Thursday Night Worship at The Gate: Jan 19

Thursday night was the kickoff for the Spring semester at the McKendree College Baptist Collegiate Ministry, also known as The Gate. One of my plans this semester is to have a worship service every other week where McKendree graduates who are serving in the ministry come back and speak to current students about how they can make a difference in people's lives. Kind of a "I was in your shoes a short time ago and understand what you are going through and you can make a difference sooner than you think." Our first guest speaker was Noah Oldham, a 2004 McKendree graduate who is a charter member of The Gate and out first student Bible study ledader.

Thanks Noah for helping us kick off our new semester at The Gate. Noah is currently a Pastor at Little Chapel in Harrisburg, Illinois. Noah is incredibly bold in his faith and the Lord has really used Noah to work on the hearts all who meet him.

Music was led by Mike Cheeseman and we definitely felt the presence of the Holy Spirit during the entire evening.

We had about 30 students show up for our kickoff service and we are looking forward to what the Lord wants to do with us this semester.

We will have Danny Walls, a Youth Minister at First Baptist Church of O'Fallon, Illinois with us on February 2. Danny is a 2003 McKendree graduate. There is nothing so satisfying in my couple of years running The Gate than to see young, dynamic Christians make a commitment to the ministry. Praise God.

I bought a new digital camera for our annivesary and promise to post many more pictures this year. These are from Thursday.