Five minutes with Sam Strain

Sam Strain, a fourth year at Southampton, is the new chair of the National Student Committee (NSC). We caught up with him to find out what the NSC is all about.

Aged 14 I accidentally took a shotgun cartridge from clay pigeon shooting through airport security in Germany. There was a distinct lack of humour from the guards but I was let through!

Forty medical schools across the UK and Ireland are divided into nine regions, each with one or two representatives, who get feedback, support leaders and groups through prayer, organise events and encourage groups in what they're doing. It's not too intense - we meet three times a year, have time for prayer, training, discussion and obviously food. It's also a lot of fun, and you get to know people from a great variety of medical schools and backgrounds.

It's a great way to serve CMF and a great opportunity to grow as a Christian - to learn and develop skills of listening to and representing students, to grow as a leader. It challenges you to really pray, to learn to communicate and organise, and to get opportunities to speak and write. CMF relies on student leaders to come up with ideas, to shape content, to plan events - and NSC is a great forum for this to happen!

Setting the agenda for NSC meetings; being on the board of CMF, so being involved in making decisions and the direction of the organisation. Supporting NSC members, encouraging and praying for them; liaising with the office on a regular basis.

I'd love to hear from students about ways CMF can be more supportive, provide better resources, and help each group to grow in the impact they are having both within their own group and on campus. We'd like to arrange more regional events. We want to get alongside CMF leaders and reach out to campuses (with CUs), with the gospel through great events and personal evangelism. We'd love to provide quality resources from guys at the top of their game to allow students to learn about issues at the heart of being a Christian medic.

You are CMF. CMF is its members, not the guys in the office or us at NSC. It's you in your universities, your weekly prayer meetings, your monthly get-togethers. Our desire is to see you grow in your walk with Christ, disciple each other, come to grips with his word and to spread the gospel where you are. It's a privilege for us to serve; if you have any ideas about how CMF could do things better, resources you'd like, events you'd like to run, let your NSC rep know You can find out who your regional NSC rep is on the website under 'contacts in your area'.