Greetings and Merry Christmas! Thank you all so much for your tremendous support of this ministry over the past few months. I have deeply appreciated your prayers and donations. I pray that you and yours have a truly merry Christmas season. Hopefully, some of the exciting news from my ministry on campus will make your celebrations that much brighter!
Conversational Evangelism and Cultural Celebrations
Thirteen students from Asian American InterVarsity (AAIV) organized and pulled off an evangelism and outreach event the week before Thanksgiving Break. All the Latino and Asian groups on campus gathered together to share in an evening of cultural expression. We were able to share two important parts of our fellowship’s culture – we are loved by Christ and we are created uniquely and purposefully to share that love with others.
The AAIV students conversed and shared with about twenty students. Of those, ten students wanted to continue to be contacted and build relationship with AAIV and four expressed interest in beginning a GIG (Group Investigating God – students meet regularly to discuss Jesus and his ministry in light of scripture).It was a great joy to see AAIV students enthusiastically participating in outreach. One of the students was so engaged in meeting new people that when her shift at our booth ended she left to continue conversation with a few girls she met at our table!
How awesome to see students boldly reaching out in new ways and gaining a passion for reaching out to their campus with the love of Jesus! We will continue to pray for the students we met and preach the Gospel on campus. We are in the process of planning other evangelism strategies for the spring semester and will keep you updated.
Contextualizing the Gospel on Campus
I have met up with the Austin College leaders once each month this semester. All of their events this year have been focused on building strong disciples through small groups and reaching out to the campus through specific events. They have two very strong small groups with ten to fifteen regular members in each. These students are not only studying the Bible each week, they are applying it to their lives. The women’s small group is studying prayer and one of the leaders told me: “Nicole, these girls are really searching out what it means to pray by practicing it! They are actively praying for each other and sharing their lives with each other.”
The AC students also decided to reach out the campus in several ways, one of which was helping to sponsor the events on WorldAIDs Day (Decemeber 1st). By partnering with the AIDs awareness group on campus (who usually has little to no contact with Christians) they were able to build trust and forge relationships with other students, thus laying a healthy foundation to begin sharing the Gospel. The InterVarsity students also shared God’s heart for the orphan with the campus by selling orange World Vision “orphan” t-shirts (the proceeds help provide for orphans of AIDs in Africa). Their goal was to have 1 in every 20 students wearing an orange t-shirt be the end of the day, thus mimicking the staggering statistic of how many children are orphaned in Africa by the HIV/AIDs pandemic. On a campus where religion is often mocked the InterVarsity students compassionately demonstrated the truth about our God that few know: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27.
Conversational Evangelism and Cultural Celebrations
Thirteen students from Asian American InterVarsity (AAIV) organized and pulled off an evangelism and outreach event the week before Thanksgiving Break. All the Latino and Asian groups on campus gathered together to share in an evening of cultural expression. We were able to share two important parts of our fellowship’s culture – we are loved by Christ and we are created uniquely and purposefully to share that love with others.
The AAIV students conversed and shared with about twenty students. Of those, ten students wanted to continue to be contacted and build relationship with AAIV and four expressed interest in beginning a GIG (Group Investigating God – students meet regularly to discuss Jesus and his ministry in light of scripture).It was a great joy to see AAIV students enthusiastically participating in outreach. One of the students was so engaged in meeting new people that when her shift at our booth ended she left to continue conversation with a few girls she met at our table!
How awesome to see students boldly reaching out in new ways and gaining a passion for reaching out to their campus with the love of Jesus! We will continue to pray for the students we met and preach the Gospel on campus. We are in the process of planning other evangelism strategies for the spring semester and will keep you updated.
Contextualizing the Gospel on Campus
I have met up with the Austin College leaders once each month this semester. All of their events this year have been focused on building strong disciples through small groups and reaching out to the campus through specific events. They have two very strong small groups with ten to fifteen regular members in each. These students are not only studying the Bible each week, they are applying it to their lives. The women’s small group is studying prayer and one of the leaders told me: “Nicole, these girls are really searching out what it means to pray by practicing it! They are actively praying for each other and sharing their lives with each other.”
The AC students also decided to reach out the campus in several ways, one of which was helping to sponsor the events on WorldAIDs Day (Decemeber 1st). By partnering with the AIDs awareness group on campus (who usually has little to no contact with Christians) they were able to build trust and forge relationships with other students, thus laying a healthy foundation to begin sharing the Gospel. The InterVarsity students also shared God’s heart for the orphan with the campus by selling orange World Vision “orphan” t-shirts (the proceeds help provide for orphans of AIDs in Africa). Their goal was to have 1 in every 20 students wearing an orange t-shirt be the end of the day, thus mimicking the staggering statistic of how many children are orphaned in Africa by the HIV/AIDs pandemic. On a campus where religion is often mocked the InterVarsity students compassionately demonstrated the truth about our God that few know: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27.
Financial Update
I know we are all well aware of the present economic situation, and I am well aware that you are having to carefully consider where and who you spend your money on this Christmas Season. I am praying for you all that the Lord will provide for you and your family in miraculous ways. I pray also that you will choose to invest the resources you do have in building the Kingdom of God (whether through InterVarsity or some other ministry). I do hope you consider the amazing effect your investment could have in the life of a student.
My budget for the year is $48,000. I have currently raised $31,000, and therefore, I have a $17,000 deficit. My hope is to raise $7,000 in December in order to receive a monthly raise and continue working on campus with the students. Would you consider beginning a monthly donation? Or if you prefer, consider giving a one-time donation of $100, $200, $500, or more. Donate online at www.intervarsity.com and click on “donors”.
I know we are all well aware of the present economic situation, and I am well aware that you are having to carefully consider where and who you spend your money on this Christmas Season. I am praying for you all that the Lord will provide for you and your family in miraculous ways. I pray also that you will choose to invest the resources you do have in building the Kingdom of God (whether through InterVarsity or some other ministry). I do hope you consider the amazing effect your investment could have in the life of a student.
My budget for the year is $48,000. I have currently raised $31,000, and therefore, I have a $17,000 deficit. My hope is to raise $7,000 in December in order to receive a monthly raise and continue working on campus with the students. Would you consider beginning a monthly donation? Or if you prefer, consider giving a one-time donation of $100, $200, $500, or more. Donate online at www.intervarsity.com and click on “donors”.
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