Last week I visited the two RUF Northeast ministries in HBCU schools. These Historic Black Colleges and Universities are important institutions, and RUF is excited to have the opportunity to minister there.
On Tuesday I drove to Washington, D.C. to visit Cyril and Janelle Chavis, newly moved from Jackson, Mississippi to begin RUF at Howard University. Mississippi to D.C. seems to me like a huge culture shock, but Cyril and Janelle seem to have made the transition with little difficulty. Their local church, Grace Mosiac PCA, has been very welcoming and helpful. Cyril has raised a large portion of his budget, but fund-raising is still a major part of his work. He is taking a couple of classes at Howard as a means of learning more about the campus and meeting students. I look forward to future visits to Howard.
On Thursday I drove to Dover to visit Daryl and Laria Wattley at Delaware State University. Delaware State has been plagued with problems lately, so the university banned student organizations from organizing events in September. What a way to kill a campus ministry! Daryl found a way to get the ministry started in spite of this, and RUF is going robustly this fall. A couple of weeks ago Daryl and Laria were hit by another driver. Fortunately they have only minor injuries and insurance is covering their expenses, but the accident has resulted in a lot of paperwork and phone calls.
It seems like there are always challenges at Delaware State, but the ministry keeps on growing. Not only are more students involved, but the maturity of the group is increasing. It’s a slow process and demands a lot of patience, but God is building His Kingdom at Delaware State!
Yesterday Ruth and I dove to Baltimore for the wedding of Jacob Jasin to Pei Zhang. Jacob is the RUF-I minister at Johns Hopkins and just began his work there last year. We enjoyed seeing old friends, especially Stan and Terri Long. Stan was an InterVarsity staff worker when I was a student in Baltimore
Tomorrow I head south again, first to Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ; then to University of Delaware in Newark, DE.
David Green 