Trojan Football Winding Down, Ministry Picking Up

Cy was an RA for a freshmen dorm on campus last year. He had 28 brand new, rambunctious, ambitious, lost young men in his influence. They'd come to him for advice, to mediate their conflicts, to talk them off the ledge and to be their big bro. Sometimes they'd come back to the dorm damaged; depressed because of a grade, a broken relationship or drunk from pledging beyond their means on frat row.

One of these young men was Robert, hopeful to blend right in to Troy's milieu. He'd show up at Cy's door looking for someone to talk to. Cy's door was always open and his bible was always out. Robert had many questions about the bible, started studying and coming to our combined campus services with the west at downtown's Art Share LA.

After a few months, Robert slowed down the studies to a crawl as he further invested himself in academics, frat & romantic life. Months went by. Almost a year later, now Robert's sophomore year, Cy felt the Spirit move in his heart to rekindle his friendship with Rob. As soon as they reconnected, Robert asked to start getting together regularly again to study the bible. He shared that he felt more lost and without purpose than ever before. After a few more weeks of intense study, prayer and fasting and some critical decisions even through a grueling final exam schedule, Robert was ready.

Robert was baptized on a cold, dark, rainy & windy night in the rough waves of the Pacific on December 12th.

We praise God for Robert's humility to surrender to the Lord's will and for Cy's faith that even after a year that nothing is impossible with God. Perhaps most significantly, we are impacted by their example of friendship. It is LOVE that separates Jesus-followers from the rest of the religious world. John 13:34-35. To love like Jesus loved, selfless and unconditional, makes an indelible mark on souls; an authentic impact in contrast to an often Hollywoodesque venire here in Los Angeles. THIS LOVE IS REAL. It was this love that Jesus showed 2000 years ago. It is this love that moved in Robert & Cy. It is this love that now inspires us to believe that miracles can and do happen.