mercy pres...

I'm so thankful for many reasons that we work for a ministry, RUF- Reformed University Fellowship, that has at its core a Philosophy of Ministry that includes connection to the local church. Today was a beautiful example of this.

You see, upon graduation, college students won't have a campus ministry. So it's RUF's philosophy of ministry to be a bridge from the church (that's why every RUF campus minister is an ordained PCA pastor) to the campus. We exist to reach students for Christ, and then equip them to serve the Lord in every area of their lives, including a local church.

It's foundational to us for students to understand that the Church is God's plan. She is Christ's bride. To be united to Him is to also be united to His bride, the Church. We don't abandon the church when we don't like how she's acting. We don't leave her for something else that looks more attractive or seems more effective... for we know that Christ died for her-- his bride-- and therefore, we are called and committed to love and serve her just as He did.

Therefore, it is beyond thrilling to us when we see our RUF students join themselves to local churches, faithfully attending & serving in various capacities like nursery, worship team, teaching Sunday School to the kids, serving families in the church, etc.. Today our new church plant received its first set of new members today, (over 70+ joined!) and among them were several of our RUF students!

Thought you might enjoy some glimpses from this morning at Mercy Pres...


(since we don't have our own building yet, we meet in an elementary school cafeteria)


I love my job leading the worship team at our church!




Rob Edwards, pastor of Mercy Pres. (interesting tidbit: Rob was a former RUF campus minister at the University of Georgia for 12 years & so it was a treat when we heard he & Angie were coming to pastor our church plant!)
















potluck lunch together after church! yummm....


We could barely squeeze in a picture with all of the joining members! (over 70 of us!)

Praise God for the work He is doing, both in our hearts, in our church, and in our community!

"Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." -1 Peter 2:10