Looking Toward Fall
Tony and I got together with some of the leaders from our fellowship team this past weekend to discuss vision and planning for the fall. It was encouraging to be in fellowship with these leaders and to start turning my mind and heart toward what God has for our team and for the Rock as a whole in the fall.
Since Madeline was born, I’ve been on leave of absence from my ministry job duties, and it has been a mental leave of absence in many ways as well as a physical “not doing the work” type of absence. While I would think about things if asked a direct question, I definitely wasn’t thinking, dreaming and praying about what God has for the fall. I had been thinking and dreaming about packing, decorating our new house and finding bargains on cute clothes for Madeline. 
I’m excited to see what God has for our team in the fall. I feel like I am often on a team that is having a make-or-break year or semester, and this is no exception. My ministry team doesn’t have a lot of people in the dorms, and we’ll need to see some new faces if we want to have a signifiant dorm presence when the next year rolls around. And yet I am personally in a different position than ever. Having a baby to bring to the dorms should be girl-magnet for the first-three-weeks crazy outreach time, but I know that it won’t be practical to bring her there every night all year…she could be a distraction to things like Bible studies and prayer meetings if she starts screaming (and one of these days we might actually get her on a regular schedule that involves a bed time earlier than 11pm).
Even though it will look different than in the past, Tony and I are still convinced that God wants us doing campus ministry, just with a baby to make things more interesting. We don’t have it all figured out yet as far as what our schedule should look like in the fall or how my time can be most effective for the kingdom (like when I should be focused on Madeline, and when I should be focused on discipling/coaching women leaders or doing administrative stuff for the Rock)…but I am now in the mindset of starting to think, dream and pray more seriously as to what it should look like. One thing I am definitely thinking is that God can use our new house as a ministry tool to make doing college ministry with a baby more feasable. I am really hoping that we can continue using our home as we have this past year for meetings, dinners and people coming over to do laundry, but maybe even more so.
But for the moment, it’s back to packing…this move has to get done first before fall can come!