I’ve been encouraged lately at the countless stories of God moving in the hearts of our people to give their lives away for the cause of the gospel.  Rachelle is one of those stories that brings me great encouragement.

I first met Rachelle in the Fall of 2007 when we were just getting the Eastside campus started in Redmond.  She had come back from WSU with an earnest desire to really plug into a church where she could grow the faith she found in Jesus while in college.  We were her first home church and she jumped in with both feet pursuing membership, serving in our ministries and committing to living in community.  It’s been a blessing to see her grow in her faith and now make a big life changing decision to live out her faith in Jesus for others.  This is a good work and I trust that Rachelle is going to be effective reaching the “party girls” on campus at WSU and helping them plug into home churches in partnership with Mars Hill and the Acts 29 church planting network.

I am encouraging our church to get behind Rachelle and send her with your encouragement, prayer and financial support as God leads you.  Below is a word from Rachelle.

What did you learn in College?
By Rachelle Richardson

Did you know the Lord in college?  What would you have been saved from or saved to if you had come to faith in college?

I was the typical 19-year-old at Washington State University thinking about my next class, my latest crush and getting into the coolest sorority.  I had no concept that I had a Father in heaven who was plotting a rescue for my life.  I was so far from Christianity that I thought when someone mentioned “Jesus Christ” that his last name was “Christ”.  I felt empty and unsettled.

Providentially, God put me in a room in my sorority house right across from a girl named Jenny.  Jenny was totally different.  She always hung out and had a great time but she never got wasted or hooked up.  I kept seeing her love and help others with a quiet joy.  What did she have that I didn’t?  One day she told me about the God who created her and the relationship she had with Jesus Christ that changed her heart.  By God’s grace, I knew that same God had created me, and I desperately wanted to know Him and get this new heart.  So I knelt of the floor of my sorority and surrendered my life to Christ.

Later I found out that Jenny was a student involved with a college ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ.  She felt specifically led to share Jesus with the women in my sorority.  Her obedience resulted in my salvation.  When I graduated last year, I knew that God was calling me to go back to WSU to share the gospel with girls like me by going on staff full time with Campus Crusade for Christ.  Jenny was my inspiration but my deepest prayer is that God would allow me to follow in the only footsteps that really matter-the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

I praise God for allowing me to become a member at Mars Hill and be under Biblical teaching that tells the truth in love.  I want to imitate a similar approach in my ministry where I am approachable but uncompromising for the Lord.  To that end, I just recently completed an extensive training program with Campus Crusade for Christ, and plan to be on WSU’s campus full time by this fall if the Lord provides my funding. It breaks my heart to think of how many students are spending their college years getting drunk and hooking up when they could be introduced to the lover of the souls, our patient and matchless Savior. I thank God for providing Mars Hill as my spiritual family.

If you want to know more about my ministry, please email me at rachelle.richardson@uscm.org or leave me a message on my profile on The City with your contact information including your email.

If the Lord puts it on your heart to support my ministry financially, you can also visit Campus Crusade for Christ website for more information.