Category: Teach Students (Page 4 of 7)

Teach Students and Faculty to Respond to God’s Word

Why Didn’t You Share this with Me a Year Ago?

March 1, 2017 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Kevin, a student leader at K-State, was all set for launching a spring bible study. He’d been praying for weeks, listening from God for the people he would invite to join him in the study, and his friend Mike came to mind. Kevin was really nervous about the prospect of the invite: the two had only known each other before Kevin dedicated his life to Jesus and their previous relationship had been centered around using marijuana together in high-school. Kevin was praying for change in Mike’s life, but there was serious fear about how he would come across to his old friend.

On the day that Kevin held the first bible study meeting, Mike suddenly got a strong sense that he needed to go be a part of it. Unbeknownst to Kevin, Mike was at home, two hours away, and preparing to fly out the next day to study abroad. Yet, he responded to a “gut-feeling” and joined Kevin’s small group anyway. That night, Kevin presented the gospel and made a call to faith in the small group, and Mike said yes to following Jesus! All Mike could say afterward was, “Dude, why didn’t you share this with me a year ago? My life would have looked so different.”

As much as this story highlights the Spirit at work in Mike’s life, Kevin was also being shaped by the Lord. Kevin later reflected, “I was really convicted when [Mike] asked me why I took so long to talk with him about spiritual stuff. I was honestly terrified of being rejected and I was even more terrified of owning up to my past. I really feel like God is calling me to just be bolder with more of my friends.”

All for a Reason

February 14, 2017 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

“I always thought the moment that I accepted Christ would be utterly life changing. That all my questions would be answered and I would stop having doubts” began a recent student post to the Washington University InterVarsity facebook page. The student, nicknamed “Mountain,” recently attended the Ohana conference- one of four conferences held together in Kansas City at the end of January. He continued:

To be honest though, when I finally stood up and accepted Christ I didn’t feel different. I still had questions and I still had my doubts. But what had changed was that I finally realized one thing: I believe that everything happens for a reason. Me coming to Wash U was for a reason, my childhood friend convincing me to come to ACF was for a reason, Me meeting all my wonderful brothers and sisters in this community was for a reason. On 1/28 I decided that I could no longer accept that these events were just products of chance. On 1/28 it became clear to me that it was the will of a higher power, of God, that has brought me to where I am today.

On January 28th, Mountain joined over 100 other students from around the region in committing or recommitting to follow Jesus. He and his InterVarsity community at Wash U have been reminded that even though questions may remain, Jesus can be trusted to lead you exactly where you belong.

75 years and counting

January 30, 2017 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

In early January, 1400 InterVarsity staff gathered in Orlando to be challenged, trained, encouraged and celebrate InterVarsity’s 75 years of ministry so far. Several themes from InterVarsity’s history arose during the week, such as our commitment to prayer and in-depth Scripture study and our countercultural embrace of students of all ethnicities and cultures. There was also a repeated theme of our staff members’ willingness to say yes to God in risky ways.

In one session Nebraska Area Directors, Eric and Stacy Rafferty, told their story which embodies all of these values as they seek to empower student leaders throughout their state. It was a blessing to have Area Directors from our region testify to God’s work. Please watch this testimony and celebrate with us God’s work in our region!

Corner’s Conference 2017

January 24, 2017 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, over 300 students from around the midwest will meet in Kansas City for the first ever Central Region Corner’s Conference. Designed as a place for students from all “corners” of the campus to come together. It will be four parallel conferences that engage together throughout the weekend – Imani a Pan-African student conference, Ohana an Asian American Conference, Mi Gente a Latino/a conference and Being White a white student conference. Each conference will explore our redeemed identity and God’s invitation into mission to every corner of the campus.

InterVarsity staff from around the region and the country will prepare students to continue to reach all parts of their campuses with the gospel. As the first time running such a unique event, prayers for logistics, travel safety and that God will speak to all who attend are much appreciated!

Photo Credit: Perzec Flickr via Compfight cc

Open doors on campus

January 4, 2017 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Good working relationships with campus administration are crucial to the ministry of InterVarsity. Late this fall, Maria Rolland, campus staff at Lindenwood University in St Charles, Missouri had the chance to meet up with the director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) department and another professor. They both happen to be Christians and are very excited about partnering with InterVarsity to help serve ESL students.

As a result of this interaction, InterVarsity graduate student, Tolis, and volunteer,Kim, will be leading a culture shock presentation for new international students in January. This is a wonderful opportunity to make these new students feel welcome and begin building relationships from day one.

A Divine Assignment

December 8, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

“Briana and I stayed up talking for hours, and we talked about whether we should start a bible study in McGee!” exclaimed Sarah to InterVarsity staff Dave earlier this semester. He immediately replied “That’s funny because as I was praying, I felt like I needed to ask you today whether you wanted to start a bible study in McGee!”

Sarah had actually been praying for leadership opportunities before coming to Rockhurst and God loves to answer those kind of prayers. Dave and Mark (another IV staff) are coaching Sarah and Brianna as they lead this new study in their dorm and they are already looking forward to the day they will need to split the growing group into two.

Would Jesus Eat Frybread?

November 29, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

From Nov. 4-6, over 150 students and staff came to Haskell from Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and the Continental U.S. to Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas for the Would Jesus Eat Frybread (WJEF) conference. As InterVarsity Kansas Area Director Tim Lin shared, Haskell is a former Native boarding school and during testimony time, student after student came up front and expressed their gratitude for WJEF being held there. Many of them had parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who attended Haskell and experienced abuse and oppression to force them to assimilate. For these students, the journey to Haskell was a troubling but important one.

At the same time, students had the chance to worship God through Native songs and dance. This is the power of the gospel at work–that through Christ’s death and resurrection, places of pain and oppression can be redeemed into places of worship! And the answer to the question? According to the speaker, “Yes, without a doubt, Jesus would eat frybread with us!”

Prepared to Reach the Campus

November 7, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

At the regional AMBICIÓN conference (October 28-29), more than 50 students from 17 different campuses experienced deep community, encountered the love of Jesus, and were empowered to engage his mission to reach Latino students across the Midwest. That same weekend, St Louis held training for twenty local students on how to introduce their non-Christian friends to Jesus through studying the Bible together. The students committed to invite 32 of their friends into Groups Investigating God (GIGs). One new GIG even started within 6 hours of the training ending!

Come and See

November 2, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

At Fall Conference, over 100 students from all over Missouri gathered to “Come and See” what life with Jesus could look like in their lives and on campus. 14 students recommitted their lives to Jesus during the weekend. Here’s one of their stories, as told by Josephine, a staff intern at Mizzou.

“Michaela came and saw God. She is a sophomore at Mizzou and she came to Fall Conference not sure what to expect, but what she found was God calling her to recommit herself to Him. I got a chance to pray for Michaela and she shared with me how she has not been attending church regularly and hasn’t found a community that she could grow with. With her not able to see who she is in Christ, she was reminded at Fall Conference of God’s grace and faithfulness. Already, Michaela is taking risks to step out of her comfort zone and share her faith. Praise God for transformed lives!”

God Loves a Good Party

October 5, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

The University of Nebraska- Omaha athlete core group just had it’s 2nd annual fall cook-off and saw God line up some amazing ministry opportunities. The hope was to have the 17 core students take ownership, lead their fellow teammates through service, and allow God to provide at least one new student athlete from one of the five teams not yet represented. In the end, over 120 Athletes came out (half the athlete community) , six new student athletes expressed interest in starting a team ministry (two on teams with no current ministry) and 16 more were interested in joining the weekly core group. The core students completely owned the night and lived out their faith as the hands and feet of Jesus in the athlete community!