University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Transforming Virtual Conversations

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:42:48 +0000

Gordon Govier

Transforming Virtual Conversations

Angelo Blancaflor became a missional gamer during his third year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) when he realized something about his fellow gamers. He had been meeting with them online for years but knew little about their offline lives.

In high school Angelo and three online friends shifted their sleep schedules for almost a year, in order to be awake from 1:00a.m. to 4:00a.m. Pacific time so they could watch a game being streamed. “We bonded deeply because we were all a little bit crazy at those hours of the night, watching games and talking about whatever else, waiting for the games to start,” he said.

Five years later, they were still gaming friends, but not much more than that. So Angelo began to ask them about their families and what they did when they weren’t gaming. Eventually he asked if they could meet in person. As they established a new level of trust with each other, and developed curiosity about each other’s lives, sharing about his Christian faith began to naturally become part of the conversation.

But even though Angelo had been able to build community with these gamers, he began to ponder the unique challenges to really getting to know others in the online gaming world.

Angelo joined the ��ñ�� community at UIUC shortly after he arrived from his home in Orange County, California quite naturally. New friends in his dorm invited him to an ��ñ�� social activity where he found more new friends. He kept attending, his faith grew, and he eventually became a student leader.

Mid-way through college, Angelo attended the ��ñ�� Leadership Institute, a month-long summer training course at Cedar Campus in Michigan. There he committed himself to follow God’s leading in his life and in his relationships. And he felt that God was calling him to go to graduate school for biology research.

Toward that call, Angelo began working in a research laboratory as a UIUC student, and just before attending Urbana 15 he lined up a research position at the University of California–Irvine where he could work after graduation. He wasn’t planning on doing vocational ministry.

But, as he put it, “God rocked my world and said, ‘Hey, grad school is nice and all, but what about missions?’”

Angelo had already been planning to connect with ��ñ��’s Ministry in Digital Spaces (MDS) team at Urbana to talk with them about his experiences in missional gaming. And he found people who shared his passion and vision for gamers. “They said, ‘Yeah, this is exactly what we want to do too,’” Angelo recalled—to which he replied, ‘Well, I’m already doing this, I need to get on board with you guys.”

Once on the MDS team Angelo began to delve further into the dynamics of developing online communities, specifically online small groups that would be similar to the typical ��ñ�� campus small group Bible study. “It’s not terribly different than getting an offline small group started,” he said. “But getting into conversations with people is very different because you can’t just encounter them like you would on campus.”

Angelo became the evangelism champion for the MDS team and began coordinating his research with ��ñ��’s Evangelism Department. Then, when an unexpected leadership departure brought about the closing of the MDS team, Angelo was able to transition into a new role as the Evangelism Communications Manager. He’s continuing to engage with the online communities that he’s connected with and is now working on the second phase of his project; to test calls to faith in online small groups.

“I think that some of the things that we have learned over the past year-and-a-half are going to be really crucial for the next generation of college students that grew up in a really similar context, the online context, but didn’t stop to think critically about it because it’s so normal for them,” Angelo said. “I think it’s natural for the next generation to need people to guide them through and disciple them through some of these things.”

But facilitating the work of the Holy Spirit online also resonates in communities beyond college students. All ages are engaging with Facebook and other online social media. “There’s a ministry need here of people to bring life to all of these conversations,” he said. It’s the perfect challenge for a missional gamer like Angelo.

News Keywords

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

The Power of Community

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:04:54 +0000

News

Kathryn Brill

The Power of Community

Going it alone as a Christian is difficult.

Without the support of a community to help you grow closer to God and live the Christian life, it can be a discouraging time, especially on a college campus. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) students Tim Nagel and Justin Sebastian know the power of Christian community to invigorate evangelism, as well as their individual relationships with Jesus. Together, they’ve helped each other reach their spheres of influence and given each other encouragement as brothers in Christ.

Tim and Justin were both Christians when they arrived at U of I, but neither one was especially missional—their Christianity was more about attending activities than living out God’s call. “My faith basically revolved around Friday nights for youth group and Sundays for church,” said Justin. Tim, who was also raised in a Christian family, had a similar experience: “I went along with all the Christian activities without giving my entire heart to Christ. It was easy to participate half-heartedly, because I was always surrounded by a Christian community.”

Looking for Fellowship

That all changed once they arrived at U of I. Justin met ��ñ�� members at a display table near his dorm at the beginning of his freshman year. He started attending a small group and large group, where he “found a home.”

The most significant moment of his freshman year came at his chapter’s New Student Retreat, where he answered God’s invitation to share the good news of Jesus with others. “I researched which Christian groups were on campus before I got there, with the intention of making Christian friends,” Justin said. But he had no idea that a year later, he would be longing not just for Christian friends, but also for the opportunity to introduce his non-Christian friends to Christ.

When Tim got to U of I, one year later, he was also looking to get involved in a Christian community. “I understood that I couldn’t live half-heartedly loving God for the rest of my life,” he said. But there was one problem: as a member of the wheelchair basketball team, Tim’s schedule was so busy that he didn’t have time to join any campus organizations.

God used Justin to help Tim find the Christian community he was looking for. “Justin volunteered, through a campus disability resource, to help the disabled athletes lift weights,” said Tim. “We became friends, and after a few months I realized that he was a Christian.” Tim started attending Justin’s Bible study, and eventually began attending other ��ñ�� events as well.

This year, Tim and Justin are roommates and co-leaders of a Bible study that reaches out to their dorm. “Having a strong Christian roommate such as Justin is God directly telling me that he is the provider of community and fellowship,” said Tim.

Reaching Out Together

While both Tim and Justin knew that Christian community could be friendly and welcoming, they’ve discovered that it can also be a strong support and a springboard for outreach. Tim’s and Justin’s Bible study has been a place that has brought positive change and development, both in their own lives and in the lives of those in the dorm. “This year, God has called me to share my heart and be more vulnerable in our small group,” said Tim, whose own openness has encouraged others in the group to be more honest about their struggles. Justin has also found “huge growth” in his faith as a result of leading the Bible study. “Being a small group leader has really grown my dependence on God,” he said.

Tim’s and Justin’s Bible study has several non-Christians who attend regularly. “It is such a blessing to see God sparking their interest in him,” Tim said. Justin, as a leader for outreach and discipleship in his dorm and others nearby, has also seen new interest in God among the students in the dorms. Recently, the ��ñ�� community in Tim’s and Justin’s dorm threw a “spiritual birthday party” for a student who came to faith. Justin sees the dorm community as growing to resemble the early Christian community described in Acts 2—one of fellowship and transformed lives.

Commitment to Christ

The U of I chapter as a whole has also been transformed. This year, there was record attendance at the first large group of the year and their New Student Retreat. “Our chapter has been revived,” said Justin. This growth in attendance has been accompanied by a growth in faith. As Tim described: “There have been many non-Christians committing their lives to Christ and many Christians recommitting to living out their faith.” The chapter is also seeing more and more students understand what it means to be missional and making the same kind of answer to God’s call that Justin made his freshman year.

Through the support of the chapter, Tim has been reinvigorated to reach out to his teammates. He’s committed to praying for their lives to be transformed. “My main mission field is the wheelchair basketball team,” he said. “It is obvious to me that I am at the U of I to speak truth into the team, and to be a light.”

From lifting weights together to leading Bible studies together, Tim and Justin’s friendship is an example of how God can use community to bring us closer to him and give us new energy for pursuing his mission. It’s something that Tim knows will continue throughout their college careers: “My ��ñ�� journey has been centered around building and strengthening Christian community, which is a process, not a single moment.”

Related stories from the ��ñ�� blog:

“Jesus in Witte Hall”

“Who Needs Friends?”

“Good News About Real Christian Community”

News Keywords

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Athletes ��ñ��

Wholeness in Ministry

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:16:30 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Wholeness in Ministry

Anthony Giron’s ability to connect with potential ��ñ�� chapter members on seven target campuses in the Chicago area took a giant leap forward last month. Northern Illinois University (NIU) and Northwestern University students participating in LaFe, ��ñ��’s ministry to Latino students, were invited to submit names of acquaintances at the seven campuses.

“I was shocked by the number of students from NIU and Northwestern that knew people at those campuses,” Anthony said. “However, one of the great giftings of the Latino community is the community connection.” Now Anthony has contact information for students who can introduce him to other students, with whom he can share ��ñ��’s ministry.

One of his immediate goals is to find at least one student on each campus who will join the LaFe students from NIU and Northwestern as they travel to Tampa for December’s national LaFe conference, Mi Gente (my people). In past years the triennial LaFe conferences have been key to the growth of LaFe.

Mi Gente will focus on the story of Moses. Moses, though Jewish, grew up immersed in Egyptian culture and spent 40 years in the desert among the Midianites. Then he was called by God to lead the Jewish exodus, without having much Jewish ethnic experience.

Anthony’s Heritage

Anthony identifies with this aspect of the Moses story. With a Latino father and white mother, who divorced when he was five years old, Anthony immersed himself in white culture and did not acknowledge his Latino heritage. “It wasn’t until I became a Christian in college that I began to investigate what it meant to be not just white but white and Latino,” he said.

After investigating the Christian faith through most of his sophomore year at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC), Anthony decided to become a Christian the following summer and began attending church. When he returned to UIUC in the fall, he stumbled into ��ñ�� during Quad Day, the day that campus organizations reach out to students.

“I was walking through the Quad, and I saw a sign that read ‘Christian Fellowship,’” he said. “I thought, ‘I’m a Christian, I guess that’s for me. I should do something about that.’”

He filled out an interest card and got involved in ��ñ��. “I went to Bible study and worship services and that’s how I learned what it meant to be a Christian,” he said. After not making many friends his first two years on campus, he was thrilled with finding new friends through ��ñ��. He signed up for every camp and conference that was offered, and attended Urbana 03, the last Urbana conference on the UIUC campus.

Anthony’s Challenges

Anthony started to think more deeply about his biracial identity during a summer with ��ñ��’s Chicago Urban Project. Later he read Sundee Tucker Frazier’s book Check All That Apply, Finding Wholeness as a Multiracial Person. “I began to understand the journey of a biracial, multiracial person,” he said.

After graduation he spent one year in ministry as an ��ñ�� staff intern. He loved working with students but didn’t think he had a support base that would enable him to join staff full-time. So he spent the next four years in a variety of jobs, trying to use his marketing degree, but not really enjoying any of the jobs.
��ñ�� was always in the back of his mind.

Finally, during a miserable drive to work at a job that he hated, he sensed God asking him, “Are you going to let money be the reason that you don’t follow my will?” He knew he had to join ��ñ�� staff, no matter what the obstacles. So six years ago, he returned to campus ministry, and was assigned to Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

Campus Ministry in Chicago

Because their workload is heavy and they’re very focused on their studies, students’ isolation and loneliness is an issue at IIT. ��ñ�� is helping build community among students as the largest student group on campus, and the most active.

IIT also has one of the largest percentages of international students of any college in the country, about 40 percent of the student body. The chapter is starting to develop a vision for reaching out to internationals, and five have come to faith already this year. “I think my students have started to enjoy the level of interest that international students have in figuring out American culture and how open they are to the gospel,” he said.

As the chapter has matured, Anthony has started to develop his vision for planting new chapters at Hispanic Serving Institutions in the Chicago area (an actual federal designation). Being biracial and not speaking Spanish, he recognized that he did not feel Latino enough to be comfortable in leadership. But he remembered the encouraging words of former staff colleague Sandra Van Opstal the first time he heard the message on Moses.

“She said ‘You are not half Latino and half white, you are fully white and fully Latino, you are 100% both, you are a whole person.’ That was huge for me to hear that.”

Now, as he nurtures the chapter at IIT and begins to plant new chapters, Anthony is thankful for a job that he enjoys driving to each day. Campus ministry is advancing in Chicago.

News Keywords

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Illinois Institute of Technology

LaFe

Surprised by ��ñ��

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:02:02 +0000

Alumni Profile

News

Amy Hauptman

Surprised by ��ñ��

“When I went to college, I wanted to run away from the church,” said Geogy Thomas. “I felt like I needed a clean break. College was going to be my time to have fun.”

As Geogy was packing for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, his mom pulled him aside and prayed for him. She told him: “Find a Bible study at college. I need you to be part of a Bible study.”

“Looking back, I realized that God was speaking to me through my mom because my mom wasn’t a strong believer at the time,” Geogy said. Once on campus, Geogy came across ��ñ��’s booth and noticed students playing volleyball nearby.

Discovering ��ñ��

“I thought ��ñ�� was a volleyball club for Christians,” said Geogy. “I remembered my mom’s request and thought that I could hang out with a group of Christians but also play one of my favorite sports.”

Geogy soon found out what ��ñ�� was all about. “A couple of guys invited me to a Bible study and what I saw surprised me,” he recalled. “I saw people being real and honest about their struggles.” Through the Bible study Geogy realized that Christians are people who care, love, and have a desire to serve.

After a semester of the ��ñ�� Bible study, Geogy was invited to not only attend Urbana, ��ñ��’s student missions conference, but also lead an Urbana Bible study. What he discovered at Urbana changed his life forever.

Discovering Urbana

“Before Urbana, I began to understand who Christians were because of my ��ñ�� chapter,” he stated. “At Urbana, I began to see Jesus for who he was because of the Urbana theme that year – Lord of the universe, hope for the world.

In Urbana’s auditorium, Geogy gave his life completely to Jesus. He also began praying for his family, that they too would understand how great God truly is and that they too would give their entire lives to following Jesus.

Geogy returned to campus ready to grow in his faith. As he grew, Geogy’s mom began to notice a change in him. “My mom saw the Lord working through my life,” said Geogy. “Everything that I was learning, I couldn’t share it fast enough.”

Three years later, Geogy went to Urbana again, and this time, he invited his mom to come with him. “She came and was blown away,” he said. “She started to see what I saw at Urbana—the love of God spoken through each speaker and 20,000 people in love with the Lord.”

At Urbana 93, two significant events happened: Geogy’s mom rededicated her life to Jesus and Geogy met Jessie, the woman who would become his wife. Jessie also came to Christ through ��ñ��.

Other members of Geogy’s family have committed to following Jesus with their whole lives because of the transformation they saw God work in Geogy and his mom.

Discovering a Mission

Today, Geogy is the medical director of Indian Mountain Clinic in Jellico, Tennessee, where he serves low-income and uninsured people. He and his wife felt called to stay in the U.S. though they had considered overseas missions.

Geogy and Jessie include not only their clinic but also their church as part of their mission. When the church dwindled to about ten members, they began leading Bible studies (using the same Bible study methods they had learned in ��ñ��). They also began outreach to college students at their local community college.

Today, Geogy is one of their church’s pastors and their church has a thriving college ministry that serves 80-85 students. The church will be helping send some of the students to Urbana 12 in St. Louis, December 27-31, 2012.

“If I could tell ��ñ�� staff workers anything, it would be: You do not know the profound impact that ��ñ�� has in our world and in our culture,” said Geogy.

News Keywords

Urbana

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

��ñ�� alumni

Students of The Word

AD-16225 — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:56:43 +0000

News

Abi Christian

Students of The Word

Sophomore Alex Jerve keeps a copy of Matthew 11:29 on his desk in his dorm room, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your soul.” The verse reminds Alex that he serves God first during the busy semesters at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. “It's definitely been my verse to live by and what I try to help freshmen understand,” said Alex.

Alex joined ��ñ�� a year ago after attending a few of the chapter’s outreach events. “I always identified myself as a Christian and was given a lot of involvement opportunities in high school, but I started to realize there's more to it than just going to church,” said Alex.

This year, when asked to lead a Bible study for other young men in his residence hall, Alex realized he needed to be more grounded in Scripture. “I heard all the time I should do quiet times, but they felt like a waste of time,” said Alex. In November, he committed to reading the Bible and praying regularly and his faith has grown in the process.

Alex’s spiritual growth is reflective of the whole chapter. Many student leaders have graduated and the chapter is small. Recently during a chapter retreat, students spent a day studying the Bible and discussing their purpose on campus. The retreat helped to unify members and gave them a desire to see students come to know Jesus. “Everybody was so excited to share The Word on campus, including some guys from my Bible study,” said Alex.

Alex has been encouraging two of these men to reach out to others in their dorm, such as using movie nights to connect with residents or just being available to people on their floor. Next year, the two will also lead small group Bible studies. “We're ready to do the things Christ has given us to do,” said Alex.

The Word in Chinese

Gloria Yen, a senior in music history at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, has been involved with ��ñ�� for four years. Last fall, she led an evangelistic Bible study for the first time.

She writes:

Evangelism has hardly ever struck chords of excitement within me, mostly just notes of fear and apprehension. However, I found myself sitting in my apartment before the start of this school year, tentatively praying for an opportunity to lead an investigative Bible study with a non-Christian, what ��ñ�� calls a GIG (Group Investigating God).

A couple of weeks into the semester, during an ��ñ�� leadership meeting, my friends shared about an international student from China, nicknamed Mike, who wanted to learn more about following Jesus. Instantly my heart beat faster as I thought, “Here it is, Gloria! You know how to speak Chinese! This is the GIG you’ve been praying for!”

Mike and I began meeting and studying the Bible together. Thanks to my parents, I’m fluent in conversational Mandarin Chinese, but I cannot read or write. Every week, as he read aloud the Bible passage in Chinese, I would follow along in English, my mind racing to remember key words, many of which I didn’t know. What I did know was that God was at work in Mike’s heart.

Five weeks into our study, Mike surrendered his life to Jesus. Since then, he’s committed to faithfully building his relationship with God and continues to quench his thirst for the Word on his own, in our meetings, and at a Bible study for Chinese students he has started to attend. I’m so thankful for our friendship and the ways God continues to work in and through it! Our journey together has been a reminder to me that God doesn’t expect us to have all the answers. Rather, he promises to go before us, equipping us for whatever he calls us to do for the glory of his name.

News Keywords

University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Bible Study

��ñ�� Alumni - T.R. Carr

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0000

News

��ñ�� Alumni - T.R. Carr

T.R. Carr was planning a career in public service in state or local government, as he attended Minot State University. His major was Public Administration. But observing John Wilson, the faculty adviser of the Minot ��ñ�� chapter, T.R. saw a different perspective on service, the opportunity to influence the lives of young men and women by being a Christian faculty member at a public university.

“He had a significant impact on my life,” T.R. recalled. “I decided I wanted to pursue an academic career.” Through most of his career T.R. has continued his association with ��ñ��.

Volunteering on many campuses

As T.R. and his wife Lucy continued their post-graduate education at Minot State, and then at the University of Oklahoma, they worked as volunteer associate staff with ��ñ��’s ministry on both campuses. T.R. then taught Public Administration at Texas Tech and the University of Oklahoma, serving as a faculty adviser to the ��ñ�� chapters on both campuses.

When Southern Illinois University—Edwardsville (SIUE) established a Public Administration Department, T.R. and Lucy used the opportunity to move back to the St. Louis area, where they had grown up. For the past 11 years, T.R. has been chairman of the department.

Although the Carrs attended Family Camp at ��ñ��’s Bear Trap Ranch in Colorado for 15 years, their contact with ��ñ�� tapered off a bit when their son Doug was in high school. They became involved with a high school-focused ministry, opening up their home to dozens of students every week.

But then Doug went off to college. And even though T.R. had been elected mayor of the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood, which absorbed a lot of his spare time, the Carrs decided it was time to get more involved with ��ñ�� once again.

Volunteering at Urbana

They volunteered for ��ñ��’s Urbana 2000 Student Missions Conference, working at the Information Booth. They volunteered again for Urbana 03. When Urbana 06 moved from the University of Illinois to St. Louis, they were ready again, this time directing the Information Booth.

“It’s really enjoyable because we get to spend time talking with students,” he said. They’ve noticed that the nature of the Information Booth changes over the duration of the conference. The first day or two they help new arrivals with concrete information on where to go as they get acquainted with the venue.

Later the attendees have questions about workshops, electives and other Urbana features, and there’s more time to talk with them. A lot of times they’re also asking questions about which seminar session they should attend. “We take the stress out of the conference for students,” he said.

They also get to explain the Urbana conference to members of the local St. Louis community who wander in and to the permanent staff members who work at the America’s Center and the Edward Jones Dome, where Urbana is now held.

“The way the attendees conduct themselves really had an impact on the people working there,” he said. “They were continually amazed that after a day with students in the dome all they had to do was empty the trash and sweep the halls. Cleanup was relatively minor. There are all these little things that we get to see and that we really enjoy.”

T.R. and Lucy will again be directing the volunteers at the Information Booth at the Urbana 09 conference coming up in St. Louis, December 27-31, 2009. They’re already involved in helping to mobilize the 2,000 volunteers needed for the conference.

Planning a new volunteer role

Now that T.R.‘s term as mayor has ended, he is looking forward to investing more of his spare time in ministry at SIUE, where he’s still teaching. “I see myself being primarily involved with helping to develop an ��ñ�� faculty fellowship on campus, and supporting staff work on campus by helping raise money for them,” he said.

This summer and last summer the Carrs have enjoyed ��ñ��’s Faculty conferences, held at Cedar Campus in Michigan. “Since our son Doug is now a faculty member (at Oakland University in Michigan), it’s kind of like a family vacation,” he said. “At the same time we’ve got great teaching sessions, and we talk about what it means to be Christian faculty on a secular campus.” Doug will also be helping manage the Information Booth as a full time volunteer at Urbana 09.

T.R. Carr had been walking in the Christian faith long before he got to college. But when he got to college he had questions about his faith and he was glad that ��ñ�� was there to help him find answers.

“I was looking for a solid intellectual rationale,” he said. “��ñ�� came along at a crucial time. Now involvement with ��ñ�� is just something that we do. It’s a logical extension of our vocation.”

News Keywords

��ñ�� alumni

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

My Shamrock Fell

webteam@intervarsity.org — Thu, 17 Apr 2003 05:00:00 +0000

News

Teresa Buschur

My Shamrock Fell

Katie, a sophomore leader of the ��ñ�� chapter at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, invited Megan, the ��ñ�� staff member, to be the guest Bible study leader one week. At the end of the meeting, the girls shared prayer requests and used their “prayer tree.”

Each week, the girls write a request on different shaped construction paper. These shapes, shamrocks for March, are hung on the prayer tree in Katie’s room. When the girls see God answer a prayer, the leaf is removed and placed on the pile at the base of the tree.

“The prayer request that I wrote on my shamrock was that God would give me a GIG (Groups Investigating God) Bible study for non-Christians. I was praying specifically for an opportunity to get a GIG going with Mary, an International student from Hong Kong,” said Megan.

Things started to happen at ��ñ��’s next Large Group meeting. Megan and Mary sat next to each other. The speaker for the evening talked about God’s desire for Christians to spread the Gospel of Christ throughout the university. The group was asked to turn to the person next to them and share what they would like to do for their next step in evangelism. Mary started the conversation. “We’re supposed to say what we want to do for evangelism? Well, since I’m the one who’s not a Christian, I guess my next step is to have a Christian meet with me to explain it all,” Mary said.

“Sure, I’d love to meet with you,” Megan replied. Megan knew this conversation wasn’t an accident. She knew God was beginning to answer her prayer that hung on the tree in Katie’s room.

Megan met with Mary to discuss Christianity. “Mary’s Mom is a Christian, so she knows quite a bit about Christianity,” Megan said, “But Mary doesn’t want to become a Christian just because she knows something about it.”
Mary is excited to learn more about the Christian faith and wants to be sure that Jesus is the answer she’s been looking for. Mary shared some difficult situations in her life. “God might be using these situations to draw you into a relationship with Him,” Megan told her. Mary was amazed and agreed with Megan.

“I’m anxious to meet with Megan again and begin going through the Gospel passages,” said Mary, “what Megan said keeps going through my mind and makes me feel much better. I decided to let go of all the things I can’t control, and I’ll let God decide them for me.”

Megan asked Katie to move her shamrock to the answered prayer pile, because God had faithfully and promptly answered her prayer. God used Megan’s prayer to encourage Mary to discover more about Christianity. God is at work, using Megan to help Mary learn more about faith in Jesus Christ.

News Keywords

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Transforming Virtual Conversations

Transforming Virtual Conversations

The Power of Community

The Power of Community

Looking for Fellowship

Reaching Out Together

Commitment to Christ

Wholeness in Ministry

Wholeness in Ministry

Anthony’s Heritage

Anthony’s Challenges

Campus Ministry in Chicago

Surprised by ��ñ����

Surprised by ��ñ����

Students of The Word

Students of The Word

The Word in Chinese

��ñ���� Alumni - T.R. Carr

��ñ���� Alumni - T.R. Carr

My Shamrock Fell

My Shamrock Fell

Surprised by ��ñ��

Surprised by ��ñ��

��ñ�� Alumni - T.R. Carr

��ñ�� Alumni - T.R. Carr