Mountains & Valleys
There are currently 20 million students studying on college campuses across the country.
Only 2% of them are being reached by a Christian ministry on their campus.
This is the mission field for Jonathan Wagner and Emily Gaskins, our College Ministry team. Jonathan and Emily frequent the UCF and Valencia campuses, walking with students through the highs and lows of navigating a world that is often tumultuous, confusing, and deeply broken.
In Jonathan’s words, their mission is “to share the love and message of Jesus: His Kingdom, His way, His sacrifice, His beauty, His hope. These are manifested in the relationships between His people. What students really need most is the presence of God, and we are privileged to embody it.”
For every story of triumph there are stories filled with brokenness. Students are often navigating both at the same time. First Pres’ CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) College Ministry exists to walk alongside students through those mountains and valleys, to help young people navigate the rough terrain of life and point them toward the Truth – life is difficult, but God is with us.
College Ministry is bearing fruit. But it is fruit that is often hard-won through toil and tears. “College Ministry isn’t awesome because life is perfect and students are living their best lives,” says Jonathan. “It’s great because their lives aren't perfect, and Jesus is the only way to true life. The college years expose how absolutely insufficient everything else is to give us what we need.”
This dichotomy between the insufficiency of worldly life and the true life of Christ is exemplified in the changes experienced by the students engaging with our College Ministry:
Whether it's Annie Carbonneau, who continues to choose peace over anxiety in the midst of conflict with friends.
Or Jansen Chen, who has come to understand the truth and purpose of baptism and will get baptized this summer alongside his sister.
Or Jonathan Green, who continues to cling to Jesus as he wages spiritual war against perfectionism.
Or Elle Koch, who is learning to practice humility amidst discouragement.
Or Julius Jones, who, with a few other students, imagined and initiated a space for monthly worship and prayer.
Or Madi Lee, who chooses to believe in the Lord and pursue Him, even while filled with doubt and confusion.
Or Ella Hielman, who now reads the Bible on her own and desires to be like Jesus above the temptations of college life.
This is only a handful of the transformations that are taking place through our College Ministry. Perhaps this semester’s fruit is best summed up in the words of Ana Wunderlich:
"I asked God over and over to change my circumstances and take the difficulty away. But He didn't. Yet it was in the pit where I truly – for the first time – learned how to cry out to God and pray.”
Christ meets us where we are, no matter where that is, in all of our struggles. The story of this life – as told in the Bible – is that God comes to us, whether that’s on the top of the mountain or in the depths of the valley. As the Psalmist says:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Psalm 139:7-8
Ministering on college campuses is a labor of love. But it is work that is absolutely worth doing. As Jonathan says:
“It is laborious to trek with students up steep mountains into the presence of the Lord. It is similarly toilsome to traverse the dangerous crags and dark caverns of college life. Students are discovering (and we are re-discovering) that the Lord is present there too.”
CLICK to learn more about our College Ministry, and resolve to get involved today!