27 Ministry Work Leading By Faith Students take up leadership roles in local ministries. Harding students received opportunities to be involved in off-campus church ministries, and many took full advantage of this to serve God’s kingdom. Several churches welcomed Harding students to participate in various college, worship and service ministries. Junior Abby Britt was in charge of Sanctuary, a student-led worship service at Fellowship Bible Church on Monday nights. Britt set up the stage, created slides, built a team and directed praise team practice and worship each week. “I felt the presence of the Lord so greatly each week at Sanctuary,” Britt said. “Our worship team spent 15 minutes before worship in a room with all the lights out, praying together over the people entering, and then we returned to that room after worship to spend time in prayer thanking the Lord for the work he did and the time we had to spend worshiping him together.” Britt noted that roughly 200 college students gathered weekly during this time to sing praises to the Lord. “I was so greatly filled each week getting to hear so many college students praising our Father together and knowing I was part of a ministry that was doing something to further the Kingdom—to provide a space for people to intimately connect with the Lord—and that brought glory to God,” Britt said. Students also enjoyed participating in the College Church of Christ college ministry. Junior Elizabeth Brown was a second-year intern for the College Church ministry. She was involved in discipleship groups, adopt-a-college-student programs, Rock House mentoring, soup and serve, game nights and much more. “I saw the Lord create disciple-makers,” Brown said. “Our definition of a disciple was someone who followed Jesus, was changed by Jesus and was committed to the mission of Jesus.” Brown encouraged students to engage in and to seek out ministry opportunities. “To someone interested in plugging into a college ministry, I would recommend looking at their values and thinking about the person you wanted to be when you graduated,” Brown said. “Would this ministry help you get there? I would also say allow God in, and let him make every decision with you . . . College ministries were such blessings if you took the leap of faith and plugged in.” Sophomore Ethan Ashmore was also involved with the College Church ministry and participated in the adopt-acollege student program. He appreciated the opportunity for mentorship that the program offered him. “The adoption program was so wonderful for me and my friend [sophomore] Jackson Polk,” Ashmore said. “We were adopted by an Australian family who loved the Lord. It was such a blessing for us to hear about their experiences and perspectives on the world and Christianity because of all their experiences with Harding and just life. It was something I really needed that year, and it helped me so much having parents away from home.” Ashmore also spoke about the positive impact of the College Church ministry. “I saw the Lord work significantly through Grant [Fitzhugh, the college student minister,] and through so many of the students and how lively it was,” Ashmore said. “They did a great job ensuring every student got involved and felt the love of the church.” Written by Max Thweatt GAME ON At a Rock House game night juniors Elizabeth Brown and Griffin Meeker play Monopoly. College Church offered a variety of fun events throughout the year to generate interest in the ministry. Photo courtesy of Ellie Fitzhugh
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