When CAMPUS first relocated to East Lansing, the goal was to run a more cost effective program, be more centrally located, and better connect with other conference departments. Moving next door to the East Lansing University Church also afforded greater ministry synergy. Although the move has introduced new challenges to ministry, we continue to thank God for His constant guidance, support, and blessing.
With Public Campus Ministry emerging as a necessary Seventh-day Adventist Ministry, CAMPUS has been placed in the spotlight on several occasions. It has also been able to stand from a position of leadership to train others on how to do Public Campus Ministry.
Here is the growing impact that we are grateful for:
- RESIDENCY
The CAMPUS Ministerial Residency focuses on training young future ministers in Public Campus Ministry. It was launched three years ago, accepting two residents per term. Since the launch of the program, three young people have been hired into pastoral ministry. We consider this to be building on our past successes. No other program is emphasizing pastoral ministry in the public campus context. Thus, CAMPUS has more than 10 gradates in current pastoral or administrative ministry. Additionally, more than half of North American Division chaplains or public campus ministry practitioners have direct links to CAMPUS. - WEB PRESENCE
Although CAMPUS has not been able to publish much of its training resources, it continues to have a significant impact via the web–where most of our resources and pictures of our latest events are sometimes posted. Over the past year, our website had more than 30,000 hits. More than 90% of the people that visited our website browsed an average of three pages per visit. In addition to this, our most popular Facebook picture posts have as many as 6,000 plus views. This means that CAMPUS continues to be a strong leader in Public Campus Ministry and that it still holds the attention of those interested in this work. - RETREATS & CONFERENCES
Over the last couple of years we streamlined the purpose of our retreats and conferences to have a more intentional emphasis on evangelism and training. The number of attendees continues to grow, being an indication of student leadership development taking place within our conference and beyond. At our last Public Hi-C Retreat, more than 250 people attended the event held at Camp Au Sable. Our impression is that it would not have been very difficult to attract 300 participants if we had enough room to house them all. Public Hi-C is a Michigan brainchild and does not exist in any other conference. In most cases, it is unthinkable to bring public college and high school students together for an event. During our latest conference 11 people made commitments for baptism and 20 to give a year of their lives to missions. About 60-70 of our attendees were not Seventh-day Adventists. - SMALL GROUPS
The development of our small groups held at the CAMPUS House has also experienced tremendous growth. The CAMPUS House has not only afforded office and dormitory space–it has provided a place for college ministry to take place nearly every day of the week. Currently, our small group study fills the house with students eager to fellowship and know more about God’s Word. Plans are being laid for our Fall Semester where we plan to hold small groups every day on a variety of topics, including: Health, Daniel & Revelation, Apologetics, and the Gospels! - LOCAL MINISTRY
The significance of establishing a local structure cannot be underestimated. Not only is it groundbreaking in terms of Public Campus Ministry for the Seventh-day Adventist Church; but it also streamlines student ministry within the various student organizations that make up Michigan Conference PCM. The structure allows for student leadership development and the involvement of the local church. It also partners with local church pastors to empower them to serve as chaplains on college campuses.
CAMPUS is thankful to God for all of its supporters and ministry partners. Thank you for believing in this ministry!
