Our ministry at LifePoint Church is based upon five biblical priorities: Worship, Grow, Connect, Serve, and Share. We believe every Christian should maintain consistent involvement in each of these areas in order to be spiritually healthy and grow toward Christian maturity. These priorities guide every decision we make including our most recent development for our College Ministry.
The beginning of 2022 marked a pivotal moment for our college students, young adults, and LifePoint family as we processed the resignation of Nate Gast and what life would look like moving forward for College Ministry. Nate and Kiersten were a tremendous blessing to our church for many years and were instrumental in opening their home as a venue for sharing the Gospel and helping many grow spiritually. Our elders knew that it would be difficult to replace Nate because of the significant influence he had been in so many lives, yet we knew it was important to create a plan that would provide opportunities for every college student to grow in their relationship with the Lord and His church.
In January, a subgroup of elders began to meet regularly to address this need and prayerfully consider the next steps for the College Ministry. Over the course of this time, we prioritized how to best minister to our college students. We have collaborated with other healthy churches with college ministries from across the country and have spoken with many of our own college students to understand the unique circumstances they are currently facing now and how to best minister to that age group.
Another priority was to create a unified College Ministry with students from both the existing LifePoint College Ministry and Campus Outreach. We spoke to several churches that have successfully integrated their church college ministry with Campus Outreach. The plan that we have prayerfully considered and the larger team of elders has approved, we think will best support this integration between the two groups and most importantly provide an opportunity for significant personal spiritual growth. Our desire is also that our college students grow to love the church and become active members in whatever local body they eventually attend.
We decided that it would be best to have co-leaders to lead this new era of College Ministry. We believed it would need leaders who understood the current LifePoint College Ministry and someone who also understood Campus Outreach. For this reason, AJ Hillebrand, Pastor of Student Ministry, and Matt Cazee, Regional Director of Campus Outreach, were approached and both have graciously agreed to be co-leaders.
The vision moving forward centers around three major components that fall in line with our five core priorities of the church:
Sunday Morning Study (Worship, Grow, Connect)
- Sundays are a common day where college students come to worship with the corporate body and now can come together during the second service for further growth and connection with others in their stage of life.
- AJ and Matt will welcome students each week, discuss upcoming events, provide overall oversight, and teach occasionally.
- Teaching time will often be led by a pastoral intern on the first, second, and third Sundays of the month.
- College Ministry on Sunday mornings will begin in September.
Monthly College Ministry Lunch (Connect, Share, Grow)
- Lunch will be provided on the fourth Sunday each month after second service to connect with other college-aged students and invite friends.
- A short teaching time with a Gospel presentation will follow the lunch.
- Tables will be hosted by various heads of ministries, Life Group leaders, fellowship groups, etc. in an effort to intentionally help college-aged students connect with the church.
Life Group / Church Family Connection (Serve, Connect)
- It is important that we be intentional about connecting college-aged students with ministry opportunities in which they can serve if they consider LifePoint their church home.
- Fourth (and fifth) Sundays will be set aside specifically for College Ministry students to serve on the weeks that there is no Sunday morning study.
- As a church, we believe Life Groups are vitally important to a strong walk with Lord and so our College Ministry will be intentional about connecting any student to a Life Group if they so desire.
With any new plan, there may be things that work well and things that don’t work as well. We will continually evaluate this new plan for College Ministry and make changes as needed. We are excited about the opportunities going forward and look forward to seeing the Lord work in powerful ways.
We want to take a moment to thank Forrest and Christy Thayer for their service over the last few months to this ministry. Their investment in this ministry has been appreciated by so many students and has certainly had an eternal impact. Forrest and Christy will continue to serve in the College Ministry in a leadership capacity until November when Forrest will begin some new opportunities as an intern at LifePoint. College Ministry will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer with the kickoff lunch for the new College Ministry format on August 28!
We consider it an honor and privilege to serve the LifePoint family and should you have any questions, we are more than happy to meet any of you individually or collectively. Thank you for your ongoing patience, support, and encouragement!
In Christ Alone,
The College Ministry Team of Elders
Jym Gregory, AJ Hillebrand, Matt Cazee, Ron Gibson, Steve Loy, Chad Gorrell, Dustin McKinley, and Andy Schmidt