What a fun and exciting semester this has started out to be.  I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next. As you can see intramurals have started up and our guys are having fun and having success. Refuge has been awesome and we have had such a great time getting to know our transfer students and Freshmen.  Make sure and check out all of our pics on the flickr page up top. You can see that we have been busy already and still have alot to do.

Small groups are here. We have 4 different small groups going on so you are bound to find one that meets your needs. Here is the list:

Freshmen Only! obviously, you can see this one is for our new guys. It will meet on Monday nights at Tracy’s house at 6:30. You can meet up at the BCM center at 6:00 and we will show you how to get to Treed’s house. We will have a great time and watch some football afterward.

Girls, here is one just for you. It is led by the amazing, Kara Beth Roy.  It will meet in the lobby of Horsefall dorm, and it will start at 7:00. Ladies you will love KB and will enjoy spending this time together.

Guys, you too are having something special. Guys only will meet at Joe Matthews apartment over at the UAM apartments. Joe’s apartment number is 302A. It will be lead by two cool guys one from Texas (Joe) and the other from Hamburg (John).

TLE. This is our coed group and it meets at 8:00 on Tuesday nights.  It is at Becca’s apartment (Weevil Run, Willow #9) and you can meet at the BCM at 7:45 to follow the group over. This is led by Jeremy, Micheal, and Becca (she is by far the coolest of the three!)

Refuge. this is our amazing time of worship. Led by the BCM praise band and Tracy (he’s the boss).  This is our big meeting and everyone is invited to come. We have so much fun together and learn alot.

Have you ever noticed what it takes for things to get built. I guess I have really been thinking about construction since our new building project was started. But not only is God constructing a new building to house our ministry, he is also constructing a new ministry within us. Let me explain. We have been praying and asking God to show his glory in a mighty way on our campus. But to do that first we have to let God’s glory work in us. We have to be willing to get rid of things that hinder God from using us and be willing to develop those things that display God in our lives. That “Construction” can only happen when we submit ourselves and let God build his will into our lives. So you see we are under construction every day. Because every day God is giving us new blessings, and new opportunities. Every day he is putting people in our lives. He is always at work in us and through us.

We have been getting the building ready for the fall and getting ourselves spiritually ready as well. As we thought about the new year we could not help but think about what God is doing in our ministry right now. We have our new building under way we have been cleaning and updating our current building and we are putting together small groups and freshmen groups for the new semester. So we thought that our theme for the year should be “Under Construction”, because that pretty much sums up what we are about right now.

So if you are wanting to find a place to develop and grow with God, there is room here in the BCM. Come and let’s build together.

We are so excited about you being at UAM. You will find that UAM really is a great school and offers alot for students. We are getting ready for you guys and hope that you will find some time to stop by the BCM building and get to know the students and get involved with what is going on. Let me tell you some of the things.

We will have new small groups, with a special group for freshmen. If you are a freshman, you will be meeting on Monday nights with our good looking/humble leader, Tracy. We also have guys and girls groups meeting on Mondays. Tuesdays will never be the same, the reason, Jeremy and Micheal’s small group.  Jeremy, the assistant BCM minister and Micheal McDaniel (a real Razorback homer), will be leading this group - it will be quite an experience.

Then we have Refuge. This is our weekly big group meeting. We have a great time with this. We have cool videos, awesome worship, and Tracy is not bad either. We meet at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday nights at the BCM. You will be glad you came.

Throughout the semester we will have fun trips, tailgating, retreats, etc. I promise you will not get bored and will make some great friends. We will be giving out the dates and times at Refuge each week, so don’t miss out.

When you get on campus come by the BCM center and let us show you around campus, take you out for a coke, or you can just come over and hang out. We want you to feel at home and get plugged in.

Once again welcome to UAM and we hope to see you at the BCM.

So many times when we have a wonderful experience at camp, we have this fear about not living up to our promises or losing that “feeling” we had. That is a concern for me as I think back to the time I spent at Glorieta. I have been so challenged by and excited about what God is doing in my life. I don’t want to come back home and lose that excitement and forget the commitments. How do I keep the commitments and excitement.

Elijah, gives us a good game plan. Right after he had defeated the prophets of Baal, he lost the excitement and commitment he had made to God when he was at Mt. Carmel. After he had witnessed God’s victory he ran from his enemies and didn’t keep the lessons he learned. When he got to the point that he couldn’t run anymore he finally asked God to restore him. We do the same thing. Instead of keeping our focus on God and the victories we see him win we tend to focus on our problems and fears. We must come to the point that instead of focusing on the problems, we must focus on the problem solver.

When we get to the point that we keep Christ first in our lives we are able to continue to have the excitement and commitment that we make during our camp experience. We must make our time with God a daily thing. We love camp because we meet God there. What we must remember is not to leave him there.

worship time

We have really been challenged this week at Glorieta. I continually find myself learning new things. I hope I never get to a point where I don’t keep growing in my faith and witness. With that said let me share with you the newest revelation.

We have this false idea that when we receive Christ that we can just coast through life and there will be no problems. Boy is this a foolish idea. We must come to a realization that when we receive Christ we will still have the problems, but we go through those problems with Christ’s help. We have to realize that we still have battles even though the war has been won.

Christ, our general has laid out the plans and has given us our orders, now we must be ready on a daily basis for every battle, but still with the knowledge that this is temporary. Because Christ has already won the victory. When we sign on with him our victory is assured, even though the battles are tough.

Wow, what a great deal!

Glorieta guys

Wow! That is the only way to describe the way I have been feeling the last couple of days. We are at Student week at Glorieta, NM and man has God shown up in a big way. We have been so challenged by Micheal Kelley and David Platt. So many things these men of God has taught us that I never thought about.

I guess the biggest challenge I have heard was when David pointed out that so many times we use Christ as a means to an end. We say, receive Christ and you will have peace. Receive Christ and you will gain heaven. What we should be saying is, receive Christ and you will receive, Christ. When we get to the point in our lives that we realize that he is everything then we can receive what he is giving us. We need to remember that Christ is not the means to an end, but rather Christ is the end. It is he that we should be trying so hard to please, and trying so hard to keep the focus of our lives. What a great reminder that we must never use Christ to get what we want, but instead let Christ use us to accomplish his will.

FINALLY!!! The weather has finally cooperated with us and the workers are hard at it. We are so excited about our new building. The guys are getting ready to lay the foundation and then things will really start picking up. God has been so good to bless us with the finances and workers to get this project done. It has been a long road but it is so special to see it come to fruition.

The coolest part about it has been the way churches in our area have responded to making this dream come true. We have some wonderful churches that support us and see the importance of this ministry and how this building will enhance our work on the campus of UAM.

We will post updated pictures so that you can keep up with the progress. The expected date is late fall and by the first of the year we will be in our new building. Please come by and visit with us, we always love to have visitors. This is your ministry and we want you to know how God is working in it.

Man I miss our students. It is so quiet on the campus and here in the BCM. Summer 1 begins next week and I can’t wait to see students. We will be starting a summer bible study on Tuesday June 3. We will meet each Tuesday at 6. Then afterwards have some fun activities. 

I love summertime, but I sure miss the students.