I just wanted to take a few moments to reflect on my time as campus minister. I started in September 2017. I had been back in Kentucky for about a year after having been away for about five years and I was remembering what it was to be part of the UK community. I had graduated in May 2008 before the start of the Great Recession. Things were different; things were the much the same. I started at St. A’s after a longish search for me. I started at St. A’s with about six students in our core group, three of whom were really committed. It was a good year if a bit small.
When I was called to the position, I was tasked with changing St. A’s from a church-on-campus to something … else? new? I was also asked to think about if we could or should keep doing campus ministry. A big task. I was asked “What can St. A’s do that no one else on campus is doing?” I took my charges and I set out to find something new. In January of 2020, I had two students and I was drafting letters to our Bishops saying that we needed a season of discernment to decide what our next steps would be. Then the world stopped for six months. I got the chance to rebuild St. A’s from the ground up and to build new structures, a new vision and mission, and a new communications strategy. We got lucky and recruited a few new students and we got a toehold into a new thing.
Over the last four years we have built a program that encourages students to belong to a community, to ask big questions, find their big answers. We have programs to raise up new lay leaders for the Church. We have opened our doors and gotten the word out. The two students I had in January 2020 stuck with it and we have grown to fifteen students in the core group, with more trying or joining each week. We have put our trust in God that no matter what happens, we will be cared for. And with so many students we can reach out in love to our campus in new ways. We are in a great position to live into the next stage of life that God is calling us to.
St. A’s is well because of some of my work, but more because of the work of our students and the faithfulness of God. We are truly blessed beyond measure.
St. Augustine's Chapel 