Campus Outreach Augusta

More information regarding Campus Outreach Augusta can be found at www.coaugusta.org

 

December 11, 2006

Josh Romine Writes:

This update invites you to get a snapshot of your investments in the ministry of Campus Outreach at Valdosta State.  From January through November 2006, our team has given themselves to staff, student leadership, and the lost. 

Our staff met the equivalent of every-other Monday for staff development and every Friday for campus management.  Staff Development was a new addition (Fall Semester) and was spent praying, discussing the Bible, and/or reading Teaching to Change Lives by Howard Hendricks.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Josh met one-on-one with the staff.  Campus Management meetings were on Fridays and covered discipleship curriculum, events, leaders meeting agendas, outreach meeting agendas, and/or evaluations of past meetings.

Our leadership took part in weekly discipleship (group and one-on-one meetings) as well as Monday night team meetings (approx. 40 students). 

Josh directly mentors 3 staff and disciples 6 men.  Christie mentored 4 older leaders who graduated last week.  Amy disciples 6 leaders while penetrating the lost. Candice disciples 2 leaders while penetrating the lost.  Jon is targeting the lost in a fraternity while discipling a student he led to Christ.  Some of our students are discipling other students. 

Our discipleship curriculum is set up into 5 different categories:
August-September:  Practical Ministry
October-November:  Gospel Living
December-January:  Character Development
February-March:  Knowing God
April-May:  Kingdom Mission

We recently finished “Gospel Living”.  My discipleship group read parts of Desiring God by John Piper and studied Ephesians.  Daily time with God is crucial and is emphasized with staff and students.  (For August and September, we read The Fuel and the Flame by Steve Shadrach and studied Matthew.)  We will soon begin reading The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges.

Our leadership engaged the lost through personal evangelism, individual bible studies, IBS (Investigative Bible Study) groups, and ONE80 outreach meetings.   So far (January – April and August - October) we have seen 32 students give their lives to Christ. 

Concerning our ONE80 meetings, we opened the semester with a 6 week series entitled, “6 Ways to Get The Most Out of Your VSU Experience”:

1^st week:  Image and Popularity,
2^nd week:  Drinking / Partying
3^rd week:  Sex and Relationships
4^th week:   Academics and Success
5^th week:  Athletics
...are all just ways “they” say to find fulfillment but they just leave you empty.  

Only Christ satisfies (6^th week).  We really didn’t fully/clearly share the gospel until the 6^th week.  But there were elements of the gospel each of the first 5 weeks.  

Then we started a new series, going a little deeper, challenging Christians and non-Christians.  We just finished this 5 Talk Series on “4 Attempts to Describe God”.  In the first of 5 talks (introduction), I described false impressions of God that the students may have.   Then the next four talks (in this series) went as follows: 

2^nd week:  The Love of God (Steve Jones, former pastor of Westminster Pres)
3^rd week:  The Holiness of God (me!)
4^th week:  The Goodness of God (Glenn Wilkins, Campus Outreach at GCSU)
5^th week:  The Grace of God (David Rogers, Pastor at Crosspointe Church)

Major Events for the Year Have Been: 
Christmas Conference:      Dec. 29^th – Jan. 2^nd
Fall Retreat:                          Feb. 17-19 in Hilton Head
New Orleans Trip:                March 12^th-17^th (Thanks to New Covenant for the van!)
May 1^st-4^th:                           Regional Staff Training in Augusta
June and July:                       Summer Beach Project in Daytona Beach
    We did not direct it this year but were responsible for some of staff training and the relationship seminars. 
August 8^th-9^th:                       Leadership Meetings and Freshmen Move-In Day
Aug. 26^th:                               Ultimate Frisbee Tournament
Oct. 13^th-14^th:                       Fall Retreat (see below)
Oct. 15^th-17^th:                        Regional Staff Connect Time
Nov. 17^th-18^th:                      Mobilization Retreat (see below)
Dec 5-8^th:                               Staff Training
Dec. 28^th-Jan 2^nd:                Christmas Conference (see below)

FALL RETREAT:  (10/13 – 10/14)
Our Fall Retreat was held in Macon, GA where Randy Pope of Perimeter Church in Atlanta spoke to over 200 students from 3 campuses.  He focused on clarifying your mission in life and finding a mate.  Randy was able to shatter the world’s paradigm of relationships and present to our students a biblical model for relationships rooted in 2 Peter 1:5-8. 

MOBILIZATION RETREAT (11/17 – 11/18)
We recently spent the weekend in Augusta helping over seventy students think about their design, desires, developmental needs and direction in the context of God’s kingdom mission.  I spoke on “The Building Blocks of Calling:  Transitioning from Campus to Community”.  Our students were also able to hear testimonies from Campus Outreach alumni throughout the weekend on what to expect after graduation.

 CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE (12/28 – 1/02)
Over 2000 students from numerous Campus Outreach regions will gather in Atlanta where they will learn more about Christ and gain a vision for the lost world.  There are large group meetings as well as focused break-out seminars.  You can go to www.atl2006.org to find out more. 

Thank you for your partnership! 

Josh and Christie Romine
Campus Outreach at VSU