Category: Draw Students (Page 12 of 13)

What helps you endure when you have asked God for the same thing for four years? Today it is the awareness that God has not forgotten a prayer for laborers and open doors for the Gospel we prayed once four years ago at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Cambodia.

This story from Chamroeun, a leader of Sonoko our sister movement in Cambodia, is an answer to that prayer.

We continue to try and gather students at the Royal University of Fine Arts. It is a very spiritually dark place as many students call on spirits to help them be creative in the arts they study.

We decided to arrange a meeting and asked the couple Christian students we’ve met to invite their friends. The day of the meeting some unexpected things happened. The place we had arranged to meet had a fire a few days earlier and the room was no longer usable. As soon as we sat down at our new location we noticed a very loud noise.  It seemed that the place next door was having a funeral and the chanting was so loud it would be impossible for us to talk.  We were discouraged but felt like God was asking us to stay.

The students finally arrived and we were so glad to see not 2 but 5 students! The 2 Christian students brought 2 other believers and 1 other friend who was interested in learning about Jesus. Not only that, but just as the students arrived the chanting from the funeral ended! We were free to talk with one another without any distraction. I can say and even declared that the Lord our God is alive, He was there before us and with us. He stopped the loud voice and prepared a small room for enough students to come.

What a joy to have played a small part in the story God is writing in Cambodia!

One of my colleagues Steph, now Country Director of Sonoko, on our exploratory trip to Cambodia in October 2011 in front of Royal University of Fine Arts.

One delightful story from the recent Harvest conference involved a little frog.

During the Saturday evening prayer time where 28 students decided to step into the light, a friend and I found a frog in the foyer of the conference center. My friend declared “We need to catch and save this frog. It is a symbol that God is trying to save somebody”. So we started the fun and somewhat long process of catching a tree frog.

After catching and putting this frog safely outside, we turned to see a young woman with another frog sitting beside her bench. As she shared her story it became clear she was the one Jesus was trying to catch and save. My friend and I were able to share about a Jesus who demonstrates his love for us even through little frogs and then we witnessed his catching of her.

This weekend I have the privilege of speaking to 300 students about Jesus who is the Life and Light – John 1:4. I am particularly focusing where (with servants at a wedding & with an enemy of his community) and how (making wine & flipping over tables) Jesus chooses to embody this Life/Light and what Jesus choices mean for us.

Would you pray that students would see and respond to Jesus this weekend?

Do you ever wonder what the process typically looks like for people to come to Jesus in this generation?

Don Everts and Doug Schaupp researched the stories of students making decisions and saw a typical pattern of 5 thresholds that people cross on the way of following Jesus.

InterVarsity has training materials on these thresholds that are available for free to our friends. Check them out and let me know if you would like them.

“The prayer of the righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

The past 24 hours I have been in 4 times of prayer with other colleagues in our movement. Each time my mind and heart have reconnected with God’s purposes and his presence, and each time we’ve sensed God’s direction and leadership.

Prayer, which is often best done in community, is vital to the work on campus. Unfortunately we are quick to forget this vital practice. Do you relate?

What ways have you been able to engage in prayer with others on a regular basis? Could you share a story of how God answered a prayer of your community?

Click here to partner with us in an ongoing way through prayer.