At the end of October (29-31) Sonoma State students and staff from IVCF will head away for TRILOGY!!! What is Trilogy? A unique conference where students can attend one of 4 different tracks to help them grow in understanding of what it looks like to live out their faith back on campus. DOC- Disciples on Campus is a track that seeks to answer the question: "How is my faith relevant to my life in college?" covering topic like: What's God to do with my life?, Faithfulness in academics, Sex and love, witnessing to your friends, and the power of community. ROC- Revealed on Campus continues the question started in DOC of "How is my faith relevant to my life in college" covering topics like spiritual disciplines, breaking down barriers, and sharing the joy. MOC- Ministers on Campus is designed for the student leader in ministry. Participants will dig into the text of 2nd Timothy to gain a deeper understanding of what leadership looks like. Covering topics like: Mentoring and Influencing others, being an instrument for the Gospel, and Perseverance. DAC- Discipleship After College prepares the graduating student for the "real world." Participants will meet working professionals who have made the transition and are thriving in their faiths. Topics include finances, making enduring friendships, finding a church, and faith in the workplace. Please pray for me as I help lead the MOC- Ministers on Campus track. I will be leading students in scripture study from the first part of 2nd Timothy. And will be leading a workshop on influential one-on-ones.
A few posts ago I talked about a freshman girl Sarah (pictured on the right) who was excited because her roommate Savannah (not pictured, sorry) started asking questions about Jesus. As we continued to pray for Savannah, Sarah has been faithful to ask more questions and invite her to take next steps. Last week Savannah said yes to following Jesus! Although she is still figuring out what exactly that means she realizes that she wants Jesus to be leading her life. Pray for Sarah and Savannah as they continue on this journey together.
Carly (pictured on the left) and Sarah are two freshman women that I have come to love dearly. They are both eager to grow in their faith and be transformed by God's word. Last Thursday night after Nexus while everyone was chatting and playing around, Carly, Sarah, and I were having a conversation about what it means to "feed Jesus' sheep." The same call Jesus had for Peter at the end of John (the topic for the night). We decided that for the year we were going to take risks and hold each other accountable for feeding Jesus' sheep. In the midst of fun and games, Carly and Sarah wanted to continue seeking Jesus' call for them and praying together. Pray with me for these 2 women as they grow and are transformed by God's love!
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Greek life (fraternities and sororities) make up 15% of SSU's student population. This is an unreached area of Sonoma State that IVCF and Christians haven't really been investing in. Many students that are a part of Greek life on campus feel uncomfortable coming to traditional IVCF events. For the last 2 years I have faithfully been praying for God to raise up men and women who are excited to be a part of Greek life and excited to share about Jesus in that place. In order to reach students that are a part of Greek life we need students to go that also want to be a part of Greek life. This year the seeds are growing as women like Shelby, Hillary, and Makeala are desiring to start a bible study for sororities! As we meet and pray together, their hope and vision is that girls would realize that they don't have to stop their faith while in college. They can both have a faith in Jesus and be a part of a sorority while in college. Pray that we will see more students reached because of these women choosing to take on this leadership!
There has been so much happening on campus and I am so excited to celebrate and praise God for his faithfulness!!! I'll let you in on all the happenings: Jacki (sophomore-pictured on the left): Jacki is a CSA (Community Service Advisor) in the dorms. One of the concerns that has come up for Jacki is being a part of a bible study with her residents. In asking herself, what should she do? Well what any missional student would want to do: Start up a prayer time and bible study with and for other CSA's. I'm so excited for Jacki to take a risk in leadership. She said, "I feel like we are in such influential and strategic leadership positions and can have such an impact on students lives. I really want to use this for God." Pray that out of the 53 CSA's the 9 Christians would desire to seek God in their leadership position.
SONOMA SERVES!!! Pictured to the right is a group of InterVarsity students who spent Saturday serving. Our group did a beach clean-up. Not only was it a beautiful day to be at the beach it ended up being a great opportunity to share about IVCF and about who Jesus is! When questions like, "Why would you spend a day serving?" We were able to share about Jesus and how he served. The highlight of this day was me getting to talk with a freshman student named Jackie. Pictured below (we are on the far right next to the log), during lunch she starting asking about IVCF and mission trips. I ended up getting to share the whole gospel with her and she is starting to read the book of Mark. She also wants to attend a bible study and Nexus to. I loved hearing her say, "I've always wanted to read the bible." It's not everyday you get a student saying that. Pray that Jackie would not only read the bible but have a real encounter with Jesus. This picture was posted on facebook and Jackie's comment was, "There is where I was learning about Intervarsity!"
Last Thursday night I spoke out of Matthew and gave an invitation to, know and follow Jesus, get out of the boat, and take risks for Jesus. We had 133 students attend! As I shared personal stories about failure and risks I saw students become more open to hearing what God might be challenging them to do. One woman, Lauren, raised her hand saying she wanted to follow Jesus for the first time! About 50 students raised their hand saying they wanted to take a risk for Jesus during the next week.
As an application each student was given the ever popular, "silly band" in the shape of a boat. This was to serve as reminder to them to get out of the boat and take risks for Jesus. They were also challenged to be asking one another about the risks they had been taking. A couple stories from the night:
Mary is a freshman student who identifies as being, "agnostic." I saw that she took a bracelet so I asked her what kind of risks she was wanting to take in the next week for Jesus. She said, "I really want to take risks in talking with people that I wouldn't normally talk to and ask questions about Jesus." For Mary taking a risk is to start asking questions about Jesus. Pray that she would say yes to that risk and see how exciting it is to walk on water with Jesus!
Alex is a senior student leading a freshman bible study. After the talk he came up to me and said, "That was so cool to be able to talk with the people next to us about where they were at. I sat next to Bree from my bible study and now I feel like I know her so much better. She really wants to take risks and I can hold her accountable for doing that!" Pray that as a community we would be challenging, encouraging, and asking one another about how we are actively living out our faith on campus!
NEXUS!!!
Nexus is our weekly large group that meets every Thursday night. Last Thursday (9/9) was our first Nexus of the year. About 130 students attended. I had the opportunity to speak out of Mark 1. It was Jesus' invitation to his first disciples, "Come, follow me and I will send you out to fish for people." The invitation was for Christians to be people sent by God on this campus to share the good news of Jesus. Jesus' good news is too good to keep for ourselves! The invitation for non-Christians was to accept Jesus' invitation to follow him with their life. Choosing a life of leaving behind what is comfortable and what defines them. And believing and following Jesus.
At the end of the night 2 women, Makeala and Janet accepted the invitation to follow Jesus for the first time! Praise God! They have been connecting with people in the fellowship and are already plugged into a small group bible study. More than half of the room raised their hands saying they wanted to be sent out to share the good news of Jesus with their friends on campus. Praise God! It has been fun seeing new students take risks in inviting and giving testimony to God's love!
PRAY: That our community would continue to be transformed by God's love, encouraged by the community, and sent out on the campus to share the good news of Jesus!
NIGHT STRIKE!!!
Every other Friday a group of people gather in San Francisco to go out on the streets and connect with homeless. They call this Night Strike. When I talked to the coordinator he told me their vision is simple. "To love and care for people like Jesus would and give them a taste of how good Jesus is. That could be through a hug, some food, socks, a word, a prayer, anything!"
I grabbed two students, Laurel (a 5th year student) and Megan (a freshman pictured below), and drove out on Friday (9/10) at 7:00pm. From 8:30-10:30pm we walked the streets of San Francisco, from the Tenderloin to 6th Street and all along Market. We met at talked with men, women, and teenagers all living on the streets. Through conversations, prayers, hugs, laughter, and giving them simple things like socks we were able to see the ways Jesus was meeting us and them. As we drove home that night talking about our experience I appreciated Megan's honesty and openness.
"I'm so glad I went tonight because I live a really sheltered life. Remember when that one guy was talking about how people walk down the wrong ally and look at him so they start guarding their purses? Well that was me. I would do that. Now I think when I see someone on the streets I will say hi to them and even stop and talk. I'm not afraid of talking to homeless people anymore. In fact I was more comfortable talking to people then just walking down the main street in San Francisco. Can we do this again?" - Megan (paraphrased)
PRAY: That students like Megan would grow in their love and awareness of God's people. Wisdom for what service opportunities to invite students to. That all 3 of us would give testimony to how Jesus was working Friday night.
INVITATION!!!
At Nexus the invitation for Christians was to be sent as men and women to share the good news of Jesus. Many students, especially freshmen, have many fears or misconceptions about witnessing/evangelism/talking about Jesus. Part of what I love doing is helping them work through these fears or misconceptions in order for them to freely share Jesus as a part of their lifestyle.
Sarah (a freshman student pictured to the left) was excited to share a story with me on Friday (9/10) about an opportunity she had to invite. After Nexus a small group of us went to Sarah's apartment to play games. Her roommates Savannah and Megan were there but didn't play games with us. It was fun to meet them and talk with them. We left that night and thanked them for letting us use their apartment. Apparently after we left Sarah had a great conversation with her roommate Savannah. As Sarah told it to me, “Bethany, after you left my house on Thursday night my roommate Savannah was asking me all about InterVarsity. She was asking if she had to not do certain things to come and I told her she doesn’t even have to be a Christian to come. I invited her to bible study and Nexus. And she is coming! The reason our conversation started was because she thought you were so nice. When I told her you worked with InterVarsity she really wanted to hear more and get involved. But she isn’t a Christian!”
PRAY: That students like Sarah would step out in faith, being bold and taking risks for the gospel by inviting and sharing about Jesus. That students like Savannah would continue to grow in their curiosity for Jesus and know that they can come to Jesus "just as they are." They don't have to do or not do anything for Jesus to meet them.
God is moving at Sonoma State!!! I am thankful that you are a part of it! Enjoy the stories from this last week.
Sarah (Freshman Student)- Sarah was excited to come to Sonoma State and get plugged in with a Christian community. She found herself in a very hard situation with the dorm she was living in. She struggled praying and asking God for help and if this is where He wanted her. She continued to love her roommates and invite them to IVCF events all week. She ended up moving dorms because it was affecting her school work and sleep. However, she is excited and feels like she will better be able to minister to her old roommates now that she is living somewhere else. Pray that Sarah would continue to connect with her old roommates, be praying for them, and even have opportunities to invite them. As well, pray that she would connect well with her new roommates!
Hayley (Freshman Student)- Hayley attended a few of our new student outreach events and has enjoyed connecting with people. With some amount of fear and shame she told me that she hasn't been to church in over 4 years and isn't even sure if she believes in God. After talking for about 20 minutes our conversation had to end but it ended with Hayley telling me, "I'm so glad you didn't judge me. I didn't want anyone to know that I'm not a Christian. But after tonight I'm excited to keep coming to events and learning more about Jesus." Pray that Hayley would be open to the gospel and that we can continue building trust in our relationship.
Some exciting numbers!!!! - 188 students filled out information cards saying they we're interested in being contacted about IVCF events - 130 came to our first large group meeting BBQ - Over 500 students attended at least one of our new student outreach events - 84 upperclassmen attended bible studies week - 55 freshmen attended bible studies last week - 15 student coming to events openly shared they are "seeking"
Prayer requests: - Good follow up with the information cards we received - New students connect well and find IVCF as a place they can belong - Continuing to reach out to non-Christians and sharing the gospel - I am giving our first large group talk: Sept. 9, "Come, Follow Me" from Mark 1:14-18
Campus minister and team leader serving Sonoma State University with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. See how God is moving on campus at Sonoma State University through stories, experiences and pictures of different students involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
At the end of October (29-31) Sonoma State students and staff from IVCF will head away for TRILOGY!!! What is Trilogy? A unique conference where students can attend one of 4 different tracks to help them grow in understanding of what it looks like to live out their faith back on campus.
