Last Month’s Ministry Letter Recap: Fear and Faith
Well after 7 eventful months, I am proud to announce that with your help I’ve reached full support in campus ministry! Throughout these last 7 months, over 50 different people have decided to come alongside me in this work by supporting me with prayer and financial support to overall equip Black students to become disciples of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord!
Likewise, within that body, we as a team represent over 14 different states, and that network is only growing! So, with all of that being said, I THANK GOD SO MUCH for helping me get to this point! I’m super grateful and blessed to be participating in this work, and there’s so much on the radar that I’m excited to share about.
Nonetheless, as both the year and my networking season come to a close, I think it’s only fitting to think of this letter as the season finale of volume 1 in ministry! A new phase of stage of growth is right around the corner, and here’s my biggest takeaways from this season.
December 18th, 2024 - God’s Timing
In August, I distinctly remember a conversation with someone in which they expressed how unfortunate it was that I still was in the process of developing ministry partners (MPD). And having listened to their sentiment I don’t know why or how, but I challenged them and said what’s unfortunate about it?
Having been on numerous mission trips before, I believed in my heart that God would have me fully funded whenever the heck he felt like it; and even though I personally preferred for this season to end as quickly as possible (as you can probably tell from my previous letters), I also was seeing how intentional God was in building a community and network to come alongside me in this work.
From meeting chaplains, community psychologists, educators, and even CEOs, I have seen God divinely orchestrate conversations on my behalf; so much so that I’ve quickly come to realize that ministry is significantly successful at building social networks! (I probably wouldn’t know 80% of you, if I was in grad school or the corporate world right now. And with that being said I wouldn’t change a thing.)
Hence, to pretty much sum this entire season up, I reference a conversation I had last week, in which a partner of mine stated…
“Maurice, you might feel like there’s more you should be doing to get to reach God’s purpose for you, but there’s nothing more you can do. If you rush the process, you’ll become something you think you should be, instead of something God created you to be. So, embrace the process, and God will take care of the timing.”
Thus, when looking all the way back to that conversation in August, I remind myself again that there’s nothing unfortunate about the timing of God. There are many things he taught me in the “waiting” and I wouldn’t be the same without the process.
January 1st, 2025 - A Potential Future
Right alongside God’s teaching on timing, this season has also taught me something new about doing ministry in community.
As I’ve mentioned in previous letters, these last couple of months have been a grind in community. Many other Impact staff are deep in the process of trusting God’s timing, and as much as my season ended, I also cannot have peace until I see other staff members reach their goals too. So who knows, maybe that looks like coaching future staff members through these seasons, and encouraging them to trust God, and most importantly PRAY.
I have quickly learned, PRAYER needs to be EVERYTHING. Thus, even with future ministry partner development (MPD); I think missionaries would benefit in seeing it as ministry prayer development (MPD), or ministry prayer partner development (MPPD) for the more traditional people out there.
Hence, I want you to imagine what it could look like for anyone entering a ministry partnership space, and rather than viewing the space from a fundraising perspective; the individual was challenged to view ministry partnership within a framework of prayer. Where missionaries can build a prayer a team, pray for who to reach out to, pray for their contacts, and pray for God to provide. In my opinion, I think this is a beautiful model for MPPD; and who knows maybe I’ll be able to see something come together in the future.
So, with all that being said, I think it’s only fitting to end this newsletter and volume by lifting up some words of prayer!
My Prayer Requests
1. I pray for divine connections and funding for my other laborers in ministry.
2. I pray for The Impact National Conference on Dec 28th to Jan 1st.
(For transportation, funding, students, speakers, logistics, and anything else that comes to mind).
3. I pray that you have a restful Christmas break and a Happy New Years!
None of this work would be possible without your partnership, and from the words of Toy Story “I am eternally grateful!”