Tom Lin

“Tom, thank you for leading us pastors.  It was a treat to study the Bible every morning.” “I have never studied the Bible like this before.  How can I bring this back to my church?”  It was a joy for me to spend the Urbana Missions Convention teaching inductive Bible Study in John 1-4 with 200 pastors in the Pastors & Church Leaders Track.  During the last morning, I challenged the group to respond to God’s call to a new cross-cultural mission (long-term commitment) by standing… over 70 pastors stood!  Other highlights from Urbana include: Continue Reading »

Testimony: Sherami Hinders from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

 63 lives changed… As 50 of my staff gathered for our annual Regional Staff Conference in December, we celebrated stories of some of the 63 students who made 1st time decisions for Christ in the Region.  I enjoyed re-casting vision and training on chapter planting (see pic above).  And as 2010 has begun, the momentum has continued.  Here are 2 stories of conversion during January, the first from our International Student Ministries staff at Drake: Continue Reading »

Lots to celebrate this past fall, and please keep Urbana 09 in your prayers!  Click here to view our December prayer letter.

Just over a year ago, we noticed some clear planting and apostolic gifts in Adam, a young Asian American staff from Wash U.  He began planting a new IV chapter at Missouri’s flagship school, U of Missouri-Columbia, and has seen over 30 students join IV and incredible fruit.  He’s also seen students come to Christ in the most unique places… Continue Reading »

Two months ago, Nathan White began planting an IV chapter at East Carolina U.  Last week, 19 students attended a Core Retreat — an incredible event captured on video (click here).  These are the kinds of stories we’re also seeing in the Central Region, with 6 new “chapter plants” that have just begun in the last 2 months!  Pray for our planters and plants at Creighton U, U of Missouri-St. Louis, U of Iowa, Forest Park Community College (St. Louis), Harris Stowe State U (St. Louis), and Maplewood Community College (Kansas City).

One of the joys of my work is being part of the national collegiate ministries leadership, and celebrating what God is doing across the country.  Check out InterVarsity’s annual report to read more!  The other joy I have is speaking outside of IV.  A sample advertisement for an upcoming engagement at a St. Louis church on Nov. 14th is above… Please drop by if you can!

This is the most conversions (over 16) that Central College’s InterVarsity group has seen annually, and it’s only October!  Here’s the story of another new believer, as emailed real-time by a student leader at Central College: Continue Reading »

I’ve never seen anything quite like this in less than 30 days time:  27 students decided to follow Jesus for the 1st time in Iowa alone, and 15 students responded to a call to faith at the first large IV event at Harris-Stowe State - a new IV chapter plant!  Staff Ashley Smith blogs about the Harris-Stowe event online.  I’ve also included below the latest story from Drake, where 2 students said “yes” to Jesus for the 1st time last week at an IV gathering… From Amy Schoepf, IV staff at Drake: Continue Reading »