All Stories Have an Inciting Incident

THE SEMESTER HAS STARTED

Classes have started! Our students are on campus and they are excited to be back. Before we start talking about some of the details, I thought it would be best to define some of the terms we use. We have specific terms that are part of our vernacular.

WORDS WE USE ON A REGULAR BASIS:

CORES: Cores are our small groups that meet up on a weekly basis. At Richland, these are gender specific. During core, we share scripture and we fellowship. Cores are the center of our ministry. 

CORE Facilitators: We call them corefas as a shorthand. These are the people that lead our small groups. Corefas are the student leaders. I am leading core this year with Dayo! Dayo is so friendly and when I grow up, I want to have his people skills! I am beyond blessed and excited to work with Dayo this year. 

This is Dayo. This was taken at our Returner Bash!

This is a picture of our Leader Team this year!

FOJ: “Focus on Jesus.” This is the name of the study we use during our one-on-one time with students. We have a new one this year covering the story of the bible. Our older one is a topical study covering central topics of scripture. We will be using a combination of both studies this year!

TNT: “Thursday Night Thunder.” This is our weekly service that we have on Thursday nights. If anyone wants to visit a TNT, they are welcomed to!

WELCOME WEEK

We started preparation for welcome week with a corefa prep session. All of our student leaders are first year core facilitators. We spent the entire day preparing them for welcome week and leading core. After prep day ended, the students and I went to Starbucks for some extra energy before our Returner Bash. We saw a student on their laptop registering for classes and it turned out he was from Richland! I encouraged the students to practice what we had learned and we spoke to the student. Seeing the students reach out was life giving!

This is a picture from that exchange!

This was taken at our Returner Bash.

We started our welcome week with different events! God reminded me about how small our world can be. I met people that I have mutual connections with. We played sports and played games!

We also had our TNT Kickoff! We had our very first Thursday Night Thunder of the year! We had sign ups for people that wanted to help setting up the room for TNT and for the worship team and we had a lot of sign ups! I am encouraged by our Richland community’s heart to serve and participate.

This was taken during the sermon. Sirak was encouraging
students to be steadfast this year!

LOOKING AHEAD:

• We are starting cores in September! Please pray for our corefas and the students we reach out to. We want everyone to come to core and be encouraged, challenged, and loved.
• Please pray for our outreach efforts. We want to reach as many students as we can! Pray that we listen to the Spirit and follow His leading towards the students He wants us to meet.
• Please pray for me as I am still getting used to the transition from student leader to staff member. 

If any of you have any prayer requests, feel free to reach out to me! Thank you so much for supporting me with prayers and financial support. You make me feel encouraged and loved by all you guys say and do!

Life on campus is picking up and I am excited at what is to come. Things are moving and I am looking forward to see where the Lord is taking Richland FOCUS this year!

With Love,
Josh