This month has been very different from the past year. My new full time responsibility is to pour into my ministry partners and to raise support for another year of serving as staff for Epic. In addition the school year has been all wrapped up so my engagement with students has looked very different as well. To top it all of, this month I’ve spent a good amount of time stuck inside with Covid.

This season has come with its own set of struggles and lessons. Similarly to my struggle last year around this time, I have been wrestling with insecurity as I seek to invite people around me into my group of supporters. Despite the ways I’ve seen God move this entire past year, I still find myself pridefully fighting for control and doubting God’s ability to work. In the midst of being so so blessed and loved by God through the people around me, I continue to fall into the lie that I have to earn his grace and blessings. I still convince myself that somehow I can earn his love despite continuing to be shown that I fall short of that. Internally, my pride has been what I am seeking to grow in and to overcome. I ask that you would pray for me, that I would be humbled and that my perspective would become wider.

A more financial update regarding my support raising, I am currently around 40% done! I’m so thankful as my goal this year has increased by 28% due to the fact that I will be serving full time for the entirety of the year. I wasn’t expecting to have made this much progress however I’m so grateful. I ask that you all would continue to pray for me and this process, that God would continue to move mountains.

So far this summer, I haven’t had much opportunity to participate with students the few epic events of the summer so far but I hope to be more present as I conclude my support raising process. As of now I have simply been checking in with students individually and doing my best to continue to walk along them.

Before the update on how this past month has been, I wanted to talk a bit about where I am now. Currently, the students are in week 15, their last week of lectures and classes before finals weeks begins. For me, this means that my ministry with Epic is shifting away from usual campus responsibilities and now focusing on preparing for next year as well as continuing to walk with students through the summer. These past 9 months have flown by and as I reflect on my time with Epic so far, I want to start thank you all for your prayers and support throughout this year. God has worked amazingly in and through the students during such a short time. I’ve personally learned so much and my walk with the Lord has never been deeper. All these things were made possible by God through your generosity and willingness to take a step of faith in partnering with me in my ministry! You are helping to reach the world  with the good news and I truly cannot thank you all enough. I am far from perfect and still learning how to responsibly hold up my end of this partnership but at the very least I hope that you have been blessed and encouraged through my ministry.

In light of this, I would like to let you all know that I am officially returning for a second year of serving with Epic! Over the summer I will be in contact with you to share more about how you could join me and potentially be a part of what God has in store next year on college campuses!

If you’re interested in hearing how you can support me regarding my second year, please reach out and contact me at dillon.kim@cru.org or visit my giving page here https://give.cru.org/1119018 ! Thank you 🙂

CPP

The last month at Cal Poly Pomona has been great! I think I say something along those lines almost every time but it’s always true haha. Reading back my past updates, I wanted to try shifting away from directly putting my thoughts and processes onto the website and shift to telling more tangible stories of how God has been moving. As of now, for the sake of the students(some of which read these posts) I will be doing my best to keep these anonymous. Hopefully this will give a better picture of what my ministry is actually like. I apologize if this change is overdue. I hope to continue to improve these posts so if you have any suggestions I would love the help and direction!

“Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness” Psalm 5:8

For around the past month, this phrase has been my prayer. Reflecting on the past month, God has been answering this by allowing me to experience Him and revealing Himself in all of his creation particularly through my community.

For a handful of students, I have been walking with them through their difficulties of connecting with community. This year especially, returning from two years of online instruction, students have been yearning for connection. Throughout the year, relationships and circles naturally came together and naturally also came with imperfections. Some students were having fun but desired a deeper level of intentionality and spirituality while some were left feeling alone despite consistently committing time and effort into Epic. For many, this had been an ongoing struggle and even now there is still plenty of room for improvement; however, in this past month, God has revealed to me bits and pieces of how he is loving and caring for these students. It has brought such joy to my heart.

Ever since our Spring Break Retreat(from last update) the freshmen class has begun to grow much more comfortable with one another. Seeing this in particular was so relieving because many of them had expressed a desire for this to me individually but I think there was a mutual fear to take the initiative. It took them a little bit to overcome that fear but they have since been running around having fun and living life together. There are still struggles but seeing them at the very least have brothers and sisters to lean on and struggle with is an answered prayer. I’m excited for how God will mold them and grow them as they wrap up their very first year of college!

I’ll keep this portion brief but something I wanted to share with you that I’ve been able to witness over this past year has been the growth of my two disciples/roommates Evan and Nicolas. I have been far from a perfect discipler and even further as a roommate but especially recently, it’s been clear that God is really growing them. They have displayed such maturity and wisdom in their walks and honestly there are so many ways in which I have learned from them. I’ve loved the conversations we’ve shared and I’m very proud of them! I was so caught up in my weaknesses and insecurities that I was blind to see the way God was working. While the relationship I share with these two brothers is special, the way I feel about the two of them sums up how I feel when I reflect on Epic this past year. I’ve been a very flawed staffer but when I look up from my own shortcomings I see that God has moved mountains and I know he will continue to do so.

While my prayer is still that He would lead me in His righteousness, I’m learning to remember that it will never be my righteousness and that instead all I need is to need Him. Instead of needlessly striving, I can lean on Him and stand in awe of his awesome plan for me and my students.

Prayer Requests

• That God would prepare the hearts of students(especially incoming freshmen) that they would be receptive to the good news.
• For our students who are going on missions this summer, for safety and a fruitful time
• For our graduates, that they would continue to be surrounded by God-centered community
• For the hearts of next year’s student leaders(including me)
• For the students, that as they return home to their communities and maybe away from community they’ve formed, that they would not feel isolated or neglected, and instead continue to find joy and rest in the Lord.

Me and my friends 🙂

CPP EPIC

Campus ministry has been especially fruitful in this past month! Honestly there were and will continue to be times where it feels as though my work and effort loses meaning, and I question why I am doing what I do, but God has and will continue to be faithful. In the midst of my doubts, God graciously and continually encourages me through my students and the work he is doing in them!

We have continued to meet in person for the most part and the students continue to step deeper into intentional community with each other and are pointing one another upwards.

Spring Break Trip

A large chunk of this month was dedicated to planning and organizing our yearly Spring Break Retreat. In past years, this was a time for students to gather with the unified purpose of evangelizing and recruiting students to Epic on other campuses(UC Irvine, SDSU); however, this year was different. Due to COVID circumstances, many aspects of the structure of the retreat had to be changed. We could not stay at a local church and would have been a burden to other ministries(bringing a large group of people to ‘help’ them while potentially infecting them felt unwise). In addition, our size has decreased significantly since then(around half as many students as 2019 signed up). It was a decision I personally had a hard time embracing but we shifted our focus inwards rather than out. The goal was to give the students space, time, and direction to nurture their relationship with the Lord and with each other. It was a blessing witnessing this come to fruition.

The role Joel and I had in this retreat was more hand-on than I had expected. Rather than delegating the majority of responsibilities to students, we took on most of the major responsibilities. This was a by product of our decision to have a smaller planning team of students with the hope that more students would be able to rest and enjoy the weekend. This ended up teaching me a valuable lesson and humbling me greatly.

In the planning process, I began to form in my mind an image of how things would play out and how I wanted everything to go. My honest desire was for every student to have a great experience because I had such fond memories of retreats from my time as a student. I didn’t want anything to go wrong or be subpar because so many students committed their time and finances entrusting us to lead them well. Even for the responsibilities we asked students to handle, I found myself pridefully thinking of aspects I would change or do differently if I were in control. As I sat with these feelings during the retreat, I began to realize my desperation to create and enjoyable time was taking priority over actually witnessing the students grow together. As God humbled me and I took a step back, I was able to watch God work. I also began to understand and realize that while different, each students way of leading stemmed from compassion and was very well thought out. Honestly I felt terrible for not considering that earlier and being so tunnel visioned on my way. I left the retreat feeling so proud of the way so many students stepped up and displayed God’s love to one another in ways that I could never. I still have a long way to go but God revealed to me that I desire to control the results and have to learn to trust them to Him. I will continue to strive to do my best and lead well but I am learning to find peace and rest in His sovereignty.

Also no one got COVID praise God but a bee stung my toe while we played soccer together on the beach and it hurt a lot.

Prayer Requests

• Wisdom in finishing the school year well, delegating leaders for next school year
• For students going on missions this summer
• That students(and I) would continue to learn to see God has been and will always be Lord of all
• For the health of my roommates and I (two of the housemates tested positive for COVID)
• For my home church community
• For Jessica to settle in well and be surrounded by a loving, God centered community here in LA

What I’ve been up to