A Prayer for Southwestern

Gracious God,

As we enter another school year, we lift these prayers to you:

Bless our students, God, as they study and learn in their classes, but also bless them as they discover more about who they are. May they be people who seek excellence and ways to serve others around them. Give them wisdom in their decision-making and peace in their challenges. And may they do all of this for your glory.

Bless our faculty, staff and administrators, God, as we invest our lives in our students. May we be diligent, wise and compassionate as we interact with students and continue to grow as a learner ourselves.

May this place, Southwestern College, be a place that sends forth people who understand the challenges of the world and seeks to meet those challenge. And may we do that with wisdom and grace.

Lord, bless us, guide us, protect us, and use us to accomplish your purposes here on earth. We humbly ask this in your name, Amen.

Posted by Ashlee Alley

"I'll be praying"

“We should have lunch sometime!” “I owe you one.” “I’ll be praying for you.” These well-intended phrases often flippantly roll from our tongue without much thought. I remember when a good friend taught me about the power of phrases like this.

“We should have lunch sometime!” I said casually.

“When?” she
asked specifically.

Well, truth be told, I didn’t really have a day in mind. I was just being polite, expressing that I’d had a good time hanging out with her and her friends and I hoped they invited me to hang out again. But her request reminded me not to throw around comments like that, devoid of intention. Such it is with the phrase: “I’ll be praying for you.” When? What will you pray? For how long?

Today is Day 1 of an intentional, shared, and specific prayer campaign set aside to support United Methodist campus ministry in prayer. My friend, Creighton Alexander, and I, along with 38 other people who care about campus ministry, have written prayers that provide an answer to some of those questions.

• When should we pray for campus ministry? Starting today.
• What will you pray? A prayer written by someone who cares about campus ministry.
• For how long? 40 days.

Each day the prayer will be made available here. If you are on Twitter, follow us at: www.twitter.com/collegeunion and we will send you a link to the prayers daily. Finally, if you would like to download the entire collection of prayers, you can download it here.

We ask you to join us in these prayers, lifting up in general the ministries for college aged young people around the UMC connection. We also ask you to specifically pray for the ministries or young people with whom you are acquainted. Let them know that you’re praying for them. And if through your prayer time, you feel inclined to do something, do it in the knowledge that you are being sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have a hidden agenda for these prayers. We simply want God to bless the ministers and students of our college campuses around the world. And we think that it is important enough to involve others in this season of specific prayer. Won’t you join us?

Posted by Ashlee Alley

Open Positions in Wichita & Wellington

Children and Youth Director
University United Methodist Church (Wichita) is seeking a children and youth director for 20-30 hours per week. Candidate should be a good and energetic self-starter with leadership skills to engage a wide variety of people.
Position includes responsibilities for all children and youth programming as well as support of additional church activities.
For more information contact:
Philip Shull
University UMC
2220 N. Yale
Wichita, KS 67220
316-686-6765
phil@uumc.net
www.uumc.net

*****
Pianist Wanted
Pianist needed for Sunday morning services at the Wellington Lutheran Church. Pay is $40 per Sunday, and the service begins at 8:45 a.m. Would include liturgy, but training is available on this if necessary. If available, this position could expand to a second service in Mulvane. For more information, contact Dottie McComb, 316-648-4752.

2009 Fall Chapel Schedule

Schedule F09 (2)

Save the Date: Feb. 23-25, 2010

Builders in Ministry Week 2010...

Worship as Passionate Theology.
Save the date: February 23rd - 25th

We are very excited here at Southwestern College to host Keynote Speaker Dr. Lester Ruth, Professor of Christian Worship from Asbury Theological Seminary.

To learn more about the week please visit Builders in Ministry.

Salutations Builders!

I make my Blogger debut by announcing the release of Step Into Worship a praise and worship CD with music written, arranged and performed by the Southwestern Community—I myself have had the pleasure to listen to the CD many times…it is a verifiable hit.

Step into Worship contains music written and performed by: Travis Hastings, Sarah Miller, Martin Rude, Chris Smith, J.C. Ledford, Daniel Miller, Stephen Butler, Andrew Singh, Selah 2001 & Josh Melcher

I encourage you to visit http://www.sckans.edu/worshipcamp to take a listen. Then contact Martin Rude to purchase your very own CD for $10. The proceeds will benefit SC Campus Chapel and Outreach Ministries.

Move with Grace,
Kaydee

Saying Thank You

Fellow Builders in Ministry,

For those of us who attended SC in the past fourteen years, the name Steve Rankin is a familiar one to us. During our time at SC, many people poured into our lives and helped us find our calling, challenged us in the classroom, pushed us to be more than status quo, and filled out endless letters of recommendation for our current jobs, graduate school, etc. If you are like me, you cannot imagine being a Builder in Ministry without the influence of Steve Rankin. This information went out several weeks ago and I hope you received it, however, if you were missed we want you to experience the opportunity to join us now. As Steve and Joni’s time draws near, I am reminded of the importance of saying thank you to those who deeply impact our faith journey and academic endeavors. I hope you will find this a worthy cause to join.

As many of you know, Steve Rankin accepted a position at Southern Methodist University where he will be serving as a Chaplain. We the staff at FUMC, Winfield, (including me for the summer) would like to surprise Steve and Joni with a gift in their parting. In order to honor their ministry and work in Winfield, we would like to compile an album of letters from friends, family, co-workers and former students. It is our desire for you to write a letter of appreciation, thanksgiving, memories, or whatever you deem appropriate as we see Steve and Joni off to Dallas. We are inviting you to either send us a handwritten letter or a letter via e-mail for the album. Then, we ask you to forward this e-mail to anyone you know may be interested in contributing to this gift. We will not be reading your letters, rather simply compiling them into a gift Steve and Joni will be able to visit again and again. Please submit letters by June 20.

Please send letters to
Wendy Mohler
C/O FUMC 1000 Millington
Winfield, KS 67156

Please send e-mails to
Wendy Mohler at wendyteeth@hotmail.com or
Beth Wilke at beth@winfieldfumc.org

Be God's,
Wendy