1500 InterVarsity staff are preparing to welcome 16,000 students to St Louis for Urbana15. Like this year, at Urbana 2000 many things were ready but as I experienced 15 years ago much prayer is still needed.
At 12am on December 28, 2000 I was on the phone with my sister asking for prayer to find 10 cots so students sleeping in dorms at University of Illinois would have beds. Within the hour 10 cots were found by another staff walking through a dorm on the way back to their room. Joyfully I delivered these cots to weary students and praised God for answered prayer.
Please join me in prayer for final preparations and that students would be welcomed in to encounter God in powerful ways during Urbana15, December 27-31.
I was blessed to join 50 regional colleagues last week to soak in Hebrews 12:1-3 at our Central Region staff conference. We reflected on the race marked out for us (hence the shoes), “throwing off” entanglements, and Jesus as the “pioneer and perfecter” of our faith.
One of the most encouraging times was sharing the stories of faculty, InterVarsity staff, students, and ministry partners who went before us walking out their faith on and around campus. Like in Hebrews 12:1 these stories and people stand around us cheering us to the finish.
To know that people like Gene, Harold, Jeannie, Sharie, Gerry, Suzy, Brad, and Janet (ask me the stories sometime) stand cheering me on is a great encouragement to run my leg well.
Who is cheering you on?
As staff we experience Jesus in deep ways when studying scripture with students. Here is the story of one such encounter from Esther Chu in St Louis.
I was originally just hoping to debrief Fall Conference with Michelle* but when I asked how her week was she shared about the death of a close family friend that had just occurred and how shaken up she was about it but also how she felt this need to be strong and not cry about it. Amazingly, I had been prepping John 11 (Lazarus) for another meeting. So, while I wasn’t sure how to minister to her, I asked her if she would be open to reading this passage with me as I have been thinking about it too.
As she read it, we had a really good discussion. In the end, she said something that was so profound I’m still thinking about it now. She said, “Jesus wants to be invited into our deep pain and places of death, and when he comes he weeps with us, but also when he comes he can’t help but to bring himself. And He is Life—so we bring life when we invite him into the pain of death”.
Isn’t it amazing that as we bring scripture to students, they bring scripture to us in new ways and ways that minister to our souls as well? I’m grateful for that.
“I thank my God every time I remember you.” Philippians 1:3
The ministry we partner in on campuses around the Midwest is not possible without a community of people like you. I praise God for your partnership and the ways you give of yourself to see His work advance on campuses in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Thank you!
The end of the semester is a time of great anxiety for many students as they think through finals and finances for the coming semester. This time also provides a great opportunity for InterVarsity students to minister to classmates and other friends on campus.
In addition many chapters in our region are hosting Christmas outreach meetings and are helping students identify what God has done in their lives this semester. Please join me in praying for this important season in our work on campus.
Is life hitting you hard right now? This is the experience of a staff I connected with this week. The image that came to mind in prayer was out of Jeremiah 17:8 of a tree “that sends out its roots by the stream”.
Can you picture stretching and straining to grab something at the edge of your reach? Please join me in praying for that type of posture towards the living water for our staff, students, and partners who are walking through a difficult season.
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!
We are experiencing a time of tremendous harvest in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. Would you join us in praying for the “Lord of the Harvest to send workers out into the Harvest field“.
This weekend I spent time with students and alumni exploring and praying towards this end. It was a blessing to walk alongside them.
This short video highlights students from four campuses we sense God’s invitation to send staff. Would you join us praying for and thinking if anyone in your network would want to join us as a campus missionary? If someone comes to mind have them sign up for info here.
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