“We are just trying to catch up with God.” Continue reading
Category: Engage People (Page 5 of 15)
Engage People of All Cultures and Ethnicities
God used Urbana 1996 to call me to join InterVarsity staff. Over the the last 70+ years Urbana has challenged 300,000 students to join God’s global mission. It is my privilege to serve at Urbana 18. Do you know a student who could come? Would you like to give so more students can attend?
Please pray as our staff team prepares to encounter God together with 16,000 others December 27-31, 2018.
Have you experienced God leading you to an unexpected space to follow him? As I look in the book of Acts, a consistent theme is God leading his people across boundaries into mission.
As Camilla and I moved back to St Louis in 2002, an invitation came for me to explore staffing a Black student chapter in St Louis. In response I joined the Visions Gospel Choir, part of Harambee Christian Ministries, and came my first Friday to the building pictured above at Washington University.
This started a five year journey of learning with and providing leadership alongside amazing student leaders in Harambee. God clarified my calling, formed me as a leader, gave long term friendships, and enabled me to witness students and faculty saying yes to Jesus.
It continues to be a blessing to see these students have impact in so many sectors of society. In June I went to this place, gave thanks to God, and laid stones of remembrance.
As an InterVarsity movement we see God continuing to call us across boundaries in mission. Let me know ways you would like to partner with us in this mission.
When you hear God say something, you respond, right?
As a junior in college I had a sense that God was inviting me to move into an neighborhood one mile from my campus that operated under a completely different reality than where my school sat or where I grew up.
As an InterVarsity student I heard about the stark economic disparities in St Louis, how God was making all things new, and our invitation to join him in this work. My early yes to relocate began a journey for me that continues to this day to open my eyes to new realities and to pray and work for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.
In June I went to this place, gave thanks to God, and laid stones of remembrance.
Hundreds of InterVarsity students are coming back from Urban and Global projects this month and seeking to take first steps to apply what they learned as they go back to campus. Please pray for them to say yes to Jesus’ invitations.
At Getaway International students from around the region explored the way of Jesus and what it looks like to follow him. This year the conference looked at Jesus through his interactions with the crowds in John 8.
Each year Getaway provides a place for International students who are not yet followers of Jesus to consider the way of Jesus. They do this as they build relationships with their friends from campus and engage in activities around Windermere Conference Center.
This year like those in years past, we find that this environment of relationship deepening and discussion is fruitful in seeing students take steps towards Jesus.
Join me in praying for continued discovery and engagement for the students who attended.
At the beginning of this semester, Tim, Area Ministry Director, challenged Ryan, first-year staff, to start ministry at a new campus. “Where should I go?”, he asked. Tim suggested Avila University, a four-year Catholic university in south Kansas City.
Amazingly, the first week Ryan visited Avila, he met a student who enthusiastically said that she would love to help him start a Bible study. And a few weeks later, the first InterVarsity Bible study at Avila was born!
This student invited all her friends, and six of them started coming. During that initial gathering, as they shared their hopes and vision for this group, one of the students said, “I think that this should be a place for everyone to attend, even those who are not religious.” Wouldn’t it be fantastic if InterVarsity could become that sort of a space on campus?
Please be praying for Ryan as he leads this group forward in outreach to the rest of Avila!
How many of your last 10 books read were written by women? Continue reading
Two and a half years ago one of our staff, Dave, started taking prayer walks around the Kansas City Arts Institute (KCAI). As he interceded for that campus, he knew that one day, the Lord would open the door for him to reach the campus with the love of Christ.
At the beginning of this year a ministry partner with ties to KCAI connected Dave to a student enrolled there. This student had been attempting to start ministry on that campus for a couple of years. Through this student, Dave connected with several other Christian students at KCAI, and all of a sudden, Dave’s dream became reality!
Currently, Dave is leading a weekly Bible study off-campus as we apply for organization status so that we can host InterVarsity on campus next year. We long for the light of Jesus to come to a campus that some perceive to be a dark place.
Will you pray with us that InterVarsity would be approved as a student organization and for a strong start for this chapter?
Have you experienced a season of answers to prayers long prayed? In the Central Region we are in a season like this.
Over a meal our Central Region leadership team shared why they are praising God. One after another the team members shared answers to prayers they have been praying for many years: an alumni saying yes to serve at a campus in Iowa we have been praying for staff to be raised up for ten years, Latino ministry starting in Missouri and at a new school in Omaha that we have been interceding for years to start, and new partners raised for a staff who has been chronically underfunded.
What is particularly remarkable for us is that we have intentionally taken a one year break (fallow year) in setting regional goals to see what God develops. In response we are seeing the fruit of long prayers being answered. Praise God with us for hearing and responding!
Compelled by the restarting of InterVarsity’s campus work in Louisiana, students from Prairie View, Texas Southern, and Jackson State Universities came with their InterVarsity staff to Louisiana during spring break.
I was blessed to partner with students in prayer walking and doing outreach on two campuses University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans. We prayed for many students and faculty that we encountered on campus and found many eager to be a part of something new.
Please join me in praying for the replanting of InterVarsity in Louisiana and for Beau Crosetto who is leading this team.