Belhaven Leadership Council

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Belhaven Leadership Council

New Year, New Opportunities

Posted by studentministries on Tuesday, August 31st 2010     

The new school year has arrived with all the excitement and busyness that one could expect.  Opportunities abound depending on what you want to get involved in and how you want to spend your time.  We found time last Wednesday to take a breather and worship together in Barber.  Though it was not as well publicized as I’d hoped, there was a decent number of people who were able to come for corporate worship.  We took a good bit of time to praise God for who He is and what He’s done for us as well as to pray for one another, our leadership, organizations around campus, and the school year that awaits us.  All in all, it was an encouraging time and served to refresh many including myself.

There will be more chances to gather for corporate worship in the future.  In fact, a new ministry is starting up on Wednesday, September 8th, at 9:00pm in Barber Auditorium called “Judah!”.  It will be a time of worshiping the Lord our God through music and purposeful prayer and will hopefully be meeting at that time every week, henceforth.  If you are interested in getting involved or have any questions about it, you can contact me at studentministries@belhaven.edu

That’s it for now!

Categorized in Ministries

They Will Know You Are Christians…

Posted by BC Admin on Friday, May 7th 2010     

College students were scattered through the Belhaven Heights neighborhood.  Some could be seen picking up trash and sticks along the street or stopping to say a prayer in front of houses.  Some worked side by side with the neighbors weed-whacking, hauling bricks and garbage, or pausing for a friendly offer of water.  I stood back for a minute, leaning on the rake I was using to move dry grass and dirt into a pile of garbage for one of our neighbors, and I watched my friends working and sweating and chatting with neighbors and among themselves.  And I couldn’t help but think: “This is how they will know we are Christians, if we love one another.”

On Saturday, April 10, over fifty students from Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Student Missions Fellowship, and Reformed University Fellowship joined together to offer a helping hand to our neighbors just across Fortification Street in the Belhaven Heights neighborhood.  We did anything and everything from hauling bricks and sticks to picking up garbage to leaf-blowing and lawn-mowing to simply sitting down for a chat with a few of the people who asked for our help.  We heard so much encouraging feedback from neighbors who said that we came at just the right time, when they needed a reminder that people were there to support and encourage them.  I think what meant the most to me, though, was seeing the students from our university work together and have a wonderful time doing so; to see them encouraging each other and praying together, even those who had never met before that day.

This entire year in Student Ministries has impacted me in that way.  I’ve been humbled by the great love that I’ve seen between students in our campus ministries.  I’m amazed by the passion that these students have shown for Christ as I have worshiped, prayed, and served with them over the past two semesters.  Sometimes I wish that this love were more evident to the entire school, because it is the kind of love that can shake the earth to its core; yet at the same time, if it were more apparent, I’m not sure it would be the same kind of humble, unassuming love that I so admire.

As a word of encouragement for anyone who stumbles across this: Whether you are a part of FCA, SMF, RUF, or you are simply a Christian trying to live each day of your life in the light of Jesus Christ and for His glory, remember that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  All around you, here within our student body, are those who have been changed and shaped by the love of God and who are ready to pass that love on.  As we go into the summer, to jobs, families, mission trips, whatever–let’s go remembering that mind-blowing love and practicing it every single day.  Then, when we come back and classes start again and we get into the routine of college life, let’s not forget it.  We remind not only each other but also our classmates, our neighbors, our community what it means to be a Christ-one: by our love.  Not OUR love, but His love demonstrated in us.

The kind of love that’s willing to pick up a Cross, or just pick up leaves.

Categorized in Ministries

Activities – Year In Review

Posted by BC Admin on Thursday, May 6th 2010     

Well, Senior Year has come…and gone.  It seems like just yesterday I was wandering around campus, wide-eyed, trying to figure out the difference between Irby and Bitsy Irby.  (And learning what people meant when they said “Good luck in the café today.”)  Now, four years later, I realized that the things that last don’t have to do with the buildings, the places, or even the food.  It’s the people that matter.  This year, with activities, I’ve been tempted to be very task-oriented.  The problem with that mindset, though, is that the people actually make activities happen, not the tasks.

I have been blessed to work with the best team in the world (BAT, of course…in my opinion) and our fearless leader, Cassie Rapp.  Activities this year have ranged in everything from America’s Next Great Star to Late Night Bowling to OMN 2: Pavilion Fest.  But again, it’s not really the events that I remember.  It’s memories like Stanton and Ann hosting the Pavilion Fest.  Or Carissa doing whatever it takes to get the movie up and running.  Or Celeste who was willing and capable to do anything we asked of her.  Or Alex Callen who went into the dungeon more times than I can count. …and the list goes on.  All the BAT people showed me what it meant to be a servant leader.  And they weren’t serving just to pull off an event – although we always tried to make the event look good.  They were serving their fellow students, their peers.

I’m about to walk across a stage and enter the “real world.”  I may forget exactly what I learned in Dr. Chestnut’s Biology class, and I may not remember exactly what America’s Next Great Star was, but I will remember all the people who got me through Belhaven.  So thanks to everyone who has made the last four years what they were!  It’s been real, it’s been fun…and you know how that goes.

~Elisabeth Dell, Student Activities Coordinator

Belhaven University

Categorized in Activities

Servant Hearts

Posted by jkalehoff on Tuesday, May 4th 2010     

I want to thank all of you who were involved in community outreach this year. A lot has been accomplished and many people were ministered to in various ways. Above are some pictures of the Sonbeams special needs retreat from March 5th. That night was a blast! Also, I want to thank all those who participated in the service days on March 30th and on April 10th. These went smoothly and I have gotten many letters from our neighbors expressing their thanks. I have also attached a few pictures from these work days. Finally, I want to thank all of you who have served so faithfully in visiting the nursing home every other week. We have built up strong relationships there and God is ministering to both the residents there and the Belhaven students through this ministry. I will be returning to this position as Community Outreach Coordinator for the 2010-2011 school year, so if you have any ideas or thoughts about outreach next year, please email me at communityoutreach@belhaven.edu. Have a safe and productive summer and please keep outreach projects for next year in your prayers. I pray that God will receive all the glory and honor by these projects!

In Christ,

Jonathan Kalehoff

Community Outreach Coordinator

Belhaven University

Categorized in Outreach

Reflections of a Senior

Posted by blcpres on Wednesday, April 14th 2010     

For me the hardest part of dealing with relationships and my own pain is that most people simply will not be honest. They won’t tell you what they’re thinking, how they feel, or why they respond the way that they do, and for me, that is very frustrating.

I didn’t grow up with a father that gave me much advice; in fact, I don’t really recall receiving any advice from my father. Both of my parents taught me to be very independent at an early age, and while I value those lessons and view independence to be a good quality, I feel like I missed out on having parents on which I could rely. That trust isn’t there. I have never really felt as though I could go to either of my parents with concerns, and get answers from them. Not being able to figure something out on my own feels like a weakness- a failure on my own part.

Because of that, I feel really lost a lot of the time. I have to make decisions everyday, and a lot of them are pretty important, but I don’t have some well of prior knowledge to fall back on; I feel like I am making everything up as I go along, and I am never sure if I am making the right choices.

As I write this, I am a senior at a Christian Liberal Arts college where I have a hefty scholarship; I am the president of the student body, been gainfully employed since my junior year of high school, bought my own new car, lived off campus for two years, and am graduating with honors all with little financial support from my family. Obviously I’ve made some good decisions in my time; I mean my future could definitely stand to look a little bleaker.

I’ve definitely been blessed, and don’t have much to complain about, but the fact remains that my parents were never really there for any of that. I had to figure it all out on my own, and the closer I get to graduation; the fear that I won’t be able to figure things out anymore grows increasingly large.

That fear has manifested in so many different ways over the past year, and as a result, has caused me to look at my life in ways I haven’t before. I am finally seeing weaknesses I didn’t know I had, fears I had suppressed, hopes and dreams I have let go to the wayside, and I am realizing I don’t know who I really want to be anymore.

After four years of college, I actually feel less prepared for life than I did going in, but at the same time, I feel like that is exactly where I am supposed to be.

Unsure. Questioning. Scared.

Why? I am not entirely sure. I just know that I have found more hope in acknowledging those feelings than in all of my best laid plans for my own future.

God continually lays waste to my plans, and my desires, and says, “No, you can’t have that,” and all along I’ve struggled with feelings of inadequacy and rejection. Transferring my insecurities with my own father onto my relationship with my heavenly father.

My dad didn’t give me the time or attention that I desired, and I took that as his way of saying that I wasn’t valued, and so I set out to find my value in other things. When God didn’t give me what I wanted, I looked at it the same way, that I wasn’t good enough, and that I needed to find my value in other things rather than in him.

The thing is, my relationship with my dad is crap, and that sucks, but it doesn’t mean that God is just like my dad. It doesn’t mean that my friends are just like my dad. It doesn’t mean that everyone in my life will turn out to be like my dad. It has taken me forever to recognize that what God doesn’t give me is for my own good. It isn’t that I’m not worth it, it’s that I am worth so much more than what I can imagine for myself.

So being unsure about my life; questioning what I am doing here; being scared about my future- it has been great, because it has driven me closer to God. I can trust that He has a plan for me, and that He really wants what is best for me. Being able to let go of the burden of planning my own life has been awesome.

Categorized in BLC President
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