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:
jon came last week and finished up our series on the kingdom—speaking on the pearl of great price and hidden treasure. after his talk, half the room stood up to exchange more of their “stuff” whatever that may be, for more of the kingdom. SWEET! i’ll hold them to it! :) and… TWO STUDENTS STOOD TO SAY YES TO JESUS AND HIS KINGDOM FOR THE FIRST TIME! woooohoooo!! right?? now do a little dance or something.
the first student who said yes is sam. she emailed me 3 weeks ago and said “i’m a freshman. i’m missing God in my life. can you help me find him?” hahahahahahahhaha.
anyway, she’s been coming to all of our stuff since then and getting connected. 3 weeks later, she stands at an invitation to follow Jesus for the first time. i got to follow up with her after, and asked courtney (brand new christian) to come with us. courtney shared with sam how incredible it is to say yes to Jesus and how she’ll never be the same and then she and i prayed with her to comitt her life to Jesus. also, she doesn’t know any christianese yet—so her prayer was so delighfully simple. courtney is right, sam’s life will never be the same. and courtney is ready to lead more people to jesus. :)
the second student is one who’s been coming all year so far. katie. she comes with her crew of friends and does the christian thing. to be honest, i didn’t really know where she stood and her friends just assumed she was a christian (let this be a lesson to you amy schoepf and friends!). but she stood to say yes to Jesus for the first time. she was followed up with her friends after and when i arrived home from our large group that night i had an email waiting in my inbox from her. she explained that after jon’s message she finally figured out “why” she’s been coming to intervarsity. she explained that she’d never comitted her life to Jesus and saying yes to Him was “the most powerful feeling i’ve ever felt.” and here’s the crazy part. that same morning she accepted a bid from a pharmacy fraternity on campus that meets every wednesday night at 9pm—beginning the very NEXT WEEK at 9. she’s also an RA so she can’t attend any small groups, etc. bc of scheduling. if jon had not been there that night, if he wouldn’t have given the invitation he did…if it had been just one week later…katie wouldn’t have even been in the room. in fact, she’ll never be back to intervarsity. wow…God’s timing in so incredible huh?
so, take a minute and tell Jesus how sweet He is.
ask Him if there are katie’s in your chapter who you assume are christians but simply need an invitation.
keep it coming Jesus. you’re amazing.
amy
