I was at UNH attending a New Orleans planning meeting with the group leader students. The question the speaker asked the group was , “Why are you going?” This is my third trip to New Orleans, and I had never asked myself that question.

Is it to go and build a house, repair a roof, or hang sheet rock so that people can get their homes back the way they were before Katrina, people who lost everything? Is it to share the faith I have in Jesus with UNH students? Is it to strengthen my own faith? I think it is all these things.

I am reminded of our DEC mission statement that says we are A Christ-Centered Community that Cares for People. Through worshiping together, serving together, and growing together, we build one another up.

I go to serve the people of New Orleans and the students of UNH. I go to share my faith and what Christ has done in my life with the students so they may come to know Him. I have seen what God can do in students’ lives and have watched them grow in Christ Jesus. Peter says in II Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

I am so thankful that I can go on this trip to New Orleans. I ask for your prayers for the team of DEC people who are going and the students for whom God has prepared to go. Paul writes in II Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

To God Be The Glory

Joe Bard