Updater April 13, 2010

There are a couple of Updaters that didn't get added to this blog. Sorry! If you would like to see them, please go to the group: Katy's TCF Ministry Partners on Facebook or send me an email at theophilus34ad@hotmail.com if you'd like to be added to the email list. Thanks! Here's the Updater, April 13 edition.

Hello Friends!

We've returned to "scheduling as usual" after the excitement of the first part of this semester. Remember what we've been through already? The H2O Project, STRONG Women women's retreat, final preparation for and adventuring on our spring break trip to Galveston, along with blessing the students in the dorms through dorm parties, Friday Night Outreach events, our regular Tuesday Night meetings, and all the God-centered discipleship going on in, amongst, and through our students. In this week's issue of the Updater, I'll simply share a quick story that evidences the spiritual growth of our students at TCF.

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Arms Open Wide

Our theme this year is, of course, Arms Open Wide. We've been talking, training, and trying new ways of understanding God'

s acceptance of us, our acceptance of one another as the Church, and our acceptance of folks who aren't part of the Body of Christ.

The TCFers willingness to study and participate in a ministry that was going to emphasize that scary thing, evangelism, was the first evidence of their being open to God. And throughout the year we have been building deep and honest relationships with each other. This semester, we really hit the ground with reaching out on campus, putting ourselves in the way of students who are living their lives contrary to the ways of God, who have thoughts about God that are contrary to ours, and who may or may not want to have anything to do with us because of our... differences. And we have made huge strides in showing them that we have a lot more in common with them than they think -- at the very least, we have in common a love and acceptance of them.

By now, we've come right past the point of comfort and ease. We're beyond "what comes naturally" and to a place where "willingness to study and participate" in TCF's emphasis on evangelism isn't enough. Each person in TCF is in that uncomfortable place of trust and dependence on Jesus Christ -- we're leaning out over the edge. We've heard God's call to make an impact on campus; we know which people He wants us to start with. We've started! And now we're right past our comfort zones and sense of control.

Here's where things get really cool: TCF Tuesdays have always been, well, pretty conservative events. We pray, learn, worship, and fellowship, but pretty much stay in control and stay safely in our comfort zones. Don't get me wrong, we LIVE what we learn... but the learning has always been done in a very conservative fa

shion. But now... now that we are in this crazy place of TRUE DEPENDENCE on God, TCF Tuesdays have become a new exercise in having Arms Open Wide.

We're no longer just studying God's acceptance of us. We're experiencing it. Students spread their arms out, cast themselves in worship at the feet of Christ and call out for Him to pour out His wisdom and love and to continue to lead them as they show their friends on campus Who He Is.

Last week, we asked the students to gather in the middle of the room and to pray out loud, all at once. And they did, bravely, loudly. The chorus of cacophony was beautiful to MY ears and I know it blessed the Heart of God. But here's another amazing thing on this God-ward spiral we're on. This dependence on God and desire for Him has brought us to a new level of accepting one another. When we were done praying, TCF stood together, Arms Open and around each other for the remainder of the evening, encouraging one another in the telling what God is doing in their lives and through them on campus.

What will happen next? If we've come this far in our willingness to obey Christ, and this far in our openness to each other as the Body of Christ, what will happen when we continue to stand with Arms Open Wide for the students on campus at UW-O?

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Please Pray for Us!

* for continued openness toward God and each other
* for the full outpouring of the Spirit on our Tuesday Night meetings
* for favor in the sight of God and man as we continue to follow God in what He's doing on campus
* that Jeremy and I and our Student Ministers would follow obediently as we plan and prepare for next year

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Thank you for partnering with me in this ministry. Your interest in what I'm doing, your time sacrificed in prayer, and your financial support all give YOU huge credit in the spiritual growth happening here at UWO.

If God is calling you trust Him by giving financially, please click the link below, or send a check payable to WCCM, 833 Wright St., Oshkosh, WI 54901 with "Katy Ahlrichs" in the memo line.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=zETP4eeqWcvn8jJtXntobrtYOsnEWBNe9V4Ib_vOxovm42uaIb6l8HFDPYi&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f059ee17e99acf19529de9a5cb8b345b6e847e9b5572143b9

Katy Ahlrichs
Titan Christian Fellowship
262-344-2630
theophilus34ad@hotmail.com