Photo: Students socializing in the Student Center at ECSU. This is where a majority of my time is spent ministering to students, including where I met students for follow-up last Wednesday.Last Wednesday was an amazing experience. For YEARS 180 Christian Fellowship, the club at Eastern I work with has been trying to implement successful follow-up. Ever since Spring 2006, when we had the band/ministry Holyfire (now the band is called Out Of Hiding) do an outreach concert at Eastern. Roughly 20 people made a profession of Christ that night at the concert and NONE of them were followed up successfully. The club tried again almost every year, doing an outreach event to freshmen, calling it the Hoozamadingie. In the event, they handed out spiritual interest surveys, and once again failed to follow-up with ANY of the students who were interested in knowing more. If Dawson Trotman, the founder of The Navigators, were alive today and working at ECSU, he would be one unhappy man.
A few weeks ago, we tried once again setting up a table and handing out surveys to students. We had hundreds filled out, some good conversations, and 19 students responded saying they wanted follow-up. This time I started making phone calls and sending out e-mails, just praying for a breakthrough. Out of the 19 students who replied, ONLY FOUR said they wanted to actually meet up in a group setting and discuss their questions, issues, etc. with God, Jesus, the Bible, Rebecca Black (if you don't know who she is...good) and much more.
We decided to meet last Wednesday at 6:00pm over pizza. If I were one of the students, I would be incredibly confused and nervous meeting a total stranger in the Student Center, especially to talk about the Bible. However, contrary to popular belief, FIVE students bravely wandered into the Student Center looking for a guy in a black hoodie with a box of pizza. One student called out sick, promising he would be there next week and another student brought two friends. That makes SIX people total for the group! The group meeting went VERY well, and the students felt comfortable sharing their questions and expressed interest in wanting to explore the scriptures in future weeks to see who Jesus actually is! So for the first time EVER (at least from what I remember) successful Christian follow-up was finally implemented at ECSU.
What I heard about behind the scenes before, during, and after the meeting though was probably even more exciting! TONS of people, more than I even know, were praying fervently for these students. My e-mail box got blown up by lots of responses from people. My church had a prayer meeting that night, and THEY were praying (they usually gather to pray and such on Wednesdays...it wasn't just for me!). The pastor at my parents church had a STRONG burden to pray that night for me at a Bible study he was leading that night. I heard later that another local church in town actually sent out the news in their congregational prayer chain and they were interceding for me. It was so exciting, and I think for the first time in my life, I can actually say that I FELT prayer. I felt a "Holy Spirit supercharge" all day long. It was so exciting to see the prayers of saints WORK right before my eyes!
So if you prayed Wednesday....THANK YOU! If you're praying right now....THANK YOU! Your prayers are NOT in vain. God hears you, and I thank you so much for your support!
Stay tuned and please continue praying!
