Stopping for Dinner on the way..

Thanks for praying for us as we went to Journey at the end of October. Thank you for giving student scholarships. Here are some student stories!

“I feel that Journey really worked in my heart to give Jesus full ownership of "my house" (my life) in every single aspect. Journey also convicted me to be a witness for Jesus in my daily life!”-Hakeem

 “It made me feel like a firework! Journey brought me closer to Jesus and ignited the flame in my soul! "He loves loving us". Alleluia!”-Victor

“Journey, for me, just made me SO much more excited & anxious to share the gospel with everyone I come in contact with.”-Andrea

"wow.. through journey i was able to know who God really is! He is so in love with me! I know that no matter what may happen in this life i have a man who will never leave my side. One that is perfect and holy, one who saves, one who calls us worthy even in the midst of unworthiness. He is amazing, he heals our broken hearts and makes them new and whole! i learned through Philippians to appreciate the gospel more and that when jesus speaks to us to not just ignore it but to take those words like gold! I can't wait to show and tell others about this amazing savior.”-Sarah 

Enjoying some fellowship 

 “I learned how and why we suffer for the gospel. I also met a lot of people that I’m keeping in contact with to share how we are applying the things we learned at Journey to our campuses”- Malissa

Since coming back to campus, students have been sharing their faith with the friends and classmates. We did a prayer outreach offering up prayer for students walking by. We had 41 students attend our Large Group last week.

Please pray for us as we are in the last stretch of the semester. Our last Large Group is December 9th. Pray that God would bring even more students!

What Do you thirst for?

This semester we have been studying John in Bible Discussions. 

A theme that kept jumping out to us was hunger and thirst...

 and so we launched the Red Cup Campaign a few weeks ago. 

students  giving their thirsts to Jesus

We asked the students walking by, "What do you put in a red cup?" Intrigued, many of them stayed around for a conversation about thirst, purpose, and the Gospel. For many of the students in the fellowship, it was the first time participating in an outreach. Many of them went in nervous and left excited about how God had been showing up. 

All week we invited students to our monthly Large Group Gathering. We continued our theme of thirst. I spoke about how Jesus meets the woman at the well in John 4. 31 students came! It was an awesome time of fellowship, praise, and responding to the invitation Jesus had for each of us about our own deeper thirsts. One student that I invited last minute came up to me afterward and said he would like to start coming to a bible study! 

Students have been excited since Large Group, realizing that they aren't the only christian on campus.  Please pray for students as they desire to meet Jesus at the well, just as the Samaritan woman. 

Students acting out John 4

UPCOMING EVENTS

Journey! October 25th-27th

Pray for sign ups! We have one more week of registration.  I'm hoping to recruit 35 students to go. 

Pray for me as I lead a seminar on worth and identity.
Pray for students who decide to go to Journey, pray they would encounter Jesus in a deeper way. 

Evangelistic Opportunity

SRJC is considering an outreach opportunity for the spring. Please pray for wisdom and that God would lead as we pursue this potential option. 

Seeing Jesus with new eyes at chapter camp!

Last week, 10 Students from SRJC participated in Chapter Camp with SFSU, USF, CAL, St. Mary's, and SJSU. It was a great time of fellowship and learning more about God through scripture study, seminars, large group talks, prayer, and worship.

The first day we studied Acts 9, when Paul was blinded on the way to Damascus. We were invited to see Jesus with new eyes. I am excited to say that at the end of the week the Holy Spirit did a work and many of our students were able to do just that. 

I led a seminar "The Lord sayeth what?" on prayer and hearing God's voice. I was amazed to see about 50 plus students attend my seminar to learn more about connecting with God in prayer. It was a very joyful time to teach and train students on prayer and see them have positive experiences with prayer as they started implementing tools from the training.

Here is a student testimonies from the week.....

"I had an awesome time at chapter camp! There were many opportunities to grow in my own spiritual life, to challenge myself in taking risks, to learn more about God's character and justice as well as learn more about myself through quiet reflection and prayer. Through the seminars and talks with others I realized there is so much I still need to learn and grow in; and so much that I want to improve in myself. I also found new hope and optimism in where I'm going and how God is moving in my life.

It was great getting to know people from our group so much better and building stronger friendships while at the same time meeting new people from other campuses and sharing fun moments as well as good conversations. There was an atmosphere of genuine fellowship that encompassed the entire camp and I saw God working in the hearts of many students around me. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go to chapter camp and I look forward to seeing God work in all of us as we move forward from that experience."

-Carlos

God is doing a new thing in SRJC students as we enter in to summer!

Prayer

-During the optional morning prayer time, all of SRJC students attended most mornings! They are eager to learn about prayer and interceding for our campus. 

Creative Disciples and the Arts
More than half of our students attending the creative disciples seminar. This new group of students is full of artistic talent from poetry, dance, music, drawing, painting, and spoken word. I am excited for what God will do in this area.

Athletes
Majority of students coming to Christ the past three years have been athletes. This year at chapter camp, a student athlete with great leadership potential expressed how he wants to reach athletes on campus! This has been a continual prayer for me, it's exciting to see that God is bringing more athlete leaders to the fellowship!

Students leading Outreaches all over the North Bay

I am excited to share with you that we have new InterVarsity Chapter in the North Bay; CSU Cal Maritime.  I first met these young men at our fall camp last October. The started out as four guys that wanted to start a bible study on campus. A christian professor on campus suggested that they get in touch with InterVarsity, and so they did.

Over a meal last October, I was able to hear about the dreams they had for their campus along with their many fears and hesitations. They told me that a lot of the stereotypes about sailor boys are true. Despite the obstacles they would face (campus access issues being one of them) they followed through with starting the bible club on campus.

My Supervisor has met with them every month providing training and support to help them reach their peers on campus. Last week, the NorthCoast Area team (SRJC and SSU staff) partnered with 
Cal Maritime students in an outreach on thirst called The Red Cup Campaign. It is this years national outreach spreading across InterVarsity Chapters and students are interested.

Students walk through a display answering questions about what the campus thirsts for and what they personally thirst for. We shared the story of Jesus and the women at the well.  The numbers were overwhelming. Almost every student put down that the campus thirsts for success, but on a personal note the theme was often friendship, happiness, and family.

We were training these students on the spot. They had never done an outreach like this on campus, and acknowledged that they had became a "holy huddle" but desired to see that change.
I was extremely overjoyed and impressed with these students as they took risks, asked EVERYONE who walked by (even walked across the quad to invite people over) to participate. To our great surprise all but a small number said yes to participating in the display. That day we talked to 136 students at a campus of 1,000 and 31 students signed up for bible discussion! If the students didn't know there was a bible club before, they certainly do now. The word is getting out.

During our debrief time with the students, one student said that the campus culture was changed that day.  He had never witnessed that many students participate in something on campus or just hang out in the quad. In a campus that thirsts for success, there is a great need for community, love, and authentic friendships and these young men are committed to starting that change on campus with the power of Christ's love. Please pray for these students as they follow up with the 31 sign ups. Tonight is the first Bible Discussion since the outreach. Pray for new students to come and leaders to be encouraged. 

Upcoming Events at SRJC and SSU

Pray for SRJC outreach next week. We are doing the "money proxe"
We are in the middle of a bible series on the theme of God's justice and mercy .
Please pray for more student ownership as they lead their peers through our display.

SSU is currently in the middle of a week long outreach called Step of Hope. Each day they are having a different event talking about human trafficking and God's perspective on caring and loving the oppressed.
They already had 2 students become Christians at an even last night! Praise God!

If you would like to give financially to support the work on InterVarsity in Sonoma County. go to https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate

"The Kingdom of God is near" right?...

"Do you believe that the Kingdom of God is near at the Santa Rosa Junior College?" it was the question I asked my student leadership team during a bible study on Luke 10. 

We were excited about being sent out. We were scared of the rejection. We were encouraged by Jesus' words of moving forward. But did we first believe that the Kingdom of God is near at the Santa Rosa Junior College?

This became an integral question for us as we met for three days praying and preparing for the spring semester. I am excited to share that God moved significantly in that time, and as a team we said yes to believing that God was actually moving on our campus in big ways, and wanted to send us! We said yes as a team, to go out in pairs on different parts of campus to share about the God we serve. 

The first week of campus, our student leaders planned our outreach and asked the question “would you accept an invitation from God?"  It was a time to share with people about Jesus and invite them to come to a bible study. We had 50 new sign-ups for bible discussions, and are in the process of following up with these people.

This semester we have 6 bible discussions. Our leadership team consists of 11 students. This is the most we have had of each!  It has been very exciting to mentor and guide these new student leaders.

Meet our Bible Discussion Community Leaders......

Eseta Matusau

Ivett, Taina, Eseta, Desiree

My name is Eseta & I'm a sophomore at SRJC. Leading bible study is a huge responsibility, but I'm nonetheless excited to lead because I want people on campus to know & experience God's love as it is, like I have, not what they perceive it to be. I wouldn't have accepted this position if I didn't feel the need to let students know that God loves them & that He wants to have a relationship with them.

Desiree Ortiz

Desiree is from Southern California. She is a first year student at the SRJC and became involved with the fellowship last semester. She told me she is very excited to lead a bible study and grow in her faith. Last semester, she invited a friend to our large group, and he became a christian! He now is attending the bible study she co-leads this semester.

                                                                                     Kai Clark 

Kai is a Sonoma County local. He is involved in his church and enjoys working with the youth. When I asked him if he would consider leading a bible study, he smiled and said he would be honored. He is a very inquisitive person and asks great questions, which leads to great discussion. We are very excited to have him apart of the team.

Kimberly Gordon

Hello, my name is Kimberly Gordon. I am a pre-nursing student, and I am happy to be a part of leading a IVCF Bible study. I absolutely love inductive Bible study. It makes the Scriptures come alive in my mind and enables me to understand the Scriptures on a level makes me excited and gets my adrenal glands excreting epinephrine  which gets my heart beating faster, increases my respiratory rate, etc  (haha, I have to practice my nursing knowledge so I don't lose it ;). I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us and for the new understanding of Scripture and of God that will be given to us. I am looking forward to helping others learn how to do inductive Bible study for themselves and be able to understand Scripture and God like never before. Thank you for your prayers!

Greg Robinson 

Greg  went to state! He is an SRJC wrestler

"Hello my name is Greg Robinson, I am an engineering student at SRJC. InterVarsity has been a very big blessing for me in college because I moved away from home and I knew absolutely no one. InterVarsity gave me that fellowship I was in need of and I greatly appreciate that."

Shayne White, Blake Deal, Carlos Downie, Alex Downie

Shayne White

My name is Shayne White, and I've been a student at Santa Rosa Junior College since 2010. My main interests (besides God, of course!) are music and language/writing -- that's why I'm majoring in Spanish and Digital Audio. I was homeschooled up through high school, and my music background is in Celtic harp and electronic keyboards. I'm excited to be a part of God'swork on the campus: "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matt 9:37) is what is driving me to co-lead a Bible study with InterVarsity this semester. The Word of God has to reach all the ears it can, and I feel like there is a tremendous opportunity to see hearts turn to Jesus the Living God! Thank you for letting me be a part of InterVarsity.

Blake Deal
Blake is a first year student at the SRJC. He joined a bible discussion the first week of school and has been a faithful member ever since. Blake is passionate about the Word of God, and desires to know both scripture and God well. He also attended Urbana this past December, and came back with an interest in learning about other faiths so that he can be an effective missionary. He also has a strong interest in apologetics.  He is interested a short term mission in Utah this summer as a result of his experience at Urbana. 

Alex, Carlos, Greg, Jake, Blake

Carlos Downie

"My name is Carlos, I am a computer science major and have a wide range of interests. I love to play the piano and also enjoy playing sports like tennis, baseball, volleyball and others. I've been taking classes for several semesters now and have grown a lot these past few years. I first started joining Bible studies last spring and after Journey(this is a camp where we study the book of Mark thoroughly). I felt challenged to put God first and make Him a bigger part of my life. When I was invited to lead Bible studies, I felt God placed the opportunity there in order to challenge me to commit more of myself to Him. I'm excited to have the opportunity to lead Bible studies this semester and look forward to what God has in store for us and for the campus!"

Alex Downie
"I am both challenged and excited to take part in a ministry on campus aimed at spreading God's truth through His word, touching hearts and minds, and creating a sense of community among students and believers. Joining Intervarsity and sharing the vision will not only be an opportunity for personal growth but also a blessing to all those at SRJC. I'm glad to be a partner in Christ for His kingdom on campus." Alex Downie

Victoria Hudson

"My name is Victoria Hudson. I am 18 years old, and it is my second semester at the JC. For a while I have felt that God was calling me to step out for Him in some way. Attending a new church as of August, I was not sure how God wanted me to go about this. It wasn't long after, that James asked me to lead a bible study with InterVarsity. Instantly I knew that this was the vehicle in which God would begin to use me. I'm excited to be living in accordance with His plan as He uses me and the rest of us leaders to speak about His Word on campus."

 Michael Aaronson

BayUP Students: Jordan (Chico), Christiana (SJSU), Me, Corrie (Chico), Michael (SRJC).

Michael has been apart of the fellowship for the last two years. He became a Christian just before joining InterVarsity, but has continued to choose in life with Jesus and community. He was also a student participation of BayUP in Oakland this last summer. He has a big heart for apologetics and philosophy. He also cares deeply for the atheist community on campus and has made valuable friendships.


Please pray for our student leaders! Pray for us to take risks at a Leadership Team for the sake of the Gospel!

God moving in power at Urbana

Over the winter break, about 17,000 students, pastors, church leaders, and staff gathered in St.Louis to worship, learn, and hear from God. There were seminars, morning bible studies, prayer rooms, testimonies, dramas, art, and speakers from all over the world.

It was an exciting time for me too serve students on the various jobs that I had through the week. The first day, I helped register students at the solutions desk. It was challenging being assigned the solutions specialist  but God's grace got me through, and I found myself enjoying it. I also was part of the dinner team, directing students where to go. We fed the entire conference in 2 hours time each day. I am thankful for the incredible staff and volunteers who are gifted in logistics  hospitality  and organization. I learned from them that week.

One of the days, I got to serve as a prayer minister. Many students responded to God's invitation to long term missions and needed prayer and clarity from God. It was amazing to see God work and the Holy Spirit minister to each student uniquely in these prayer times. This was definitely a highlight for me.

We took three students from the SRJC to Urbana. Michael, Abby, and Blake. Each of them came back with a next steps in their commitments to Christ. Blake committed to inviting non christian friends and family to study the Gospel of Luke with him this upcoming semester. Michael and Abby both committed to long term missions after they graduate and are starting to look more into different organizations. 

Here is a link to the overview video!
http://vimeo.com/56574579

Here is an overview of what happened on a larger scale

• 4,224 people committed to serving for more than 2 years in missions
• 96 people committed to following Jesus for the first time!
• Over 800 people re-committed their lives to Jesus
• 5,474 people went through the prayer room
• 2,324 of those people received individual prayer ministry
• 6,434 committed to inviting a non-Christian friend to study the book of Luke with them
• 32,000 medical kits were assembled for caregivers in Swaziland and Zimbabwe to care for AIDS patients.
• $800,295 given to support different organizations around the world.

If you would like to watch any of the live feeds what students were hearing at urbana go to urbana.org/live

Thank you so much for praying for our time in St. Louis.

Upcoming Events
Bible Discussions start this week! Please pray for our follow up and student leaders!