Christian Student Fellowship

Our year at the University of Nebraska-Kearney has gotten off to a great start! We have been able to make really good connections with a lot of new students so far, because our student leaders are really starting to understand that this is their campus ministry! They have been fantastic in reaching out to Freshmen and other new students, as well as using those opportunities God gives them to share what Jesus is doing in their life and why campus ministry is so important.

We have a Freshman Community Group that is going really well. It meets on Wednesday nights, and so far, we have had anywhere from 15-20 Freshmen attending. It's helped us identify some really solid leaders already, and we have been able to connect with all of these students much easier than we would have with just a large gathering once a week. We have 4 student leaders helping to lead this group through the end of the semester. The plan right now is to assimilate those Freshmen into other community groups in the early Spring!

At our gathering on Tuesday nights, we've consistently had around 60-plus students at the CSF House to participate in worship, Bible study, and fellowship. We're studying the book of Acts together and it's been awesome to see new faces at CSF every week. This is so encouraging, because it lets us know that we are connecting with and reaching more students than just those that are there at CSF on a given week!

We've also started to have a student share his or her "Jesus story" (testimony) each week as a way to build community by allowing students to get to know each other in an open and honest way, while at the same time cast the vision for newer students what a growing relationship with Jesus Christ looks like! After a student shared her Jesus story one night, we even had 2 other students get baptized!

We've also had some special events that have gone really well this year! At our BBQ during Welcome Week and a Waffle Bar during Homecoming, we served food to almost 200 students at each event! I'm also excited for the upcoming Barn Dance we are hosting for students. All of these events are an outreach to all UNK students and provide us with an opportunity to love our neighbors on campus! Please pray for us to be faithful and bold in representing Jesus on campus at UNK!

~ Arick Johanson, CSF Lead Campus Minister at UNK & Clay Center Christian Church Timothy