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NLI 24: Student Leaders Receive a Rousing Call to Campus

ryan.cheng@intervarsity.org — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 20:44:08 +0000

August 01, 2024

Hannah Keziah Agustin

NLI 24: Student Leaders Receive a Rousing Call to Campus

“The Lord met me face to face and showed me the revival starting in our generation,” said Nina, a student in the Greek ��Ƶ chapter at San Diego State University.

Nina is one of 65 ��Ƶ student leaders who attended the National Leadership Institute (NLI) in Wheaton, Illinois this past June. Students like her gathered from all over the country to engage in manuscript Bible study, participate in prayer and worship, and workshop with fellow student leaders about being missional on campus.

NLI was a unique opportunity for ��Ƶ student leaders to learn from national leaders in the movement. ��Ƶ’s Executive Leadership Team hosted and served as small group leaders for the student attendees. Vince Bacote, IVP author and Professor of Theology at Wheaton College, taught them how to engage in conflict and to listen deeply as acts of loving their neighbor. Ed Ollie, the chair of ��Ƶ’s Board, gave a challenging call to campus. And NaKhia Hopkins Grays, Assistant Regional Ministry Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region, led a Bible study on Moses’ life.

Learning to Trust

Students learned how to bring their whole selves into their leadership. Like Moses, some of them may have felt unworthy, unqualified, and anxious, but they were reminded of the importance of trusting in a God who qualified them and is the ultimate source of their qualifications.

One of the most powerful experiences for the students came during a 10 a.m. Bible study session. Students were struck by Moses’ words to God: “If your presence does not go with us, I won’t go.” The Holy Spirit moved in the room and the students responded by crying out to see God’s glory, presence, and holiness on their campuses. They were kneeled and cried, longing for revival on their colleges and universities.

Renewed Purpose

For some student leaders, NLI was a place of encouragement. “God confirmed my calling to campus leadership,” said Avion from the College of Wooster.

“I learned how to intentionally use my gifts for God’s kingdom,” said Isaac from Eastern Florida State College.

“God showed me the unique strengths he has given me to use for leadership,” said Olivia from the University of Utah.

For others, NLI was a space for discernment. “I felt God calling me to communities that the church overlooks,” said Emily from the University of Houston.

“God softened my heart to consider applying to be an ��Ƶ staff,” said Haley from The College of New Jersey.

“I have a renewed sense of purpose for leadership and a greater burden for the lost on campus,” said Esther from Hofstra University.

Faithful Steps Moving Forward

Through NLI, student leaders saw how they could live with purpose on campus and beyond and partner with God through small yet faithful steps of obedience. Students like Skylar and Maya were so encouraged by what they learned at NLI, they began taking bold steps to reach others with the gospel almost immediately after NLI ended. Skylar evangelized to people at the airport and Maya shared her testimony with someone who sat next to her on the plane. Another student even shared the gospel with his Uber driver! Many others continued chatting excitedly with one another over Slack about how God used them on their travels home.

As these students return to their campuses this fall to lead their ��Ƶ communities, may everything God began in them at NLI continue to fuel their faith. Join us in praying for them to lean into their God-given callings as they head to campus!

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Hannah Keziah Agustin

Hannah Keziah Agustin is a social media coordinator and writer for ��Ƶ’s communications team. She was born in Manila and is currently working towards an MFA at NYU. You can support her ministry at givetoiv.org/hannah-keziah-agustin.

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Women & Leadership: What We Learn from Mary Magdalene

kyia.hernandez@intervarsity.org — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 21:38:56 +0000

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March 16, 2026

Natalia Kohn

Women & Leadership: What We Learn from Mary Magdalene

Sometimes, being a woman and being a leader can be difficult. Even in the ways the Church has grown in accepting and affirming women, it can still feel lonely or isolating.

Mary Magdalene knew this well. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, let’s look at her life to see what we can learn about how God views women.

Before Jesus, Mary lived a life of isolation –– consumed by seven evil spirits, cut-off from her family and friends, given the name and title of “unclean,” and pushed to the shadows of society. One beautiful day, however, her hopelessness crashed into Jesus’ healing, and he fully restored her back to life and into fellowship.

Despite being an outcast, Mary was among the few people, let alone women, who traveled with Jesus and saw the power and authority he had over sin, disease, weather... everything. Not only was she chosen to be a witness to this, but her partnership with Jesus also deepened every day and led to her being transformed into an unexpected leader of our faith (Luke 8:1-3).

Throughout the gospels, there are multiple stories depicting Mary’s faith and commitment to Jesus’ ministry. However, none stand out as much as the moments involving Mary through the crucifixion and resurrection.

Mary’s Dedication

First, while Jesus was being publicly crucified, none of the twelve male disciples except for John were present. Mary, on the other hand, remained there along with several other women. They endured the trauma of watching his betrayal, hearing the lies shouted against him, and seeing him die in front of their very eyes.

Even in her grieving, Mary stayed.

In fact, Mary stayed with Jesus through every season –– through her own journey from death to life, throughout his ministry years, and through his suffering and death. Through the good, bad, and ugly, she faithfully remained by his side.

This loyalty to Jesus sets an example for all of God’s people, not only women. But Mary’s status as a woman in her society shows us that what mattered to Jesus wasn’t status or power, but dedication.

Mary Was the First

Second, Mary was first: first to learn the tomb was empty and first to encounter Jesus after his resurrection.

Three days after Jesus was crucified, Mary was the first to arrive at Jesus’ tomb to perform the Jewish burial rituals, only to find the tomb empty (John 20:1). When she immediately ran to tell Peter and John, it seems they felt the need to confirm it themselves, returning to the tomb where they“saw and believed” (John 20:8).

The brothers left, but Mary stayed and lingered at the tomb. Then, Jesus appeared to her, and she was the first to see him after he resurrected (John 20:11-16).

But why did Jesus do this? Why didn’t he show up while Peter and John were still there?

While we don’t know the answers, it’s hard to imagine that Jesus would see women as lesser-than yet would choose Mary to be the first to see him. Maybe it was because of her previously mentioned dedication and faith. Maybe it was because he wanted to appear to only one person first, rather than a group.

Either way, it’s significant that Mary was chosen as the first.

Mary Led

After Jesus came to Mary, and as she literally clung to him, he asked her to lead.

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20:17-18

Yet again, Jesus chose Mary. He charged her to go tell the disciples that he is alive, and in doing so, she was the first to preach the good news of the resurrected king to others.

Women for generations were used, abused, and not dignified, but Mary was held responsible by Jesus to proclaim the fulfillment of this generations-old prophesy. Rather than sticking to societal norms and expectations, Jesus empowered Mary. She went from unclean and demon-filled to a trusted leader.

What Can We Learn?

The way Jesus treated Mary –– healing her, including her, choosing her, and empowering her –– flipped expectations of the place of women. She trusted Jesus at every step, obeying him even when it was hard, and as a result, Jesus entrusted her with great privilege and responsibility as a vital part of his ministry.

Jesus’ interactions with Mary are just one of the reasons why ��Ƶ affirms women in leadership at every level. Mary not only supported Jesus’ ministry financially, but she also partnered with him in critical ways just as the twelve did.

In the same way, the women in our chapters and across our movement are also a crucial part of our ministry.

If you’re a woman, are there places where you feel like you need empowerment from the Holy Spirit? Are there lies you’ve believed about yourself that inhibit the ways God uses you on campus or among family, friends, or neighbors?

If you’re a man, how might God be asking you to partner well with and make space for women around you?

For all of us, may we follow Mary’s example of unwavering devotion to Jesus, of obedient and bold sharing of the gospel with people around us, and of leading in the ways he’s called us to.

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Natalia Kohn

Natalia is an Associate Director of Spiritual Formation (Focused Ministry) — Latino Fellowship (LaFe) for ��Ƶ. She is a biracial Latina — Argentinian and Armenian — born in Argentina and raised in the United States. She's based in southern California with her husband and son. She trains people in prayer and worship and leads mission trips for ��Ƶ.

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From Bullet Points to Bride – How Song of Solomon Changed My Prayer Life

kyia.hernandez@intervarsity.org — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:15:53 +0000

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March 04, 2026

Natalia Kohn

From Bullet Points to Bride – How Song of Solomon Changed My Prayer Life

I grew up attending quiet and awkward prayer meetings dominated by boring lists. Across denominations, the priority often felt less like communion with God and more like conquering bullet points on a sheet of paper.

Truthfully, I had no idea if anything happened at these meetings. Were mountains moved? Did breakthrough come? Were we any closer to Jesus because of that time of prayer?

These communal prayer meetings were great in their own way, but prayer wasn’t very interesting or personal to me. That was until I learned how to interact and have a dialogue (not a monologue) with Jesus. As I learned about listening prayer, praying Scripture, and the “Bridal Paradigm,” particularly through Song of Solomon, prayer became more enjoyable and I daresay addicting.

From My Head to My Heart

When I was an ��Ƶ student, I learned that the Holy Spirit speaks to us if we slow down enough to listen. Listening prayer showed me how to interact with the Holy Spirit in a way that left me wanting more.

20 years later, God led me to serve with a ministry in California, where he deepened that prayer foundation even further.

I learned to sing Scripture as prayer, turning biblical passages into personal cries to God. We’d pray verses over local and global churches, over individuals, and over ourselves. Through this, the Bible came to life in new ways, and prayer became a way to study God’s Word. It was as if praying Scripture helped it move from my head into my heart.

Understanding the Bridal Paradigm

A lot of the work I did while at that ministry was centered around the “Bridal Paradigm,” which is the heart of Song of Solomon.

Contrary to popular belief, Song of Solomon is not a strange book about sex, but a love story between two characters: the Shulamite woman and King Solomon, who are meant to symbolize us and Jesus.

As we prayed the Song of Solomon, I put myself into the story. I asked myself, How was I like the Shulamite woman, loved by a perfect Bridegroom King despite her flaws and insecurities? Was I able to receive this love well?

The Shulamite woman longs to be kissed by the king. Her longing is a powerful plea because she knows that his love is even better than wine.

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is better than wine…” – Song of Solomon 1:2

Jesus’ kisses can be felt in moments where we sense his presence. On any given day, I try to pay attention to where I experience this, especially in situations others may call “good luck” or “coincidence.”

For you, this could be remembering exactly what you studied during a tough exam or a wave of calm before giving a nerve-wrecking presentation. It could be a friend showing up or reaching out unexpectedly and exactly when you need it.

Song of Solomon makes love accessible, normalizing the fact that Jesus, who called himself our Bridegroom in every one of the Gospels, is a Heavenly Bridegroom whose love is better than wine, or Netflix, or my favorite snack. It gives me insight into how he sees me, delights in me, and longs to be with me.

I used to define myself mainly as a “worker” in the harvest field (Luke 10), focused on serving and leading. But I’m not just a disciple or apostle seeking to lead a movement of students on campus to Jesus (Acts 2). Above all, my identity is being his beloved bride — I belong to him, and he belongs to me.

Where are you placing your identity?

Becoming His Beloved

Ever since I accepted my identity as Jesus’ beloved, prayer stopped feeling like a chore. Instead, it’s the most exciting part of my life.

We are meant to see ourselves as Jesus’ beloved and experience this kind of intimacy with him. If you struggle to identify as his beloved, consider adding some of these practices to your daily life:

At the end of each day, take a moment to reflect and think about whether you experienced his presence in a special way. Ask him to reveal where you experienced his “kisses” that day.
Instead of going to other things to experience love, try reading a chapter of Song of Solomon and interact with what you read.
Listen to audio of Song of Solomon. Sometimes hearing helps you connect in different ways than reading.
Try making it a goal for a semester or year to grow in being Jesus’ beloved.
Journal your prayers, using language in Song of Solomon of bride, beloved, kisses, garden, etc.

My posture in prayer has changed from a beggar with a list to a beloved bride longing to partner with her bridegroom to see his kingdom come. My conversations with Jesus are driven by a relationship that’s being nurtured, matured, and developed like that of the Shulamite’s love in Song of Solomon.

As you consider your prayer life, ask yourself: Do you approach Jesus with a list of demands, or with an open heart ready to partner with him as his beloved?

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Why Your LaFe Small Group — and Every ��Ƶ Small Group — Should Study Exodus

kyia.hernandez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 19:07:35 +0000

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September 26, 2025

Emily Baez

Why Your LaFe Small Group — and Every ��Ƶ Small Group — Should Study Exodus

When I was a student in LaFe, my small group leader felt led to guide us through the entire book of Exodus. As we studied, we began resonating with Moses, discovering just how much of his journey spoke to our own experiences.

In celebration of Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month, we encourage you to consider walking through Exodus with your ��Ƶ community. Whether you’re part of a LaFe group or not, Exodus carries powerful lessons for anyone grappling with their identity, their calling, or their responsibility to their community. Plus, ��Ƶ’s LaFe ministry has created a great resource to help you along! Check that out here.

Below are a few reasons your LaFe group (and every ��Ƶ small group) can benefit from an Exodus Bible study series. Note that the discussion questions should be adapted to fit the experiences of your specific campus community.

God Shows Moses His Identity is Not a Curse

While studying Exodus as a student, I wondered how much of Moses’ inner turmoil could have been helped if he had a community like LaFe.

Moses was born a Hebrew but raised as an Egyptian when Egyptians brutally oppressed the Hebrews. Naturally, his dual identity creates confusion about where he truly belongs.

In chapter 2, one day after killing an Egyptian, Moses tries to break up a fight between two Hebrews. One of them challenges him: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Ex 2:14).

Even though Moses identifies with the Hebrews enough to defend one of them (Ex 2:11-12), they don’t fully accept him. At the same time, his actions alienate him from the Egyptians, forcing him to flee Egypt.

After fleeing Egypt, Moses’ identity issues don’t disappear. He marries a Midianite, names his son Gershom, and famously says, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land” (Ex 2:22).

Even in his new life, he feels displaced. Whether he’s among the Egyptians, the Hebrews, or the Midianites, Moses is never truly at home.

Sound familiar? Many Latino members of your community may struggle with this same uneasy feeling — not fully belonging to America and in predominantly white spaces, but also not fully belonging to their or their family’s country of origin and in predominantly Latino/a spaces.

As a student, I was surprised when I learned that this ancient text might have something to say about my modern, internal struggles with identity. On one hand, I grew up with two bilingual parents in a predominantly Latino part of my city. I was raised on all the flavors and traditions of my culture. And to this day, I recite the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer in Spanish before bed each night just like my mom taught me.

Despite all that, I spent most of my young adulthood feeling nervous when disclosing my ethnic identity to new people. I knew that being Latina often came with “requirements” I often didn’t meet. LaFe was a breath of fresh air. It was the first time I didn’t have to justify or hide my identity.

If you’re leading a LaFe Bible study, you can give Latino/a students something they may not have had before: a space to heal from the damaging messages many of us have received about our identity. Whether we feel like we’re not enough, too much, or don’t belong at all, we can use Moses’ identity struggles to bring all our complicated, uncomfortable (sometimes even embarrassing) experiences with identity to God and to each other. We can also be reminded that God ultimately uses Moses' identity to carry out his will.

Here are some discussion questions you can ask your LaFe community:

How might your ethnic identity — however complicated — actually be a blessing for the kingdom?
If you feel comfortable, share about a painful experience you’ve had related to your Latino/a identity.
What do you long to feel in Latino/a spaces?

God Calls Moses Even Though He is “Unqualified”

How many of us, Latino or not, have struggled with feelings of inadequacy?

It wasn’t until a friend from my LaFe small group sat me down and talked me through my fears of leading that I finally agreed to be apprenticed as a small group leader. I was about to start my senior year, and though I had spent the past year falling in love with the Bible and feeling committed to my ��Ƶ community, I still believed there was no one less qualified than me.

It’s encouraging that one of the very first stories we get in Scripture is about someone who shares these feelings. Moses is so unconvinced of his abilities to do what God calls him to do, that he resists God’s direction five times in one scene.

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Ex 3:11).
“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Ex 3:13).
“What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” (Ex 4:1).
“Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent... I am slow of speech and tongue” (Ex 4:10).
“Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else” (Ex 4:13).

My personal favorite is the fourth point. Whether we speak with an accent, struggle with Spanish or English, or simply suffer from a fear of public speaking, many of us might be unsure about our ability to communicate and lead well. And yet, Latinos have the unique ability to connect with so many different groups. Our experiences resonate with communities across the globe, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, and with immigrants everywhere. Many of us are bilingual, and even when we’re not, we know what it means to navigate multiple worlds.

As you study Exodus, you can invite students to be honest about their fears or anxieties when it comes to leadership. Ask questions like:

What specific thing is God calling you to do this next week? This next month? The next five years?
What are your fears around this calling?
Talk about an experience where you connected deeply with someone across cultural lines. What happened?

God Uses Moses to Unite and Deliver His People

In my ��Ƶ chapter, we had this saying: “Who is missing?”

When we pondered this question during leadership meetings, we were flooded with images of nursing students, arts students, Native students, international students, athletes, atheists, agnostics, etc. … the list went on.

The point was to remind ourselves that we reflect the diversity of God’s kingdom best when we bring everyone to the table. And as a community together on mission, we should always reassess — Are we doing a good job inviting [insert group] into our community? How can we be more hospitable?

There’s deep tension between our different communities and even within the Latino community, some of it stretching way back to slavery and colonization. To this day, we can hurt and alienate one another over differences in race, immigration status, class, language ability, and more. When we do that, we continue the cycle of sin we’re meant to break free from.

Moses gave my LaFe small group a vision of someone who actually does something about the pain and brokenness his people endure. He gives up his status as an Egyptian prince so he can enter into the suffering of his Hebrew brothers and sisters. God uses Moses to unite a fractured people — to deliver them from the lie that they are made for oppression, and into the truth that they are made in his image.

As you discuss themes of injustice, unity, or hospitality in your small group, you can ask:

What sins do we each need to repent of? (How have we, in our own lives, hurt or alienated other Latinos?)
What can we do to make this community more hospitable to every Latino/a student on campus? (For example, print passages in both English and Spanish or have meals where everyone shares something from their country of origin.)
Consider the many nuances of our Latino identity. Now, ask the question again, “Who is missing?”

In my opinion, Exodus is one of the most cinematic books in Scripture, complete with the tension and triumph that make stories great. Yet it’s so much more than that. It’s a story of God’s faithfulness to a people who feel forgotten. And it’s chock-full of wisdom for any person or group of people experiencing confusion, inadequacy, division, or loss. It may be just what your ��Ƶ community needs right now.

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Emily Baez

Emily Baez is a writer for ��Ƶ’s communications team. She lives in Tampa, FL, and enjoys long hikes, watching movies, and overly competitive game nights with friends. You can support her ministry here.

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A Taste of an ��Ƶ Bible Study

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:26:56 +0000

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September 19, 2025

Ashlye Elizondo Vanderworp

A Taste of an ��Ƶ Bible Study

��Ƶ’s ministry centers around manuscript Bible study, invented in the 1950s. It has three aspects: observation, interpretation, and application.

In this kind of Bible study, leaders are facilitators who pass out printed passages of Scripture, and members engage in communal discovery—generating questions together, sharing what they see and think, and discovering Scripture’s meaning for themselves.

“In the way we study the Bible with ��Ƶ, everyone’s on the same page ... no one knows more than someone else. We’re all starting off at the same level.” —Tori, Meredith College in North Carolina

Try a small taste of ��Ƶ Bible study on your own below. We really think it’s one of the best ways to learn more about Jesus and grow your faith. And if you like your experience, join an ��Ƶ small group Bible study on your campus!

Luke:38–42

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Observation: What does it say?

Take a pen or even pens of multiple colors and mark what stands out to you in the passage. Who are the main characters? What are their actions and reactions to each other? Notice locations and time. Are there repeated words or phrases, comparisons, cause and effect?

Interpretation: What does it mean?

In a small group, you’ll come up with questions to get to the heart of the passage together. The best questions can be answered through the text itself and context. Remember, you’re not necessarily trying to come up with the one right answer.

Here are examples of questions that could come up:

What might Martha’s reaction reveal about her and her perspective of Jesus?
What do you think Jesus means by “one thing” and “the good portion”?
Why isn’t Martha praised for what she’s doing? What do you think Jesus’ reaction to her says about his perspective on the things she and Mary were doing?

Application: What do I do now?

Bible study should result in action and transformation, not just knowledge. God moves and speaks through his Word.

What habits can you begin during your first semester of college to sit at Jesus’ feet and focus on the “one thing”?

Want to join an ��Ƶ Bible study on your campus? Click here to learn more.

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Ashlye Elizondo Vanderworp

Ashlye works as the Managing Editor for ��Ƶ's Communications Team in Madison, Wisconsin. She enjoys deep conversations with friends and adventures with her husband (a Video Producer for ��Ƶ) and their corgi, Penny. You can support her ministry here.

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Do We Still Believe in Miracles?

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 15:54:26 +0000

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June 02, 2025

Brenda Jo Wong

Do We Still Believe in Miracles?

Do Christians still believe in miracles? I know I do.

In the first part of my life of faith, I didn’t believe that miracles existed because I never saw a miracle. I thought that miracles were something that only happened in the Bible.

When I started going to churches that believed that God could do miracles and prayed for them to happen, I started seeing miracles happen.

Once, a friend and I prayed for a woman who was like the bleeding lady in the Bible. No doctors could stop the bleeding from her uterus. We asked for forgiveness and commanded her body to be aligned and to work properly in Jesus’ name. The next day, her bleeding stopped! We have seen her over the years, and her bleeding never reoccurred!

Some friends of mine prayed for a little girl whose legs were uneven because one leg did not grow in the same way as the other. As they laid hands on her, they felt and heard popping sounds. She went to the doctor, and it was confirmed that her legs were the same size.

Recently, I started having a Bible study with my friend, and as we prayed together, I sensed that a demonic spirit was oppressing her. God led me to pray for it to be released from her. She was delivered and experienced God’s presence and peace in a deep and powerful way.

A close friend of mine had cancer that spread all over her body. During her treatment, she was told that if the cancer did not kill her, the treatment would shorten her life to a few years. We all prayed for her, and today there is no cancer detected in her body!

I have also seen healing of headaches, colds, flus, injuries, and addictions. I’ve seen God provide financially in miraculous ways. I’ve experienced miraculous reconciliations with people I did not think were possible. I’ve experienced God reveal information to me about people that allowed me to speak into their situation in powerful and specific ways. I have seen countless people healed of emotional wounds that they were carrying. We have all seen people enter the kingdom of God and receive forgiveness which is a miracle!

At our recent spring break immersion, we saw two students experience healing. One was a woman who had a cut in her mouth which then affected the whole left side of her neck. She was in excruciating pain but tried to pretend she was okay. She felt God ask her to reach out and ask for prayer. As my friend prayed for her, the pain left her completely, and she could not believe it herself! She burst into tears, and it propelled her to step out in new ways of faith in prayer for others. Another student received healing from a shoulder condition as he also received God’s ministry to him regarding the death of his father and his inability in the past to grieve.

We Can All Experience Miracles

Not every person we pray for gets healed and I don’t understand why. Sometimes healing happens suddenly, sometimes it happens over time, and sometimes the person doesn’t get healed but hopefully they experience more of God’s love and presence.

Acts 19:11 says that “God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles.”

God has given us the same Holy Spirit that Paul had.

Scripture also tells us:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” John 14:12-14
And
“Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” Matthew 10:7, 8

I truly believe that as we pray for more miracles, we will see more miracles!

If you’re interested in learning more about prayer ministry and miracles, check out "Miracle Work" by Jordan Seng. He explains a lot more of the Holy Spirit’s miraculous work and how we can be involved with God to see supernatural things happen.

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Brenda Jo Wong

Brenda has spent over 46 years leading, discipling, and developing ��Ƶ students and staff in San Francisco and Hawai`i. She has a passion for multiethnicity, justice, God’s presence, supernatural ministry, and enjoys the beach, good food, and time with friends of all ages. You can also support her ministry at https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate#17.

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Does God Condone Killing the Innocent?

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:36:16 +0000

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March 07, 2025

Kevin Boyd

Does God Condone Killing the Innocent?

In ��Ƶ, we believe that the best way to understand difficult texts in Scripture is by digging in, asking honest questions, and contextualizing. Of all the difficult texts in the Old Testament, the Conquest narratives in Joshua may be the most challenging.

Joshua tells the story of the Israelites entering into and conquering Caanan, the Promised Land. As we read it, we are rightly troubled by a picture of ancient Israelite invaders marching into someone else’s homeland intent on slaughtering innocent people who were just minding their own business.

It gets even worse when the justification for such genocidal injustice is supposed divine fiat: “Our god told us to do this, so that makes it right.”

What I’ve come to understand is that the saga of the Conquest is not that simple. And in struggling to make sense of the Conquest narratives, a very helpful resource for me has been Matthew J. Lynch’s book Flood & Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God.

In his book, of all the things Lynch gives us to consider if we want to understand the God of the Bible that Jesus read, here are three that stand out to me.

1. The book of Joshua paints a complex, layered picture of the Conquest.

This may come as a surprise, but Joshua doesn’t speak with a unified voice about what happened when Israel entered the Promised Land with the goal of displacing its inhabitants.

Consider these two statements:

So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded. (10:40)
Yet the Manassites [an Israelite tribe] were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. (17:12)

So which was it: dramatic and total success, or mixed results against capable enemies?

Joshua seems to report both!

Lynch explains:

“Israel engaged in occasional warfare against major Canaanite strongholds, were often unsuccessful, and ended up settling the less populated central highlands of a land still full of Canaanites.

Moreover, what Joshua reports as victories were often short-term victories over kings and not the annihilation of their subjects (Joshua12)” (Lynch, 2023, p. 120-21).

The Conquest was anything but a quick and straightforward story of nationalistic triumph.

Still, why did there need to be a conquest at all?

2. The Conquest represented the completion of Israel’s exodus and their final liberation from the oppression of Egypt.

To understand what this means, first look at history.

In the time of Joshua, Egypt controlled the land of Canaan through a network of local kings who ruled city-states and whom they propped up in exchange for loyalty and tribute. As long as these kings cooperated with Egypt’s agenda, they got to run their own show and treat their local subjects however they wanted—which wasn’t great.

When Israel entered the land that God had promised to them, Egypt was still in charge—and still a threat to this small, vulnerable group of Israelite former slaves—in Canaan. Overthrowing their network of warlord-like kings was not only necessary to their survival but also to demonstrate Yahweh’s victory over the false rival gods that kept people enslaved and oppressed.

Next, look at the way the story is told.

Biblical authors often employ a literary device known as a chiasm, one type of which has the events in a sequence reach a key point before retracing their steps back to the beginning.

Rather than directly tell the reader what to think (“this is the main point…”), these authors brought out their emphasis through the way they structured their stories. It takes some work as a reader to notice this, but that’s an important part reading the Bible (or anything) well!

Here’s what it looks like when we step back and squint at the entire Exodus-Joshua storyline:

A. Israel in Egypt (Exodus 1-10)

B. Passover and Crossing (Sea of Reeds), Manna begins (Exodus 11-16)

C. Journey in the Wilderness (Exodus 15:22-18:27)

D. Covenant at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1 - Numbers 10:10)

C'. Journey in the Wilderness (Numbers 10:11 - Deuteronomy)

B'. Crossing (Jordan River) and Passover, Manna ends (Joshua1-5)

A'. Israel in Canaan (Joshua 6-24)

The Conquest completes the Exodus by finally breaking Egypt’s power. It’s the finale of a unified event of divine liberation.

3. The book of Joshua subverts readers’ expectations of who’s an insider and who’s an outsider.

The Conquest narrative, properly understood, cannot be reductively portrayed as an ethnocentric crusade.

Paying close attention to the book as a whole, Lynch remarks: “Joshua is not a straightforward tale of genocide. The book complicates that sort of reading from the outset. In fact, the book is designed to critique the ethnocentric and nationalistic assumptions on which a genocidal ideology depends” (p. 109).

If we assume that God is on Israel’s side and that therefore all Canaanites are unwelcome enemies who must be destroyed, we will end up puzzled by two stories that the Joshua narrative highlights.

First, a Canaanite prostitute named Rahab shelters Israelite spies and enters into a covenant agreement with them to spare her family when the city of Jericho is conquered (Joshua 2). She is commended as an example of faithfulness and generations later, included in Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:5)!

Second, an Israelite soldier named Achan breaks God’s command by stealing some of the plunder from Jericho to enrich himself. He and his family are put to death, cut off from the blessings of the community (Joshua 7).

These stories are prominently featured for a reason: “By highlighting these two specific cases, Joshua sends a signal that ‘not all Israel is Israel; not every Canaanite is a Canaanite’” (see Romans 9:6) (p. 111).

Yahweh’s intention is not to kill all the Canaanites and elevate all the Jews. Something else is going on. As God’s people settle in the land, the key distinguishing marker that will determine blessing versus destruction will not be ethnic identity but trust in Yahweh.

Rahab the Canaanite is portrayed as someone who models exactly this quality. Despite our expectations, a foreigner is included while an Israelite is excluded.

Complexity is certainly a key feature of the Conquest story, which includes a final plot twist.

Plot Twist in the Conquest Narrative

In his farewell address at the end of his life and the end of the book, Joshua reveals that as a whole, Israel has actually failed to act in the ways that God instructed.

As they are gathered for a covenant renewal ceremony, Joshua gives the people a surprising rebuke: “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” (24:14-28).

This would be a completely unnecessary command—unless Israel was actively engaged in idol worship. The Conquest is not a simplistic narrative of triumph; despite Yahweh’s abundant goodness to them, Israel has been disobedient the entire time they were moving into his promise. Like a movie with a final-act twist, once you’ve read the whole book you can’t read it the same way again.

The ending changes everything that came before it.

Jesus’ Formative Curriculum

Granted there may be more to this story than we first expected, but should we really be reading and embracing a story that sure looks like nationalistic propaganda? Don’t the risks far outweigh any rewards?

How can something like this possibly exercise any authority or helpful influence in our lives?

Remember that the Old Testament is the Bible Jesus read. Jesus grew up hearing and reflecting on all of it—including the stories of conquest recounted in Joshua. He sat at the feet of teachers and wise family members who talked about the Conquest in light of the entirety of Israel’s story.

If, as Paul says to his young trainee Timothy many generations later, “all Scripture is God- breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16), we can trust that this part of the story of God’s people can and will also point us in the direction of Christlikeness as the Spirit works in our lives.

This perspective of the Conquest narrative doesn’t erase the tensions we might feel when we read and reflect on it. But it does help us get a more faithful picture of the God who led his people out of oppression as part of his mission to rescue the entire creation from its bondage to sin and death.

Even though we are outsiders like Rahab, through the faithfulness of Jesus—the true and better Joshua—we are included in that story. For that we can be thankful.

Interested in further reading on this topic? Check out The Story of God, the Story of Us and Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? from ��Ƶ Press!

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin serves as the Associate Director of Scripture Engagement for ��Ƶ. He and his team create Scripture tools and experiences that equip staff and student leaders to reach the next generation with the gospel. Kevin holds an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and lives with his family in North Carolina. You can support his ministry here.

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David and Goliath & the Trial That Wasn't Really a Trial

ryan.cheng@intervarsity.org — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 20:17:23 +0000

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June 26, 2024

Nathan Peterson

David and Goliath & the Trial That Wasn't Really a Trial

David and Goliath. By far, it’s one of the most popular Bible stories of all time. It evokes all kinds of imagery from CG veggies clashing over the kitchen to every underdog sports movie you can think of.

The main message I’ve always associated with it is face your fears, take on the impossible, and you can actually win. And yes, while David’s victory over Goliath is truly inspiring and a testament to us about overcoming the insurmountable–with God’s help–I believe there’s another lesson we’re overlooking here.

Not Afraid

When you look at 1 Samuel 17, David doesn’t seem scared. At all. The rest of the army, including David’s brothers and King Saul? Yes, they’re absolutely petrified. But David’s ready to throw down as soon as Goliath opens his mouth, no matter how big he is.

“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David asks in verse 26. And again in verse 32, he straight up tells King Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

While the jury’s still out on how old David was at this point, we know he was young, likely still a teenager. His older brother, King Saul, and Goliath himself all make it clear that if there was a giant-killer to be found in Israel, David wasn’t the guy.

None of this fazed David in the slightest. As you keep reading, the most resistance and challenge he faces is trying to walk around in King Saul’s armor. The “battle” itself feels like it’s over before it even begins. David came, he saw, he conquered. Period.

The Trials We Didn’t See

So … how did David, little more than a kid, become so confident, so assured that he could overcome Goliath?

The biggest clue comes in verses 34-37:

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

If you’ve heard this passage before, it may sound a little cliche. But take a second to let this sink in. According to the Cleveland Zoo, a lion’s roar alone can be heard from five miles away. Imagine the kind of power and strength that thing has when it’s right in front of you. And now imagine David, as a teen, chasing one of these lions down, grabbing a big ol’ fistful of hair, and killing it?!

If I managed to do this–and live–I don’t think there’d be a lot that could rattle me. But note where David’s confidence comes from. Not from boasting about himself or his great strength. It comes from God.

The testing and trials David went through when no one else was around were what shaped him the most. They grew him and enabled him to confidently step into the spotlight. That’s why the nine-foot-tall, monstrous Philistine trial that everyone else was freaking about didn’t shake David. To David, Goliath was just another opportunity for God to show up, just another lion with a big mouth.

What This Means for Us

I know the likelihood that you or I will ever square off against a full-size lion, let alone a literal giant, are slim to none.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t face challenges that truly test us and push us past what we think we can handle, whether it’s just making it through the semester’s coursework or battling daily with depression and anxiety. For that reason, David’s story can teach us several things:

1. The Importance of Perspective

In 1 Samuel 16, right before this story, David is actually anointed as the next king of Israel. Samuel the prophet is shocked because this kid is the youngest and smallest of seven older brothers. But God reminds Samuel: “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). David’s heart was aligned with God’s. He was able to see the trials and challenges in life for what they really were. Goliath wasn’t just some big, scary bully. He was defying the God of heaven and earth, and David couldn’t just stand by and let that happen.

Too often when I face a challenge, I go immediately from observation to action, trying to outthink, outwrestle my way from the problem. But it’s so important to pause, to reflect, to pray for heaven’s perspective on things before we act. It will help us see what’s truly at stake and how best to move forward, not in a mad scramble to fix our problems but in confidence and peace. Often the best thing we can do when we’re tempted to scramble is just to be still.

2. The Mundane Matters

Sitting outside day and night with a bunch of less-than-clever animals in constant need of protection and supervision–being a shepherd was not a glamorous job. And yet it was here that David grew in his confidence and ability to do amazing things with God’s help.

Whatever boring things we might be stuck doing right now (and this comes from a guy who had to count worms for bait shops one summer during college), we need to trust that Jesus is using this to equip us and grow us. We need to be patient. Who knows how he might use today’s tedium to prepare us for tomorrow’s opportunities?

3. Relationship First

Before David became a king, before he became a giant-killer, before he became an author of Scripture, he was first and foremost a child of God. Just like us. No matter what we accomplish, we are valuable primarily because of who we are in God’s sight. As we read through the Psalms, we see David sharing an incredible intimacy with God. It was out of this rich relationship that David was able to face life’s challenges with such success and poise.

More than likely, David was alone out there in the wilderness when he had to fight off the lions and bears that were trying to attack his sheep. No one else may have known all the intense things he had to go through. It’s the same with us. You and I may go through hardships and trials no one else may ever know about.

But Jesus is there. He weeps right alongside us. He mourns when we mourn and grieves when we grieve. If we nurture that relationship, that will build a rich intimacy with him that ultimately enables us to trust him more than anyone else. It will empower us, like David, to grow and eventually reach the point where we can face trials of immense intensity and not even see them as trials but rather a fresh opportunity to see God’s incredible power and love on display.

If we’re willing to pause and let the truths of Scripture sink into our hearts and actually change us, I believe that we can experience the kind of transformation that David did. He was a human just like us. And God used him to do incredible things! May we all be so bold and audacious to take this story to heart and allow it to inspire us in the trials we’re facing now and in days to come!

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Nathan Peterson

Nathan served as a writer for ��Ƶ for five and a half years. He currently works for a ministry serving adults with disabilities. He enjoys writing and drawing and staying in shape.

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Nazareth U. and Central Indiana: The Spiritual Discipline of Uncool Places

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:08:14 +0000

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December 01, 2023

Drew Larson

Nazareth U. and Central Indiana: The Spiritual Discipline of Uncool Places

There is a place on Earth which is a smear of cornfields and grassland, a yellow-ish blur of land that ancient glaciers rolling-pinned into smoothness on their way from elsewhere to elsewhere. The wind races around those fields as if it could still catch the glaciers somehow, like a child chasing after an older sibling. It is flat enough, empty enough, that it almost feels friction-less. A place seemingly meant for gliding over and passing through.

This place is central Indiana. I went to college there.

Indiana is not, by any definition I or anyone else would ever use, “cool.” In the years since I’ve graduated, I’ve heard a million conversations about cool places people would love to live: Colorado, Austin, New England, Seattle, SoCal, Nashville, among countless others. I’ve never heard anyone say central Indiana.

Part of my heart still lives there and will forever. I like it that way.

Without central Indiana, I wouldn’t understand Nazareth. Or the spiritual discipline of uncool places.

The most certain fact we have about Nazareth from Scripture is that it was uncool. “Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael famously exclaimed when he heard it was Jesus’ hometown (Jn 1:46). We don’t know the exact reasons for Nazareth’s uncoolness. Perhaps it was its location, its culture and customs, its small size, or something else. We don’t know for sure if Nathanael is speaking a word of prejudice or describing Nazareth’s insignificance.

What we do know is that Nazareth was so uncool that its uncool-ness was the first thing Nathanael knew about it.

We know one other thing about Nazareth: it had a school. Sort of.

More to the point, it was a school. Luke 2:51-52 tells us, after the story of teenage Jesus’ synagogue adventure, “Then [Jesus] went down to Nazareth with [his parents] and was obedient to them … And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature…”

Jesus didn’t just grow up in Nazareth. Jesus grew in Nazareth, in wisdom and in stature.

As year stacked on year, as inch stacked on inch, the most important thing happening in Nazareth for Jesus is that he was—in the mystery of the Incarnation, unchanging God and humanity joined together—growing, taking shape, becoming.

For decades of his life, Jesus lived each day in an uncool city. He walked and played and learned and made friends in a town whose primary identity was its insignificance. I wonder if, on occasion, Jesus hiked to the top of the ridge and looked for miles on all the other towns who couldn’t care less that Nazareth existed. And in that uncool town, marinating in its un-coolness for year after year, Jesus’ wisdom grew. He learned, matured, became, in semester after semester in the college of life at Nazareth U.

So I wonder if un-coolness is why it had to be Nazareth. Of course Jesus’ becoming, whatever it was, could have been perfectly stewarded and achieved in fashionable and popular towns like Jerusalem, in geographically stunning locales like Capernaum. But what if the point of Nazareth is that ‘place’ is its own kind of school? That there are things “cool” places teach us that God would have us unlearn—and Nazareth-shaped ways of God’s kingdom that only can be learned in “uncool” places? What if “uncool places” – uncool campuses, even — are their own kind of spiritual discipline, unique settings where years of life might produce indispensable spiritual formation? If that’s true, then maybe that’s why God enrolled his one and only Son at Nazareth U.

So what fruit might grow from the spiritual discipline of uncool places? Two possibilities come to mind.

1. Trusting in God’s Story

We are all born into places and stories that we did not choose. Almost all of those places and stories are ordinary, anonymous, unspectacular. How will we think of them? As “less than” compared to the cool lives we wish we’d been given? And how will we live them? Always frustrated, sure that there has been some kind of mix-up in God’s Perfect Life Delivery Plan? Or fearful, certain that our lives will be lame and third-rate unless we can somehow run fast enough on the world’s Infinite Upgrade Treadmill?

It sounds exhausting. And it is.

The treasure of contentment can only be found by trusting in God’s story and his storytelling. Uncool places are the perfect setting for learning to trust that, wherever you live and whatever your story, God’s story is always at work in you.

2. Training in God’s Love

None of us begin following Jesus with advanced skills in unconditional love. We are not born with perfect instincts for loving the unlovable, for valuing the plain and common and unimpressive around us, for honoring them and speaking of them with the same loving delight that God does. We have to learn it.

There are plenty of ways in life to learn this. But surely one of them might be to look around at the uncool places that we or others inhabit and ask Jesus—Jesus, the one from Nazareth, the one who has been lovingly present in every uncool place on Earth—what he loves about that place, and what he might want you to love about it, too. A life spent asking this question will, over time, train your heart to love the way God loves.

Life in central Indiana wasn’t perfect. My face has never felt colder than it did walking to class during those four wind-ravaged winters. I had to drive 21 miles to reach anything resembling a coffee shop. It was so flat that sometimes the horizon felt like the literal edge of the world.

But oh, was it ever uncool. That is the one thing I would never change, the thing I loved about it the most. I don’t know what my heart would look like without central Indiana, what Nazareth training this spiritual discipline of uncool places gave me that I might not have found elsewhere.

What I do know is this: any semester at Nazareth U., if God uses it to give you a more Nazareth-shaped heart, is worth it. And then some.

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Drew Larson

Drew Larson works as an Assistant National Director on ��Ƶ’s Spiritual Formation Team in Madison, Wisconsin. You can buy his book here. You can support his ministry with ��Ƶ here.

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Jesus Sees You: The ‘Good’ In Jesus, the Good Shepherd

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 23:23:51 +0000

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November 16, 2023

Drew Larson

Jesus Sees You: The ‘Good’ In Jesus, the Good Shepherd

In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man. A moment that, at first, doesn’t seem to naturally connect to a parable about livestock and one of the richest, most compelling pictures of Jesus’ love for us—but it does.

The Pharisees find out about this healing and, as you might expect, don’t like it one bit. The man who Jesus heals—who literally “sees” Jesus—is contrasted with the Pharisees who Jesus paints as “blind guides”, who even though they come to Jesus cannot “see” him, cannot understand him, and in their willful blindness, mislead God’s people. It’s a literal “blind leading the blind” situation.

So in John 10: 1-6, Jesus responds by talking about sheep.

Imagine a sheep pen, Jesus says, A sheep pen, which at that time would have been a walled enclosure, guarded by a gate and a familiar shepherd, under whose guidance and protective watch the sheep pass freely in and out of the pasture.

But threats to the sheep exist on both sides. There are thieves and robbers lying all around. (v. 1 and 10) As one commentator notes, there are two kinds of dangers here. Thieves break in; robbers lie in wait along paths and trails. In this vignette, the hazards of daily sheep and shepherd life are all around, inside and outside.

Then in verses 8-20, Jesus ends by telling the Pharisees, “This story isn’t just any old example or illustration. I am that shepherd. I am that gate. And if you’re really going to see me like that blind man I just healed, you need to know that.”

The Good Shepherd

The most famous verse in this passage is, of course, John 10:11: Jesus’ declaration that “I am the good shepherd.” Not just a regular, average, run-of-the-mill shepherd, either. But rather, “the good shepherd.”

What’s good about Jesus, the good shepherd? Lots of things, of course. But in this passage? It’s because he sees, knows, loves his sheep personally.

Personally. In every shape and contour and texture of your you-ness. That’s you, to Jesus: a glorious unique creation worth knowing in every possible way, all the way up and down and in.

In verse 4 Jesus says that “…the sheep listen to [the shepherd’s] voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. … he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow because they know his voice.”

This is what’s happening earlier in the Gospels when Jesus recruits his first disciples. He calls them by name… Simon Peter, come and see. Andrew, Nathanael, Philip, all the rest—come and see, come and see, come and see. It’s an early picture of Jesus’ personal care and attention. Even before this moment with the Pharisees in John 10, the shepherd’s voice had already begun calling his sheep.

That’s part of Jesus’ goodness—even before we knew him, he knew us. And in knowing us, he knew us not as abstract little sheep dots in some great big sheep blob, but as personally-known, greatly-valued sheep in his beloved flock.

Thieves and Robbers

To the thieves and robbers, by contrast, the sheep aren’t beloved creatures—they’re impersonal, anonymous, basically currency, and therein lies the danger. The thief and robber feel great freedom to steal and kill and destroy precisely because the sheep mean nothing to them. They don’t know them—their personalities, quirks, tendencies, eccentricities—and don’t love them. And because of that, they feel great freedom to do everything they want with them, regardless of whether it’s what the sheep want or what might be best for them.

‘Thieves and robbers’ is the basic dynamic of the world. It was true then and it’s true now. In most contexts we move around in, we’re anything but personally-known, personally cared for. We’re anything but called to by a loving voice. We’re just small-talk and chit-chat to be endured, one car among many in the traffic jam after work, just a face in the campus crowd, a grade going up and down in a gradebook.

One woolly dot in the sheepy blobs of life.

But to Jesus the shepherd, we have names. We are personally known, in all our shape and contour and texture, glorious unique creations worth knowing in every possible way. And when he calls to us, he calls with a voice whose clearest frequencies are friendship and intimacy, and whose resonance is so full of goodness that when we hear it, we want to follow. By contrast, when we hear the voices of those who are strangers to the ways of Jesus, made gritty and hoarse with calculating, impersonal extraction, we sense, deep down, the wrong-ness of those voices.

To Be Known

The good shepherd knows us. He also loves us.

Five times in this passage, Jesus talks about laying down his life. The hired hand, like the thief and the robber, has no stake in the survival of the flock. He cares nothing for the sheep. He’s just a temp in the field, supervising the sheep blob to ensure that none of the sheep resources are lost. He doesn’t know them or want to; he cares exactly as much as he’s paid to care and not a penny more, and not for any longer than the contract says.

Each night before clocking out, the hired hand tallies the sheep up as numbers and checks a box on his clipboard, which he hangs on a hook in the shed for the guy on the next shift. He doesn’t say goodnight to them by name as he scratches them tenderly behind the ear. Of course, when a wolf attacks, he’ll run away. The sheep are just numbers, they’re not even his. Why risk dying? Who cares?

The answer is: Jesus, the good shepherd, cares. Jesus, the good shepherd, will risk dying. For you, for us. To him we’re not just numbers on a clipboard. He knows us, and knows us with love.

Five times, Jesus tells the Pharisees, that’s the difference between a shepherd like me and shepherds like you. For these people, for these sheep that I know by heart and call by name, I’ll lay down my life.

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Drew Larson

Drew Larson works as an Assistant National Director on ��Ƶ’s Spiritual Formation Team in Madison, Wisconsin. You can buy his book here. You can support his ministry with ��Ƶ here.

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NLI 24: Student Leaders Receive a Rousing Call to Campus

NLI 24: Student Leaders Receive a Rousing Call to Campus

Learning to Trust

Renewed Purpose

Faithful Steps Moving Forward

Women & Leadership: What We Learn from Mary Magdalene

Women & Leadership: What We Learn from Mary Magdalene

Mary’s Dedication

Mary Was the First

Mary Led

What Can We Learn?

From Bullet Points to Bride – How Song of Solomon Changed My Prayer Life

From Bullet Points to Bride – How Song of Solomon Changed My Prayer Life

From My Head to My Heart

Understanding the Bridal Paradigm

Becoming His Beloved

Why Your LaFe Small Group — and Every ������Ƶ Small Group — Should Study Exodus

Why Your LaFe Small Group — and Every ������Ƶ Small Group — Should Study Exodus

God Shows Moses His Identity is Not a Curse

God Calls Moses Even Though He is “Unqualified”

God Uses Moses to Unite and Deliver His People

A Taste of an ������Ƶ Bible Study

A Taste of an ������Ƶ Bible Study

Observation: What does it say?

Interpretation: What does it mean?

Application: What do I do now?

Do We Still Believe in Miracles?

Do We Still Believe in Miracles?

We Can All Experience Miracles

Does God Condone Killing the Innocent?

Does God Condone Killing the Innocent?

1. The book of Joshua paints a complex, layered picture of the Conquest.

2. The Conquest represented the completion of Israel’s exodus and their final liberation from the oppression of Egypt.

3. The book of Joshua subverts readers’ expectations of who’s an insider and who’s an outsider.

Plot Twist in the Conquest Narrative

Jesus’ Formative Curriculum

David and Goliath & the Trial That Wasn't Really a Trial

David and Goliath & the Trial That Wasn't Really a Trial

Not Afraid

The Trials We Didn’t See

What This Means for Us

1. The Importance of Perspective

2. The Mundane Matters

3. Relationship First

Nazareth U. and Central Indiana: The Spiritual Discipline of Uncool Places

Nazareth U. and Central Indiana: The Spiritual Discipline of Uncool Places

1. Trusting in God’s Story

2. Training in God’s Love

Jesus Sees You: The ‘Good’ In Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Jesus Sees You: The ‘Good’ In Jesus, the Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd

Thieves and Robbers

To Be Known

Why Your LaFe Small Group — and Every ��Ƶ Small Group — Should Study Exodus

Why Your LaFe Small Group — and Every ��Ƶ Small Group — Should Study Exodus

A Taste of an ��Ƶ Bible Study

A Taste of an ��Ƶ Bible Study