"I met the real Jesus at Journey"

This past weekend SRJC students went up to Camp Woodleaf in Challenge, to learn more about what it means to follow Jesus as a college student. There were multiple tracks, all but two of our students attended DOC. We had two returning students that attended ROC, (Revealed on campus) Rock students spent time in bible study as they learned more about putting important spiritual disciplines into practice.
In the DOC track this year we had five small groups from the SRJC! In the middle of one of the talks on Witnessing as our Identity, we saw five students make decisions to follow Jesus for the first time! Two students from our campus were apart of that group! One of our students, Malissa, accepted Jesus invitation at our second large group this year. She was honest with her doubts and questions after that night, but after this weekend she exclaimed with a smile stretching across her face, " after this weekend, I am sure this is for me!" She immediately went home to her family to tell them about Jesus! And to her surprise her 17 year old sister is very interested!
Danielle, was invited by a friend Sarah and that weekend she made a decision to follow Jesus. When I asked her what was going for her, she smiled and said, "his weekend I met the real Jesus and I want to follow him" In the car ride home, Sarah beaming with Joy turned to her friend Danielle, " I am so glad you know Jesus" and Danielle replied back in her thankfulness expressing she was happy too.

   

As a staff worker, I have attended the DOC track (Disciples on campus) six times. Even though, I am thoroughly familiar with the content, I am still amazed and challenged to grow closer to Jesus every time. The Gospel is so good, it doesn't matter if I am my 18 year old self, or in my 3rd  year on Staff with InterVarsity, this conference inspires and encourages me every time to go out into deeper water with Jesus.

We focused on the Luke 5 as Jesus calls Simon Peter into deeper water to let down his nets. We focused on  issues of Lordship. What does it mean that Jesus is the hub of our wheel? (an image we used illustrate Lordship). We talked about authentic community. We talked about our Identity as witness, that It is not just something we do, but it becomes apart of who we are as followers of Jesus.

Here are something students are saying about the conference.

Danielle, Desiree, Christiana, Eseta

"I'm so glad I decided to attend Journey! As cliché and corny as it may sound, it really did change my spiritual life. Before, I was more concerned with myself and my own walk with God. But after Journey, I've become so eager and compelled to share my faith with others, and share the healing and peace God has brought to my life. I want people to know the God I serve, and just how amazing He is. And even though evangelizing seems terrifying, it's not about us; it's about God. Journey has also made me reconsider my life goals. I'm not sure yet what God wants for me, but I know I want a future that glorifies Him. Nonetheless, I'm extremely thankful for a memorable, blessed weekend, and I'm so grateful I was able to share this experience with a wonderful group of people." Eseta Matasau

Christiana and Desiree

Christiana, a SRJC alumna  came back to lead a small group for DOC. She has since transferred on to San Jose State, where she is thriving in the InterVarsity Chapter. 

It was exciting to have her for the weekend, seeing her invest in the lives of new SRJC students. It makes me thankful to see students move on, but desire to continue to serve Jesus.

"It pushed me to really dig deep about my own sin and what I need to confess and it was amazing to see in just three days how God moved in my group members lives" Christiana Cobb

"This weekend at Woodleaf was an incredible experience-formative and impacting. Dealing with my personal Lordship issues and gaining tools for witnessing reignited my passion for both Christ and the lost. I am so grateful" Alex Downie

"This weekend was a life changing one. I discovered things about myself that I didn't necessarily know and that i need to work on. It was such a good thing to discover though and to let go of." Greg Robinson


"After this weekend at journey I felt like my relationship with Jesus was restored. I have found what I have placed as the hub of my life, which wasn't Jesus. And because he wasn't the hub of my life for so long, I got to see how my life choices have had negative consequences. I have also learned a lot about evangelizing and how to be more effective and not so afraid"  Rosie Martinez

Rosie 

Ivett

"This journey was a tough one for me. I found myself wanting to run at times because of my fear to confront the pains & scars invading my life. Since day 1, Jesus's invitation to go out into deeper water with Him hung on tight to my heart & I realized when God said He would continue His good work in me until completion, He was not messing around! . It was an experience where I was able to see Jesus's healing & comfort not only in my life, but also in my new family in Christ.. I started off on this journey hurting, I was healed & now I have a bigger desire to help those who are still hurting & introduce them to Jesus." Ivett Ponce 

"At Journey I was able to leave behind emotional baggage I had been carrying for a long time. I was also surprised that I was able to get close to people" Jake Kooken

It is only Tuesday  and students are already taking back with them what they have learned about making Jesus LORD over all their life and stepping in a witnesses as an identity in Christ.

Greg, an athlete, has already invited his wrestling team our large group next week. He told me at bible study that he knows he needs to keep sharing Jesus with his teammates.

Melana has invited friends from her music class. We had three new students at Bible Study on Monday who are not Christians  By the end of it they were praying together and wanting to come back. Praise God.

We have an outreach next Monday  and as a fellowship coming back Journey, we wrote down the names of everyone we knew on campus and committed to pray for them together and invite them to our large group next Monday night.

Every day we are gathering in the Bear's Den to pray for the people on their lists. It is these moments that remind me how good our God is and how much I love being on staff with InterVarsity.

Upcoming Events
Pray for students coming back from conference
Pray for us this week as we invite people to events and share our stories of our good God
Pray for the new Christians as they step into new life
Pray for our Large Group next week and our guest speaker, Kevin Finkbiner.



Blessings to you all! Thank you for partnering with us on this incredible Journey!
If you are interested in giving to the ministry click here. https://donate.intervarsity.org/donor