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They said Yes! Pt.2

April 22, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

One more story from our staff. Praise God with me!

Brenden, International Ministry staff in St Louis: Alex* (an East Asian man who is studying English) has regularly attended our English Club for the whole school year. He has been relatively interested in Jesus, but for some reason wouldn’t stay very often for our large group events. Because of his busy schedule, I could never get together with him more often than once every few months to talk. It turns out he had been meeting weekly with our English Club leader, Charlene, to practice his English by reading the Gospel of John.

After doing this for a semester, he said his barrier to following Jesus was that he hasn’t read the whole Bible. Charlene assured him that it is not necessary to read the whole Bible before you make a decision, but reading the Bible is a process that consistently happens throughout your whole life. He then came back the next week telling everyone that he has chosen to follow Jesus.

Watch this video to see what we are inviting students to say yes to.

They said YES! Pt. 1

April 22, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Praise God with me for these stories from our staff of students saying yes to Jesus!

George Stulac , Faculty staff in St Louis: Our weekly faculty Bible study at Lindenwood U is entirely faculty–except that one of the professors regularly brings one of his graduate students, a Buddhist from Cambodia. Last week we did not meet because of spring break. Today we met, and the professor was eager to report the news that his graduate student told him she has become a Christian. She even called her parents to tell them, and they accepted her choice.

Rachel Black, Campus staff in Northern Iowa: When one of our Bible studies suggested an outreach to take a group to see the latest mainstream christian hit “God’s Not Dead 2”, I was skeptical. But in an effort to spur on my student’s visions and dreams, I helped them get a van and organize the outreach. I couldn’t believe it when I received a 11pm text that night that said “David made a decision to follow Jesus tonight!”

David is an old roommate from one of our apprentices John. Recently a close loved one of David committed suicide and left him in a crisis of faith. John pursued him intentionally and invited him to the movie as a distraction, which in turn led to a spiritual discussion. After a few hours and lots of prayer, David finally admitted- “I need Jesus in my life. I don’t think I can get through this without him.”

Watch this video to see what we are inviting students to say yes to.

Update from University of Dubuque

April 18, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Our staff, Tony Gatewood, had an opportunity to speak to students and staff after a cross-burning in the city of Dubuque, Iowa. Here is his report:

So…today was AMAZING! I spoke this morning and shared the Gospel through Matthew 5:3-11, Ephesians 2:11-22 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.

60 people attended and about 40 said yes to the receive the ministry of reconciliation.

Praise God with me for his work!

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What kind of cross would you choose?

April 15, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Today one of our staff, Tony Gatewood, will be sharing at the University of Dubuque chapel our choice between two crosses: The One that Cinders or The One Where Christ Surrendered.

This special chapel service happens as police investigate a reported cross burning in Dubuque, a small city in Northern Iowa, where we have worked with Black students on campus.

Would you join me in praying for him and the students/staff on campus?

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

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Aim

April 13, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Could you pray with me over the next two months for these activities?

We are hosting our year end student conferences Catalyst (which I am directing) and Getaway in the middle of May. These conferences are important times where students take steps closer to Jesus, deepen their connection with their community, and are trained to engage students on their campuses. We are praying for another 45+ students to register for Catalyst and 30+ for Getaway. Can you particularly pray for students who have many hurdles to overcome to register and that God would meet us at these conferences?
Students and faculty are inviting others to follow Jesus as the semester comes to a close. Please pray that many would say yes.
Over the next 8 weeks I am coaching a staff director in California to oversee a fundraising training camp for an area team of 12 staff who are primarily Latino and who all focus on ministry to Latino students. Can you pray for us to reach our goals and wisdom for my role as a catalyst in this program?

Thanks for your prayer!

Always Learning

April 11, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Last week I was in Chicago for continuing education as a supervisor. As part of the training my team (pictured above) worked on increasing Black staff candidates for another region. God met us as we worked and we gave some actionable steps that were well received by the region.

I was also challenged to regularly “get on the balcony” to see patterns, get insight from God on what is next, and then re-engage my work. I am starting a Monday morning balcony time to do this. Would you pray for this to become a regular part of my routine?

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Where we find full life

April 11, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

Listen to my message on Jesus’ offer to us of a full life from John 6:30-40 at Church at Bevo. In this passage the crowds were forgetful, sought to form Jesus in the way that they wanted, and many missed what he was offering. Let us not fall into this same trap and miss Jesus’ invitation to feast on him.

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Season of Prayer

April 5, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

For the next month InterVarsity staff are joining our national leadership team to fast and pray for our movement. As we’ve reflected in Nehemiah 1 about areas where people are at risk and where we feel vulnerable (like the Israelites of his time with no walls around them), four areas stood out:

Getting a stable fundraising base for ethnic minority staff
Growing in effective cross-cultural supervision
Development of Black and Latino Directors
Deepening our core value of Ethnic Reconciliation and Justice

We are in a season of continued growth as a ministry and we believe that growth in these areas will propel us as a ministry in this next season to see every corner of our campus reached.

Would you join us in prayer?

Sitting at Jesus’ table

March 25, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

I’ve been invited by Jesus this week to feast on him.

In John 6 Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life” and invites us to feast on him for eternal life. As I’ve come to scripture and prayer this week I’ve imagined feasting on Jesus.

The most amazing thing to me is that Jesus offers himself as our food. The one we see earlier in John 6 feed 5,000+ from a few loaves does not send us a care package with delicacies but comes himself to give us access to the living bread of life. Praise God for this wonderful gift.

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Decision point

March 25, 2016 / Howie Meloch / 0 Comments

We have many choices of what to give time to. As I look at the life of Jesus he had a clear sense of what to do even at times if it puzzled those around him.

As a husband, father, and ministry leader I face many choices and I counsel others in their decisions. What have you found most effective for you in strengthening your decision making? Would you share it with me and pray for my continued growth in this area?