Here in Saint Louis, where the temperatures in the past week have yet to fall below highs in the 60s with plenty of beautiful sunshine, there was some question as to whether or not November would ever actually arrive. However, as I write to you today, the skies have darkened with rain and this coffeeshop is filled with students in sweatshirts. Starbucks is pushing their red-cupped peppermint mochas. Target is aglow with tinsel and holiday music echoes through the aisles. The word "finals" is starting to float around campus, simultaneously encouraging and unnerving SLU students. All signs indicate: winter is officially on its way. But, November didn't usher in just white chocolate and angst-ridden college kids; it also welcomed me back on campus at SLU! Thanks to your prayers and generosity, I am officially working on campus with students for 16 hours each week (Confused? Read this blog entry). Praise God for His great provision through the gifts of His people! While I'm very grateful for the 16 hours I get to spend with my kids each week, I do ask that you continue to pray for my fundraising so that I can bump up my hours on campus each week. At 85%, I get to spend 28 hours with them. At 100%, it will move to 32 hours on campus each week. I can't wait!
One of the reasons I was so anxious to get back on campus by November 1st was that my staff partner and I had consciously set aside November for a special evangelistic push way back in August when we were planning out the year. We pur our heads together and christened it "Thanks-GIG-ing Month" (clever, I know). In case you are unaware, a GIG (Group Investigating God) is how InterVarsity designates an evangelistic Bible study aimed at allowing people to encounter Jesus in Scripture for the first time while being guided by someone who is already following him. There is this fantastic story in the book of Acts where a guy named Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch who is studying the book of Isaiah but having trouble understanding it (see picture above). Philip begins telling him the story of Jesus and how he has fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah and the other prophets in coming to earth, dying for the sins of the world, and then being resurrected for our salvation. The man ends up giving his life to Jesus and Philip baptizes him before being whisked away by God. This is essentially what we were hoping our student leaders would do: find some friends who were interested in figuring out Jesus in community and then facilitate that in a GIG. So, Esther and I highlighted November on our calendars and prayed...
We started introducing the idea a little bit at a time back in September and October. We encouraged our students to begin talking about spiritual ideas with their friends. We took them to have evangelistic conversations with other folks in the student center. We went for prayer walks around campus. They seemed excited about reaching out to their friends but we had no idea whether or not they would actually respond to inviting their friends (or even acquaintances) into these potentially intense relational situations. On the last day of October, we held a GIG-training session and eight students (around half of our core group) showed up. Esther and I were blown away as they excitedly absorbed the information and proceeded to make phone calls a list of friends they were wanting to invite to study Jesus together. By the end of the morning, their nerves were shot but a few of them managed to set up times to meet with some of their friends. A week later, one girl had five students lined up to meet on Friday afternoons. One of our guys had arranged two separate GIGs to lead. Flash forward to halfway through November and ten of our core group members are currently leading GIGs. That means that somewhere around twenty SLU students are checking out Jesus for the first time on any given week this month. Praise God! Check back here in December to read whatever incredible stories He brings from this month. We're so proud of our courageous and faithful student leaders!
