Encouraging Student Response

Recently on our h2o Church Facebook page, a Freshman student posted a very encouraging comment for our staff & leaders.  I wanted to post it for you as well so that you can also be encouraged that your prayers for our ministry are effective and because it specifically speaks of the work I do behind the scenes for h2o.  It is so encouraging that God is using my design and advertising work for His glory on campus.

"I can't thank God and all of you enough for making the first semester of my freshman year here at BGSU so amazing and memorable! I found out about you guys through a flyer (keep those coming and going!) and came the second week we were all here... h2o church has changed the way I think about worship and God at this stage in my life. h2o is my home church away from my home church! Everyone at h2o is incredibly nice and inviting... I invited three of my friends that go here to the Christmas service (which was AWESOME by the way!) and they want to come back!!! Praise God for allowing me to find you all and for all the blessings that have come this semester! God bless you all and thank you again for making Christianity in college important! God is good! :)" 


Check out the h2o Facebook page for more current events, posts, and announcements.

h2o Christmas Program

h2o designates the last Sunday of the fall semester to a special Christmas service.  This year, our staff leaders really wanted to go “big” — from hosting two separate services (morning & night) to incorporating a timed lighting sequence during the music with video.  (One of our talented students put together the advertising to the left which I reformatted for all our potential campus advertising venues. )

We prayed mightily as a staff team that this service would be a special outreach to students who perhaps only go to church once or twice a year (Christmas, Easter, and maybe during finals week for that last effort of prayer).  We prayed that the gospel would reach new ears and open hearts. Because I could not be there in person, I wanted to share some of the excitement with you through a note I received from my pastor about the response to this special event:

“... Sunday was our largest service in the history of our church. In fact, in 27 years we have never had even close to the amount of people come through our doors as this past Sunday. Between the 2 services there were over 600 people, but even if half of the people were repeat, that means there was around 480 to 500 people who came to h2o! That is literally crazy!

We have always worked hard to not judge success by numbers only, but we have also always felt that numbers do matter because the reality is that each number is a soul that matters deeply to God. Each number was a person who got to hear the message of the Cross! And when Rob (one of our pastors) asked people to stand up if they decided to follow Jesus 28 people in total stood to signify accepting Him!”

Thank you for your continued prayers for our ministry and the BGSU campus!  We are excited to see what God holds for our church in 2012, with the expectation that this might be our biggest year ever—and we will need God’s help all the more!

See and hear more from our Christmas program at: www.h2ochurch.com

November Ministry Update

About the only thing I can say about this year's Fall Getaway is: AMAZING!! With close to 550 students and staff in attendance, this year's Getaway was the best attended retreat/conference our churches have seen in a while - with over 200 in attendance from h2o Bowling Green alone.  Not only were the numbers impressive, but the general anticipation of students with open ears, hearts, and minds revealed a deeper certainty that the Lord was moving throughout the weekend.

Hosted by all four h2o Ohio churches at Heartland Retreat Center in Marengo, OH (conveniently just north of our Columbus home), we enjoyed the passionate and insightful teachings of Pastor Mike Smith and his wife Tammy about “Truth Matters.” (Mike also happens to be our pastor at VISTA Community Church here in Columbus which our family is now attending.)  In essence, we were reminded about the truth that absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s intense love for us, and we have a huge supply of everything we need to live a beautiful, powerful, impactful life of joy and peace.

I have always heard it said that Jesus didn’t come to destroy the Law of Moses, but to fulfill it.  Not only was he the last and greatest sacrifice that would ever be made to set us righteous before God, but he revolutionized the way we as Christians should take that intense love we receive from God and pass it onto others.  Where the OT law demanded that we carry someone’s burden for a mile, Jesus said we should take it for two miles. The bar for our standard of living as Christians has been set higher – not because of legalism or perfectionism – but that once we encounter that deeper Truth of God’s intense love for us, it should only be natural to pass that love onto others.

I also had the opportunity to hang out with some of the gals that I was discipling last year in my Fusion group.  It was not only fun and refreshing for me to see them again, but it also brought me great joy to see a good number of younger gals they now reach out to attend the Getaway! It was beautiful to see the impact they are having on others – as they are “living out” the love of God.  Overall, it was truly an amazing event and I feel blessed to have been a part of it again this year!


Want to experience more through pictures and video? Go to www.h2ochurch.com/#/resources/faces-places

Upcoming Event: IGNITE  Dec 28-30, 2011

Every other year, all the college churches with Great Commission Ministries Churches (GCMC) come together for a massive conference called IGNITE. Students from around the United States converge for this three day convention to celebrate what God is doing on our campuses, encourage and refresh each other in ministry, and be inspired over the winter break at how we can make a difference for God’s kingdom on our campuses.

This year I have had the awesome opportunity with my expanding regional church position to be a part of the planning and design concepts for IGNITE.  Mostly, I’ve been responsible for putting together this year’s conference website (www.gcmcignite.org) while handling a few of the graphic details (see graphic above.)  IGNITE is hosted at a sister community church here in Columbus, which is really close to our home. We are excited for the potential to host students at our house and to continue to impact the lives of college students.

h2o Bowling Green is praying for 100 students to give up part of their winter break to experience this awesome occasion.  Please pray with us (both Mark and I and our h2o staff) for the students God would send to IGNITE and into our home.