December 2017

Dear Partners in Prayer,

We are deeply grateful for your partnership in prayer!

Our Lord has been faithful, good, and gracious to our community here at Cornell this past semester. We have much to be thankful for.

Two new Ministry Fellows and a new intern started this summer. Carrie Jussely hails from Mississippi and brings with her multiple years of ministry to college students. Most recently she served as a missionary to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Me, Geoff Sackett and my wife and four young children are from northern Virginia, where I served graduate students through teaching, advising, and student life programming at Reformed Theological Seminary. Hannah Dorpfeld, our intern, graduated from Cornell in May, and brings to the ministry intimate experience and knowledge of Christian Union. Jim Thomforde continues to lead as Ministry Director and Liz Thomforde continues to faithfully serve as ministry assistant. The entire team is committed to and excited about ministering the love of Christ to this needy place.

It is difficult to encapsulate the highlights of this semester, but I will try. Our freshmen campaign resulted in many new additions to the Christian Union community. Our Bible courses are swelling and multiplying - in no small part because of the influx of freshmen but also because of outreach to returning students - allowing us to reach new people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our upperclassmen have done an admirable job taking interest in the spiritual health of the lowerclassmen.

We hosted acclaimed hymn writer and singer Matthew Smith, along with his band Indelible Grace, to a crowd of over two hundred students, in Sage Chapel. Several dozen of our students distributed over one thousand copies of the Gospel of John to unbelieving students on Ho Plaza. Most recently, our students answered questions (and delivered grilled cheese sandwiches) coming from nearly two hundred curious unbelievers on or near campus.

How can you continue to pray for us? That the students in our CU community would be refreshed in the gospel this Christmas. That the students who received the Gospel of John and those who had their questions answered over grilled cheese sandwiches (not to mention those who have engaged in informal conversations with staff and students about the gospel over the course of the semester) would be won over by the gospel. That our seniors would find jobs or graduate programs to their liking.

We give thanks to God for you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Geoff Sackett
Ministry Fellow
Christian Union at Cornell 

Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Cornell, please email prayer@christianunion.org.