Last Week on Campus
Bolaji (on left in picture) surprised his friends on the trip down to our Men’s Retreat in mid-April when he told his fellow passengers about his Muslim faith. Born in the US to Nigerian parents, he grew up in a Muslim home. His questions about faith intensified when these guys from his dorm invited him to come to their large group meeting on campus. These relationships, the Bible lessons, and, most importantly, his own Bible reading were the means by which the Holy Spirit was bring Bolaji to faith in Christ.
Rafael (not pictured) and Jared (in the bottom on the picture), were hanging out with Bolaji after finals sharing the gospel with him once again. The next morning (5/9/09) he awoke early—about 5:30am—and felt intensely compelled to pick up a Bible he had gotten and to read the Gospel of Mark. On that foggy morning, he said that he “just suddenly felt sure about who Jesus was,” and understood what we had been talking about with him.
This process of “intellectual coherence meeting existential melting” took nearly two months to unfold before God brought Bolaji to faith.
Some of his recent facebook posts are interesting:
B’s post: “I know i need you, I need to love you, I love to see but it’s been so long. I long to feel you, I feel this need for you and need to hear you, is that so wrong"- Tenth Avenue North
In response, a friend wrote: Spirit fingers got a crush. Aww
B’s post: ooh a big crush to one whose love is everlasting
Bolaji also made a point to change his “Religious Views” to Christian. This represents a powerful public demonstration of faith!
He went home (Chicago) this past weekend and has talked with his mom about becoming a Christian. He has a Christian aunt who will take him to church and is connecting with Christian college students in the Chicagoland area this summer. Please pray for him.
College Town
One of the cool things about working on campus is getting to spend time with so many talented students. The video below is one of our students named Ryan, who leads worship at our weekly meeting. He recently recorded a song about people’s spiritual needs on campus, and we wanted to share it with you!
Big Break
This week, it is spring break for one of the main campuses we work at. Campus Crusade provides opportunities for students to use their breaks to serve the Lord, and spring break is no different! This week, we and five SIUE students are at a conference in Panama City Beach, Florida along with 1,000 other students from 75 schools all over the country!
This week’s conference, called Big Break, is kind of an evangelism boot camp. Students spend their mornings hearing from the word and being trained in evangelism. Then, every afternoon we hit the beaches for about four hours to share the Gospel with the thousands of college students who come here for spring break every year. In the evenings, students hear teaching from the Word. It is wonderful! Every day, students are stepping out in faith to share their faith with students who are here looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places—parties, alcohol, drugs and relationships. We come here each year for exactly this reason: to be a light in a dark place.
This booklet is one of the main tools that we train students to use while sharing their faith - It’s a simple 4 point outline of the Gospel!
A group of guys being trained in how to use the Knowing God Personally booklet before they hit the beach for the very first time!
This girl is an international student from East Asia. She was invited by her Christian friend to come to the conference and last night she accepted Christ as her personal savior!
Training in Colorado
As new staff (i.e., people who have been on long-term staff for only just about a year), Campus Crusade continues to invest in our development by giving us opportunities for more ministry training. Last week, we took a break from our regular schedule on campus, and traveled out to Boulder, Colorado (our regional headquarters) for some training with other new staff from our six-state region. We heard some really helpful input from our leadership and veteran staff on things like what it means to grow as a leader, how we can continue to develop personally and in our own walks with the Lord, how we can be most effective with our time on campus, etc. We’re so thankful to be part of an organization that values our development—we feel really blessed.
On another note, one of the cool things about being gone from campus for a whole work-week is the opportunity it gave students to step up in their responsibilities and leadership of the ministry. Our student leadership team planned and ran our entire weekly meeting by themselves!
On our one “fun day” we got to experience Colorado a little bit by snowshoeing in the mountains. We were a bit sore the next day, but it was beautiful!
Our friend Emily!
Everybody JUMP!
King Karl
It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains.
Forgiveness