This year we have five Bible studies that meet on different nights of the week in different dorms on campus. As I checked in with the leaders afterward, it sounded like they were all having a great time looking at Scripture together. I know that my Bible Study was the most talkative one I have ever had. I also had a new student share an observation about Peter that just blew my mind. I told him that and I hope it was encouraging to him. I love that at our Bible Studies we learn from each other and even I can learn something from a new freshman. In total, I think we had around 60-70 people at our Bible Studies last week. That is 60-70 people who had a chance to interact with Jesus for themselves. Good times!
Our large group, called "Awake," was equally great. We were in a room at the student memorial union that could hold 60 people. Our goal was to have 100 people there and to be a fire hazard. Well, the official count I heard was that we had 81 people there. The room was PACKED! There is no way we could have had 100 people in there. And we were a fire hazzard too. Hooray! I could see the excitement on the faces of the leaders as they watched people just stream into the room. I am kicking myself for not taking any pictures of it. I just got so wrapped up in the moment that I forgot to take pictures. I will take some tonight and post them.
I gave a message about how when we respond to invitations from Jesus, our lives can profoundly change. I invited people to stand if they wanted to commit to living their lives to see the Kingdom of God come on campus. About 3/4 of the room stood up. I also invited people to become followers of Jesus for the first time. A couple of people stood up and as we talked to them, it became clear that they were deciding to get serious about following Jesus for themselves, not because they grew up that way. Praise God!
Great things are happening here. I am so encouraged and excited about what I am seeing. The students feel the same way. Continue to pray for us as we figure out how to keep the momentum going and help people follow-through on their commitments. What might we see as people begin to do this?
Here are some pictures of how we advertised for "Awake." It started to rain on us. Haha!
A Reflection
So I thought I would share a little reflection with you. I got a lot of great feedback from the last one so here is another.
Tonight at "Awake" I am going to talk about how when we experience something good, we tell people. If we read a good book, we are not shy about recommending it to other people. I have seen some movies 6 times because I wanted other people to experience it. I love telling people about stuff I like. Sometimes I do it multiple times in the same day. People have told me "Ben, you already told me that." many, many times.
So why are we so shy to share when Jesus does something in our lives?
I gave our leaders a heads-up that I would be talking about this and I wanted to know if there were people who would want to share about how God is at work in their lives.
No one volunteered.
I had to invite people to share and some begrudgingly accepted the invitation. I asked some of them to write out their stories ahead of time. As I read and heard their stories, over and over again I would notice how fantastic they were. The student who was just a straight up jerk to people in high school. Since he started saying yes to Jesus he has become one of the most friendly and welcoming people I know. He prays to be able to love people well. That is amazing.
Another girl who really did not like Christians in High School. She thought they were hypocritical, rude, and judgmental. She discovered that Jesus was not like them and decided to follow him. Now, she is able to welcome people who feel like she did. She says she always has people who are not Christians around her because they feel comfortable around her. She is able to show them what Jesus is really like. That is a beautiful story.
Just today I met with a student who had really been trying to figure his faith out. He really wasn't, and I would say, still isn't, sure what he believes. But over the summer, he was at a party and in one moment, he knew God was speaking to him and he knew that his life was meant to be more than it is. Now he wants to get serious about figuring out what he thinks about Jesus and God.
Why do we not want to tell people these things? These are encouraging and beautiful stories. People will be blessed when they hear them. I have invited them and several others to share tonight. My hope is that people will connect and realize that Jesus really is at work all over the place. Maybe they will start to believe that Jesus could do something in them.
So my encouragement to you is to share your story. Tell about what God has done for you. Tell about what he is doing.
Because 2,000 years ago some people started telling others.
We are here because . . .
Somebody
told somebody.
