Vision, Part 2

As I write this, Jeromy is meeting with a group of people to prayer walk on a college campus nearby. This week the Lord has brought at least four different mission teams to the area, that we know of. We are connected with the local leaders who are hosting the mission teams, and they have graciously scheduled some of the teams’ time to come work with us. The bulk of their time with us will be today, with one group here in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is an exciting day for us!

We met some of the groups Sunday morning, as we had been invited to join them for worship near downtown Chicago. Little did we know that the neighborhood where the church is located (which is also where the mission teams are being housed for the week) does not have the greatest reputation. After the service the teams had an orientation time where they learned about the area and all that they will be doing while here. The local leader shared about the neighborhood, and told of a recent occurrence where the church members were afraid to go into the building because a group of gang members was loitering on their front stoop. I also noticed a flyer posted on a light pole outside that said “Neighborhood Alert.” The flyer stated that people should be aware of recent assaults in the area that had taken place in broad daylight, between the hours of 3:30-6:30 p.m. The assailants were described as a group of 14-18 year olds. Of course, while we were there we didn’t see anything that looked even remotely dangerous. And the mission teams are large enough that if they travel in groups they should be fine. But please pray for their safety this week. I share all this just to give you a better understanding of the kind of spiritual warfare and obstacles there are here in Chicagoland.

But despite the obstacles, there are victories happening all the time! Last night Jeromy was privileged to help bring the message at one of the services held at the Pacific Garden Mission in downtown Chicago. He goes with a group once a month to do that. The Mission (PGM) has been in existence for over a hundred years, and primarily reaches out to the homeless of Chicago. (You can find out more about them here: http://www.pgm.org/ ) Some students from the visiting mission teams went to help out, and Jeromy said it was amazing to watch them just dive into it. They all boldly shared with individuals, and some of them even shared in the larger group setting. By the end of the night, at least three people professed new faith in Jesus Christ! And one of them was so on fire already, that he stood up to testify about it. Praise God!

So, you may be wondering about the prayer walks happening on the college campus today. There will be groups prayer walking on other college campuses this week as well. They will also be surveying students that they meet, and possibly even witnessing as the Lord leads them. The local leader who arranged for all these mission teams to come, shares our heart for reaching students on college campuses. College is a pivotal time in most people’s lives. If you were privileged enough to attend college yourself, then you will probably agree with me wholeheartedly. As I heard someone say yesterday, college students (if they haven’t already been jaded by life) are usually very open, almost searching. It’s a time when they are thinking about the future, and making decisions about careers, marriage, who they really are, and what they believe. Many paths lay before them, and they must choose which way they will go.

In the Chicagoland area, there are over HALF A MILLION college students. And if that statistic isn’t awesome enough, over 20,000 of them are international students. Many of them will be going back to their home countries after graduating. Imagine the possible global impact for Christ if we can reach those international students with the gospel while they are here in our backyard! Imagine the possible impact on THIS COUNTRY if we can reach our own young people with the gospel!

Jeromy and I both have a special place in our hearts for the people who influenced us for Christ while we were in college. It was during that time that we both came to know what it truly means to have a real, authentic, growing relationship with Jesus. And we can both look back and see how our lives were changed so dramatically for the better. If we hadn’t had those experiences with the Lord in college, we would be very different people right now. Because of this, God has given us a burden for college students. Those who don’t know the Lord yet need to meet Him. And those who do know Him need to be encouraged and discipled.

So in response to this burden, we are striving to do what the Lord would have us do, and we’re taking one step at a time. The first step was to identify the first campus we want to reach. It is called Harper College. The second step we’ve taken is prayer. Jeromy has already been to visit the campus numerous times and has prayer walked on his own there, studied in the library, etc. Next, we contacted the one ministry that is already on campus, Campus Crusade for Christ. They have only been working there for a few semesters, and they are very open to having us come alongside them in an effort to reach the students for Christ. So we believe that God has already provided us with a person of peace there. Today’s visits are the next step. We aren’t sure exactly what the end result will look like, but our main goal is to find ways to plant the seeds of the gospel all over that campus, and establish an ongoing ministry there.

Please pray for this campus and all the students who attend classes there, as well as the faculty and other workers. Please pray for the teams who will be on campus today, that they will be bold, that there will be nothing hindering them, and that they might even have some opportunities to see God do something amazing today. Please also pray for the mission teams who are here this week, and for everything else they will be doing while here. Thank You, Lord, for sending workers into the field for harvest!