Grace and peace to y’all from Jesus Christ!

We’ve been sharing our “ripple stories” all year in chapel and throughout Campus Ministry. These are stories of people who have made such a lasting impact on our lives that they create ripples of change and a lasting effect on us. It has been a great gift to share these stories with our community, and I wanted to share one of mine with you.

At the end of January, I had the opportunity to attend the ELCA Children, Youth, and Family Ministries Extravaganza in Louisville, Kentucky. Hundreds of ministry workers from all over the nation gathered in the bourbon capital of the world to share practices, commiserate with one another, and be renewed by the Holy Spirit. It was a time of worship, of laughter, and of learning, and I got to spend much of my time talking about TLU with youth workers who (hopefully!) went home and talked to their students about us!

More importantly, though, I got to connect with a number of amazing TLU alumni who are doing world-changing work with young people. Some of whom, like Tracy and Victoria, were my classmates so many years ago. Some, like Heather, have been doing this work long enough to have taught many of us the basics of youth ministry in classes here on campus! And some, like Hannah and Elizabeth, are such recent grads as to still have some chalk dust on their shoes from Langner Hall.

All of them reminded me of one of the greatest gifts that TLU shares with the world: We equip people to go out into the world to make lasting impacts in the name of Jesus Christ. These people are literally changing the world through their care, support, and love of the young people in their churches, and many of them started their journeys right here.

Friends, TLU is still doing this work and still giving this gift to the world. Thanks be to God for the ripples this community makes throughout creation.