Grad Student Takes on Campus Ministry

Oct. 7, 20008 -- An Ontario graduate student has stepped in to lead the Home Missions-supported campus ministry at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, for the 2008-09 school year.

Mike Buma, a PhD student at the University of Western Ontario, will serve as the Interim CRC Chaplain at Fanshawe. Previously, Buma had been involved with the Home Missions-funded campus ministry at the University of Western Ontario and happened to be on the committee to hire a new pastor for the Fanshawe ministry.

When the committee could not find the right applicants for the Fanshawe position, this past summer a committee member suggested that Buma apply for the job himself.

“That had never really occurred to me before, and in the ensuing weeks I began to think and pray about it in earnest,” explains Buma. “As the summer went by, all the details seemed to fall into place in a way that I could only construe as providential, so, still uncertain, I offered myself as a tentative candidate for the position. A few days later I was offered the job.”

Buma will be working as the Fanshawe chaplain 20 hours a week. At the same time, he will be applying for academic jobs and teaching courses at both Western Ontario and Redeemer College.

Although such a packed schedule might seem daunting, Buma is ready to tackle the challenge. “God is good, and I’m confident that he’ll work both through me and in spite of me to further his glory at Fanshawe,” he remarks. “I’m very excited to take on this new challenge and humbled by the responsibility to which I’ve been entrusted.”

- Ben Van Houten, Christian Reformed Home Missions

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