April, 2007 

Dear Friends,

What the world needs from Christians, more than anything else, is first-hand wisdom concerning the nature of our existence in God.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the world actually “groans” for such sons and daughters to be revealed (Rom. 8:19).  Our personal spiritual growth, then, is something that creation both needs and longs for, and we serve it best by becoming what most reveals the Lord’s work within us.

                                                                                    - Rob DesCotes, a pastor friend

The end of spring ‘07 is in view and graduations are on the horizon. We are full of gratitude to God, coupled with a grounded sense of His guiding us through three years of the planting phase at both FIU and UM. This is what students are saying: 

International student: “Each week I always leave our meetings with at least

one verse of scripture or a message that I feel strongly that God is telling me... and I latch on to that.”                                                           Linda 

“UM Law student: Christian Legal Society was my refuge, the place I could go to be with other believers and could let my guard down and not be afraid to openly profess my faith in the Lord. My weeks revolved around the CLS meetings, if I could just hold on until the weekly meeting I new that I would be able to recharge my spiritual batteries and make it through another week. In fact, I don't think that I would have been able to make it through the semester without them.”                                                            Darren
 

Graduating UM Law student: “With so many commitments and obligations to prioritize, it is imperative that Christian law students have a place to gather each week to refocus attention on what matters most—our relationship with Christ. During the long and sometimes tumultuous semesters of law school, it is all too easy to just slip into “automatic mode,” which includes attending classes, reading, studying, sleeping, and repeating.   You touched many hearts with your dedication and love for our group.  You changed the law school experience by adding God into the mix—we cannot thank you enough. I will miss you next year!”                    John   

This semester we had the privilege of hosting faculty members and Christian attorneys from the community to speak to law students.  This brings tremendous encouragement and perspective to the students as they envision their future careers and what it means to bring it all under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This encourages us to begin plowing visionary ground for what the building phase might look like for South Florida campuses.

We had an excellent experience at URBANA leading the prayer team for the new conference OPEN FOR BUSINESS, and being part of a twelve-hour day of registration! We had twelve hundred delegates -- not bad for a first-time around! The wider URBANA conference hosted 22,000 delegates. 

Seasoned and successful business professionals, who have conducted their businesses with strong Christian values, staffed the OPEN FOR BUSINESS conference. In their talks they encouraged business students to not separate their businesses from their faith, but to live out their faith through their work. 

As the first fruits of that conference, we just had the great joy of dedicating the new business of an alumnus of the FIU chapter. Earlier this month, with the help of the IVCF undergraduate chapter, Franco and Cecilia Arias committed their new business venture at FIU before a group of local business leaders and friends in the community. This was the first, we hope, of many business dedications for the glory of God from students in our chapters. 

We are praying and planning toward ministry expansion at the FIU Business School in the fall and also into the Miller Medical School at UM.  But the excitement of setting goals for the future is tempered as we assess the status of our funding.   

During this time, we are looking to broaden our funding base of monthly donors by approximately 30%.  This will reduce the dependence we have on some of our larger donors (who may not be able to give every year).

 If you are in a position to become one of our $100+ per month supporters (or whatever you are able) we would appreciate hearing from you. We would also like to ask some of our long-time supporters who have not changed your level of giving for a while to consider an increase. It would make a great difference for us each month. Of, course we are glad for whatever you are led to do. 

Thank you for your faithful support! 

In Christ’s service,

 

Gary and Marlene Cameron

The quote on the previous page implies that our personal growth positively effects not only ourselves, but also those around us -- our generation. Among us are young people poised to decide major world issues that shape our culture. People are yearning (often without understanding) for God’s sons and daughters to be revealed because they are hungry to see God. Our serving God in the university gives students in graduate school an opportunity to engage Christ each week and to help them integrate their faith with their discipline, and ultimately, their futures.