You Don't Think of Us 24/7?

Sometimes I forget that your lives don't revolved around the UO and InterVarsity.  I would like to imagine that you frequently think of us throughout the day and offer up prayers that shake heaven and shake our campus.  But I know that you are people who are committed to many different works of God, for which I am really thankful!  And that you have lives that are full of work, children and grand-children, serving in countless ways, and many other things.


But I've been reminded lately by reading Ephesians of the spiritual battle that we are in.  That there is a very real war taking place in our world and on the University of Oregon campus.  Daily we are engaging in a war for the souls of these students, faculty, and staff.  I don't know how often you pray for us, but would you at least pray for us weekly?  Our hearts can get pretty beat up day after day and we need the sustaining power and grace of Jesus.  Our student leaders are serving on the front lines of the battle and they need your prayers.  This ministry needs your prayers to move forward.


Would you pray for us weekly this month.  Here is a way to pray for each week in February - you could even print this out and put it on your fridge:

• Week 1: That student leaders would grow a love and passion for prayer that they would pass on to their small group members.  That as they pray, they would learn to be still and hear the voice of God and then respond.  And that God would answer their prayers as they pray for their non-Christian friends.
• Week 2:  Pray for our process of selecting new leaders that begins this week.  Pray that God would impress on new students a desire to become leaders and influencers for the Kingdom of God on campus.  Pray that the staff would have wisdom in this process as we interview lots of students.  And finally, pray for students who will make the sacrifice of moving back into the dorms.
• Week 3:  This our week of Winter Conference. The staff will already be tired as we have pushed hard to this point.  Pray that we would learn to receive our strength from Jesus and that we would know the joy of our salvation.  We need to be reminded that this is God's work!
• Week 4:  As we come back from Winter Conference, pray that the things God did would stick in students and that they would be able to translate the things they learned back to campus.

Thank you for praying for us.  

Joel

Influencers

If you think back over your life, there are probably some key people who influenced your journey.  This quarter, our student leaders are learning how God wants to use them to influence the students in their small groups. They are learning that some of their greatest joy comes in seeing others fulfill the vision that God has for their lives.  These leaders serve, sacrifice, and invest with the hope that the students they are influencing would be moved to pursue God's vision for their lives.

Aaron (above) is a great example of this. As a first year small group leader, Aaron is passionate about helping the people in his small group pursue Jesus through community, prayer, and Bible study.  He tries many different things to help his Bible study engage, like last week when he wrote the whole passage on butcher paper on the wall so they could study and discuss it differently.  I love his creativity!

Aaron has been influencing Zach, a Christian who has grown a ton in the last few years in IV.  As Zach is growing under Aaron's influence, he invited his non-Christian roommate Alex to come to Bible study.  Alex agreed and has been a regular this year at Bible study and just recently started coming to our Guy's Prayer Group that meets weekly.  He's asking great questions and is discovering that God has incredible things for his life.  Please pray for Alex!

Aaron influences Zach who influences Alex.  I love it!  I'm praying that more students understand how God wants to use them to influence their peers and help them see Jesus!