Spring semester is literally flying by! I honestly can’t believe that by the time most of you are reading this update we will officially have surpassed the halfway point of the semester. Although we were a little worried about how the Omicron variant might impact our ability to meet as a student org, we have been so incredibly blessed to have an almost normal start to the semester! Praise the Lord!
Our spring intern, Josh Beck, has been hard at work learning the flow of life in the ROC community and has done a fantastic job connecting with our students and helping with some of the essential functions of the ministry. In addition, Josh will be heading to the OVCA Jr/Sr High retreat this weekend, along with a few ROC leaders, to help lead small groups. He will also be teaching the students on Sunday morning during the service at camp! We have been greatly blessed through Josh’s involvement and pray that we may have “rubbed off on him” in some good ways as well!
Back at the beginning of this month I had the opportunity to escort my son to Piedras Negras, Mexico where he will be serving for the next several months as an intern with Crossroads Missions. If you read our last ROC update you were able to read a little about this from his perspective. While I’ve never had the experience of dropping a kid off at college and driving away, I can definitely say that dropping Trey off in Mexico and driving away without him was a little tougher than I expected. That being said, I’m incredibly excited for him and the opportunity he has to serve and love people in Jesus’ name while he is there.
Speaking of Mexico, please be praying for ROC’s team that will be departing Cincinnati early on the morning of March 5th to travel to Piedras to serve alongside Crossroads and Trey! While I’m certainly excited to see my son, I’m equally excited to see our team experience this field that I love so much while also experiencing God working through their efforts to bless others.
Because it’s spring semester, that means ROC is already hard at work training up a brand-new generation of leaders! I can’t describe how excited I am about this process, as our student leaders guide and shape our community, and training leaders online just isn’t the same as in-person training. This semester we have 5 students going through training with plans of serving the community this fall. Additionally, we are hoping to train 3 additional students this summer who couldn’t take part in the spring training. This is a great position to be in heading into fall, considering that we will be saying “good-bye” to several of our leaders who helped guide us through the pandemic this Spring at graduation. Please pray for both of these groups!
Finally, I wanted to say “thanks” to all of you who have been praying for us throughout the year. I truly believe that your efforts in prayer on our behalf have really made the difference in helping us successfully navigate a tricky year. I pray that you are blessed by our students, what God is doing through them, and the ways God continues to use the community to impact the kingdom.
Blessings,
-Dodger