I flew this past weekend to Iowa to visit their Fall Conference, with more than 130 students participating from campuses across the state. Here’s a story about 3 University of Northern Iowa students making 1st time decisions for Christ that weekend, as shared by IVCF staff Rachel Danley:
PRAYER REALLY DOES WORK!
In my ministry life, I’ve never seen God work in such crazy ways as this week.
Ethan became a Christian last Monday. This weekend at Fall Conference both of the students that you all prayed for, Jessy and Holly became believers. In addition to them, Genaro, Valandria and Jessica also decided to give their lives to fully following Jesus and invited him to become alive in a new way in their lives. Here are more of their stories…
ETHAN: Ethan devoted his life to Christ last Monday and since then God has already been transforming his life. I found out that he had a conflict that would prevent him from being able to come to Fall Conference, but I really wanted him to be able to go as a jump start to his new walk with God. As I was praying for students to be able to go…I prayed that if God wanted some of the students who couldn’t go to go that he would clear out their weekend so they could go. The evening registrations were due, Ethan got a call from his friends he had plans with that they wouldn’t be able to meet that weekend. Ana saw Ethan running down the hall saying, “I can go to Fall Conference!
Is it too late to register?” God had a purpose for Ethan being there as well…he was invited by one of the speakers to share his story of coming to faith before over 130 people on Sunday morning. This was just before the speaker invited students to respond by giving their lives to Christ. So Ethan and the two leaders who lead him to Christ told their stories. Ethan ended by calling all the students to give their lives to Christ and to Christians to ‘inspire’ others by sharing God’s word with those who don’t know God like his friends did. Over 20 students stood up to give their lives to Christ. Of these, 5 of the students who responded were from UNI!
JESSY: Jessy found herself surrounded by Christians when she came to college this fall, but she wasn’t yet a Christian. She ended up coming to Bible studies with her roommate and asking lots of questions. Ana and Joel, her leaders got to know her, heard about her past, shared their lives together and then ended up studying the gospel of John with just her (God Investigative Group). As they discussed things, she admitted
that she just didn’t know how to trust God. Then she started hearing stories of people who trusted God even though they had difficult things happen in their lives and that He was actually how they got through it. She was convinced she needed God, but she still didn’t know how to get there. She came to Fall Conference this past weekend and saw the Spirit of God in the believers around her. During her free time, Joel sat down with her and explained the gospel. She was honest with God and invited him into her life. On Sunday, she stood publicly to declare that she was receiving Christ into her life. This past Monday, she along with several others shared the story of how her life has changed and that she feels so different now that she has God in her life. Praise God!!!!
HOLLY: Kelley, one of our leaders, met Holly at the Jump Start (minority student orientation) activity fair. She ended up sharing her story of searching for God but not finding a place where she could connect. Kelley invited her to church and into her Bible study. As she was in Bible study with Kelley, she was amazed at who Jesus was and continued to come each week, hungry for more. A couple of weeks ago, she even invited her boyfriend who’s from the Congo but shes been living with to Bible study. She came to Fall Conference and God continued to work
deeply in her. Her and Kelley stayed in the prayer room and talked Saturday evening. Holly admitted that she had so much sin in her life and wondered how God could forgive her. She and Kelley prayed as she confessed her sin to God and asked for God to forgive her. On Sunday morning as the speaker invited those who wanted to become a house of God for the first time, she didn’t hesitate but stood up along with the other students from UNI. Woo hoo!
The Harvest is Plentiful…
God is on the move and there are so many I’m realizing that are ready to receive the good news of Jesus…and it really is good news to those who receive it! Along with these three students, Genaro, Valandria and Jessica grew up around the church, but had never really given their lives to Christ in a way that would transform their lives. Genaro told me, “I want to follow Christ. I wanted to have God alive inside me.”
In addition to these students, most of the Christians who came stood during Fall Conference and this past week to say that they want to join God’s mission, to be part of his story to redeem our broken world. Cassie is one of these… a freshman, who was asking God this past week how God wanted her to serve in his mission. She felt the call from God to begin a prayer movement across UNI. She says this in her facebook profile:
“Cassie Wenger…had an awesome time hearing wendy and lindsay give their testimony and about the other people who have experienced God in such a powerful and profound way on campus. Iowa is in!! Starting up the program at UNI and ready to show the whole state the power of Jesus Christ and how he can use college students to change the world around us by prayer and his healing power and love!!!” Check out her website she created yesterday here: http://reviveuni.yolasite.com/
- Pray for these students who are starting to follow Jesus that the Holy Spirit would teach them how to walk with Him in relationship.
- Pray for these conversions to continue God’s movement and bring more seekers around us to Himself.
- Pray for students who feel called to God’s mission to have direction and doors opened to pursue their purpose at UNI.
- Pray for refreshment and provision for our leaders who have been giving themselves fully to God’s work this past month.
Blessings,
Rachel
