Fall Retreat
October 7th, 2007 by Alexander Taylor
by Emma Flores
This years retreat focused on guarding our hearts, I guess I had never really thought about guarding my heart yet being out at Harding Lake really gave me the time to connect with God and see how important it is to guard my heart. When Lydia and I drove out there it was as if I was being re-awakened, as though the burdens of everyday life were beginning to fade. The drive down the winding road was beautiful as the leaves were changing colors and the mountain ahead of us was covered in snow. Being able to spend time with Lydia was great because I got to connect with another UCMer and as the rest of the group appeared it was like being at home with family.
We worshiped with song and David Moore led our discussions of guarding our hearts along with the need for prayer in our lives. We made prayer bracelets that included these wonderful beads that symbolized the different parts of the ACTS prayer: invitation, adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. The cross was added first and then the invitation bead followed by seven other beads and it continued on, the cross symbolizes Jesus and the invitation is Him inviting us to pray. Not us inviting him to pray. Now isn’t that amazing? He is the one waiting for us; I never thought Jesus was waiting for me to pray with an invitation. Maybe you didn’t either, but if you didn’t come on the retreat I wanted to share this with you.
Okay so I keep mentioning guarding our hearts, after all this is where our goodness flows from right? It comes from God but through our hearts, yet who would ever think it is so important to guard them from everyday things? David asked us to take a heart cut out and draw four things on it that represent how God has worked in our life, how our faith journey with God has been shaped and has grown. We later talked about everyone’s hearts and what God had written on their heart. It was amazing to hear what God had written on other’s hearts, and how similar and yet how different we all were. It seems to me that although you may know a Christian, you don’t really know them until you’ve heard what God has written on their heart.
For all those who missed out, we are sorry we missed you at the retreat, but we hope to see you at our other events. These events not only help us to keep our hearts guarded by surrounding ourselves with Christian fellowship, it also recharges us so that we can have the strength to return to our everyday lives knowing that God is with us always just as close as He is out at the retreat.
Annual Dinner, October 13
October 5th, 2007 by Alexander Taylor
UCMers, it is that time of year. Classes are in full swing. There is a chill in the air threatening snow. Leaves cover the ground in gold. Fall is here!
It also means the Annual Dinner is just around the corner. This is a time to dress up and go out to a nice dinner, enjoy fellowship with friends, and get a chance to know our sponsors.
Mark your calendars for 6:30 pm, Saturday, October 13. I hope to see you all there!
Newletter and Updates
December 19th, 2006 by Administrator
The December newsletter has been posted. We apologize for the delay in recent updates; the end of the semester can get very hectic. We expect to have more updates soon.
Making a Joyful Noise
November 20th, 2006 by Clarissa Ribbens
The morning of Sunday the 19th about a dozen of us headed over to UCPC church to lead their 10:30 service. After practicing before hand with the expected amount of confusion over microphones and who should stand where when and “wait, which mic is the speaking one?”, we began service with a lovely instrumental piece. We had an excellent band; David as always lead the way on guitar, and Josh continued his awesome service on the drum. In addition to these two we had a flute, played by Debbie, piano by Carrie and Harmony joined us for the first time on the snare. The rest of us sang and led the congregation in several songs in addition to a special piece that we did alone. Other than a little confusion about which verses were being done, and a few slightly stratospheric lines, it went great! Several people led the congregation in prayer and Dave gave a very nice sermon.
I liked that we led the entire service rather than just doing the singing. It made it seem like we had more on a role, and was probably less confusing. It was encouraging to hear several people come up to us afterwards and compliment us on our singing, I guess we didn’t sound too bad! Overall it was a very nice morning, a fun opportunity to step outside our normal box and a good way to thank UCPC for their support of UCM over the years.
Food Bank and Chena Hot Springs This Saturday
November 8th, 2006 by Alexander Taylor
The Food Bank usually packs boxes on the first and third Saturdays of the month, however, with the third Saturday being on Thanksgiving weekend the second packing day has been moved to this upcoming Saturday. Some UCMers are going to help out before heading down to Chena with the rest of UCM. If you are interested in joining us, meet at the Office (306 Constiution Hall) at 9:00am.
Around 2pm we will meet in the UCM office before heading to the Hot Springs. We will swim for a few hours before having dinner at the Chena Lodge. Come join us for a nice warm soak. Please bring $5 to get in and money for dinner. Don’t forget a bathing suit and a towel.
Day to Pray, Food Bank, Volleyball
November 8th, 2006 by Alexander Taylor
Last Tuesday, UCM had a Day of Prayer. We broke the day into 30 minute blocks from 8am to 5pm. Students signed up for a block of time to pray. David and Kathleen gave up the office for the day so Students could pray in the back in private and in peace. Emma Flores thought the day went well saying, “I couldn’t believe how fast those 30 minutes went!” Harmony said she liked it because she had been looking for some direction in her life and was going to pray for that direction. She said that the prayer guilde that David left for us had a list of verses, and the one Harmony looked up fit her circumstance.
Saturday UCM, joined by Called to Duty (CtD), went to the Food Bank to pack boxes for the Bush and children. We had a really big group, about of UCMers and four CtD guys; we made up about half of the workers that day. Work went very fast with so many hands. Dispite having to repack two and a half pallets of boxes, we helped to pack about 350 boxes.
Saturday night was the last home game of the Volleyball season. More importantly it was UCMer, Katrina Jensen’s, last home game of her senior year. David Moore, his family, and Emma, dedicated supporters of Katrina, were joined by a number of other UCMers to cheer her, and the rest of the Nanook Volleyball team to a, three game to one, victory over the UAA Seawolves.
Monday Night Dinner
October 25th, 2006 by Alexander Taylor
Dinner on Monday was wonderful. Emma and Megan made tacos for us. Emma even made homemade tortillas. They were concerned that they had made too much food, but we saw a great turn out; 22 people.
Below are a few photos of the night, courtesy of Jeff Mayfield.
Upcoming Events in October
October 20th, 2006 by Alexander Taylor
Mark your calendars and join us as we fellowship together. We have three more events coming up later this month.
Dinner
We have a dinner coming up on Monday, October 23. Megan and Emma will be preparing Tacos for us and Clarissa is hosting us at her place in SAC 104. Bring your appitite and meet us at 6:30pm.
Game Night
Saturday, October 28, we will be getting together in the multi-level lounge in the Wood Center for some games. Bring your favorit board game or just yourself for an evening of laughter and fun.
Day of Prayer
Tuesday, October 31, we will be praying throughout the day, from 8am to 5pm. The day has been divided into 18, 30 minute segments. There is a signup sheet for the available times. If you would like to pray, but are unable to make it to Bible Study or Vespers, please email the office.
UCM’s Website Gets a Facelift
October 18th, 2006 by Alexander Taylor
Welcome to United Campus Ministry’s new website. We have made some extensive changes, including changing the backend and getting our own domain name. One of our goals for this website, is for it to be informative. Check back for news about the website, and for events that didn’t make it in the Newsletter.