The morning after the last RUF event of the year found Kelly and I in the hospital three weeks before her due date because of low amniotic fluid. This set off what has been the craziest three weeks of my life. Kelly was induced only to have an EMERGENCY c-section, only to have heart "issues", which kept us in the hospital for about a week, when we got home Kelly developed an infection in her incision which has been a fiasco to say the least. We had nurses coming twice a day which was not fun to say the least. Things are going GREAT now and we are adjusting to the parent world which we love. If you have been wondering where I have been... there you have it. Owen is amazing and so is his mom. God has been so gracious to us and I can't tell you how blessed we are. If you want to read more about Owen you can check out Kelly's blog.

Owen Andrew Johnson

Here are some highlights from the end of last year.

Palmer Home Mission Trip: I took 20 students to Palmer Children's home in Mississippi for our first short-term mission trip together as RUF. We were only allowed to bring 20 students and we were filled up immediately. Twenty students gave up their spring break to go and serve others... God is at work! It is amazing how in just a year and half God has been working in this group and bringing students for RUF to love and invest in. The trip was amazing as we tore down a barn, built a fence, loved on kids, worked in their thrift shop, and got to spend time talking about the Kingdom of God and what Jesus is doing. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Art Knight: Another highlight from the spring was RUF hosted a UCF wide art night. Two of our students who love art set out to go and serve artists at UCF. These two girls gathered many students, Christians and non-Christians to have a night where people could come and display art in any form. The goal was to really just provide an avenue to serve our community and love on people who don't get much love for the glory of Christ. It was amazing as around 150 people showed up and over 35 artists participated, 30 of which were not RUF students. People were amazed that we would do this for them and were asking to do it again as soon as possible. Pray for those relationships and for future relationships as we love these people and serve them.

Honest Answers to Honest Questions: For six weeks at the end of this semester I co-led a study with a seminary student, Sid Druen (who helps out with RUF a ton and who you will hear about this year) that was titled Honest Answers to Honest Questions: Why Christianity is not intellectual suicide. We used Tim Keller's new book The Reason For God along with other sources to help students who struggle or have friends struggling with the hard questions to the Christian faith. We had around eight students show up every week to ask and discuss really hard questions. As many of you all know college is a place where students really are faced with questions (unfortunately) for the first time in their lives and many leave the faith. I ask you to pray particularly for these issues which I seem to deal with all the time that God would use RUF and His Church to love students who are in perhaps the biggest and hardest transition time in their lives. Some of you all were praying for this and I think it went really well so thank you for your prayers!

As always the first few weeks for RUF is crazy and crucial for the year. We are aiming to connect with new students and old students which is no easy task.

These are things coming up this fall.

• Leadership Retreat: August 22-24 at our house. This is a time to plan and to also get on the same page. I will teach and we will discuss who we are and where we are going. We have 16 students coming which is great considering graduation. These are the students who get the bulk of my time so pray for me and them over this week.

• BBQ: We hope to feed between 250-300 students the first Tuesday night of school. This is a way to serve the campus and to get exposure to incoming students.

• Ice Cream Social: I am still using my free coupons I won for Mayfield Ice Cream!. This is a time to follow up with the students we met at the BBQ and to invite new students to our house to fellowship and reconnect or connect for the first time.
  Club Fair: this is a time to hopefully get some RUF exposure.

• Large Group: This semester we will be looking at "The Stories Jesus Told" from the parables of Luke.

• Fall Conference: October 17-19 with the other Florida schools. It is an awesome weekend of teaching, singing, and fellowship. If you would like to scholarship a student who can't afford to go please let me know.

Pray:

• Pray for the students we haven't met yet.

• Pray for Kelly and I as the start of school is a hard time for our marriage with the extra load of requirements of a heavy schedule and a new baby.

• Pray for our leadership team to own RUF and to love God, each other, and others well!

• Pray for the extreme brokenness that a handful of students are  dealing with. I will leave it at that but the issues are real and they need your prayers.

• Pray that RUF would be a place for seminary students to be better equipped for Gospel ministry. This has been a praise to have RTS students helping but also it is a huge responsibility and opportunity for us.

• Pray for Large and Small Groups this semester that God would use His Word to change lives. Large Group is Tuesday nights.

• Pray for me as I have some health issues that I am dealing with. Hypothyroidism being one that I am trying to get under control through medications along with other "stuff".

• Pray for RUF to be the safest place at UCF for broken students.

• Pray for loneliness as it affects students a ton being away from home and being on a huge campus with no family and sometimes NO friends!

Donate food: There is nothing better to a college student!

• We need 11 pork butts and 300 buns for our back to school BBQ

• We need 4 Turkeys for thanksgiving dinner to students

• We will also be having other socials if you are interested in donating any type of food it would be greatly appreciated.

Fall Conference Scholarships:
 

We do a fall conference every year with the other Florida schools. It is an amazing weekend of studying the Bible, fellowship, and activities. It is a big way to connect students to each other and to Jesus. However some students can not afford to go. If you would like to pay $55 to sponsor a student, email me.

Support RUF financially:

God has been so great to us! There have been many times that I thought we were not going to make it but we are still here and it is going well because of people and churches like you. Gifts have come in right as we have desperately needed them. I am still running about $2,000 dollars behind in monthly support.

The way finances work for RUF is I raise all the budget including my salary. If I don't have money for the budget I can't spend it. If I raise more money it goes into the RUF UCF account but I don't make "more" money. I have a set salary based on living situation, family, and being an ordained minister. With a baby and Kelly having to quit work that means our family income has been cut in half so I need to raise a little more money literally just to get by. If you can give anything to RUF it would be greatly appreciated and used for the kingdom. Thanks for even reading this far in this email. If you can pray ... trust me ... it is equally as important to me that you pray for RUF, my family, and these students.

As always here is the way to give online. RUF Online Donations

Love Your Local Church:

In RUF we don't exist for RUF. We exist to reach students and equip them to serve Christ and His Church. We are only as strong as the Church. Jesus gave His life for the Church. Get involved and if you get a chance invite a college student over for dinner. They probably could learn a lot from your mess and repentance.

Other Ways To Help

• We are always looking for help beyond regular financial support with meals, music equipment, scholarships to send students to RUF national conference in May. If you want to help out please email me.

• Names of students you know that I could contact at UCF.

If you would like to receive our mail newsletter please email me your mailing address.

Thanks for your partnership and friendship! If you have anything you want to talk about or any questions please call or email me. If you made it thus far you are are my hero! 

Sincerely,
 

Andrew Johnson
Reformed University Fellowship
321-231-5734