THE RISE OF A NEW DAY

“The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the shadowland of death a light has dawned.” -- Matthew 4:16

The Atlanta University Center Campus Ministry has exemplified this scripture. Since August 2004, Lead Evangelist Mike Patterson and his wife, Shawn, along with Campus Ministers Angel and Christina Maldonado have prayed, fasted and evangelized the campuses of Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College. Starting with a handful of disciples, the ministry has now grown to almost 30 disciples! In fact, since their arrival in Atlanta almost 40 people have been baptized into Christ. All praise and honor goes to God.

The most exciting thing about these ministries is the numerous lives that have been transformed for eternity. Mike’s faith as an Evangelist has increased tremendously during this time. He has prayed for almost 20 years to build a church from the start and help raise up the next generation of Evangelists who will preach the Word powerfully and unapologetically for the next 50 years. God is answering that prayer as we speak.

It has been a joy for Mike to serve the Greater Atlanta Church of Christ while also working as an adjunct professor at Morehouse College. Teaching History 111 & 112 has been extremely rewarding for him. However, he says it pales in comparison to having “life” conversations with his students on a daily basis. Known as Professor Patterson around campus, his office hours at the “House” have been booked with students in need of guidance. Those “life” conversations had evidently become “life changing” conversations as three of his former students became disciples.
Periodically, as he reflects on how the Spirit prompted them to begin a ministry at Morehouse, he remembers how it all started outside the campus bookstore. He and Angel met a young man from Washington, DC, wearing a white “T” with braids covering his face. Thus began the odyssey of converting some of the most amazing students in the country.

Mike and Angel reached out to Chase Nance in front of the bookstore on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in the fall semester of 2004--his sophomore year. Chase can’t remember if they even talked about church, but he does remember giving them bad directions to some local restaurants. The following Sunday morning at 8 a.m., his cell phone rang. It was Angel on the other end inviting him to church. He says the only reason he came, in what seemed to be short notice, was that a week before their encounter Chase prayed that if God wanted him to come to church, he would, though God Himself had to invite him. And He did, though not directly. He chose to use an “Angel” to deliver His message. It was Acts 17:26-27 becoming reality in the life of a young man searching for the Way.
Chase studied the Bible for six long months and had a philosophical view for just about everything, as many Morehouse Men do. He fought for every inch in every study to the point that Angel and the brothers stopped studying with him and seemed to have moved on. The brothers may not have known, but they had influenced Chase’s life immensely. By the end of the semester he had stopped cursing, started reading his Bible and doing what it said slowly gaining faith that it was the truth from God. Chase read his Bible every day over the Christmas break and came back ready to take things to the next level. Even then it was a struggle for him to say the words, “Jesus is Lord”, but he finally did it and was baptized on January 23, 2005. He says that was the day his life truly started.

That is just one of the many incredible stories God has written into eternity through the Greater Atlanta Church of Christ Campus Ministry. We were in awe when God answered an impossible prayer of 24 baptisms in 2006. We were surprised when one of those students--a freshman from Bermuda--was introduced to the Church after picking up a Bible Talk invitation from the ground. We rejoiced when two childhood friends and roommates from Philadelphia were baptized on the same day. We preached the Word when almost 70 visitors showed up at the AUC Bible Talk. We celebrated seeing three students baptized during a Sunday Service. All of this while Angel and Christina worked full-time jobs and led the campus ministry. God has shown that through all of our imperfections and obstacles, He can and will use open hearts that are fully committed to Him. Let us all be inspired by God as we preach the Word on our campuses and we sacrifice all we have for a dream to see every college campus in the world evangelized. This is only the beginning…the rise of a new day!