God is Moving at the Colorado School of Mines!

The School of Mines has had a few students, mostly guys, over the years.  These disciples have often either transferred from other campus ministries, or came in from varying teen ministries. We've always dreamt of something more for this ministry.  Within the past few years, we are starting to see this dream come through as God has been building an amazing  and thriving group of students who love God and love each other!

In the Fall semester of 2016,  God was moving all the way across the country in the heart of Carlos Macedo, a student from Angola.  Carlos was in South Carolina studying abroad. He began studying the Bible there and made Jesus his Lord just before moving to Colorado to attend the School of Mines. Carlos came in with a passion for Christ and quickly helped convert his friend, Lidmilson, who also travelled from Angola to the U.S. for school. These two inspiring young men would become the base of the Mines ministry that we have today. 

Little did we know God had been working on Brandon Onofre during this time, also. Brandon grew up attending church but hadn’t decided about his faith before leaving home to attend the School of Mines. Though the campus ministry had little to no connections at Mines, we managed to get a table at their club fair in the beginning of the 2017 Fall semester. Brandon was met at this club fair, and little did he know it was the same church family he had grown up attending! Brandon studied the Bible that Fall semester and was baptized on October 30th, 2017. 

Brandon, Carlos and Lid, along with the help of other disciples coming from other schools,  built a family at Mines. The groups would meet together for Bible discussions, to invite others to Bible studies and to spend time together. Not too long after, two Christians from another college came to help the small Mines ministry.  While inviting students to an event, they met a girl named Kat Bullard. Kat studied the Bible for a while and made Jesus Lord of her life on October 16th, 2018. She was the first female in the School of Mines ministry in years. The family continued to grow, with Ryan Mellen baptized on November 25th, 2018 and Grace Clark baptized on February 20th, 2020. 

Over the span of almost four years the Mines ministry grew from zero to six. Through this time the disciples were able to form a close family and have a presence on the campus, even though they were a small group. Leading up to COVID, Mines had really grown, but God had even bigger plans despite the pandemic, which we had no clue was coming! 

Even though schools have been at limited capacity and the majority of classes online, the School of Mines stayed open and has had minimal cases on campus. Because other campuses are mostly online, many of the Denver campus ministry students dispersed to help share the gospel at both Regis University and the School of Mines during this time. Due to the overwhelming impact of the disciples at Mines, alongside the amazing help of many students coming to share their faith and invite others, the first Bible discussion held at Mines this semester had over 15 visitors attend! Mines has never had so many people come out, and many of them have been studying the Bible ever since. 

Two of those students are Mimi and Bobby. Both freshmen at Mines, Mimi discovered the ministry through instagram and was invited to come to a Bible discussion before classes even started. Bobby was met within the first week of school, while we were out telling students about our faith and the ministry. Both of them sincerely studied what it meant to be a disciple of Christ and decided to get baptized at our campus retreat on October 3rd, 2020. This dynamic duo, along with two freshman guys who came in from local teen ministries, are now the part of the largest ministry God has blessed us with at the school of  Mines. 

God chose the most unusual, chaotic time to build up the Mines ministry, but we are so grateful to see the ways he has been working and how he will continue to work on the Mines campus!