I am writing to you on a cold January day here in Princeton. The students here are just finishing their exams, which they have been completing, along with final papers, over the last three weeks. In this letter, I want to update you on the ministry that has been happening here, as well as alert you to several specific ways you can pray for us.
There are several ministry updates I want to give you. Even in the midst of this exam season, regular aspects of our ministry, including one-on-one discipleship, daily prayer meetings, and our weekly Leadership Lecture Series (LLS) have continued. This past week’s LLS was a hugely encouraging night for us as a ministry. We hosted Dr. Johnny Parker, an expert leadership coach and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Parker gave a talk on the importance of self-care in the life of a Christian. It was a rich and timely talk for our students.
Another encouraging development for our team was the addition of Cameron Garven as a new ministry fellow. Cameron brings a great deal of experience to our ministry—he has served as a pastor for over twenty-five years. In addition, Cameron has also served as adjunct professor at Cairn University. Cameron is a New Jersey native and is married with two children. We are thrilled to have him join our ministry!
This past week of ministry has also involved final, furious preparation for Ski Safari. Above all, we have been seeking to prepare ourselves through prayer and fasting. Ski Safari, as you likely know, is a week-long retreat that we take our students on, and this year roughly 80 students will be going. It is always a very spiritually significant time in the life of our ministry—it is far more than a ski retreat! We will have nightly sessions, focused on worship, praise, and the teaching of Scripture and daily breakout sessions on various topics related to the Christian life. Our speaker will be Andy Manzo, a ministry leader with Cru.
As you pray for our ministry, would you pray for the following three things:
(1.) Ski Safari—Would you pray for every aspect of this event? Above all, however, please pray that God will use this event to draw our students deeper in their Christian walks. Please also pray that any unsaved individuals will be saved at this event.
(2.) Bible Courses—As soon as we return from Ski Safari, the Spring semester will begin in earnest. As a result, please pray that students will return eager to study the Scriptures! This semester the majority of courses will be focusing on the book of Acts.
(3.) Prayer—We desire to grow in prayer as a ministry. Please pray that our ministry will have a culture of prayer in everything. Related to this, please pray for 12:1 (our daily time of prayer)—that students would come eager to pray and that we would be able to draw more students to be part of this gathering.
Thank you so much for your support of our ministry! We do our ministry, knowing that we are being held up in prayer by you.
Warmly,
Ryan Reed
Teaching Fellow
Christian Union at Princeton
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Princeton, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
