Massachusetts

Physically & Spiritually Restored—Dynamic Ministry through ServeUP

AD-18513 — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 17:32:30 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Physically & Spiritually Restored—Dynamic Ministry through ServeUP

A small house, nestled between palm trees. White-washed walls. A shaded front porch offsetting a bit of Puerto Rico’s muggy weather. Luis was proud of his home. It had taken him five years to finish, building it night after night on top of working a full-time job.

Then came Hurricane Maria.

“The island is destroyed,” an official said. Gusts of 150 miles an hour. Streets flooded. An 18-month blackout—the longest in US history.

Almost two years later, Luis and his wife, Deliah, still couldn’t live in their house due to unsafe conditions. Many more homes still lay in shambles.

Dedicated to Flourishing

With his mom having grown up in Puerto Rico and his uncle still living there with his family, ��ñ�� campus minister Anthony Spina knew he had to do something in the hurricane’s aftermath. Together with Associate Area Director Jessica Pafumi, he began leading ServeUP, an ��ñ�� disaster relief trip, down to Puerto Rico. Last year, they recruited over 70 students, staff, and volunteers from all across Massachusetts.

Of the students, more than 20 were non-Christians. “It’s a unique chance for students who would not usually come to our fellowship night,” Anthony said. “The disaster relief portion is definitely attractive to non-Christians (and so is going somewhere warm for spring break), and we’ve found it to be a great place to engage in conversations about how our faith intersects with our actions as Christians.”

Anthony and Jessica teamed up with a local church, Iglesia La Trevisía, to work in a low-income neighborhood that has received no government funding for rebuilding. “We’ve tried to adopt a community and move from missions of relief to development and rehabilitation,” said Ronnie García, the church’s pastor. “We’re hoping that in three to five years, there will be incredible human flourishing all in the name of Jesus Christ.”

The ServeUP team came alongside Luis to help him restore his home. Painting, tiling, roofing—the work was demanding. And with limited access to running water and plumbing, the group had to take bucket showers all week. Even so, the students didn’t complain. They knew whatever work they didn’t finish would be left to Luis after they left.

“Jesus really powered and sustained us all in Puerto Rico,” Anthony said. “It was incredible being able to talk with Luis, a strong man of faith. When Hurricane Maria arrived, he and his family hosted people in his home to ensure the safety of others. He has since been a part of the rebuilding process for other homes in the neighborhood.”

Receiving a Sign

Today I began calling Jesus by his name. I accept him as the bridge to God. Amen. P.S. Thank you for your patience. I know you’ve been waiting. This was the first entry Jay, a ServeUP participant and student from Salem State University, wrote in her new prayer journal. Little did she know that as she worked on restoring Luis’s home throughout the week, God would be at work restoring her heart.

Even before she left for the trip, Jay knew it was going to be significant. Her dad had passed away a year ago, and she knew there was something missing in her life. Jay believed in God, believed in signs, believed that Jesus was a real historical figure. But still she felt alone in her spirituality. If she could find answers anywhere, she thought, it’d be there in Puerto Rico, getting back to her family’s roots.

With Jay coming from another campus, invited to ServeUP by a friend, Anthony didn’t know any of her story. But as he prepared to colead the trip, he felt led to pack an extra prayer journal to give away. And when he asked God for a specific student to pray for, Jay came to mind each time.

During one of ServeUP’s Bible studies, Jay was struck by someone’s insight that Jesus works through people. She jotted that down then started to cross out Jesus’ name—in the past, she’d always substituted “Jesus” for “God” in her notes and mind—but stopped herself, feeling it would be disrespectful somehow.

Later that night, Jay felt an odd restlessness she couldn’t shake. Planning to head to one of the gathering rooms to be by herself, she walked in to find a room full of people. “Jay,” one of the students grinned, “we were just about to pray for you!”

Anthony stepped forward, sharing how he’d been led to pray for her all week, and asked if he could pray now. Jay was stunned. She knew this was a sign and eagerly agreed.

“When we prayed with her, it became clear that Jesus was in the process of doing something very significant in her heart,” Anthony said. “She realized that Jesus was calling her and that he is actually the way to God. Moments later, she surrendered her life to Jesus. I was really amazed with the ways Jesus orchestrated these events: pointing Jay out to me in a room of over 60 students, knowing that he was going to remove all the barriers she had.”

Anthony went on to give Jay the prayer journal he’d brought, and Jay shared her testimony the following night.

“More Fire” & More Restoration to Come

In the three years he’s co-led ServeUP, Anthony has witnessed a common theme: participants leave as students, but many return as leaders. “I know that God shows up in really powerful and tangible ways,” he said.

One student, a relatively new follower of Christ, led a small group during the trip. “I saw her blossom in her leadership and in her reliance on the Lord,” Anthony said. “One of [her] group members made a decision to follow Jesus.”

In the weeks and months following ServeUP, other Christian students have grown bolder, fasting more with “more fire in their prayers.” They’ve stepped up to take more ownership in the chapter’s ministry and are closely relying on the Holy Spirit for direction.

Having witnessed so much catalytic growth, Anthony looks forward to this year’s ServeUP, returning next month to Puerto Rico with 50 students. “My hope is for students to realize that following Jesus is much bigger than just what God is doing on their own campus,” he said. “I think it’s really special that we get to be a part of this restorative work—both in student’s spiritual lives but also in a very literal sense with the rebuilding of homes. I think that’s part of what makes ServeUP so special.”

Would you like to pray for ServeUP and other upcoming spring break trips? Sign up to receive our monthly prayer update emails.

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Chapter Challenging Chapter

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 21:14:04 +0000

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Gordon Govier

Chapter Challenging Chapter

Elizabeth Booher was near the beginning of her 2011 semester abroad at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, sitting in the first class of the day, when the building started shaking. The university was heavily damaged by the earthquake that struck and ended up being shut down for the semester. Amidst the destruction and casualties in the city, Elizabeth wasn’t sure what to do.

Officials from Smith College, her school back in Massachusetts, called every day, wanting to know if she was returning to the U.S. She decided she was not. A transfer was negotiated to the University of Otago in Dunedin.

Not long after arriving at Otago Elizabeth stumbled across two women having a Bible study in the student center and found out they were part of a campus Christian fellowship, like ��ñ��, affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). As she got involved in the chapter, the inductive Bible studies felt very similar to what she was used to in her ��ñ�� chapter back at Smith.

While at Otago, Elizabeth had an honest and deep conversation with a former Campus Staff Minister and confronted the uncertainties and worry she was feeling about an invitation to join ��ñ�� staff after graduation. While she had “majored in ��ñ��” and been very active in the Smith Christian Fellowship (SCF), she was doubtful about her capacity for ministry. But the conversation was very clarifying and when she got back to Smith to begin her senior year, she was ready to start the application process for coming on staff with ��ñ��.

Also at Otago, Elizabeth deepened her appreciation of Christians from other cultures.

“I don’t think I realized how mono-cultural my life was—even though I had friends from so many different ethnic backgrounds and countries as a student at Smith—until I engaged in my faith with students from other cultural experiences,” she said. “It helped humble me and encourage me. It's hard to describe how encouraged I was, especially by my friends from Malaysia and the faith they had. I realized we were really missing those students in our fellowship back home.”

She began her senior year at Smith with a plan to start a Bible study for international students. “At every New Student Outreach event that fall I met at least one international student who was not a Christian who had been wanting to study Scripture,” she said. A local family who lived near campus opened up their home for the Bible study and each week students from a half dozen different countries participated.

Elizabeth is now in her sixth year on staff with ��ñ��. She was a full-time staff minister at Smith for three years but has been part-time there the last two years, as she also became the Area Director for the Five College and Greater Springfield areas of western Massachusetts, now known as the Pioneer Valley Team.

SCF is among the growing number of chapters that no longer have a large group meeting during the week. “It’s clear that at Smith the model of ministry that is working best is small intimate communities with people you already have trust with,” she said. Focusing on small group Bible studies has been a key component of SCF’s growth. But the proximity of vibrant ministry on other nearby campuses has also been key.

The student leaders from Smith and from the chapters at other consortium schools that Elizabeth oversees meet together monthly for training and to pray together. The students are used to taking classes at these nearby campuses, so there’s a lot of unity in the area. “Through the sharing of stories and testimonies, prayer movements have spread from campus to campus,” Elizabeth said. “Students have been encouraged to take risks, and they’ve visited each other’s campuses to learn from each other.”

The spiritual climate is different on each campus but the hunger to see God at work is growing. “There’s a lot of conviction being imparted from schools that are seeking God’s face more earnestly than others,” she added.

As she reflects on her study abroad experience as a student in New Zealand, Elizabeth is thankful for the opportunity to observe the world, and faith in a university context “down under.” She received a new perspective on campus ministry, and grew her appreciation for international student ministry and small group Bible study. It helped form the foundation of what she does today, and challenged her to grasp the scope of both God’s people and his desired work on the campuses of the Pioneer Valley area of western Massachusetts.

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