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| Cam Malpass |
What a joy
and privilege to get to enter into the lives of college students at NC State
and Meredith. And what an honor to have Church of the Apostles partner with me
and be part of what God is doing on the college campuses in Raleigh!
A
story of transformation
In August, I met Shea, a freshman at NC State. I started
meeting with her weekly. She is one of those students who I saw much potential
in and loved spending time with, yet often found myself frustrated by choices
that she was making. I would sometimes question Shea as to why in the world she
would want to meet with me each week—Shea wasn’t exactly the type of student
that you would picture meeting with a campus minister regularly. Early on in my
friendship with Shea, I told her that I was not going to give up on her and run
in the other direction, as I sensed she might be expecting me to do based on
things that she was telling me about her life and choices. I continued to meet
with Shea and pray for God to do something major in her life, draw her to
Himself and change her from the inside out.
I had asked Shea to come to our
Winter Conference but she wasn’t interested in giving up her New Year’s Eve
plans, so she told me “no”. In early
December, I really felt like the Lord was laying it on my heart to introduce
Shea to a friend of mine on staff in Kentucky. I met Kristen, this new staff
friend, last summer in Clearwater and her story and background seemed really
similar to Shea’s. I thought it would be helpful for Shea to talk to someone
who had been “in her shoes” and could relate and could show her that God CAN
change someone—even from really hard places. So, I asked Shea if she would be
willing to come to Greensboro for just one day of the conference. She said
she’d think about it.
On December 29th, Shea texted me
and said she was on her way to Greensboro. A few hours later, she texted and
said that she was in the lobby. I was ecstatic and expectant for what the Lord
might be about to do. Shea sat with me during the first speaker that morning
(the talk was about how the Gospel changes you) and then she had lunch with
Kristen and me. Kristen was able to share her story with Shea and for the first
time I began to see glimmers of hope in Shea’s eyes—maybe this Jesus really
could change her. Our lunch turned into a 6 hour conversation where eventually
through tears, Shea said that she wanted to place her trust and faith in
Christ. It was the most beautiful conversion I have ever experienced—Shea was
broken and genuine and cried out to the Lord that she needed Him to come and
change her life. She also stayed at the conference for another day!!
Shea texted this to me about her
experience: “I just can’t believe that I went to
Greensboro living my life one way and I came back a different person.”
Please pray for Shea as she and I
study the Bible together this semester and explore more of what this new life
in Christ means for her. Please also pray that God would deliver her from the
chains that have had her bound tightly for many, many years. We serve a big God
and we need for Him to show up to give her strength and power and courage to
walk away from many destructive things from her past.
How you can pray for my
ministry
1. Pray for my own walk with the
Lord – that I would experience increased intimacy with Him and that my ministry
would come as an overflow from my own personal walk with the Lord.
2. Pray for wisdom and discernment as I help give
leadership to this ministry – wisdom to love and care for the staff team
and students under my care at NC State and Meredith College.
3. In the beginning of February, we hosted a women’s event on
campus and saw 76 girls (51 of them in sororities) place their faith in Christ.
We are currently trying to meet one on one with each of these girls to follow
up with them to make sure they understand the decision they made and have a
community to join to help them grow. Please pray that we would be diligent to
get back with each of these girls and not allow any to fall through the cracks.
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