It’s hard to miss.

Unless, of course, you’re not really looking for it.

But who, when the spring finally comes, isn’t looking for signs of new life in the world around us?

Sprouts springing forth from the ground.

New buds appearing on trees.

The return of birds and bugs, rain (not snow) and storms (not blizzards), warm sunshine and fresh-spring air.

Yet, when it comes to our ministry on campus, the spring season can often take on more fall-like attributes:

• students attendance begins to thin as they move towards final papers, projects and exams,
• our relationships with students may experience some final rich, colorful moments before entering a more dormant season while students are away,
• and we make plans for a far less active season on campus, that may include rest and recuperation from the year behind us, as well as planning and preparation for the season of ministry to come.

It feels very paradoxical in a lot of ways.

But the reality is that there are signs of new life in our ministries at this late point in the academic year.

Whether it’s a break through with a student we’ve been spending a lot of time investing in who just now seems to be “getting it,”

or a student leader who seems to finally hitting their stride,

or even a student who had such a transformative spring break missions experience that they’ve not sought out a local place to serve with more consistency.

There are a lot of places to enjoy signs of new life and growth within our ministries.

I’d like to suggest that one of the greatest places to see this new life is in, and through, the students who are applying for ministry leadership positions for next year.

These students have likely either experienced our ministries as more of a participant this year, or maybe, they felt like something was lacking on campus and are looking for ways to partner with us to make the student experience — and overall ministry effort on campus or to the local community — more substantial and robust in the upcoming year.

While we may or may not know many of these students, our ministry efforts (including those of all of our student leaders), have served to produce these important signs of new life in our ministry.

It’s an exciting time… and worth noticing… and celebrating!