The Gospel Comes with a Slice of Pie
by Andy Stafford, REACH
As a church, we have longed for many years to serve students at GVSU. We have prayed and we continue to pray for more opportunities. However, it is nights like this past Friday that we see many of our prayers answered. For those unfamiliar, we had the opportunity to serve and bless GVSU students by providing a Thanksgiving meal this past Friday. REACH (Wellspring Church’s college ministry), Cru (a parachurch college ministry), and Bridges (Cru’s international student ministry) partnered together for a night of laughter, fun, great food, and meaningful conversations about Thanksgiving and the Gospel.
This event wouldn’t have been possible without the many volunteers who gave of their time and talents to serve students at GVSU! Volunteers helped set-up and decorate, prayed, cooked the food (Wellspring’s Nehemiah Team), served food + drinks, welcomed students, drove students to church, ran sound, and even baked close to THIRTY PIES (That’s a lot of pie)—these were all contributed by different church members. I’m sure there was much more that they did behind the scenes! This truly was an event that could not have happened without the church coming together as a body to serve as Christ would have!
The event itself was a wonderful opportunity to build community between Bridges, Cru, and REACH students. Everyone had so much fun—whether it was sharing a meal and conversation with old and new friends, competing in Thanksgiving trivia, eating delicious pie, or dancing together! While some students celebrated their trivia victory, others had the chance to lead group dances from their own cultures! Laughter filled the room as everyone enjoyed every minute of dancing together! It was such a fun time—though us West Michiganders definitely need to practice for next year! We are so thankful for all the students who came out and made Friday night one to remember!
This event wouldn’t have been complete without talking about Thanksgiving and why it connects to what we ultimately are most thankful for in this life: the Gospel. Leaders from REACH, Cru, and Bridges shared about what Thanksgiving has meant to them in the past and in this current season of life. Much was shared about…well…stuffing. However, it wasn’t just that; there was also much talk about thankfulness for new life. Many praises were offered to God for new babies and new life coming into the world, as well as for the new life we can now have with Jesus. Jane, a Bridges staff member who grew up in Central Asia, shared how God, through the Gospel of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, can take our old lives—dominated by shame and brokenness due to sin—and make them totally new, ultimately restoring us to a place of honor as God’s own people.
This beautiful truth is why we love to serve and care for GVSU students through events like this. It’s why Jesus spoke of, and the New Testament authors constantly wrote about, the importance of hospitality (Matthew 25:34-46, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9, Romans 12:13). In other words, you might say that when we share the Gospel, it should come with a slice of pie. So, please join us and pray that the Lord would provide more opportunities like this for our church to serve students at GVSU!
Andy Stafford leads REACH, a GVSU campus ministry started by Wellspring Community Church whose aim is to see the lost at GVSU’s campus continuously reached with the Gospel.