At H2O Cincy, we are happy to partner with Reliant as the way in which all of our staff raise the support necessary to serve on our campus. Reliant has given me the opportunity to share something about the Fall semester, so here goes. As a staff member and a church member, we entered the school year with high expectations of what God would do. God blew the expectations away. We had the pleasure of seeing students come to Christ, and 30 people took the step of obedience to follow Jesus in baptism.

Here is the story of one of those students...

Alex started school at the University of Cincinnati this past fall. He is a local boy, living just 5 minutes from me. Studying the sciences. During Welcome Week, he met some H2O folks at an outreach table. They invited him to church. On the first Tuesday of classes, he came to The Plunge, an open-air worship service on campus. This is where I got to meet Alex. At this service, you are connected to a life group meeting in or near your dorm. Alex had lab on Thursday nights, so he couldn’t go to the one meeting in his dorm, so he came to my group on Wednesday night. From that point on, he was at each Sunday Service and life group. He came to our first weekly prayer time on Wednesday mornings. He didn’t really talk during discussion or prayer, but he listened and made friends. He didn’t have a Bible or Bible app, so we got him one. When asked what his relationship with God was like, he said, “I’ve never really had a relationship with God.” During this time, we prayed for him. One of our student leaders, Katie, spent intentional time paying attention to Alex and answering his questions. On the last night of our Fall Retreat, I was on the side filling up the kiddie pool to prepare for a couple of students to be baptized, wondering what God might do that night.

After those two were baptized, we opened it up to the whole group if anyone wanted to respond. As worship songs were being played, Katie came toward me with an intense look on her face and gave me a big hug. As I looked behind her, Alex was walking up, and I thought, “Yes!” Alex gave his life to Christ and was baptized right there. He still comes to life group, service, and prayer every week. And he is talking. He is bringing up verses from Romans as we study Revelation. He is praying for others. He is asking for prayer. He has friends in the group. Most importantly, he is now a friend of Jesus. Praise God.