So read the sports headline in the Miami Herald on November 8. UM defensive tackle Bryan Pata had been murdered inside his apartment near the University. As the writer stated: “Football [is] peripheral . . . . Death is never choosy. Doesn’t play favorites. Doesn’t care who you are.”
The students involved in CRU (Campus Crusade’s ministry to university students) were already dealing with this issue. As you may recall, our UNILID office is helping our local Miami Metro campus staff after the untimely death of staff member John Spracklin. Dean and Jan are working with students at Barry University, while Eric, Chris and I are working part-time with the U. of Miami “Hurricanes.”
In God’s timing, our planned speaker for Wednesday night CRU meeting was Jenny Spracklin, John’s widow. In an emotional interview, she spoke about the problems adjusting after the shock of losing a loved one, and how her faith in God has sustained her through this difficult time.
Then we also had a generous offer to pay for advertising on the Hurricanes’ Facebook, an online network of University of Miami students. Over the next two weeks, we will send out 15,000 flyers per day that will link to an evangelistic website, everyUMstudent.com. Students can read articles like “Where is God in the midst of tragedy?” and “Peace of mind in an unstable world.”
For now, we are going to see where are students are at, help them cope with the situation, and develop relationships. Chris is a Christian counselor and has already spoken on grieving. Part of the discipleship process is learning how to get through such rough times.
Of course we won’t neglect the basics of discipleship either. We are strongly committed to the win-build-send strategy and the need to train up solid Campus leaders. So we are meeting individually with the Leadership Team members and small group leaders to continue the training that John and Jenny have started.
The students involved in CRU (Campus Crusade’s ministry to university students) were already dealing with this issue. As you may recall, our UNILID office is helping our local Miami Metro campus staff after the untimely death of staff member John Spracklin. Dean and Jan are working with students at Barry University, while Eric, Chris and I are working part-time with the U. of Miami “Hurricanes.”
In God’s timing, our planned speaker for Wednesday night CRU meeting was Jenny Spracklin, John’s widow. In an emotional interview, she spoke about the problems adjusting after the shock of losing a loved one, and how her faith in God has sustained her through this difficult time.
Then we also had a generous offer to pay for advertising on the Hurricanes’ Facebook, an online network of University of Miami students. Over the next two weeks, we will send out 15,000 flyers per day that will link to an evangelistic website, everyUMstudent.com. Students can read articles like “Where is God in the midst of tragedy?” and “Peace of mind in an unstable world.”
For now, we are going to see where are students are at, help them cope with the situation, and develop relationships. Chris is a Christian counselor and has already spoken on grieving. Part of the discipleship process is learning how to get through such rough times.
Of course we won’t neglect the basics of discipleship either. We are strongly committed to the win-build-send strategy and the need to train up solid Campus leaders. So we are meeting individually with the Leadership Team members and small group leaders to continue the training that John and Jenny have started.
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