College Outreach

Performing at Amedkar College

One of the main reasons Harvest India asked RockHarbor to send a Residency Team to Tenali is to help them grow their college ministry. Harvest India is an organization that basically has ministry covered from birth to death, but they really felt like they were missing out on the college age kids. Recognizing that RockHarbor has done a fairly good job of attracting the twenty-something crowd, they approached our church about helping out.

Jump forward a year or two... now you have six Americans living in India trying to connect with the youth. How in the heck do you do that? By exploiting the allure of our "western-ness", and playing American pop songs and Minute To Win It games of course!

We've visited Ambedkar College, St. Peters College, KSK College, Harvest India Nursing College, and next week we'll be visiting JMJ College. We've spent the last few weeks performing songs, playing games, and connecting with local colleges all over Tenali. It's been a great way to spread the word about what Harvest India is doing in Tenali as well as inviting the kids to become a part of a larger community.

We've also been inviting the schools to join us at an event and competition that we are calling Tenali's Got Talent this December 28th. We are formatting it in the American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and America's Got Talent type of competitions with judges and prizes for the winner. Each of the schools that we've visited will send two teams of students to perform a song, dance, or drama at the competition. Our team will also be performing some songs and dances to make things extra interesting. The winning team will receive a cash prize and the pride of Tenali!

Aside from all of the fun we've had, it's been a really encouraging and exciting process to see our team grow through this experience. We are all being stretched to step out of our comfort zones by getting up on stage to sing and dance, act silly, and speak in front of large crowds when those things may not necessarily be one of our strengths. It's been an a process that has really brought us closer as a team and forced us to rely on each other for support and encouragement. More than anything it's forced us to really rely on God to get us through each event. It all seems to fit the theme of "being called to be uncomfortable".

Here are a few images from the events so far:

Suresh welcoming students at Ambedkar College

Renee, Kacie, and Angela with students at St. Peters College

Students at KSK College

John encouraging the students to engage their community