Gabrielle Umana shares how touched her life through a small group study while attending the University of Michigan. Her candid and sincere testimony will inspire you to trust God and wait on him to give you deliverance in times of trouble.
by Cori Matsui-Hernandez, MSU alumni
This is part two of Cori’s talks on how to have meaningful devotions. As college students, many things demand our time and quickly ebb away at out personal time with Jesus. Cori shares from her experience of how to connect with God after a long academic day that might have been draining both mentally and emotionally. She shares tips on how to prepare you busy mind to be able to be still and hear God’s voice through His Word. Check out the video below.
If you didn’t catch Part 1, click here to watch the first video.
Written by Erika Hernandez, CAMPUS Missionary 2020-2021
Amid the great nation of Israel, a small group of sons of the prophets stayed faithful when idolatry was taking over the nation. Amid the Philistine ready attack, Jonathan and his servant proclaimed the words of faith “… for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. (King James Version 1 Sam. 14:6). So, amid the secular parties of the universities, a small group was found gathered on the Sabbath to worship.
Collegiate Sabbath is a special event that happens twice a school year: once each semester. A different university public campus ministry hosts it every semester, and the other Adventist Student Fellowships (ACF) organizations come together to support them.
On Sabbath March 20th, 2021 a group of committed university students decided to safely come together to worship the Lord amid the still seen effects of COVID-19. This year, Campus H.O.P.E., the student-led church at the University of Michigan, hosted the collegiate Sabbath. Students came from Michigan State University, Wayne State University and community colleges.
The program began with Sabbath School at 10:30 AM led by Gabrielle Umana, UMich, discussing the powerful chapter of Romans 5. We learned about faith and most importantly the beautiful role of sacrifice Christ played on our behalf: how great sinners we are, but how merciful our heavenly Father is, giving His Son, giving us peace and reconciling us to Him.
Many students were impacted by a special feature by Sebastien Braxton, former MTP program director, recounting of the history of the Center for Adventist Ministry to Public University Students (C.A.M.P.U.S.), the missionary training program (MTP) in East Lansing, which started in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. The missionary program started with young people who loved God and desired to hasten His coming. After it was in Ann Arbor for over ten years, it moved to East Lansing with Michigan State University as its focus university campus.
The most pivotal part of this divine service was the sermon by S. Braxton. We listened as he shared from James chapter 1, expounding on temptation and trials, leading us to see the importance of how much we love Jesus will impact when we decide to give into temptation or not. “At the temptation, our love for Jesus is weighted”, declared Sebastien Braxton. “Do we love Jesus so much that we won’t dare to sin against Him, or not love Him enough to be drawn away [by our] own lust and sin.” Yet, we also learned the beautiful lesson that amid trials and temptations there is a a blessing, “blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him (James 1:12).
When the service ended, the day was not over. A delicious lunch and fellowship time was prepared for the students in the gym of the Ann Arbor Church. Students sat together, meeting each other, and sharing how God has led their public campus ministry during this unprecedented year.
After the delicious meal and fellowship together, a few of the faithful remnant went out to the University of Michigan for outreach. We gathered at Central campus to survey students about their interest in joining the Christian organization and joining Bible studies. After we prayed, we partnered together and began to engage with the University of Michigan students. The students were open to share their prayer requests and many were interested in God and the Bible. It was inspiring to see Gos awaken the interests in students and have spiritual conversations.
Once we finished the surveys, we came back together at a park, to enjoy God’s beautiful nature, and to pray for the requests and for those students who filled the survey. Each of us prayed for the people we met. The Holy Spirit seemed especially present as we interceded for each name; the blessing truly was ours in praying for others.
This collegiate sabbath was a blessing, through the witness of the Holy Spirit working in us moving and changing our hearts. I was moved by God’s hand at work: to see a group of young adults willing to work for God, not just one but many, to see there is a deep earnestness in them to seek God and out of love towards Him, they seek those around them who may not know Him, to overcome fear, depend on the Lord, and see the miracles of answered prayers. However, God’s work is not finished yet. Students are still listening to the Holy Spirit’s call. The Lord is working on their behalf, and God fulfills His promises. ” Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ…”(Phil. 1:6)
Pastor Israel Ramos continues his series, expounding on the comforting message found in the sermon on the mount. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” The idea of being thirsty and hungry are usually not associated with being happy. Pastor Israel gives us insights into what we receive when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.
By Pastor Israel Ramos
Continuing his series, Pastor Israel Ramos expounds on the comforting message found in the sermon on the mount. “Blessed are those who mourn.” He helps students discover the stepping stones to becoming more like Jesus.
by Anthony Petroff, Lansing Community College Student
My name is Anthony Petroff, I currently go to Lansing Community College, and I am studying Computer Networking and Cybersecurity. I currently live, and was born and raised, in East Lansing, Michigan. Getting to know Christ and His word has been a long journey for me, but a fulfilling one. Unlike many of my friends, I was not born and raised in a Christian household. My parents both adopted an agnostic but quasi-spiritual worldview after they both had terrible experiences with abuse and shunning from different Christian groups. They taught me this worldview when I was young, along with an anti-Christian sentiment. As I grew up they had pressed onto me that Christianity was nothing more than a scam to take money from those that were too stupid to know any better, that it was a means to comfort and control people, an “opiate of the masses.”
Yet as I grew into my early teens, I began to question the validity of their words. As I entered high school and met and became friends with several Christians, I started to wonder about what I had been told growing up? Were my friends really evil or being taken advantage of like my family stated? Was Christianity exactly like my parents had claimed it to be? At the same time, I found myself going through what felt like a crisis. All around me I saw senseless suffering. To everyone I knew, suffering was the baseline of their life, any joy or satisfaction seemed to be the exception, not the rule. In my own life, I could not help but feel unsatisfied, as if something wasn’t right, or that I was missing something. Every experience I chased after couldn’t fill this hole in my chest, only at best distract me from it for a time. What was I missing? What was the point of it all? Was it all meaningless? All of these thoughts raced around my mind as I went about my ordinary day.
While I was questioning these things, one day a friend of mine invited me to a Christian club that was being started at my school, the “Christian Student Union.” Not wanting to disappoint my friend, I accepted his invitation and went along with him. As I walked in and started talking amongst everyone, I couldn’t help but find myself not taking things seriously. How long did I have to be here to satiate my friend? Would it be too socially awkward if I left now? While I considered how to best escape, the meeting started, and someone lead out in prayer. Not wanting to ostracize myself, I mimicked everyone’s actions and listened along to the prayer. While I did this, I realized that I would need to take the group seriously, if I wanted to confirm whether or not my parent’s claims were valid, to see if Christianity really was what they said it was. As everyone was praying, I prayed that God would reveal himself to me, if He truly existed.
From that moment on throughout the rest of the meeting, I felt this presence around me, and had this strange experience of being loved by something. After some time, I realized that it must be God reaching out to me. As I sat and listened to the group go over the Bible, and describe the life of Jesus, and the reality of sin and suffering, everything that I had pondered began to make sense. Afterwards, as I grabbed a copy of the Bible and began to read through the New Testament, all of my fears, doubts, and questions were made clear by this overwhelming sense of reason and understanding. It was from that moment on, that I considered myself a Christian, and pursued God in every way I could.
Although my family was shocked by my revelation and prevented me from going to church, I diligently studied and learned as much as I could about the Bible in my spare time throughout high school. As I transitioned into college, I followed my peers and went to a First Assembly of God church while I was at MSU. It was there that I stumbled upon the SDA’s campus group while I was looking at all of the student groups at MSU’s Sparticipation, an event where all student clubs tried to entice freshmen to join. They caught my eye with a flyer they hung from the bleachers: “$5000 to whoever can point to where in the Bible it states the Sabbath is on Sunday.” This intrigued me, and I felt arrogant enough that I could answer them, thinking about Genesis and other sections I had studied. However, when I went to talk with the members present, I found myself being politely refuted with every argument I brought up, until I was left dumbfounded at the group’s wisdom when it came to the Bible. Although I felt embarrassed for being so thoroughly shown wrong, the group impressed me with their character and knowledge, and I took them up on their offer to meet with them afterwards.
It was from repeated meetings and hangouts with the SDA student group that I slowly became friends with a few of them. As I got to know them, they began to speak to me often about the Sabbath, and the fallible doctrines of other groups. While I got to know them, I made some poor personal choices and fell into a deep depression, and kept my distance from them and everyone else. After a year, I ran into the group again, and spent time with them off and on, as I continued in my studies, not really taking them seriously. However, after a few years, I really started to question my faith, as it had stagnated, and wondered if there was truth to their words. After meeting with them, and taking their words seriously, the Sabbath really started to weigh on my heart. Was it a commandment that I was missing? Is it still something Christians are called to observe?
It was after several serious studies with one of my friends from SDA UChurch, that I felt convicted in my action of ignoring the Sabbath. After several more meetings with Pastor Jermaine at UChurch, I felt convicted to be baptized into the church, partly because I had never really been properly baptized, and partly as a sign of my commitment to God. Before I was baptized, I felt alone and isolated on MSU’s campus and in East Lansing, but now I have a group of family and friends who support me in life, and in my walk with Christ.