Treehouse at Texas A&M and Blinn: Centered in grace and growing

By Pastor Mindy Roll

The 2016-2017 school year was excellent for Treehouse, the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Texas A&M and Blinn College; it was so good that we ran out of meeting space and needed to hire more staff! A Lutheran approach to the world—centered in grace, nuanced in thinking, and focused on our neighbors—is absolutely compelling on a college campus.

Students who have never been to church, or who have left the church of their childhood, or who feel rejected by religion often find a warm, loving home at Treehouse alongside students who have grown up Lutheran but are aching for a deeper faith.

This unexpected community is the miracle of campus ministry and the gift of a Lutheran approach to the world.

Highlights from the year also included:

  • Treehouse’s first baptism! In April, we baptized Richie Pich, a first-year student at Blinn.
  • Treehouse’s fantastic eco-theology spring break pilgrimage to the Grunewald Guild and Holden Village.
  • Students tightly packed into our current student center. We need more space!
  • Our sixth year of ministry with migrant workers in downtown Bryan.
  • Campus Ministry Sunday 2017, where 30 students preached in 15 of our churches.

We are celebrating the stories that came from a great year while also attempting to figure out how to accommodate a growing ministry.

As our campus ministries raise funds for almost our entire budget every year, the commitment, encouragement, and support of Live On continues to be a great gift to us. We are deeply grateful for the donors and board who believe in our synod’s three campus ministries and recognize the aching needs of college students and young adults to experience a God of grace and love.

Thank you for loving us so well.