New Life From Tom Jaski

New life   When one thinks of this time of year, "new life" seems to sum it up. The spring season brings blooming plants and green leaves that have been dormant over the winter. For the believer, we also celebrate new life as we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is indeed the high point for the Christian, the pinnacle of all of Christianity, even more so than our celebration of Christmas. Paul reminds us of the importance of the resurrection by explaining our condition had the resurrection not occurred: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." (1 Cor 15:17) But thankfully, Christ has been raised, and thus has won victory over sin, death, and the grave! And it is this new life that every Christian experiences through repentance and faith in what Jesus has accomplished. This semester, our Ratio Christi club was blessed to have been able to witness the amazing miracle of new life. A little over a month ago, a student named Nathan was walking on campus and had seen the chalking that some of our students did on the sidewalk, advertising our weekly meeting that Monday night. The chalk message asked "Does God exist?" which was a question that Nathan had really been struggling with as an atheist/agnostic. That night, he came to our meeting, met many of our students, and stayed for the teaching. He came the next week as well. Then on the Sunday after our annual Ratio student retreat, we received this message in the Ratio GroupMe:                           This is exactly why we do what we do - so that people may experience new life in Christ after living this life dead in their sins. And for those of you who prayerfully support our Ratio Christi ministry, you are a participant in what God has done/is doing in Nathan's life! Please continue to pray for him in his new walk with Jesus and that many more students will also experience the same thing. Conference update As you were probably aware, we had our second annual apologetics conference last month here in Wilmington with Sean McDowell as our featured speaker. And like last year, it was a huge success! We had approximately 250 people in attendance, and our new venue of Grace Baptist Church worked great! At the end of the conference, we announced the date of next year's conference, March 28, which will be held at Grace as well. We already have secured our keynote speaker for next year, Dr. Michael Brown. If you're not familiar with him, here's an excerpt from his bio on his website: Dr. Brown is a national and international speaker on themes of spiritual renewal and cultural reformation, and he has debated Jewish rabbis, agnostic professors, and gay activists on radio, TV, and college campuses. He is widely considered to be the world’s foremost Messianic Jewish apologist. Mark your calendars for our annual apologetics conference on March 28, 2020. It will be an incredible time! Thank you for all you do in supporting me, my family, and our Ratio Christi ministry! Have a blessed Easter as you celebrate Jesus and the new life that He brings! Blessings, 910.233.2636 tomjaski@ratiochristi.org http://tomjaski.ratiochristi.org P.S. - If you ever want to get together with me - for coffee or a meal - and discuss anything about Ratio Christi, about how you can be a part, or even if you simply have a question about faith or apologetics, please don't hesitate!