Campus ministry has finally started again! We met with the student leaders, invited students into our community at the club fair, and are now regularly holding bible studies and general meetings. This month was the culmination of so much prayer and preparation and God was faithful.

Not pictured in this blog(yet) is my new coworker/boss Jamie Lam. I had the opportunity to meet her on my mission trip to New Jersey 3 years ago. She’s been serving in campus ministry since before I even stepped on a college campus and having here on campus at CPP with me has been the best! She’s super wise, knowledgeable, and displays God’s love to students so well. She has been an answered prayer beyond what I could’ve ever expected to a year long prayer for a female staffer here at Pomona. Thank you all for faithfully joining us in prayer!

Prayer and Planning

Despite how much I learned and grew through the process of support raising, I could not wait to begin campus ministry again. In the weeks leading up to our first event, tabling at the club fair, I was filled with hope and excitement. I was met with the same sentiment by Jamie and the student leaders we met with.

In my time with these leaders, I’ve come to realize how motivated they are to serve their fellow brothers and sisters. I knew they were capable, but was unsure of how motivated or available they were while juggling so many different things. I was so encouraged by their loving hearts of service and am so excited for what amazing things are in store for us the rest of this year.

Club Fair

The club fair is a campus wide event where students new and old have an opportunity to engage with organizations on campus. For Epic, this is an important opportunity to reach students and at the very least let them know we exist and that if they are ever interested, that we will welcome them. This year in particular was interesting because almost no current student had any experience tabling before! They boldly learned and stepped out of their comfort zones together and we ended up reaching around 300 students after both days! To be clear, we don’t chase statistics for the sake of pride or to reach an arbitrary goal, however, I think this number helped all of us realize what God can do through a few small steps of faith.

After tabling, we gathered together and contacted the students who were interested with the hopes of connecting them to the community and invited them out to our meetings. We prayed over those who stopped by but weren’t interested as well. In this time of reflection, I was encouraged by how many people were looking for community and interested in how to have a relationship with God. It was made clear that God had been working in the hearts of students long before we arrived and that He had been working in ways much greater than I imagined and initially had faith for. The need for God and the desire to be known and loved is so apparent in virtually every student I met. I am hopeful and expectant to see the ways God will work through us to reach His lost children in this coming year.

General Meetings/Bible Study

As of today, we’ve had two bible studies and one general meeting. So far things have been going great! We have a surprising amount of consistent newcomers (around 15-18) and have been meeting at Good Stewards Church who graciously opened up a space for us. I’ve had the chance to meet almost everyone and am slowly getting to know some of the brothers. During the bible studies, we are currently going through the book of Romans. We separate by gender and the bible study leaders(student leaders) guide and facilitate conversation. Our general meeting time consists of musical worship, a speaker, as well as an icebreaker or small game for people to get to know each other.

Prayer Requests

• That our new students would be able to see Christ’s love through our community
• For the hearts of our student leaders
• For Jamie and I, that we would be filled with His wisdom and discernment in how to lead and love the students
• That God would prepare future student leaders and interns
• That God would continue to prepare the hearts of all the people we are yet to meet

This has been an eventful and fruitful month of ministry and I hope it encouraged you as it has encouraged me. As always, I ask that you would continue to partner with me by praying for us. It is clear that without God, these things would be meaningless and honestly impossible. If you’re newer to these updates there is an ongoing list of past prayer requests on the side of the page! If there are any ways I could be praying for you or with you, please reach out! Thank you!

Contact Me:

Email: dillon.kim@cru.org

Phone: 8182968373

This month, my main focus was support raising, which by the grace of God, is finally completed! I cannot thank you all enough, for your willingness to pray and your generosity to give. Even through the process, God has humbled me and used this summer to prepare me for this coming year.

Around halfway through July, I was still hovering at around 65% of my goal. I felt as though I had exhausted myself, doing my best to keep a positive and at peace attitude, but I found myself growing weary and anxious. I felt as though I was at the end of myself and was honestly losing hope, doubting if I would be able to serve come August. Regretfully, I didn’t rush to the Lord and surrender these thoughts to Him. I didn’t sit at His feet and put my faith in Him. Instead I tried to cover up these doubts and anxieties, and wandered further away from Him. My attempts at spending time with Him felt ingenuine and fake, almost transactional, because in the back of my mind, I had a goal to reach. I couldn’t seem to come before Him without selfish ambitions no matter how hard I tried. Even just sitting and praying over a meal left me questioning myself. It was at this moment, as I began to lose sight of what I was doing and why I was striving, that God met me. He provided opportunities and connections and miraculous generosity that was so outrageous I had no choice but to give Him all the glory. His love and goodness shone so brightly that I couldn’t help but fix my gaze on Him and praise His name. He had seen my weak and imperfect attempts at aligning my heart with His and at surrendering this process to Him, and once I finally realized I couldn’t even do that without Him, He delivered me and reminded me of the truths of the gospel.

As I reflect upon this process, there are honestly still times I feel ashamed. I wish I could be more steadfast in my walk and not get so caught up in these worldly things. But ultimately, my faith is still so small, so I ask for continual prayer from you all. On my end, I will do my best to faithfully keep you all updated on what God is doing here at Pomona and to steward these finances well. As always, if you have any questions at all, please contact me! Throughout this summer, hearing from some of you and being able to meet with you has been such a blessing and an encouragement to me. I’m so thankful for y’all.

Next month(August), I will be fully committing my time back to campus ministry. This update will be the last regarding support raising! There are many exciting things coming soon so look forward to the next post! In the meantime here are some pictures from this month!

Summer Support Raising

As I write this post, a handful of our students as well as Joel are at our first Summer Spiritual Retreat(SSR). I ask that you would join me in prayer over this time that it would be fruitful and safe! As stated in my last update, I am currently committed to support raising full time, and sadly was unable to join on this retreat.

Admittedly, I wish I was able to spend more time with students and to be a part of the journeys they are on over the duration of this summer. I hear bits and pieces here and there but am ultimately looking in from the outside. My primary responsibility for this summer is to raise support, and that means that especially if I’m slacking in terms of support raising, time with students comes second. By no means does this mean that I have cut off all relationships with the students or stepped out of their lives but regarding organized Epic things, I have taken a step back. Joel has taken on the responsibility of hosting bible studies and times of worship with students twice a week throughout the summer, as well as this retreat! I’m so thankful for him and how the Lord is moving this summer and I’m envious of the ways they have been able to walk together. However, this time of being somewhat separated from them has been humbling and a reminder of what the Lord was teaching me throughout the year, and that is that I need Him more than anything.

My approach to this situation has been to focus on support raising and finish super early, with the hopes of salvaging some of the summer time. This expectation has been met with a very different outcome thus far. I didn’t realize it at first(as my plan was delayed by my Covid experience), but in my desire to rush through the process of raising support, I began to focus on my own abilities rather than recognizing the Lord’s abundant grace upon me and surrendering to Him. That gradual shift in my mindset and loss of focus has been a reality at the start of this past month. Thankfully, by his grace, the Lord helped me to open my heart and used that experience to remind me of how desperately I need Him.

Honestly, in terms of finances and numbers, progress for my support is not ideal and I am considered behind(which is funny when looking back on my prideful plan to be ahead). Still, I find myself at peace and full of hope for this final month before my deadline. The Lord has faithfully guarded and restored me, even when my sinful nature pulls away from Him. He has never failed to provide for my soul, so I remain confident that whatever the outcome come August 1st, He has me in His hands.

This does not mean I will lazily wait for something to happen!! I promise.

As I seek to faithfully and obediently strive for his kingdom, I ask that you would keep me in your prayers!

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Psalm 143:5-6 ESV

This update was a bit lengthy and not filled with much of what I was actually doing, something I said I would try to avoid doing.

To quickly sum up, I’ve spent this month meeting with current and prospective supporters, sharing with them what I do, have done, and am praying the Lord will do this next year. If I haven’t yet reached out to you and you are interested please contact me! In addition, if you know of any family, friends, or church members who may share in the vision of this ministry and be interested, I would love to reach them as well!

Thank you for reading and your constant support 🙂

Last Updates in case you missed them!

• Stepping Down from Epic
• January Update
• December Update
• May Update
• April Update