BETTER STORY MINISTRIES

Reenchanting Young Adults with the Gospel

After our firstborn son, Moses, went to college he encountered disenchanted students trying to live out cultural scripts that lacked the power to give their lives meaning and hope. After experiencing several traumatic events in college, Moses began to suffer with despair and hopelessness himself. Under the weight of spiritual attack and mental health problems, Moses eventually took his life. 

The idea for Better Story Ministries was born out of this heart-wrenching tragedy that has left a deep wound in our family. God has given my wife, Sarah de Kanter, and I (Andrew de Kanter) a burden for young adults Moses' age who deeply need to encounter the person and work of Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel story. Our Hope is that God will use us to reenchant young adults with the better story of the gospel in the context of safe and loving relationships with college students of all different nationalities and cultures at the University of Louisville. 

BY GOD's GRACE, WE DO THIS BY...

• Providing a Safe Place to Share Personal Stories
• Uncovering the Disenchanting Effects of Secular Scripts
• Promoting the Gospel as a Better Story to Live By  
• Equipping Christians to Live Missionally in Today’s Culture

We do all of this in reliance upon the Holy Spirit of God and in the context of loving relationships as I (Andrew) partner as a missionary with Missionary Gospel Fellowship and as I pursue further training in this area as a doctoral student studying Christian Apologetics at Southern Seminary.

TO BE MORE SPECIFIC: CURRENTLY, I AM...

• Serving as the Impact Director of a College Ministry at U of L known at Ignite the Ville, where I serve a special advisor to the executive director, oversee the spiritual health of staff and student leaders, and help develop our spiritual formation process. As Impact Director, I am also involved with Tuesday night worship, Thursday night freshmen dinner and Bible study, and various promos and outreach efforts on campus.

• Developing and Teaching curriculum at what we are calling the Better Story Institute, which primarily serves Ignite by training their students in the Bible, Theology and Apologetics. We are hoping to offer this training to college students outside of Ingite in the future. 

• Hoping (in the near future) to provide rides to college students to and from Southeast Christian Church near the University of Louisville  with a large passenger van that was recently provided.

*We are even hoping to be able to convert part of the basement and our entire garage of our new home near U of L to become safe and loving hangout spots for students to come, talk and learn about these matters of utmost importance.