So, the difficult news first… Sadly, our community has already felt the ramifications of this pandemic as yesterday a young Jewish lady we have been ministering to lost her mother-in-law to the virus. This young lady was only recently baptized and needs your prayers for comfort. Also, UD had the first 7 cases of the virus in Delaware last week, and it shut down the whole campus as soon as the first case was discovered. They sent students home and started moving everything online. However, this is starting to open many doors as we connect with and invest in the international population using technology as well as many American students who really cannot move “back home." We are already connecting with international students through technology and continue teaching them conversational English through the Bible. Another new way we have been able to minister was the online student gathering of prayer and encouragement we held this week instead of our typical Dinner and Discussion.

Despite all this "disruption", we continue to trust in the Lord and living with the comfort of His peace letting others see something different in us. I would like to share how God is still working in lives across the country. James and Allie Goodpasture (a couple I mentor from Little Rock AR) shared how lives are being transformed from their very small Discovery Bible Study. This group started two months ago when a dating couple asked James and Allie to help them start exploring who God is again. Each week they challenge the group to take what was discussed and live it out. James and Allie shared that even in these strange times God is still at work. After just a short time, a member of their Bible study, Tayler, decided to take her faith seriously again and was baptized earlier this month. Another member is now intentionally finding ways to add Christ back to his conversations and is impacting others. At the last study, they actually got challenged by their group to give harder measurable challenges that will help them all live more intentionally for Christ. This has encouraged me and brought me to ask the question; Am I challenging my students even during this time of social distancing and technological opportunities?

Even amid the current social distancing, the Newark Church (our main overseeing body) is continuing its mission to help our members participate in the mission of God by inviting others to experience Jesus together with us, whether it is at a church building or not. Apart from the cause, I am so excited about the social distancing going on because this mission was never meant to be about inviting others to a worship service, but instead experiencing living Christ in all we do. We are now being challenged to exercise that mission in new ways! A lady we have been investing in, Dawn, today she also decided she needed to be united with Christ in baptism! She and others have already started looking at ways to love others while still practicing social distancing.