Moving Toward Our Destiny

On February 17th HMCC of Ann Arbor heard exciting news - we will be moving forward with campaigning and purchasing our own facility! Already we have taken steps toward our vision of transformation through broadening missional initiatives and birthing new churches. Now we are taking a step towards building our own transformation center! University Reformed Church (URC) has facilities located on the University of Michigan campus on Huron Street, right across the street from the Power Center. It has been a familiar landmark to every generation of our church members; we have hosted praise nights, missions luncheons, revival meetings, Good Friday Services and even morning prayer in that building in our Church's history. We are thankful for the lives that have been transformed in HMCC no matter where the setting has been - whether it was a small apartment on North Campus or in the Michigan Theater - we are humbled and grateful for God's transformative work in our Church community. With full confidence that having a transformation center will help us reach our vision, the movement towards raising prayer and funds will be called the "Destiny Campaign." We are hoping that all of our alumni will find ways to get involved!

To hear more about the amazing story of this God-given opportunity watch the sermon online at: http://annarbor.hmcc.net/files/media/video/20080217.mov

For more information about the Destiny Campaign, visit the Transformation Vision website at: http://transformtheworld.com/

If you have any questions or even ideas to help this vision become a reality please feel free to contact us at destiny@hmcc.net. We would also love for you to just update us with what is going on with your lives. It is always encouraging to hear testimonies of transformation beyond Ann Arbor. It would be great to have some of your testimonies online.

40 Days to Destiny

In light of the purchase of our transformation center, we will be having a special pledge service and Miracle Sunday offering on April 13th. However, money alone will not be enough for us to obtain our own facilities - we want all of our Church community and alumni to get involved through fasting, devotion and prayer. Join us as we commit 40 days of prayer from March 3 - April 11. Check out the Transformation Vision website find out more information on participating through a bible reading plan, Vision Journal, and prayer calendar.

Also, for those of you on facebook, feel free to join the 40 Days To Destiny group at: http://umichigan.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8704405858

Praise Night

Praise night has been an annual HMCC tradition every winter semester. However, this year it has evolved into an event for our undergraduate and graduate ministries. Also, with the growing number of students participating in our small group ministry, for the first time we had two separate Praise Nights so that every small group can get involved. With a total attendance reaching almost 840, the Michigan League Ballroom was packed with students and guests who watched skits, videos and songs that creatively testified of God's love and the Good News of Christ.

Global Access Retreat

What seemed like a dream a few years ago finally came true this year as we held our first ever Global Access retreat. God's favor and His blessings upon the international ministry have been overwhelming. His faithfulness was so evident at this retreat. As the core group has been planning and praying, we were expecting around 40 people. But God brought 67 people from 11 different nations! The theme of our retreat was "Connect" and despite the short time we had together, the connection was definitely made among the people. Everyone was able to connect through small groups as we had time to pray with one another, study the word in depth, present skits, discuss case studies on international student issues and even cook together for an iron chef dinner competition. One of the biggest blessings was to send off the graduating internationals as we prayed and commissioned them. Many of them shared their personal testimonies on the last night about how God has worked in their lives through HMCC and how God is sending them back to their countries to continue the good work. It was also a blessing to see the younger generation catching the heart and the vision of Global Access and seeing the future of this ministry through them.

It was also a huge blessing to see people connecting with God on a personal level. The worship times were powerful as people freely worshiped God and prayed for different nations on the last night. Also, during the response time an undergraduate woman accepted Christ! Leaving the retreat, the sense of unity was felt through every heart and we left with a greater understanding of our role and mission as international students. We pray that God will continue to bear fruits from Global Access as more internationals get trained up and get send out to spread the gospel to the nations!

HMCC of Chicago Update

This month's focus has mainly been on two things: evangelizing and embracing one's identity as a man or a woman of God. It began with our first ever men's and women's gathering. For the women, we discussed how to become better sisters by speaking words of truth in love (while eating our delicious fruit kebobs topped with chocolate-covered strawberries). As for the men, they watched clips of "Private Ryan" and explored what it means to be a man of God in areas of responsibility and accountability. In addition to learning how to relate to one another within our gender, we learned through the new ACCESS series "Extreme Makeover: The Relationship Edition" how to interact and edify the opposite gender.

We also started a monthly gathering geared towards outreach. Our first "Exploring Christianity" discussion involved several topics such as creation versus evolution and grace versus works in Christian faith. It was exciting to see one student, after some follow-up meetings, move forward - from atheism to theism - in his pursuit to discover truth.

The newly-formed fellowship ministry organized a broomball tournament, another outreach opportunity for the church and a fantastic way for people to bond while falling on the ice (thankfully, there were no major accidents). It was a blessing to see that many of the small group members invited their pre-Christian friends to join in the fun.

Aside from all the events mentioned above, the church also recognized four new members, opened a resource table, and started a three-part class entitled "Basic Christianity" in preparation for baptism next month. All in all, February was a busy and fruitful month for the church.

Alumni Spotlight: Kei Ko

Location: Syracuse, NY, USA
Area of Study: Health Care
School: Second year medical student (MS II) at SUNY Upstate Medical University

What significant changes have happened for you since you left HMCC?
Getting into medical school, since it was a long process to even apply and be accepted. And also, more importantly, getting engaged!

Please share some of your favorite memories from HMCC
The wonderful memories from HMCC were those early morning Sundays helping the band setup. It was really good fellowshipping with the group I was with and really helped in realizing how much work it was to give people a good Sunday worship service.

Another vivid, and really fun memory I had was during one Friday ACCESS, we had a little mock dating game setup. It was my first and only time being onstage looking out and it was really, really great and fun! I actually "won" too and I think Pastor Seth got some fun and laughs out of the church by sitting on my lap for a moment!

What are some lessons from HMCC that have positively impacted where you are today?
I'm really thankful to God for allowing me to have come to Michigan and to have joined such a wonderful church. It was a time where I grew up a lot mentally and more importantly, spiritually. I really learned how to depend on God and how to really become plugged into a church and not just be on the sidelines.

I've learned to appreciate so much of the little things I never noticed before, like the time spent with the important relationships in my life that I took for granted. I also learned so much of what it means to be a strong Christian in a world that is sometimes a little gray, sometimes a little hard to find real meaning in the things I do in my life.

What are some professional and personal goals you hope to attain in the future?
I'm hoping that I become a doctor that shows the light God has given me through Jesus Christ. I'm also hoping to raise a family that is based on Jesus' love and teachings and keep on sharing His gospel through my life and to those around me.