2030 Calling

Praying to Reach Every Campus in Montana

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 14:34:16 +0000

December 3, 2019

Gordon Govier

Praying to Reach Every Campus in Montana

Montana is not Alaska or Texas, but it's still a pretty big state. A 3,290-mile road trip is not long enough to visit every campus in the state although it’s a good start.

Kristin Wright's 3,290-mile road trip last June took her to 12 campuses as part of the EveryCampus initiative, a partnership between ��Ƶ and other ministries, which has a goal of seeing every campus in every state prayer walked in 2019. All but one of the other eight Montana campuses have been prayer walked, and the final campus is scheduled for a visit later this month.

Almost two thirds of the 4,948 US campuses have been prayer walked since the beginning of the year, and the number grows daily. Kristin, ��Ƶ's Area Director for Montana, has had her imagination captivated by ��Ƶ's 2030 Calling of catalyzing Christian community on every US college campus by the year 2030.

“I don't want to miss out on being a part of something only God can do,” she said. “We are committed to empowering and equipping whoever is in these places to reach these campuses.”

Kristin partnered with other staff, students, volunteers, and faculty as she prayer walked each of the 12 campuses. She debriefed the prayer walk afterwards, especially with students. "They often start out feeling like this is something they can't do but they come back with a lot of joy," she said. "We're building an infrastructure of faith."

Three of the campuses that Kristin walked were tribal colleges without any apparent current ministry. That included Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, which has a reputation for training future tribal presidents. "As we prayed, I had a sense of what God might do when birthing a native witnessing community on this campus," Kristin said.

For others who might also be captivated by the 2030 Calling and want to prayer walk a campus, Kristin has three recommendations:

Start with worship. “On college campuses so many things get worshiped. However, only Jesus deserves our worship so exalt him and lift his name on campus as you pray.”
Listen to the Holy Spirit. "As you walk, pay attention to what God might be saying. As something comes to mind, trust that God is inviting you to pray for these people and things.”
Pray blessings on the campus, particularly for the Fruits of the Spirit to be manifest.

Kristin was a University of Arizona student when she first discovered ��Ƶ and then discovered that it was a good fit for helping her grow as a Christian. “I fell in love with Jesus even more as a student,” she said. “As I have been exposed to other faith traditions through ��Ƶ my picture of God has gotten bigger.”

Kristin has been on staff with ��Ƶ for 20 years. Celebrating two decades of student ministry sparked the idea of going on the six-day road trip to pray for Montana’s unreached campuses. "I have the best job," she said. "A 3,000-mile road trip doesn't feel like much when your heart is full of gratitude."

If you feel called to prayer walk a campus (or campuses) near you like Kristin and thousands of others have, go to EveryCampus.com to help reach the goal of every campus being prayer walked by the end of 2019.

News Keywords

Angel’s Story

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 17:05:11 +0000

October 22, 2018

Ashlye Vanderworp

Angel’s Story

Angel, from Hawaii, had a difficult childhood and grew up in a broken home. Eventually, she was taken from her family by Child Protective Services and became a foster child, moving from home to home, constantly running away from abuse.

“I prayed every single night, waiting for a better day,” Angel said. “Why am I suffering? A better day didn’t come, so I left God’s side and accepted a world of pain and darkness—a world where I had to survive by myself.”

At only 17, Angel graduated from high school and had to leave her foster home at the time. She hopelessly searched for a place to live, fearing she would become homeless.

“I had already experienced years of stealing and selling myself to survive financially, and I didn’t want to go back to that life,” Angel said.

A Huge Risk

That’s when her social worker took a huge risk. She told Angel about Brenda Wong, an ��Ƶ Area Director who owned a Christian community house. Angel hesitantly accepted an offer to move into the house, not having any other choice but to be on the streets.

For months, Brenda persistently invited Angel to ��Ƶ events. Angel consistently said no because, to her, it sounded like “a place for nerds.”

Finally, Angel came up with a plan one night when Brenda invited her to an ��Ƶ event again. “I’ll go just once, tell her I didn’t like it, and never go back again,” she said, hoping Brenda would stop asking her.

That night though, the ��Ƶ staff minister who was speaking taught on Matthew 14 when Jesus calls Peter to walk on water toward him, reaching out his hand. He asked the students listening if they would take Jesus’ hand as well. Angel understood that Jesus was calling her to him.

“I felt something warm, I wept, and I cried so hard,” Angel said. “That one night I went to ��Ƶ, I gave my life to Jesus!”

A New Family

Now a part of the ��Ƶ community, Angel has a family for the first time—one that loves her unconditionally. She spends her time with them, serves with them, and helps lead worship with them.

“When I first went to ��Ƶ, people genuinely wanted to know about my life. That was something that was so foreign to me—this kid that was pushed to the side, no one wanted to know about me, and yet everyone was asking me, ‘Where are you from?,’ ‘What’s your background?,’ ‘Who are you?’—I felt important,” Angel said.

More than that though, Angel decided to take a risk just like the one her social worker took that changed her life. Having once dropped out, Angel decided to not only return to Honolulu Community College, but to also plant an ��Ƶ chapter there. She wants to start a small group where anyone can experience God’s love.

Already, God has used Angel to initiate spiritual conversations with classmates, helping them connect what’s going on in their lives to the life of Jesus. Her vision is to speak love to those who are hurting like she was and to see her community transformed through her own transformed life.

“Because I said yes to Jesus, God is putting my old self to death and has brought me new life. He is giving me back what was taken from me. He has prepared the fattened calf and wrapped me in his finest cloth. I am the prodigal that came home!”

Just like Angel at Honolulu Community College, ��Ƶ students and staff are living out our 2030 Calling to plant on campuses currently without a Christian witnessing community. Will you be a part of making our 2030 Calling happen so that more college students across the country, like Angel, can experience the tranformative love of Jesus? Click the button below for more information.

Give to the 2030 Calling

News Keywords

story

testimony

community

University of Hawai'i at Hilo

Hawaii

2030 Calling

Honolulu Community College

��Ƶ Prepares to Reach 2,500 Campuses by Year 2030

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 18:04:14 +0000

Press Room

August 20, 2018

��Ƶ Prepares to Reach 2,500 Campuses by Year 2030

For Release: August 20, 2018

(Madison, WI) – ��Ƶ announces today that the campus ministry will focus on establishing Christian fellowships on 2,500 college campuses in the next 12 years.

As more than 1,500 ��Ƶ campus staff ministers, along with student and faculty leaders, return to campuses this fall, their focus is on the 2030 Calling, which states: Longing for revival, we catalyze movements that call every corner of every campus to follow Jesus.

“We want to see a witnessing community on all 2,500 US campuses with 1,000 students or more by the year 2030,” says ��Ƶ President Tom Lin. “Right now, 53 percent of those 2,500 campuses do not have any known Christian ministry. We have seen that college students are still looking for hope and significance for their lives. In fact, the last 10 years have been among the most fruitful in ��Ƶ’s 77-year history.”

Of the 20 million students in college right now, nearly one-third have no religious affiliation or identify as atheist, agnostic, or of no religion. To reach more of these students, ��Ƶ plans to accelerate the planting of new chapters throughout the country, partnering with other campus ministries as well as churches, volunteers, and ��Ƶ alumni. In addition, ��Ƶ is uniquely positioned to reach faculty members because of the nearly 2,000 faculty on campuses across the country involved with ��Ƶ in the 2017–2018 academic year.

“The 2030 Calling represents a new shift in how ��Ƶ approaches campus ministry," Lin says. "More than ever before, ��Ƶ is inviting partners from every part of God’s kingdom to participate in his work among students and faculty. This is not about planting ��Ƶ’s flag on every campus; it’s about declaring God’s glory on every campus.”

��Ƶ has chapters in all 50 states, on a total of 695 campuses. A recent highlight is the relocation of ��Ƶ staff from Los Angeles to revive campus ministry along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana.

“We believe the Lord can use us, in partnership with others, to bring a powerful movement of the Spirit among a new generation of students and faculty,” Lin says. “We truly are longing for revival on campus. And we believe that, in the next 12 years, that’s exactly what God will do through the 2030 Calling.”

Real Hope on Campus from ��Ƶ twentyonehundred on Vimeo.

��Ƶ is an interdenominational ministry to students and faculty on US college and university campuses, as well as the publisher of award-winning books on the Christian faith through ��Ƶ Press. ��Ƶ is a founding member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, advancing Christian student work in more than 160 countries. ��Ƶ is also a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

For more information contact:

Gordon Govier
Media Relations
608/443-3688

News Keywords