Surfing a Jesus Wave

At the risk of sounding redundant, I’m excited to say that I’ve never experienced a more fruitful year of ministry!

Honestly, last year was a great year for our work across Iowa--we were growing our impact, seeing more students start to follow Jesus, and our planting vision was gaining momentum. I entered into this year cautiously hopeful that the momentum wasn’t an anomaly, but that God really was on the move. At the end of this year, the verdict is in, and God has once again exceeded our expectations!

As you can imagine, measuring “success” in ministry can be tricky business. Individual stories can give a glimpse of the larger movement but sometimes miss the “big picture”. Numbers and data help us see trends, but don’t have names and faces, so they too tell only part of the story. For this “year-end report”, I’d like to give you a taste of both. Real stories of real students and staff who are being transformed by Jesus, and real data to help give you a sense for the larger move of God we are experiencing. I hope it produces as much gratitude in you as it has in me as I’ve sought to steward your investment and this movement.

Planting at Iowa

When I became Area Director, our work at the three state schools of Iowa (U of I, ISU, and UNI) was in a state of disrepair. Two of the three chapters had closed, and the other involved only a few students (despite our efforts), but I believe this year marked the turning of the tide.

Sherami Hinders and Tony Gatewood answered the call of God to go back to the University of Iowa last spring, and by God’s grace, they’ve been a part of one of the most successful chapter plants in the country!

Their vision was to plant a new chapter that was multiethnic and missional, and we’ve rejoiced together as that vision has materialized in powerful ways. After only one year on campus, over 75 students are involved with their fellowship, and they saw 11 students start to follow Jesus (two in the last week alone)!

...And Building at UNI

Rachel Danley and our students at UNI have enjoyed an unprecedented year of growth as they’ve sought to rebuild the chapter there. For years, the group had languished between 30-40 students, but as Rachel’s vision for the 10,000 unreached students at UNI has taken root, the chapter has grown in leaps and bounds. They catalyzed a week of 24.7 prayer for the campus, planted new cells in previously unreached corners of the campus, and had a front row seat for incredible generational conversions as students who started following Jesus became witnesses to entirely new friend groups and saw their friends join them in following Jesus.

All told, the chapter at UNI has grown 105% in the last two years, now involving 84 students, and they saw an incredible 19 students start following Jesus this year!

A Planting Movement

The “bread and butter” of our ministry on campus is not to be found in large worship services with bands and flashy speakers; it’s found in the dorm rooms, union cafes, and lounges of the campus, where student-led cell groups (aka, missional bible studies) meet to dive into the scriptures and then bear witness to dorms and “people groups” of the campus. There are literally hundreds of stories I could share, but here’s a few of my favorites.

• At Central College, we challenged our core students to invite their non-Christian friends to discuss the gospel stories of Jesus with them for four weeks and more than 20 students decided to take the risk. Of the 25 non-Christians who were asked, and astounding 22 said they’d be interested and met with our students to ask, seek, and knock together around the Word of God!
• At Drake, a student named Beth Ann (who’s also coming on staff next year!) felt called by God to start a cell in her sorority house. By the mid-point in the semester, she had 40 girls who had attended at least one discussion, and new cells were beginning in the other three sororities at Drake!
• At UNI, two music majors who were in Ethiopia last summer decided to plant a new cell in the music department (a largely untouched pocket of the campus). Momentum has grown throughout the year as they’ve been faithful in prayer and invitation, and Jesus used that cell to bring three more students into relationship with Him (I got word of the third only two weeks ago!)

What it's all about...

At the end of the day, we do what we do to see the lives of students transformed: from darkness to light, from being lost to being found, from death to life. Virtually every story I’ve told this year has been a story of conversion, and praise God, there have been dozens of stories to share.

There was Evan from UNI who gave his life to Jesus on a Monday and gave his first sermon six days later on Sunday, calling his peers to trust Jesus.

There was Sierra, who emailed our staff in September saying, “I’m looking for God, but can’t find him, can you help me?” and stood to receive Jesus later that month.

I think of the student at Central who finally chose Jesus after doing three bible studies a week with one of our student leaders.

There’s the seeking student who told our staff, “I think I actually felt God. I don’t know what He feels like, but it was really nice. I felt so loved and literally warm.”

Then, there’s the international student who went from skeptical to following Jesus in a week and now wants to change her major to law so she can be a part of bringing God’s justice in the world.

I’ve got a folder in my email called “Sweet Stories” and at the end of this year, I count 83 messages there, each bearing witness to the God who has been and will continue to be at work on campus long after I’ve written my last prayer letter.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. I Cor. 3.7