I am going into this fall semester with a great sense of anticipation for the changes that are being made to the fellowship at Skidmore. I want to tell you about them, both so you can celebrate the exciting new things on the horizon with me, and so that you can pray with me that all this change goes smoothly!!

Our large group meetings this semester are going to be focused on issues of stewardship. We'll address stewardship of our education (and the "Skidmore experience"), stewardship of our government, stewardship of the environment, and stewardship of finances. We're hoping to invite both Christian and secular speakers to address these topics from a variety of angles, with a breadth that would reflect the vastness of God's world and His work in it. We hope these topics will help us to engage the campus with spiritual matters on common ground, and that it will help us to partner with other clubs and organizations along the way.

We're also hoping that our large group meetings will start to reflect the diversity of our membership. We hope to have an advisory board of students from different denominational and ethnic backgrounds to influence the culture and style of our large group meetings. As a result, we hope that the social life, worship life, and prayer life of the chapter will change to better reflect the growing diversity in and outside of our fellowship.

The other big change will be with our prayer meetings. Students hope to host two prayer meetings weekly. One of those prayer meetings will be to pray specifically for people who don't yet follow Jesus. The other prayer meeting will be to invite those who don't yet follow him to join with us in praying for things going on in the community and in the world. We hope that the prayer life of the fellowship will be a powerful witness to the Skidmore community, and that God will change our hearts and theirs through the time we spend in prayer together.

Please pray with me for these efforts. The students are excited, but also a little overwhelmed. We've never done most of these things before. What an exciting opportunity to trust God instead of ourselves!!

Two years ago I assumed the position of team leader for InterVarsity in the Hudson Valley. With this new position came a desire to see a staff team that was growing, developing and flourishing. So I asked you to pray. I asked you to pray that God would raise up new staff for the campuses in this area. Of course, our faithful God answered our prayers! And isn't it just like our God to answer in ways that not only bring glory to Him, but that bless us in the process?
 
As you prayed with me, God raised up a new staff person from right within our midst at Hope. God began to awaken in Caleb LaRue a passion for seeing young people engage with their God in life-changing ways. Those of you who have teenagers have, I'm sure, seen the benefits of this increasing passion in Caleb as your children come home from Sunday school having had their eyes opened to Scripture in ways that have challenged them to grow and grapple with issues of faith. It was this passion that I saw in Caleb that prompted me to invite him to consider joining InterVarsity staff. I wanted to see college students in this area encouraged to grow and to face God in the ways that Caleb has been gifted to prompt them to do.
 
To my great pleasure, Caleb submitted his application this fall, was interviewed, and was offered a provisional appointment with InterVarsity in the Hudson Valley. Caleb has been serving as a volunteer with me at Skidmore this past fall. He has been getting a taste for what InterVarsity looks like on campus, since it's been a few years since he was involved in the ministry as a student. Upon his hire, he became my intern, and will continue to train under me on campus and "learn the ropes," while raising a ministry budget that will allow this to become paid employment for him.
 
He's already been very busy with the Skidmore students. He's been discipling two students formally this past semester, and has influenced many others along the way. He's been exchanging emails with one of our most faithful members, who happens to be an atheist, and has been having great interactions with a few international students that he and Bet hosted for Thanksgiving dinner. I know he hopes that these relationships will continue to develop as the year goes on.
 
I am thankful for Caleb's eagerness to invest in students - to pour what God has given to him of Himself into the lives of the students he works with. I am thankful for his knowledge of and passion for Scripture, which has encouraged the students (and me!) to become even more faithful students of the Word. I am thankful for his maturity and experience, because with that comes wisdom that adds depth to the life of the fellowship on campus, as well as to the life of our staff team. And I am thankful for Caleb's humility, which makes him a delight to supervise, as he is very willing to learn from me and others around him.
 
There are ways you can be encouraging Caleb in this process, and so I invite you to do so. Pray for him. Pray for encouragement, for strength, for perseverance, and for discernment. Coming on staff with InterVarsity provides a sea of opportunity, and there are thousands of lives who need to know Jesus more. It also comes with responsibility, such as that of raising a budget. Pray that Caleb would be diligent to the work that must get done, and strategic in making choices about all the possible things that can be done.
 
Caleb will be sending a letter to all of you in the near future to let you know more about what this all has meant and will mean for him. Take the opportunity to meet with Caleb and to hear his heart in regards to what God is doing in his life, and in the lives of college students today. It will be a blessing to you to walk with Caleb on this journey, and I encourage you to do so, both for his benefit and yours.
 
And incidentally, my desires for a strong, growing staff team have not subsided with Caleb's arrival. There are still many more opportunities in this area for men and women to give their lives to what God is doing through InterVarsity. So please continue to pray with me. Who knows but that God might be calling others from our midst to join in His work of transforming the lives of students and faculty, renewing the campus, and changing the world?