fall retreat

We had an amazing retreat this past weekend.  We kicked it off by stuffing our selves with Prime Rib from the grill of Mark Murphey.  Then we were led in worship by Chris Albritton.  For about 45 minutes that night we spent in solitude listening to God's word.  It was a much needed time alone with the Lord.  Everyone found a quiet spot, even in the cold, and stopped to listen for a while.  This was the theme for the weekend.  It was a definite retreat.  The next day we had breakfast followed by a couple of group building games.  Yes we finally got everybody across the river (one of the games we played).  Then we spent a few more minutes in quiet and came back together to hear what we were listening to.  It was awesome to hear these students share the things they heard that weekend.  I will cherish this weekend for a long time.  It was almost perfect!  See ya. 

Last week at LifePoint

Last week at LifePoint we talked about how we, the body of Christ, have one mission, to share the one message with the world.  Our one mission is to share the one message to the world.  The one message is that Jesus took our place and paid the price for our sins.  It needs no decorations or add-ins.  It only needs to be shared.  Two weeks ago we prayed for LaTech's campus from our parking lot!  As we looked at all the dorms and classrooms we could see from our parking lot, we prayed that God would open our mouths to share his word.  This past week we took time to make a plan to take the message to the campus.  There will be more to come as these plans are carried out. Continue to pray for us and the campus or Louisiana Tech!

2 weeks in

We have now had students in town for over two weeks.  The first two weeks of the school year are by far the most important for reaching students and plugging them in.  Every campus organization knows this. Now we get to the real work.  The BCM church roadtrip came through and was great.  The first college students were excited and met many of the freshmen that were with the BCM.  I am thankful for students reaching out to others.  We also started a tailgate this year for our entire church.  Our hope is that our students and church members can come together in fellowship and also to reach others tailgating before the game.  Last week was great and we really did not publicize it very well here are some pictures from last week. 

welcome back DAWGS!!!

All of our hard work has come to its fruition,  WELCOME BACK TECH STUDENTS!  We have prayed for this week/year for a long time this summer.  We would love to hear from some of you who may have received a post card from our members or a brochure with all of our stuff. 
This weekend we are opening up the PowerHouse to watch some college football and eat some free food. Stop by after 5:30 and hang out with us. 
Sunday we are giving you a big free lunch after our 11 am worship service.  We want to get to know you and give you a great lunch.  Plan on hanging around and eating with us after church.
LifePoint Kicks off next wednesday at 8pm in the Powerhouse.  This will be a time of community, worship, and study.  We hope you will join us next wednesday night. 
Touch Ruston is next week also.  Thursday we will hit some neighborhoods in town and spread the word about lunch on Saturday.  Saturday we will serve a free lunch to the people in our community from 11-1pm.

Saturday evening we get to enjoy more Bulldog football!  Look for us at the game starting at 6pm. 

We cant wait to meet you.  WELCOME BACK!!!

Tech Campus Prayer Walk

We are just a few weeks away from Ruston becoming a busy town.  Dorms open September 3 for students to begin moving in at Louisiana Tech.  This evening at First Baptist Ruston we had a Louisiana Tech campus Prayer walk/drive.  I put the /drive there because almost the minute we were heading out a large thunderstorm moved through the area.  In my mind we would gather into groups and pray right there in the sanctuary for Tech students.  That would have been great, but that was not enough, people formed groups and headed for their cars.  They drove to the designated areas they chose and began praying for the tech students and faculty that would soon be present.  Every part of campus was occupied by someone praying. It was pouring down rain and lightning and they went out.  Christina and I drove through campus after everyone had left and we noticed vehicles parked all over campus that we knew were members of First Baptist Ruston praying for Tech students.  I did not get a count but there seemed to be well over 50 church members there to pray.  I thank God for a church that loves and supports college ministry.  Tech students, know that you are already being prayed for and our hearts are growing bigger for you.  We cant wait for school to start. 

As summer winds down

Hey all who are reading this.  Hopefully it is Tech students, but for who ever cares, this is how we will finish the summer with First College, the college ministry of First Baptist Ruston.  So far this summer, we have either had, Bible study at Scott and Cheryl Leachman's house or we have served at Rolling Hills Ministries here in Ruston.  We have looked at what it means to be Baptist and how we have gotten to where we are as Baptists.  We also took a look at how to study the Bible both Old and New Testament.  To finish out the summer, we are going to look at a few aspects of our spiritual life.  First we will look at sin,  how did it happen and what kind of impact does it have now?  Next we will look at salvation,  who is it for and what are we saved from?  For the final week of the summer study we will look at sanctification, what keeps us going as believers?  By this time it will be time to get ready for Louisiana Tech students to return.  We are really excited about what is ahead.  I hope that you will join with us in prayer for this school year.  IF you are a member of First Baptist Ruston,  clear your calender on August 22 and join us after the PM service to prayer walk Tech's Campus.  Look for more posts before the school year starts.

Vermont day five and return

Once again, I have to say we had a great time in Vermont.  God was faithful to us and to this church.  He brought in kids who did not have a church and gave us the opportunity to share the gospel with them.  He showed us how much people need Him and how he can use a few people from Louisiana in Vermont.  We did much better with airports on the return home than we did on the way up.  It was an EARLY morning to get to the airport but we made it.  I am thankful for the team that came together.  Everybody had a great attitude and really made my first mission trip experience great.  I hope that they were as fulfilled as I was this week.  Thank you Kyle, Ethan, Lindsey, Mrs. Mary, Keeley, and Morgan.  You were a great team.  I am also thankful for the great church- Capstone Baptist.  Thank you Pastor Phil Steadman and your great and large family.  Thank you Heidi and all of your volunteers for your hard work and dedication.  Thank you God for your Faithfulness!

Vermont Day 4

Boston is a beautiful city

First Baptist group in Boston

Cody teaching the Bible study

Kyle playing with the Kids during games and rec

One of the groups singing "Today is the Day"

Our Bennington, VT trip has been great!  We have had a really strong VBS so far.  First day we had 27 kids, second day we had 29 kids, and yesterday we had 34 kids!  God really has done a great thing this week here in Vermont.  I hope these pictures show a glimpse of how great it is to be serving God in this way and for these people.  Let me continue to say that Capstone Baptist is a great church!  In addition to doing the VBS we have had time to sight see.  Yesterday we went to Boston for a few hours to tour the city. We started out at Faneuil Hall and walked the Freedom Trail visitng Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church, where he signaled that the British were coming.  The church was beautiful and filled with history, it was my personal favorite.  After lunch, we headed back to Bennington for day three of our VBS.  We are having a great time and will be sad to leave.  One more day of VBS and we are headed back to Louisiana. 

Vermont day 3

We had a great day in Vermont.  We got plenty of rest in the morning and made a trip to Walmart to gather what we needed.  We spent the afternoon at the church getting ready for the VBS that night.  There were 27 kids that came the first night!  Of those 27 kids, 7 kids are not involved in church anywhere!  God has already been faithful to bring in the children and families that need him.  It was soo much fun to work with these kids and with this great church.  Tonight we will be ready for more kids to show up and to teach them about God's word!

Here are some of the pictures from the first day of VBS

Ethan and Kyle leading games and rec

Morgan and Mary teaching arts and crafts

The sanctuary decorated for the High Seas Adventure.

 

Mrs. Mary leading the snack time

Vermont day 2

We arrived in Bennington, Vermont  at about 10:30 this morning. Kyle and Mrs. Mary joined us after lunch.    We joined the congregation of Capstone Baptist Church in their worship service.  Following the service Capstone joined another congregation in the area to have a grill out.  It was great to meet some of the members!  I was moved by how much this church loves God.  I kept thinking of how pure the service and the church is.  They met together to worship and give their hearts to God.  The building they use is beautiful.  It was built over 200 years ago and they have renovated it to be able to use it.  I will post pictures soon of their church building.

The building was built in 1859, the church renovated it for use just a few years ago. 

We will meet with the volunteers from the church this evening.  We will go over how the VBS will work and spend time praying for the kids that will come.  The church has already been so impressive.  They have everything decorated already and are ready, we have not done a thing to get ready.  We came to help this church do a VBS and reach the kids of the community.  So far, they havent needed our help. They love their kids and are so excited about this week.

The great team from FBC Ruston.  Our first covered bridge pic. 

First College Summer/Mission Vermont day 1

I am Cody Albritton.  I am the Interim College Minister at First Baptist Church Ruston, LA.  I moved to Ruston this summer to begin reaching the college students of Louisiana Tech University.  I created this blog with the intent to post more information about first college that what I can fit on the website.  I hope that I can really let everyone ,especially tech students, know about the excited things God is doing at First Baptist Ruston. 

First college is the college ministry of First Baptist Ruston.  We have all of our weekley events and special events posted on our website fbcruston.org.  I hope that you will look there first and then see what the blog is all about. 

We have had a great summer so far.  When I got here in June, there were already events planned for the summer and a great group of students who are ready to see this ministry be effective on Louisiana Tech's campus.  

We have met on Wednesday nights at Scott and Cheryl Leachmans for Bible study.  Coming straight from seminary I had forgotten how much people are hungry to know God and to know his Word.  That is what we have done.  We looked at how we got to the point of being known as Baptist and what that means.  We also served our community at Rolling Hills Ministries and did a prayer walk on Tech's campus.  We have just finished learning about the Old and New Testament and how to study them.  Our summer has really flown by but we have made good use of our time.  You might have also received a postcard or brochure in the mail.  If you did, we invite you to come check us out when you get to Tech.  There is alot of excitement about college students at First Baptist Ruston.  

Currently we are on our way to Bennington, Vermont to help a church out with a Vacation Bible School.  We have a team of 7 that have committed this week to helping Capstone Baptist Church.  This week I hope to post updates of our time and what God is doing.