Partnering with Jesus!

McDaniel Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Campus Minister preaches at WUMC

Rachel Snack serves as the campus minister for McDaniel College's InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (ICF) and this past Sunday (Feb 11, 2018) she was our guest speaker at Westminster UMC.  In fact it was a youth-filled service on Sunday as Youth Repreentatives shared their experiences attending Rock 2018 in Ocean City. 

Rachel and her husband Jonathan are new residents to the City of Westminster but as graduates from McDaniel College they are not strangers to the Westminster area.  She shares in her bio that she and her husband had formative experiences in their faith during their time in the fellowship at McDaniel and she is excited to be see God at work.on the campus serve in ministry as they see students transformed by Christ!" (bulletin 2/11/2018)   Rachel steps into the role of Campus minister as her predecessor, Carrie Carey celebrates her last year at McDaniel.

For our part, Westminster UMC celebrates a long history with McDaniel College, formerly known as Western Maryland College.  The college was the dream of a teacher, a Methodist Protestant preacher and a railway man.  One hundred fifty years ago it was chartered and remained part of the United Methodist Colleges until 1972.  The college hosted Westminster Theological Seminary and I am told that each Sunday the professors would sit in the front pews ... a sea of black robes ... at Westminster UMC.  After 1972, Westminster would retain an informal relationship with the college as many Westminster UMC members served as administrative and support staff, sat on various boards of the college and even served as paid adjunct and full time.professors (Reverends Charlie Wallace  Sr. and Jr. Robert Hartman, and Ira Zepp.)  These maintained our connection with the college but of late, other than a good number of alumni, we had little to do with the college.  

Seeing Rachel speak at Westminster is the realization of a dream that God planted in the Spring  of 2017 while attending classes at Cambridge, England.  The dream became my spring class' final paper.  The dream involved the possibilty of our renewing our relationship and try new ways in which our members could partner with the students of the college (who lived in Westminster for nine months each year) and together we could serve the five block radius around Center and Main.  The goal isn't to get them to church, that may be a byproduct of our relationship, rather our goal is to get folks into the community.  The dream was hatched and shared with Carrie Carey and subsequently with Rachel Snack and this past fall when we partnered with ICF college students to make and prepare, and serve the fifth Monday Soup Kitchen.  Westmisnter UMC folks are providing snacks to their second Thursday evening worship service on campus.    

Rachel constructed and executed an excellent message.  She connected how Jesus selected a few of his closest companions to walk up a mountain that day and when they arrived at the top, they became witnesses of Jesus in all his divine glory, they even witnessed a visit between Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  Rachel shared how Jesus walks with us and in this case selecte strategic leaders and partners with them, coming along wide them to engage in the work of God together.  "Could we have any better partner than Jesus?" Rachel asks.  She pointed her own experience of having a mentor in Carrie and how at a later time, she had the opportunity to build a realitionship with a college student who comes from a Hindu background.  Rachel pointed out that at one point, the student changed colleges but the ICF ministry was active at that campus.  Recently, Rachel heard from the campus minister who shared that her friend had posted on Instagram that after conducting a through comparison between the gods of Hinduism and that of Jesus Christ, she had no choice but to choose Christ.  God planted the seed of interest in her friend, Rachel watered but Christ saw the reward!  Rachel is quick to point out that what we do is for God's glory!  With a sense of humility but confidence in Christ, she attributes ever gain for Christ and God's kingdom.  

WOW!

Campus minister Rachel Snack reminds us that Christ walks with us and that we can have no better mentor or partner in our life than Jesus!