Below is a September 2024 thank you note sent to the Oakridge Bible Chapel family from Travis Winteler as he begins serving the Lord at Brock University.
Dear Oakridge Bible Chapel Community,
I am writing to thank you for warmly welcoming me into your Sunday service and letting me share about Intervarsity at Brock this past May. It is my joy to share with you that as of last week I am 100% fundraised in my goal of raising $10,000. Your tremendously gracious support as a congregation represented a large portion of my fundraising goal, and I can confidently say that I would not be in this position without your support. I cannot thank the Oakridge Community enough for recognizing the importance of our campus ministry, as our function as a ministry relies on the support of church communities like OBC. Your generous support, both financially and most importantly through prayer will be felt by our group throughout this school year.
Our goal for this year is to operate with a small group mentality, despite our groups rapidly growing size. At our welcome week pizza night we welcomed 110 students, blowing last years numbers out of the water and we are praying that a large number of these students return again! We aim to intentionally support our students in their walk with the Lord through small groups and one-on-one chats during the week, coming along side them to provide spiritual care and guidance where needed. Additionally, we aim to maintain elements of fellowship through our large group gatherings, guys and girls groups, along with other monthly fellowship activities. I am also pleased to share that planning for our next Without Walls worship night is going smoothly, as we prepare to welcome over 350 students from around Ontario to our campus bar for another amazing night of worship on October 2nd. Any high school or University students are invited, and I encourage anyone interested to reach out to me for more information!
As we eagerly prepare for another year on campus, I ask that you keep all of us at Brock Intervarsity in your prayers. Specifically, please pray that God sends the right students to our group, and pray that we will be well equipped to receive them. I also ask that you pray that our leadership team would lead with love, and always seek to fulfill God’s will for our group. Lastly, I ask that you pray God would be on the move in our group changing hearts, and drawing students closer to Him.
To conclude, I would like to sincerely thank the OBC community once again for generously supporting me in my ministry journey this year. I am excited to provide monthly updates throughout the year of what we are doing on campus!
Blessings,
Travis Winteler
By job title, Alice is the office administrator at Oakridge. But her behind-the-scenes efforts go far beyond that! She is actively involved in the leadership team for the Tuesday evening women's bible study, she is on the mission committee, and she has recently both stepped into the leadership of church bridal and baby shower celebrations, and started teaching in our Ozone kids program. Oh, and if you see any special seasonal or holiday decorations around the church, it's a safe bet that Alice was involved!