10 More Sponsors

The Kats for Christ ministry is getting ready to experience one of it's highlight experiences for the entire year, Z2 Convergence! As one of the two visionaries and strategists looking to provide a completely new experience that connects with college students and campus ministries all across the state and region, I want to give you an opportunity to help some of our students go by sponsoring the cost for one student!

Imagine a place where Church of Christ campus ministries gather together to go deep with other students from as far away as Arizona and as close as SFA! The Z2 Convergence, growing out of Zechariah 2:10-13, is a place where God and students collide in engaging worship, motivating discussions, and energizing fellowship to inspire us to live for Jesus Christ completely!

It is different than a retreat! It is different than a seminar! It is a convergence!

We leave this coming Friday and will come back on Monday (MLK day) inspired and energized for the upcoming semester that starts next week!

We have told students already that money is no reason to skip an experience like this. I've reassured them that we have many individuals ready for a chance to help them experience God this weekend. Because of my confidence in many of you, we have given various scholarship amounts to 13 of our own, some full scholarships and some partial.

At this point, I have to brag on some of our college students! They were so excited about going to the Z2 Convergence that they wanted to make sure to help pay for their fellow students' tickets! A couple of students paid for two tickets; some kept spare change all semester to help with scholarships; and some put back a few dollars each paycheck to help others go. Amazing! That changes my mind about what I normally think of when I think of college students and money!

Now it is your turn to help, even with $10. We still have $825 left to cover the scholarships we've given. Will you be one of 10 who sponsor the cost of 1 student with a donation of $85, the cost of one ticket? If the Lord moves your heart, all you have to do it go to the Kats for Christ website (www.katsforchrist.com) to find instructions on that page. It is that easy.

Thank you for reading through my abnormally long email. We pray that God lift us up and protect us this weekend so we can bring glory to His name! Let me know if you have any questions.

In His service,

Chris <><
Campus Minister
Kats for Christ

christopherblair.blogspot.com

KFC EOTY Banquet

Each year the KFC End-of-the-Year Banquet is like a two-hour God highlight reel for the Kats for Christ ministry. We invite all our KFC students, their parents, alumni, friends, and other church leaders to come together for a great meal and a time of sharing, worship, and celebration. We also get to send off our graduating seniors with a blessing!

We want you to celebrate with us this year! Go to this page to see the details: http://www.katsforchrist.com/info/banquet.

Chris <><
Campus Minister
Kats for Christ

christopherblair.blogspot.com

KFC Workday Food

Today has been fun-o-rama for me as we get ready for tomorrow's KFC workday that begins at 8am. I had another last minute idea for those of you interested in helping in some way. 

Working all day long with about 20 college students and a few HCOC members (I've heard from a couple of people who will stop by at some point tomorrow to help...awesome!) we will certainly work up an appetite. Are you interested in putting together something small for us to eat for lunch and/or dinner? We have beverages and are open to any food you would like to offer.

I will definitely need to coordinate this a little bit (unless you want use your coordination talents to help us), so let me know what you'd be are interested in providing tomorrow. Since we are painting even our kitchen, we will be outside enjoying the awesome weather for meals.

Thanks for your continued support of the KFC ministry!

Chris <><
Campus Minister
Kats for Christ

christopherblair.blogspot.com

KFC Workday THIS Saturday

Hey everyone,

Back in the fall a small discussion began about having a spring KFC workday with people from HCOC to spruce up the ever-depreciating Kats for Christ building. I confess my constant struggle to remain organized, on top of things, and zealous for following through with my great and wonderful plans. Because of this and my propensity to hang out with last-minute college students, I am only now communicating that, HEY SURPRISE, we are having that KFC workday this Saturday, March 12th starting at 8am.

Recognizing this is a fairly major undertaking, I hope we can get the help we need to make this a successful endeavor. Service together always unites people in fun, unexpected ways. I imagine God bringing our campus ministry a little closer to our congregation this Saturday! Right now we have right at 15 students (if you include me) giving up some of their spring break for this KFC workday. I am anticipating that number of students increasing tonight at class.

Can you help us if you are available? Skilled labor of any kind is very much appreciated, especially with painting, plumbing, cabinets. We could use your expertise and/or your resources. Below are our plans and some of our needs. Let me know if you can help even with one thing.

Plan:

Here is the broad plan inside the KFC: paint the inside of the KFC; in the bathrooms, install two new vanities and faucets, take out stalls and one toilet, replace floor tiles; install kitchen faucet; repair minor leak in another kitchen sink; install two upper kitchen cabinets.

Here is the broad plan outside the KFC: rake/bag leaves; plant grass where back flower bed is; weed/trim/fix front flower beds.

Items Needed:

We will be purchasing some of these items if needed. There may be more unanticipated items too. Here is the list: paint brushes, paint rags, rollers, roller extensions, plastic drop clothes, scaffolding, plumbing tools, notch trowel, knives to cut vinyl flooring, gloves, rakes, shovels, spades, leaf blower, hammers, saws all, and drill motor.

If you have any of these items that we could use this weekend, let me know. I will respond late tonight or early tomorrow since I am out of pocket this afternoon. It would be best to bring these items to the KFC at some point before Saturday. Be sure to mark your items with your name. If you would like to help with the cost of any of these items, you can certainly do that by making a donation to the KFC Fund. Talk to the church office if you are interested.

I truly appreciate your willingness to help out our campus ministry. The students are really excited about making their home a little more homey. I look forward to hearing from you.

In His service,

Chris <><
Campus Minister
Kats for Christ

christopherblair.blogspot.com

Words of Blessing - HCOC

Long time since my last post. Crazy!

The power of the spoken word is amazing. I feel compelled to bless others through my words more regularly. Stumbling across some powerful written prayers recently, I desire to spend more time writing out prayers and blessings. I start with a blessing for our congregation at Huntsville Church of Christ. It is one that mimics the blessing Isaac made over Jacob in Genesis 27:27-29.

"Wow! What an amazingly gracious and forgiving people who truly know how much the Lord has forgiven them!

May the Lord work his powerful character among you all and bountifully increase the number of His people.

May whole communities come to you to learn about and participate in the Lord's work.

May all kinds of people find in you a love so great and abundant that all receive the blessing of life with God Almighty.

May you take advantage of the Lord's blessing you and actively pursue greater understanding of Him.

May He sustain you and protect you always."

Mike Garcia Baptized

This morning Mike Garcia, one of our Kats for Christ students, clothed himself with Christ in the waters of baptism at the church building. Many praises go up in heaven for an agnostic turned Christian! He confessed this morning that he wanted to do this to turn away from his sins and walk a new life in Christ. I love the reminder to live up to our baptism in dying to ourselves today and living for God today.

Chris <><
Campus Minister
Kats for Christ

christopherblair.blogspot.com

Website Redesign

We have just updated the Kats for Christ website. It is much more interactive and informative than we've had before. Throughout the rest of the summer we will be tweaking, adding, and enhancing the features on the website so the new students in the fall will be blessed by it.

Please help us with this process by spending a little bit of time (maybe 10 minutes) on the website. Besides becoming better informed about what is going on in our ministry, you will aid us in making this the best place it can be for our students, alumni, friends, and parents.

Let us know if there are major oversights, unclear explanations, misspelled word, or broken links. Also let us know what features would be beneficial for YOU personally. What would you like to see on the website?

LST Party

Hey everyone,

I wanted to let you know about our Let's Start Talking teams preparing for their summer projects. As part of their training, each of our 4 teams is responsible for putting together a party. They will do the same thing during their projects this summer, so they are learning now how to do that by actually putting on a party.

The first team up is SHSU Team Italy (Travis Esquivel and Jonathan Rowe). TONIGHT is the night! The party starts at 8:30pm so there is time to get to the KFC Building after church. There is a facebook event (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115333001815259&index=1) to which you can respond if you must let everyone know you are coming.

If you haven't met these two guys (and the rest of our teams!), join us for a great time of fun! Your support will go a long way in helping our teams be prepared to share Jesus and share themselves this summer. I hope you make it!

Chris <><
Kats for Christ
Campus Minister
christopherblair.blogspot.com

PS-the other teams will also have a party on April 14, April 28, and May 5. Put these on your calendar!

PPS-have you heard about our class: Going Deep in a Shallow World? Go to podcast at www.katsforchrist.com

KFC Let's Start Talking Projects

The spring semester is in full swing and we are loving it! God is moving in students' lives, bringing them to various levels of commitment. Some are learning to go deeper in their faith through all our service opportunities and others are making the ultimate commitment to put on Christ in the waters of baptism. Even more students are learning what it means to truly be a Kat for Christ as they mature in their being Jesus' disciple.

One of the huge parts of this spring semester involves training FOUR teams to go on a Let's Start Talking project this summer. We've never had so many making this commitment to go overseas to help people with their conversational English using the book of Luke. These 12 students are meeting weekly to get ready for what God is going to do through them this summer. This is a huge commitment for them!

Here is where you can be a tremendous help and blessing to our ministry. Each worker must raise $2,975 for the Let's Start Talking Ministry to go on a project this year. They must have half their funds in next Monday, February 1! A few students have already passed this mark, but many still have a long way to go. Will you partner with our KFC ministry in helping them raise the necessary funds to go to Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany this summer?

You can contribute a couple of ways. One, you can go directly to one of the student's team LST pages listed below and contribute securely online with any amount. If you know any of the students that is probably the best way to help them directly. If you don't know which student to give to we have another option. Two, you can go to our KFC LST page and click on the LST KFC Contribution button that will send you to our secure KFC PayPal site to contribute any amount. The money will then be distributed according to those students who need it most to fulfill their commitment.

Our challenge to our KFC alumni and KFC friends is this: we want to find 40 people to give at least $100 this year that goes directly to our students' LST fundraising commitment. Will you help us with this challenge? Know also that any amount will be accepted and is tax-deductible! We praise God that you want to partner with us in sending students all over the world through this ministry.

Here are the teams you can help with any financial contribution:

SHSU Team 1 (Belgium)

• Austin Atwood
• Jeremy Baggs
• Lindsey Montoya

SHSU Team 2 (Italy)

• Asia Kopp


• Jonathan Rowe


• Travis Esquivel

SHSU Team 3 (Switzerland)

• Alicia Carter


• Monique Bertrand


• Samantha Allardyce

SHSU Team 4 (Germany)

• Jamie Lenz


• Jessi Pitt


• Travis Knight

I thank you in advance for your continued support of our ministry. Let me know if you have any questions. If you want suggestions as to one particular student, please let me know that too!

Chris

Discovering Our Design

Last weekend was our annual fall retreat. We focused on Discovering Our Design. God has given every person a unique design that we cannot change. We spent the weekend seeking to begin discovering the way that God has wired us. I am excited about seeing these designs working in our ministry helping it function the best it can.

Oh yeah...we also had a ton of fun. It wouldn't be a retreat without it! Hanging out. Playing games. Staying up late. We did a high ropes course that really pushed some of our students faith! Overall, God was glorified, and we had a chance to get away from the routine to refocus on him. Thanks for you prayers and support for this weekend.

Chris <><

KFC Fall Retreat

In just under two weeks (Oct 16-18) we are having our annual Kats for Christ Fall Retreat. This year we are going to be making some good progress on one of our major goals for the year: to allow at least 20 students the opportunity to discover their ministry gifts. The process is pretty involved, but here is what is behind the goal. Rather than trying to fit students into a particular ministry slot, we are trying to fit our ministry to the areas in which God has gifted us. During the weekend, we hope to discover (and allow students to discover) their gifts as a first step in achieving this goal. I'm seriously excited to see what God does at this years' retreat.

Here is where you can help us. I love hearing stories of God working at retreats through the years. It seems like He takes advantage of people choosing to get away for a weekend to get closer to him with other Christians! Will you consider sending me a short story of how God worked in your life at one of the Kats for Christ retreats? I want to share these with our current students so they can see our God more clearly!

Also, will you consider contributing to help one student go on the retreat this year? The cost is $35 per student. We have a temporary online retreat payment option where even students can pay for their retreat. If you want to help make the retreat a possibility for a student unable to pay this year, just go to http://www.katsforchrist.com/retreat.php and make your contribution as long as this option is available. God is good all the time.

We appreciate your continued support for this ministry. Let me know if you have any questions.

Chris <><
Kats for Christ
Campus Minister
christopherblair.blogspot.com

PS-As always, you can also make one-time or recurring online contributions here.

KFC ARK Efforts

The semester has gotten off to a great start! We have an incredible group of new students (some freshman, some transfers). They have a contagiously gregarious and welcoming attitude. There are a lot of new friendships happening!

We have begun with eagerness a new service-oriented approach to blessing our community that we are calling ARK after the idea of acts of random kindness. People in the community (mainly at church right now) contact us about service needs they have. We write down all the important information on an ARK card and tack it on our cross. Students take it down, get a group of students together, contact the person directly about meeting that need, and then go serve!

What is cool about this is how we are able to use the youth of college students to serve like Jesus! Students get the benefit of learning the way of Jesus. We have also developed a little reward system to give a little more incentive for our students. While it is not about the points, we want to help students have some benefit for serving others. They receive points for their service. If they have a certain amount of points, we give them a discount on the retreat or with our Let's Start Talking expenses. Even when we go on our Spring Break Service Project next semester they will need to have a minimum level of points to go.

All in all, I'm excited about seeing how students are being formed into the image of Jesus. We are trying more and more to train and mature disciples of Jesus.

We thank you for your continued support of this ministry. Please keep us in your prayers!

Chris Blair <><
Kats for Christ
Campus Minister

Online Payment Options

The time has finally come! Many of you have been waiting for a way to bless this ministry financially through an online payment option. Some wanting to bless the ministry with a one-time gift. Others wanting a no-hassle recurring payment option. We now have both available for immediate use through PayPal. There are several options available so be sure to see all of the options on the PayPal page of our KFC website.

If you would like to contribute to this ministry using a different period (maybe once a quarter) or using a different periodic amount please contact me and we will set something up for you.

Thank you so much for your continued support of our Kats for Christ ministry.

In His Service, 

Chris Blair <><
Campus Minister

Kats for Christ 45th Reunion

The time is almost here! At the end of this month (June 27-28) we are gathering to discover, connect with, and celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will do through our campus ministry efforts here in Huntsville, Texas at Sam Houston State University. Our schedule of events is below but also available online with some local hotel information.

Please RSVP by this Sunday for these events so we can purchase food for the weekend. We need to know if you will be attending the Saturday lunch, dinner, or both. There are many ways to RSVP. One, send me a quick email (blairgolfer@gmail.com). This is by far the best way to RSVP. I will respond to your email confirming your RSVP. Two, sign up on Sunday morning with me in the welcome area at church. Three, call the KFC Student Center telling us which events you will attend on Saturday (936.295.6001). Or four, quickly fill out our online form. We will call you to confirm your RSVP.

Here is our schedule:

Saturday Morning, June 27th

(at KFC Student Center)

10:00am	Welcome and Intros
11:00am	Homemade Pizza
11:30am	Pizza and Story Time

Saturday Afternoon, June 27th

(1:00pm- 6:00pm)

Visit Campus, City, Family, and Friends

Saturday Evening, June 27th

(at Huntsville Church of Christ)

6:00pm	Welcome and Intros
6:30pm	Dinner
7:30pm	Past, Present, & Future

Sunday Morning, June 28th

(at Huntsville Church of Christ)

9:00am	Alumni Bible Class (In Auditorium)
10:00am	Worship Services (Alumni)

Well, I am getting more and more excited about our 45th Reunion. I hope you are too! Think of all the people you are about to reconnect with. Let me know if you have any questions.

Chris <><

PS-even if you aren't technically alumni, I'm sure we'd be blessed with your presence! Please come support this very important ministry!

-- 

Chris Blair <><

Campus Minister

christopherblair.blogspot.com

KFC Reunion

All the information about this summer's 45th Kats for Christ Reunion is online. Mark your calendars now for June 27th and 28th. You will find the tentative schedule there as well as numbers to local hotels. There will be a time to RSVP, but more information about that will be available in the next few weeks.

KFC Garage Sale Fundraiser

At the end of last year, we mentioned that we were going to have a garage sale to benefit KFC missions some time in the spring...probably March or April. We asked our congregation for donations that we would eventually sale. Logistically, we began telling our congregation early this year that we would accept and pick up donations for our garage sale. Never would we have imagined that this project would become so grand!

Things began to trickle in slowly. A bag of clothes, a desk, a box of a few things, a bag of something else, bikes, an entertainment center, lawn equipment, a table, another box, and more and more and more stuff. We completely filled up the room in the basement of the KFC Student Center! No joke! Then we took it to the church the week before the garage sale.

As we unpacked everything, we were overwhelmed with the generosity of our congregation! And my wife, Tanya, performed the impossible: she organized and got price tags on every item. I can't tell you how much time it took to do this. As you can see from the picture, the church fellowship hall was completely packed!

All that we raised will go toward Kats for Christ mission expenses. This would include expenses for our Let's Start Talking projects as well as our spring break mission projects to Mexico, Galveston, or any other place we end up going. I also imagine other mission efforts coming up that would fit in this category.

We praise our God for such a loving congregation. Thanks to all you who help us be Kats for Christ on campus!

KFC Spring Break in Galveston

We had a great trip to Galveston this year. It was the first time that I had been a part of a joint youth/college mission trip. I must say that we will do this again! Not only does it help build a community of faith with our college students, but also with our High School students getting ready for college.

It was amazing to see the amount of destruction that still remains in Galveston and especially on Bolivar peninsula. The picture up top is a house we saw in the middle of a field. It was as if a huge hand just picked it up off its pillars and set it down in the middle of the field...completely in tact but certainly destroyed!

As far as work, we completely gutted a house tearing down sheet rock, bricks, and anything that wasn’t structural on the house. Working with Nehemiah's Vision, we also went to one assigned lot at a time and picked up everything in sight that wasn’t dirt! Trash, debris, wood, fences, metal, plastic, wires, etc. Each lot took about 1.5 hours to clean up. It was so rewarding to see all the stuff we cleaned up.

We praise God for the opportunity to serve during a week where most college students take off to do everything except praise their creator!

KFC Alumni

I have set up an online form for Kats for Christ alumni to update their contact information with us. You can signup to receive KFC email updates and also information on our upcoming 45th Anniversary KFC Reunion this summer. I am excited about bringing our alumni a little closer to this ministry!

Song of Solomon Class

Last night we started the video portion of our series on relationships. We are using Tommy Nelson's DVD series on the Song of Solomon as the basis for our discussion. What I love about this series is the discussion groups afterwards. Three couples (and two married people) from church have committed to help us this semester with these groups. This is really a chance for our students to be surrounded by God's people and encouraged in their wrestling with relationship stuff.

One student came to me last night telling me how excited she was about this class. Through tears she shared how meaningful it was to have good examples of what a marriage should look like. She cherished that she is going to get to know these couples and learn from them things that she didn't get from her parents.

What a testimony to God working through people to encourage his people! I love to see it when God brings a student closer to his heart through the things we do in this ministry!

Lord, continue to give us wisdom as we seek to glorify your name. Empower us to advance your kingdom one conversation at a time! Let us reflect who you are more and more each day. Amen.

I Am Second

Rarely do I take what I see on billboards seriously enough to actually go to a website seen on one! But, I'm glad I did that this time. During the Christmas holidays, I saw several billboards all over the Dallas area with famous people on them. Written across the front was a lonely "iamsecond.com." The one that really caught my eye and made me visit the site was Jason Castro from American Idol. So I went, as should you.

On Thursday nights this semester we are incorporating videos from this website into our devotional times. The gist of the videos is that these people (some famous, some not) have come to a place where they overcome struggles by realizing that God is first in their life; Jesus is the most important thing; they are second. Their testimonies range from struggles with drug addiction to issues of success and fame to life growing up in a Christian home.

I am looking forward to how these videos impact our students this year. We will have a little discussion about them during devo time, but the point is to really get them thinking about their own struggles in learning to follow Jesus more completely. You should check out the videos.