This time of year, the School of Discipleship is alive with the excitement of new beginnings. At the beginning of September we inducted a new class: twenty first-year students and eight second-year students. Our first-years have had a flurry of orientation classes in their first several weeks: from learning the ins and outs of the kitchen to finding their way around the Ranch to the basics of wrangling, our students are doing it all. In addition to the furor of activity around camp, the students are hard at work in the classroom this fall. Intro to College Composition, Bible Hermeneutics, Technology and the Christian Life, Conflict Resolution — these are some of the classes our students have had in their first several weeks of the program.

The goal of all this activity, inside the classroom and out, is not just to be busy; after all, as the Scripture says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2). No, the goal of everything we do is that our students would, through Biblical instruction, hands-on training, and life-on-life discipleship, grow to trust the Lord more deeply and be found ready to serve in the expansion of his kingdom. To be faithful in this way takes work. After all, Jesus was about his Father’s business, and he tells us to “engage in business until I come” (Luke 19:13).