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!

Leaders Developing at the SRJC

When I asked Melana, who will be transferring this Spring, if she would speak at Large Group, she smiled and said,

 "Yes, I feel like I have to say yes. If your inviting me to do something, than it's an opportunity to grow"

Last Monday night was our last Large Group gathering for the semester. It has been a tradition as the SRJC to have students who are transferring speak at our Large Group.  I was particularly excited to hear Melana speak, because I have helped mentor her for the last year and half. She is a student that always encourages me and reminds me why I love partnering with college students in the Gospel.

Christiana, Rosie, Melana, and Desiree

She spoke on the Great Banquet in Luke 14, relating the scripture to everyday excuses her peers might be making that keeps them from accepting Jesus' invitation. When she invited her peers to "get real" with God and write down their excuses on and index card and throw them into a trash can, they were all eager to respond. It was an exciting moment for our fellowship as Melana's peers where moved by her story with Jesus and her  invitation to respond to God using the scripture and her testimony. 

  "Speaking for Intervarsity really moved me. Sharing in the gospel with other colleagues has really brought about the purpose God has for me. I feel like I'm where I'm suppose to be and I just want to continue taking steps with the Lord in the path he is directing! I encourage more people to check out the journey God has for them; it's awesome!" Melana 

I reflect back on last week with great joy. Staffing a Junior College comes with many joys and many challenges. The commuting nature of the college can often make it difficult to establish a consistent thriving witnessing community. It sometimes seems like it takes more time to see a strong community develop, let alone having students speak at a large group, (Historically, "a staff workers job"). Despite, the challenges we may face, we are seeing God do an amazing work in the lives of students; that they do in fact care about following Jesus and making the college a place of ministry for them. 

Despite the challenges, God is moving here!

Praise God: As a staff we are asking 13 students to be Bible Study Community Leaders. This is the most potential student leaders we have had since the InterVarsity planted five years ago.

What's Next?

InterVarsity hosts the Largest Missions Conference in the World every three years. We are expecting 20,000 college students from around the world to be there to hear more about God's calling on their lives. We are taking two SRJC students this year! Please pray for us as get ready to go.

Please Pray
For students as the wrap up semester and get ready for finals
Our conversations with students about leadership
Our upcoming conference Urbana, December 27th-December 31st

"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

New Student says YES!

We are almost half way through the semester already and I am excited to update you on the exciting transformation we have witnessed in students lives so far. At our second large group this semester, my Staff Partner,  James Alderson, gave a an invitation to follow Jesus at the end of his talk, and one student said yes to giving her life to Jesus!

Malissa, is extremely excited about her new life with God. Ever since that night, she has been faithful to come to bible discussion and stay connected with friends she is making in the fellowship. She was invited to come by one of our core student Melana, who is a teammate in the athletics department.

We are so excited to see Malissa take her faith in Jesus so seriously. She is challenged by God’s word each week, and is quick to take the applications from scripture to heart. She has been a wonderful encouragement to all of us as we see God moving powerfully in her life.

James meeting with Malissa and explaining Gospel

We have a whole new group of students this semester, but God is bringing students her are willing to see this place as a ministry. I just met a new student yesterday who started sharing her story with me.

 She said she always wanted to be a missionary and knew God was calling her to that.  She was even trying to decide if she should even come to school. But then she heard God saying to her that she could be a missionary to this campus to tell people about Jesus!

Upcoming Events

We are having our monthly outreach next week! Pray as we engage the campus in conversation about God.  Since we have a new group of students in our fellowship, most of them have not participated in an outreach on campus! It will be the first time for a lot of them. Pray that they would have courage and receive God joy, while taking risks on campus.

Our annual Fall Conference Journey is October  26^th-28^th. Please pray for students as they go to learn more about following Jesus on a college campus.

Seek and you will find

"I've always wanted to read the bible" an answer that my staff partners and I heard repeatedly last week as we asked the question "Do you read the Bible?" for our first outreach on campus. Many students put their red sticker on the board answering "No" but to our great joy that didn't mean students weren't interested. We found that many students wanted to read the bible for the first time.

We spent all last week interacting with students at our proxe station or "question of the month." Many of the students who are already a part of InterVarsity participated with us as they stopped their peers walking by to ask important questions about faith in college.One of our students Melana said, "I love tabling with InterVarsity because I get the chance to invite other colleagues to a place on campus where they can thrive, unite, and be connected with the Lord!"

Rosie and Melana, students who participated in outreach with us

We kicked of the week with our Back to School Large Group, where saw 48 students come! All except a few faces, were new students. This is especially exciting to me since we have transferred on many of our

core students, but I am quickly seeing how God is bringing new people.  

We've had about 40 Students come to bible discussions this week excited to learn more about Jesus and meet friends on campus. Brand new students are already passing out info fliers in class and inviting peers to come with them. I am most excited to see a new group of seekers who have never read the bible, but are expressing great interest in learning about the bible, faith, and Christianity. We have had several non Christians in each bible study that are holding an open perspective that the bible could in fact be truthful and means something for their lives!

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for our continual follow up with students
• Pray for the non christian students seeking truth
• Prayer for me as I am in the process of raising support to be on campus full time
• Continue to pray for our new Area Director, Jenny Klouse as her family settles in to their new home in California. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.