Running on Faith

Feeding students twice a week with Agape feasts is the heart of this campus ministry. Each term students experience faith active in love, often receiving Holy Communion for the first time, as they check their compass and transform into meals that feed others. 

“I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, …” [1Cor.11.23]

“This is my body, broken for you…this is my blood, poured out for you.” Jesus made a simple meal the defining parable of his entire life, death and resurrection. Here the grinding of wheat and the crushing of grapes, both fermented into food that sustains us, are transformed into the core practice of our lives and the eternal community welcoming all forever. 

This 2000-year-old incarnation of self-giving love (agape), whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, ripples outward even today in shared meals in every time and place…to the point that even a Buddhist monk in Vietnam named Thich Nhat Hanh would celebrate Jesus’ transformational meal across his global sangha. When he met Trappist monk Thomas Merton, both recognized each other as spiritual brothers. This global vision ties all in love. 

“And we go running on faith, 

All of our dreams will come true.

And our world will be right, 

When love comes over me and you.”

“Running on Faith,” by Jerry Lynn Williams

Jerry Lynn William was an amazing singer and composer for B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Plant, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimmy Vaughn. Jerry died broke in his 50’s after losing copyright contests over his work. Many great artists sadly suffered poverty and short lives, even though their work is celebrated long after them. Most people have forgotten Jerry, but his witness to love that conquers all worldly powers lives on. So it is with you and me. The only thing that lives on after us is LOVE.

Jesus has written his love on our hearts and minds, and we live on to the extent that we embody that love today for the ones who come after us. This love is the only thing unconquered by death and carried forward in new generations. That is why campus ministry, at the pivotal opportunity to find the purpose of life in loving service, is at the heart of our legacy of faith, which entirely rests on those who take our place. 

Not only do we receive life from those who care for us, but our lives can become that meal that feeds others.

That is why your sustaining support, especially through monthly giving that students can count on, can be part of your legacy of running on faith with new generations in this campus ministry. 

Your legacy of Love feeds students’ souls through your giving. Will you join Agape students in your own legacy of faith with a monthly recurring gift? This is your chance to pass on the love that creates and sustains emerging servant-leaders.

In faith and love,