Growing a community of support at Campbellsville University

Students at Campbellsville University (CU) have expressed a desire for more opportunities for mentorship and discipleship, and Campus Ministries have responded to that need.

By “looking at the heart of us at CU” and by listening to the needs of students, Pastor Trent Creason, CU campus minister, has had the desire for student Bible studies to be led by faculty mentors for years. According to Creason, these Bible studies are a “part of a big plan to provide some extra spaces that can still speak to that spiritual formation.”

These studies are not only opportunities for students to find support in their spiritual growth in an intentional setting, but also opportunities for the faculty and staff to lead and mentor CU students.

Creason said the vision for these upcoming studies is to motivate leaders on campus to “pour into students.” These are places for CU’s faculty and staff to be intentional with their students and to share their wisdom and insight into students’ growth.

“I think it’ll help them grow. I think it’ll help them have a community outside of the classroom…outside of their peers,” he said.

According to Creason, these spaces are also meant to provide mentorship by helping students work through the hard questions in their lives.

He says that many students meet with him, who have consistent needs and questions, therefore, the hope is for these Bible studies to provide, “a more intentional setting than just big groups.”

These studies are also a way to “make the chapel program more robust,” said Creason, as chapel credit will be offered at each individual study a student attends.

Creason and his wife, Sarah, are leading a study on marriage.

“Family is really important…a big part of that is marriage,” he said.

 His hope for the study is for students attending to know and understand what the Biblical perspective of marriage is and how to have healthy relationships.

“Who am I going to marry? What is marriage? Why should I do it?” Creason says are a few of the common questions asked by students, which his Bible study will address.

“I want them to understand and know steps to take now for healthy relationships,” he said, “to glorify God in marriage…to know what Biblical marriage is.”

Creason explained that leaders for these studies were chosen based on who had already been involved, shown interest in leading, and demonstrated expertise in certain areas.

Dr. Fabio Moreira, assistant professor of pastoral ministries in the School of Theology, was asked by Creason to lead a Bible study. His study is following the devotional by David Wilkerson, The Prayer of Jabez, which is found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.

When Moreira first read the devotional by Wilkerson, he was studying at Southern Seminary almost 20 years ago.

“I could not stop reading it…I read the book throughout the night,” he said. “Lord, I want to pray like Jabez prayed. Just to see how the Lord was actually answering that prayer, blessing me and gave me opportunities for ministry.”

Moreira hopes students will begin praying for God’s blessing on their lives.

 “I want students to experience what I had experienced before…to see how the Lord was actually answering that prayer,” he said.

According to Moreira, the Bible study will emphasize prayer and fellowship with one another, sharing each other’s experiences throughout the week and seeing how God is answering prayers.

The prayer of Jabez emphasizes four main points, which Moreira will teach in his study: asking the Lord to bless him, asking for more territory or opportunities for ministry, praying for protection and deliverance from evil.

“We hope students will embrace, as they pray throughout life, those four points,” said Moreira.

As students attend this study, Moreira hopes they “can benefit from some of our experiences in life…and God willing, that we will be a source of encouragement to you all…The beauty of being together, we learn with one another.”

Moreira is leading his study with the help of former CU student and current online student at the University of Cumberlands, Daniel Konner Forbis, who is majoring in criminal justice and will likely pursue a path in education.

“I’d always kind of wanted to be more involved. I just didn’t have much of an opportunity,” said Forbis about leading in ministry.

Two years ago, Forbis began attending church more regularly.

“I felt embarrassed because everybody in there knew so much more than me,” he said. “I didn’t know how to pray.”

Forbis was a student in Moreira’s Christ in Culture class during his freshman year at Campbellsville University, which is where the two met.

“I had this teacher who was so passionate,” said Forbis, “and Christ in Culture really advanced my growth.”

Sometime after their semester together, Moreira asked Forbis to co-lead the Bible study with him.

Forbis says prayer can become a “last stitch effort for a lot of people,” including himself.

“I couldn’t get myself to ask in prayer because I felt guilty,” he said. “It changed the way that I thought about prayer…urging me to pray offensively, to pray with intent. With enough faith you can ask for things.”

Forbis hopes for students to be able to expand their knowledge through this study and to “take away the fear that comes along with faith and theology.”

“I hope that the fear can be gone because nobody is here to be judging others,” he said. “Everyone is gonna grow in their own way, and for the way of God.”

The Prayer of Jabez study takes place every Thursday in the chapel classroom from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The book, The Prayer of Jabez, will be provided to students and is available on YouTube for free.

There are five Spiritual Formation groups, and they are led by Moreira; Nick Bludworth, director of student counseling; Dr. Eric Bruns, professor of psychology and consulting psychologist; Dr. Jesse Engle, associate professor of English; and Creason with his wife, Sarah.

More information on each study is provided on the bio at campus ministries Instagram page at cu_campusmin.