Students Needing Prayer

Hello friends!

Over the next month, I hope you will join me in weekly or daily prayer for three of my students. They are all leaders on campus and are all going away for the entire summer for missions work. They have a lot of money to raise by the middle or end of May. I know that all the money in the world belongs to our Father, and He is our provider. Please pray that each woman would see the abundant and miraculous provision of the Lord in their fundraising, and that they would give glory to God because of it!

This is Betsy.

Betsy is the leader of Transformed! - a student-led, traveling drama ministry. I met Betsy this summer at my cousin's wedding, and she came in this year to Eastern as a freshman. Her heart has always been for missions, and she will be spending the summer in Uganda. I just spoke with Betsy and found out she has about 50% of her support raised for this summer, which just covers her plane ticket. She is supposed to be at 75% by now and is a little concerned. Please pray that God teaches her to trust Him as He provides in His own time.

This is Emily.

Emily has been a student chaplain on Eastern's campus for the last two years, and will continue this ministry next fall as a senior. She is an anthropology and missions major. Her long-term desire is to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators and translate the Bible into unknown languages. This summer will be spent with Wycliff in Ghana. She is at 60% of her support-raising goal, and has until the end of May. She is encouraged that she has raised 60% so far, but still has a lot to go. Pray that God will continue to sustain and encourage her and that others will support her on this mission.

This is Megan.

Megan is a student chaplain, a co-leader of Watchman Prayer Ministry, and a co-leader of Precious Movements, a multicultural dancing mime ministry at Eastern. She is going to do missions full-time with her life as soon as she graduates. Previously, Megan has spent summers in Kenya and at the International House of Prayer. This summer, she will be going to Palestine with the other leader from Watchman. Megan literally decided two weeks ago to go on this trip, and she is leaving in mid-May. As far as I know, she is very early into the support-raising process. Please pray that God provides quickly, as there isn't much time and (as you can maybe tell) Megan doesn't have much extra time on her hands.

God bless!

Rachel

The Rocky Road of Relationships

There are small groups scattered throughout the lounge, each engaged in various forms of discussion, prayer, and worship. After finishing a prayer with my own group, I glance at my watch. 10:30 pm. We "ended" the official discussion over an hour ago, and still students linger to engage in conversation with us about their struggles. Despite being overcome with pregnancy-related tiredness, I am overwhelmed with joy. These are some of the best moments in campus ministry -- the unexpected, unplanned conversations that usually extend into later hours of the night. On this particular night, we (the leaders) have come alongside the students to wrestle with self-image.

Partnering with Eastern's Office of Faith and Practice, Michael (a fellow CCO staffer), Elliott, and I have developed a series of discussion nights oriented around relationships. The first night, in February, we discussed the value of singleness in the Kingdom of God. Since the Eastern student population is somewhat relationship-obsessed, and since the students often live within this "ring-by-spring" culture day-in and day-out, we wanted to bring in a different conversation. We invited three speakers to talk about what it has been like to be single and pursuing the Lord. The feedback was great from the students. One girl in particular came up to me and thanked us. "My friends have been telling me I'm crazy to be single right now," she confesses. "The pressure has been hard, but I really want to focus on the Lord at this time in my life without the distraction of a relationship. It's good to hear that I'm NOT crazy!"

In mid-March, our next discussion night was on self-image and basing our value on being made in the image of God. Four speakers came on this night, sharing their testimonies of self-image battles as well as deliverance from the Lord. After some discussion in the larger group, we broke up into small groups and each speaker (as well as myself) led a small group discussion, as well as some much needed prayer.

About 30 students have shown up to each event, which is honestly an incredible turn out on a small college campus. We have seen the Lord's hand every step of the way and are thankful that He can use us in this way to bring hope and expose truth to these students.

Tonight is our third discussion night, where we will be talking about appropriate boundaries -- both in relationships and friendships. Two weeks from tonight, our last discussion night will focus on how social networking and the internet are affecting our relationships with one another, and how a Christian ought to respond or interact with such technology.

Please pray:

1) That the Lord will continue to draw students to these discussion nights. I pray each week that if someone is debating whether or not to come, that the Lord will tug on their hearts enough to have them finally come out. The last time, one student confessed that she really didn't want to come. "But I kept staring at the flier on my desk and I knew God was urging me to come. I'm so glad I did," she told me.

2) That each night will go smoothly, and the Lord will work through us--that our words would be His words, and that His truth would be revealed to these students. Pray that we would be mere vessels for His ministry.

3) For next year -- that we can continue to work alongside the student chaplains and RAs to prepare for these discussion nights, and that God would use us effectively.

Thank you!

-Rachel

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