Urban Hope Campus Ministry
An Inside Look from the Perspective of UHCC Women’s Ministry Director, Carine Lewis
For most of my professional career, I have served the Lord through the discipleship and instruction of young women. In the fall of 2020, I was approached by Pastor Alton with an opportunity to serve Urban Hope as the Women’s Ministry Director and to continue my already established work in campus ministry at Miles College located here in the heart of Fairfield, AL. After much deliberation and prayer, I accepted the opportunity and have been serving the church in these ways ever since. My name is Carine Lewis and I consider it a great privilege to share my perspective on what I’m witnessing God do in our church and in our community.
My husband Carlton and I have been members of Urban Hope Community Church for nearly five years. In the summer of 2019, Carlton and I purchased a home here in Fairfield and have had the privilege of serving this community together ever since. We have a uniquely personal perspective on the issues faced by those in the community around us and the Lord has developed a burden in both of our hearts to see men and women saved by Jesus Christ and to submit to Him as their Lord and savior as we have. Our home has become a resting place, not just for us, but also for many women and college students who have become a part of our church and ministry over the last several years and we pray that the Lord will continue to allow for us to join him in this work in such a way.
As a campus minister with Urban Hope Campus Ministry, I am engaged in the lives of college women and spend time meeting them wherever they are; physically, spiritually and emotionally. Every Tuesday night this school year, our campus ministry team has been walking through a series that we’ve called “God as Father” with our Miles College students. Throughout this series, our focus has been to contrast the inconsistencies or overall absence of our earthly fathers to God’s consistency and perfect presence as our Heavenly Father. It has been incredibly encouraging to witness students resonating with this particular content. Many tears have been shed and great conversations have been had with students this semester as we continue to dig into difficult memories and topics with each of them. One of the young women, who comes regularly, mentioned for the first time in her life she is connecting her inability to trust God with her struggle to forgive her own father for abandoning her. Prior to coming to our Tuesday night Bible studies, she had no idea that she projected her hurt from her father onto God. To walk with her through what it looks like to heal and to trust in God as a good and perfect father has been very sweet for me personally and we are praying she would trust in Jesus and surrender every insecurity she has before his feet.
Not only has it been awesome to gather with students to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it has been equally encouraging to see how many of the students we are discipling and teaching are also student leaders on the campus of Miles College. We do not take this privilege for granted! Though Dion and I love to serve and equip all students, a deep desire and prayer of ours is for the Lord to raise up young laborers on the campus to push God’s Kingdom agenda forward. By the grace of God, we’ve seen members of sororities and clubs come to know Jesus and they have been diligently working to share the good news of the gospel with their friends as well. It has truly been amazing to watch some of our core students begin to spread the word and to bring other Miles students to our church throughout the week and our campus ministry team has spent some intentional time in prayer for God to raise up influential men and women among the students.
In God’s wonderful goodness, we have seen two of our current UHCM students elected to influential positions on campus by their peers as “Mister and Miss Miles College.” Konner Price, a sophomore from Dallas, has a heart to grow in the Lord, but he is particularly burdened to reach and disciple young men. Witnessing his vigor to be an instrument for God’s glory on the campus has brought so much joy and gratitude to our hearts and Konner has recently started serving on campus as the President of Urban Hope Campus Ministry. Another one of our regular students is Jakaria Miller. She serves as the 87th Miss Miles College, she also has expressed a desire to use her position as an influencer to connect students to opportunities to learn more about Jesus. Their elected positions provide both of these students with a direct platform for them to make much of the kingdom of God on the campus of Miles College, impacting students to be leaders and Christ-like influences and to connect them to the regular teaching and discipleship of Urban Hope Community Church. We are so proud of them both and pray that they will remain humble before the Lord.
We ask you to join us in praying for them individually, our students at Miles and for Urban Hope Campus Ministry as a whole as we continue to forge new paths and grow on the campus of Miles College. We are humbled and grateful for all of your prayers and financial support and want to acknowledge that without your generosity, we would not be able to do what we do! We love you and pray that the Lord would continuously extend his hand of grace and kindness to you and your families!
If you are interested in supporting UHCM, a staff member or any of our other initiatives,
please visit our website at www.urbanhopecc.com/give for more information
or send checks written to Urban Hope Community Church with “UHCM” in the memo line to P.O. Box 53, Fairfield, AL 35064.
