Greetings from Penn!
I am still pushing toward our summer goals of building the support base for CU Martus and CU Fire Retreats. Thankfully, the Lord is blessing those efforts and showing his faithfulness. The summer has also been a great time to seek the Lord, make new connections for the ministry, and write a “game plan” for the upcoming semester.
Part of this game plan is identifying our top three goals for the ministry. This focus will allow myself, future faculty at CU Martus, and student leaders to diligently execute the mission of Christian Union to “develop and connect transformative Christian leaders.” Our three goals are: 1) increase Christian leadership capacity of our students, 2) fervent, wholehearted, seeking the Lord, and 3) steeped in Scripture. All things at CU Martus will be aimed toward meeting these three goals — these goals, in terms of how we function as a ministry, are our highest priority.
In sharing these goals with my student executive team, there has been much excitement and motivation to see these goals attained. I now have the opportunity to develop, or “flesh out,” exactly how we will fulfill these goals with student leaders. Leading students to see the distinctions within our goals will be critical to fulfilling Christian Union’s mission. First, there is a fundamental difference between a Christian leader and a leader—Christian leaders primarily obey God and lead others in doing the same. Secondly, our goal to seek the Lord will indirectly fulfill goal #1, while also rooting our students with the wisdom and ability to seek God their entire life. Lastly, our students need to know how to think concerning the scriptures. Much like the Bereans of Acts 17:11, our aim is to teach them to diligently search the scriptures so they know how to think, and not necessarily what to think — this type of approach will fulfill the latter #2 goal while also equipping them for future success. Fulfilling just one goal will also have a multiplicative effect on the others.
With these three goals in mind, we are also planning pre-retreat. By the time I write to you again, we will have completed pre-retreat and be well into our Freshman Welcoming Campaign. Our goal is to add 40 freshmen to the ministry this year, by God’s grace and diligent leadership we will be successful. Please join me in praying for:
- Pre-retreat: that the Lord would grant us the grace to seek him, and that students would, like Isaiah, see God and say, “Here I am! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
- Freshman Welcoming Campaign: our goal is to add 40 freshmen to the ministry. Pray that the Holy Spirit would draw students, Christian and non-Christian, unto God.
- Women’s Ministry Fellow: we are still searching for a women’s ministry fellow at Penn. Please pray that the Lord would send whom He’s chosen for this role.
- Support base and CU Fire Retreats: I still have a few weeks to work on these projects. Please pray for the Lord’s favor and provision.
Thank you for your support and prayers! As a good friend of mine says when he’s setting up 50,000 Christmas lights every year, “it’s gonna be the best year ever!”
Cory Lotspeich
Ministry Director
Christian Union Martus
