Emmanuel College hosted its annual Alpha Weekend August 12-15. This yearly event helps students start the academic year with a biblical focus through teaching, prayer, and worship. This year's services were built around the school's 2010-2011 theme: Honoring Our Past, Building Our Future.

Campus Pastor Chris Maxwell spoke in all services and EC students led in worship and shared their testimonies and experiences with God. Area churches were also invited to participate.

Here is what students had to say about the services:

Alpha Weekend reminded me that God teaches me the most in my darkest times. I am unsure of the future, but in everything, I am trying to enjoy the moments with God. My entire being is in Christ, even when I feel as though He has forgotten me. As His Word says, 'He will never leave nor forsake me.' I am clinging to that. I trust that He is who He claims to be. He is and will prove faithful through all circumstance. - Anne MacMillan, Senior

This Alpha Weekend was right on time for so many of us students! It is so easy to carry our baggage and struggles with us into college. Many of us fool ourselves into believing that we have truly let go of our past, yet we still seem to find ourselves struggling with it internally. Pastor Chris talked about how we must recognize where and what we have come from in order for it to propel us into our future. Our caves of desperation and fear are often our most intimate times with God! - Courtney Blythe

This was my third Alpha weekend and fifth opening weekend experience. I can say that this past Alpha Weekend has by far been the most challenging. Pastor Chris Maxwell is a brilliant teacher, pastor and mentor. Over the past two years I have seen and experienced a significant growth in his heart for Christ and his heart for the students at Emmanuel College. Alpha weekend was very enlightening and helped us to all see that we aren't just a team of people with heirarchical caste systems, but a group of sinners, that are all equal in the eyes of our Father, that we have a hope beyond what our past has dictated over us, that we are loved with a love that will never be changed or shaken. That out of the mess we have created, God finds the beauty and creates a masterpiece from chaos. - Jessica Wooten, Junior

Several months ago, we shared the story of Celebration Church, a new church plant in Lawton, Okla. The church's outreach idea was recently featured in Outreach Magazine's annual "The Smaller Church Idea Exchange." The church was featured for its innovative pre-launch outreach; they gave away over $4,000 in free gas and groceries throughout the city.

"A gas station manager told volunteers that people called the store for hours afterward asking about the church," said pastor Brandye Goudeaux. "Our town has 50,000 homes. We launched in the cold and rain with 143 people in attendance, including 30 children. It was a great day!"

Pastors Steve & Brandye Goudeaux launched Celebration Church in February 2010. The church continues to grow and have success in the area. Learn more about Celebration Church by visiting their website or watching this interview.

On June 5, 2010, the Rocky Mountain Conference made history by electing Rev. Larry Herrera to serve as their Conference Superintendent.

Herrera is the first Hispanic Bishop elected in the Rocky Mountain Conference. Also, this is the first time that an historically IPHC Anglo conference has elected an ethnic ministry leader to the position of Conference Superintendent.

In an open letter to the conference, Herrera wrote, "I wholeheartedly believe that the Lord has positioned our conference for a massive breakthrough throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. He has the right people in the right place at the right time for an expected end."

Bishop Herrera follows Rev. Paul Clark, who served as the Rocky Mountain Conference Bishop for 23 years. "[My wife] and I do not seek to fill your shoes, but we will wear the shoes and walk in the path that God has for us," wrote Bishop Herrera.

The Rocky Mountain Conference currently has 1900 members in 28 churches.