t satisfied with going through the motions. You want to do something.  You want to be a world-changer. And you are searching. I love that about you. You are constantly searching for more. You are looking for more opportunities; you want to be more effective; you want to be more genuine; you want to have more joy; you want to know more about our Father.

I praise the Lord for your eagerness to desire more, especially in your knowledge of Him. You are remarkable, and you are God’s. He cares about you. He wants you to know Him deeply, and He wants you to trust Him no matter what.

However, I am concerned that we, as a Family, are primarily seeking to understand God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ more through the ideas of strangers. We are basing our beliefs about Him on ideas that “sound good,” ideas that “make us think,” ideas that we “feel in our hearts” are right. My brothers and sisters, we are not seeking to know the Lord through His gift of the Word.  I affectionately urge us all to consider the gift of God’s Word and to continually increase our knowledge and love for our Lord by studying the Bible. Then, as we approach great questions and great ideas, we can see if those ideas make God great, if they magnify Christ’s sacrifice, if they have a high view of His Word, and if they even agree with God’s words. Are the things we are reading pushing us closer to the Lord? We must look carefully at what we read and how we live. We must be wise and make the best use of our time.

Difficult circumstances will come our way to test our faith. Wearisome cultural issues will cause us to question if God is who He says He is; if God is even knowable.  Family, we are vulnerable. We are incredibly vulnerable. We must be humble disciples of Christ who can stand firm in the Lord regardless of what circumstances come our way.

For this reason I pray that our Father would give us the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of our hearts would be informed, that we may know the hope to which He has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and also the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

I pray that we would be recognized as those who know our Father well and as those who love our Father with determined, passionate love. May that love joyfully propel us to live out our purpose — our purpose of displaying the hope of the glory of Christ no matter what.

My Family, be a world-changer, a community with incredible, impactful love and faith. Seek Christ through His Word! Set your hope fully on who He says He is—the One who is above all authority and power; the One who has shown us humble, sacrificial love; the One who strengthens our hearts through His Spirit; the One who calls us to live our lives in a way that declares His goodness; the One who wants us to know Him with all our hearts, souls and minds.

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.

With so much love,
Kerry

I am telling you guys, this For The Love launch team is just amazing. There are so many stories being shared. So many valuable conversations happening among that community. I love that you get to be a part of it in a small way through some of these letters. Today’s letter is from Beth. She is passionate about college students, as you will see. She cares that young people know Jesus and find their place in the Family. And speaking of families, isn’t Beth’s family just beautiful?!

In her own words: Beth Walker is a coach’s wife and mom of 2 energetic boys.  Having grown up in the suburbs of Chicago the adventure of being married to a college football coach has allowed Beth to live in different areas of the country including the middle of a cornfield in Southern IL and most recently the amazing mountains of Southwest Virginia.  Beth has been blogging over at http://lessonsfromthesidelines.wordpress.comwhere she has been striving to finding her own voice both through personal life reflection and her ministry of serving the women of Bluefield College as the leader of Women’s Ministries called Pursuit.  Her husband Ordell is currently the head coach of the Bluefield Rams. 

Dear Church,

I’m curious, when you look at the people who sit around you in the pews, do you see a group that is largely in the same stage of life as you?  Do you see multiple generations worshiping together? In my corner of the world (Appalachia WV/VA) many congregations with bi-vocational pastors have dwindled down to less then 50 members.

As college aged Millennials begin making choices for themselves for the first time the Barna Research Group has presented some alarming information:

“Barna research shows nearly six in ten (59%) of these young people who grow up in Christian churches end up walking away from either their faith or from the institutional church at some point in their first decade of adult life. Second, the unchurched segment among Millennials has increased in the last decade, from 44% to 52%, mirroring a larger cultural trend away from churchgoing among the nation’s population.” (http://bit.ly/1ISY8ih)

Is it any surprise that many churches are facing closing their doors?  If you focus solely on these statistics church growth could seem in danger, but there is hope!  When exploring what keeps the Millennial generation attending church Barna discovered that “59% of Millennials stayed because they had a close personal friend who attended the church who was an adult..” Even more exciting…”28% had a personal mentor OTHER than a pastor or church staff member!”  Do you know what that means?  College students want to keep attending church in a place where they are have friendships with you.

Over the last 18 years my husband and I have had the privilege of ministering to college students. Our ministry time has been tied to the campuses my husband has coached at.  I’m not sure when it became a conscious choice to find a church that not only was welcoming to our family, but also the students we love so deeply, but at some point it became a non-negotiable along with solid kids programming, biblical preaching and a few other things.

Due to my husband’s job as a college football coach we have moved a few times. Each move has included a season of searching for a new church family.  In our searches I’ve had numerous conversations with parishioners regarding our “extra” kids in the church pews.  Most comments have been absolutely wonderful.  I’ve watched older gentlemen seek out a football player to celebrate athletic success.  I’ve seen sweet women seek out college women inviting them to bible studies, quilting guilds and out for lunch.

Unfortunately I have also been on the receiving end of some less then welcoming statements.  There have been those who have said that college students are a “drain” on the church because they do not tithe.  Comments regarding how students have dressed or the fact that they have worn a hat remind me it is overlooked these students may not have grown up in a church. In some church communities there seems to be a standard to students as visitors, regardless of how consistently they attend.

Once a week I meet on our campus with a group of the most amazing college women.  My husband does the same with men.  Our format is more casual then a church service, but no one denies Jesus’ presence.  Can I tell you a secret?  These evenings are highlights for me each week, also, at times. overwhelming.  Part of the night involves catching up with everyone, listening to the burdens of their heart and the successes of the week.  It’s awesome, yet sometimes I’m on campus as late as midnight!  Still, I know this time spent has made an impact because those same students join us at church on Sunday mornings.

Church, I ache for you to see how amazing the Millennials are.  I ache for you to also hear their hearts each week.  The thing is, relationship is a two-way street, and there needs to be a listening ear for these students to speak to. More then that though, church, I want to see you flourish, to live beyond your founders for generations.  Mostly, I ache for Millennials to hunger for Jesus and to realize being a part of a church body is a part of sustained faith.  So I’m curios, when you look in the pews, who do you see?