By Travis and Britney Hamm, Directors of Collegiate Impact ([email protected])

The semester is off to a fruitful start for Collegiate Impact as we seek to bring the hope and peace of Jesus to college students in Kansas City. On August 16, we launched the semester with an all-day Core Team Training. For the first time ever, we had student leaders in attendance from every one of our seven campuses where we have on-campus ministries (UMKC, Park, MCC Blue River, MCC Longview, MCC Maple Woods, Johnson County Community College, and Spurgeon/Midwestern). Also in attendance that day were volunteers from church partners who play a key role in serving with our ministries. God is answering our prayers for momentum as a citywide ministry and for student leaders, especially on our two-year campuses!

In the first few weeks of the semester we have made new connections with over 365 students and had over 70 gospel conversations with nonbelieving students! Just a couple weeks ago, one of our students, who became a believer last summer, led her coworker to Christ. This is exactly what we want to see happen…students coming to trust in Christ, growing in their faith, and being equipped to share the hope and peace of Jesus with those in their spheres of influence.

One UMKC student, Sarah, has been living this out faithfully for the last year since coming to UMKC on scholarship with the track team. She has been leading a Bible study for her teammates since January. We asked how we could help support her, and as a result of that conversation, we hosted a Spa Night for the track team on September 6th. Eleven ladies from the track team enjoyed sweet and salty snacks, Italian sodas, and a variety of spa stations. To conclude the night, I (Britney), shared a devotion with them on what it means to find joy in Christ based on Psalm 16. Sarah told me the next week that one of her teammates passed on what she’d learning from the teaching to another teammate who wasn’t at Spa Night. We look forward to continuing to serve and minister to the track team.

On Saturday, September 13, Nathan Schaffer, a volunteer at MCC Blue River and pastor at Life Connection Independence, led a student to the Lord. This student was raised RLDS and realized during an on-campus Bible study that his Bible was different from everyone else’s while going through John. Nathan gave him an ESV study Bible provided by a CI donor. Nathan will be discipling this student.

Seven churches have partnered with us in a Prayer & Outreach drive during the months of August and September, and church partners are coming alongside us to provide food for meals, goodie bags, volunteers, and other forms of support. We are so thankful for this! Thank you for your prayers and support, BRKC; you are helping to sustain us during this busy time of year!