A Jesus Outbreak

Hello everyone!

I've never experienced a month quite like this one. Across the country, folks are worried about virus outbreaks on college campuses, but across Iowa, we've been experiencing an outbreak of a different sort- Jesus on the move! Here's the story...

After a first few weeks of class filled with meeting new students and caring for the whole campus, the movement got started in earnest at Drake University on September 5th...

That night, I had a text conversation with our staff, Amy Schoepf that went as follows:

Amy- "A student just became a Christian!! She agreed to share at IV on Wednesday"
Me- Wow!! That's awesome! What's her name?
Amy- Callie. Sweet story--she was really close in the spring but didn't fully commit. She and Audrey and I hung out last night-I brought it up and Audrey led her.
Amy- New Christian (Audrey stared following Jesus last spring) leads new student to Jesus :)
Me- So great-I'll look forward to hearing the full story!
Amy- Yep and she has three girls that come to IV with her who are all nominal Christians--so keep praying!!

Obviously, a great way to start the year, but this was only the start. On 9.9.09, (the same night Callie was sharing at Drake) at Central College, the story I've already shared below went down. I was speaking on the Prodigal Son out of Luke 15, and invited students to make a decision to follow Jesus. To my utter shock 30 students stood to signify their desire to follow Jesus. (Check out the "Unbelievable" post below for the whole story, it's worth a read!) The fruit of these decisions has continued to play out over the last two weeks in new Bible studies being started and additional outreach happening on campus (more on this below).

The next stage in the journey happened on 9.14 at the University of Northern Iowa. After hearing about what had happened at Central, our staff at UNI, Rachel Danley, invited me to make another call to faith at their Large Group, which I was happy to do. When I did so, another student (Evan) stood to mark his desire to give his life over to Jesus! (More on Evan Below!)

That weekend, on 9.18-20, my area staff team hosted FC09: Family Vacation (our annual fall student conference) for 130 students from around the state. I spoke on the final morning, again to give an invitation to faith, but as I was praying about it, I felt like I was supposed to ask Evan from UNI to give the talk with me (he had, after all been following Jesus for 5 days at that point!) So, I approached him to see if he'd be willing to share his story, and though he was a bit shell-shocked at first, he agreed. Sunday morning, Evan did a fantastic job of telling about what Jesus had done in his life, and I again made an invitation for students to give their lives to Jesus for the first time, and another 20 students stood to mark their decision from almost every school represented! Five of these students were from UNI and were inspired by Evan's testimony of receiving Jesus' forgiveness, and several were friends of Callie's, the student from Drake I wrote about above!

Then, on the following Tuesday, 9.22, I got two emails from one of our student leaders at Central, Aaron Jones. The first was a message that he had received over the weekend, it read like this:

Hi, I was in your small group for Vintage community last Wednesday night. I don't know if you can help me but I don't know who to ask about faith. I am new to being a Christian and new to the bible, and have grown up in a home with atheists. I have had a rough past and am ashamed of it, and am looking to find some guidance for my future. I have been told that I can never be forgiven by God for what I have done in the past and
I am scared because if that is true I am afraid what my life has in store for me.
Can something from my past be so bad that God can never love me?

Aaron asked Jessica if she'd be willing to meet to talk more, and she agreed. Later that night, we got word from Aaron again...

Jessica and I just got done talking, and she prayed tonight to accept Jesus as her savior!!
She asked a lot of good questions about forgiveness, prayer and church. I made sure that she knew that she just wasn't accepting my beliefs, but was beginning a relationship with a living God. She prayed for forgiveness and to receive the Holy Spirit and said that she felt amazing! I went with her back to Graham (girls' dorm on campus) as she shared with some girls what she just experienced, then I left as she went to a
prayer meeting that another girl in Graham had already set up.

So, in the space of a few short weeks (22 days to be exact), we've seen 24 STUDENTS START TO FOLLOW JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME, and another 21 RECOMMIT THEIR LIVES TO JESUS! I wish I had the space to tell you the stories of these 45 students, because Jesus is meeting them in incredible ways as they take steps of faith in following him (students experiencing physical healing, being challenged by parents angry at their desire to follow Jesus, and door after door opening for Jesus' gospel) They are following Jesus immediately into ministry and outreach to their friends, and we are TRULY WATCHING A JESUS OUTBREAK SWEEP THROUGH THESE CAMPUSES!

And, I believe that God isn't done yet. This Wednesday, 9.30, I'll be speaking again at Drake University, and I'll again be inviting students to follow Jesus for the first time (and join the other 5 Drake students who have already made that decision this year!) so I covet your prayers, and can't wait to tell you the next chapter in this crazy story God is writing.

Thank you for your support of this ministry, it's one of the deepest privileges of my life to watch God move in these ways on campuses across the state, and it's your prayers and support that make it possible.

Trying to keep up with a God who is most certainly on the move!

Jon

Bibles for New Believers

As you'll read below, it's been an incredible week of ministry, so I've got a special request...

I've purchased Bibles for each of the 30 folks who stood up to mark their decision to follow Jesus for the first time or rededicate their lives to Jesus to get them started on the right foot.

I was able to negotiate a discounted rate for some study bibles (with explanatory notes), which means I was able to get them for $40 a piece, but with 30 folks, that still works out to $1,200!

So, I'm putting out a call to anyone who'd be willing to spring $40 to give a Bible to a student who just started following Jesus. If you are interested, please contact me at jon.hietbrink@gmail.com or 641.780.6670.

Thanks!
Jon

Unbelievable!

Greetings friends,

I've got an unbelievable story to share, I hope you are blessed by it! (Sorry for the length, I think it’ll be worth your time to read it...)

I was set to speak on Wednesday night (9.9) at Central’s LG and was planning on giving a call to faith out of the prodigal son, but the story really gets kicking early that morning...

I awoke at 4:30a sweating like a pig and with our bedroom spinning all around me. The only thing that made the spinning stop was when I laid on my right side (even on my back, it was out of control). I was able to get back to sleep until about 6:30a, when my daughter woke up. I tried to walk to the kitchen to get her some milk, but was on the floor by the time I got back to her room. I woke my wife up, and tried to get back into bed, but was so nauseuous that I detoured to the toilet. I eventually got back to bed and slept till about 7:45 when I started texting people to pray. At that point, I still couldn’t do anything but lay on my right side, and even then, my head was spinning a bit.

So, things were not good. I couldn’t even sit up, let alone be able to give a talk. My wife spent some time praying for me (along with those I had texted) and very quickly, I started to feel some relief. I was able to sit up in bed within a few minutes and walked out to the living room. Gradually, I regained equilibrium to the point where I took a shower and went for a walk around the block at about 11am. I continued to improve through the afternoon to the point where I felt pretty much normal (although very tired) by about 3pm.

So, I went into the night thinking that God might have some big plans given the morning, but I never would have expected what happened...

The night got off to a great start, and I felt good about how my talk was going as I headed toward the call. I had planned on inviting people to stand who identified with the younger son (irreligious, shady past, etc.) and the older son (cultural “christians”, pseudo-religious, etc.), and then I had about 15 student leaders/staff ready to follow-up immediately with whoever stood, thinking that maybe 5 or 10 folks might stand (not exactly “more than you could ask or imagine”, huh?!)

To my shock, when I made the call, about 30 people stood up, and instantly, I assumed I just hadn’t made it clear that it was a call for people to “follow Jesus for the first time”...I was later proved wrong! I asked everyone to come up to the front so I could pray for them (while the follow-up folks surrounded them), and then I invited them to break off into pairs/threes to talk about what God was doing and what decisions they had made. Here’s a sampling of the reports from the student leaders...

Rick
Sort of knows a little about Church but stopped going in high school and has lived with no regard for Jesus since. Wants to follow Jesus but is scared that he wont be able to overcome temptations and not fall away.

Karen
She said that she has never really been religious and doesn't know a whole lot about Christianity/following Jesus, but she has been coming to the Calm and Nine and keeps just feeling like its right and keeps getting chills all the time when she's there :)

Amelia
She also has never been religious and did mention that she feels like she understands the younger son because she has done things in her past she isn’t proud of. She did however talk about her love for doing service work and helping people, and we talked about how she can continue to do those things and share Jesus' love with people through it.

Mia
This was something she was wanting for a while. She's been looking to talk to someone about this for a while and it was for her tonight. Her legs were shaking the whole night pretty much, and she stood up and they stopped. I feel like I really didn't say much but God was already doing stuff. She grew up Catholic and has struggled a lot with earning salvation and has come to the realization while here (she transferred) that coming to events and doing church doesn't result in satisfaction/salvation. I talked with her how it is by grace we are saved- she's said the prayer before, so we did not do it again- and that it is a gift we can't earn. She seemed pretty excited about it all. She went for a walk afterwards to just "think."

There’s more where those came from, but at the end of the day, I think about 14 folks gave their lives to Jesus for the first time and another 10 recommitted their lives to Jesus; 2 more folks said they wanted to explore more in GIGs!

It was unbelievable. I was driving to Iowa City this morning and crying like a baby thinking about how good our God is that he steps into students’ lives like this, and that he gives us the chance to be a part of it.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for the night (and for my dizziness). God answered in a resounding way.

Beyond grateful,
Jon

9.9.09 @ 9pm

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. Two stories (couldn't help but share the second, it just came in!) and a prayer request for you today...

The story comes from Sarah Plowman at William Penn University--

"Jen is one of our leaders. She was hanging out with one of her suitemates, Abby, and one of Abby's friends, Nate. When the subject turned to spiritual things, Nate told Jen, "forgive me if I laugh," saying he didn't believe in God. Somehow in the conversation, Jen got Nate to open up more to her as they shared about different family stuff. At one point Jen invited Nate to do a Bible Study with her, saying, "why don't you just do a Bible study with me and let Jesus define himself?" Nate's response? "Ok." Last night during our leadership meeting, Jen got a text from Nate asking, "hey, when are we going to do Bible study?" Cool! Pray for Jess as she prepares to do a GiG with Nate, and for Abby as well and the conversations she and Jen have. "


Here's one from Amy Schoepf, our staff at Drake University--

"So Callie had been a little bit involved in InterVarsity last Spring--and stayed in touch with some students over the summer. She had connected quite a bit with Annika--who became a Christian last year. Long story short, Callie, Annika, and some other IV girls were over at my house Friday night. We were just hanging out and talking and I don't know what got into me--I just looked at Callie and blurted out "When are you going to commit your life to Jesus?" She began to cry (woops!) and share about the things that were holding her back. Annika jumped in and started sharing her testimony and telling Callie she just needed to "go for it." Callie agreed and then Annika and I led her in prayer to commit her life to Jesus. I could literally see Callie's body react to giving her life to Jesus...her physical posture was relief. It was awesome. Then we prayed for her to be "sent" to her friends. Callie has 3 friends who come to IV stuff with her and they are all culture Christians--probably very little if any relationship with Jesus. She was so excited and I asked her to share her testimony this Wednesday night at our weekly service! :) Pray for her.

I drove Annika home later and she was SO EXCITED! She said..."So Amy, that was my first?!! That's the first person I got to see get saved!" And then explained that she "wanted to do it again!" Haha....ooooh I love it."

The prayer request is for me--

Tomorrow night at 9pm, I'm going to be speaking at our gathering on campus at Central (called NINE) out of Luke 15, "The Prodigal Son". At the end of my talk, I'm going to invite students to make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time, so I'd love for your prayers on a few points:

1. Pray that God would draw the "right people" to come
2. Pray that God would give me the "right words" to speak
3. Pray that tomorrow night would be the "right time" for students to make a decision

Thanks Everyone!
Jon

FirstFruits

Hello again everyone!

As promised, here's a few stories from the "front lines" over the first days of the semester...God has been at work!

As many of you know, we are planting a new chapter at the University of Iowa, and the stories coming out so far have been unbelievable. In the first week...

1. Our staff have networked with several "power players" in different groups on campus and have either been invited or are exploring leading bible studies for the African-American Greek Union, the Black Student Union, and the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) cultural center on campus. Unbelievable!
2. Already, the staff have connected with a handful of multiethnic and mission-minded students who want to be a part of owning the chapter at Iowa, praise God! This is in addition to the hundreds of others who are interested, but who haven't signed on just yet...
   

At Drake, we are also off to a great start. The chapter has connected with almost 100 new students who are interested in joining the community's mission, and our chapter plant at DMACC is officially underway!

Our chapter at the University of Northern Iowa has a blossoming ministry among ethnic minorities--there were about a dozen new Latino students at their first large group, and their multi-ethnic leadership team already making inroads among the black student population on campus!

Coe College decided to try a new outreach to international students by hosting a "Target run" for students who needed to stock their dorm rooms...to their shock, 25 international students showed up! They were literally calling in friends with cars to handle all the students!

Our chapters at William Penn, Grinnell, and Drake International will have their first major gatherings this week, so they are hard at work connecting with new students and inviting them into their communities...more stories to come on these chapters later!

At Central College, we've been blessed to connect with almost 150 new students who are interested in joining our ministry. One of them "Will" was talking with one of our staff at our first worship service. Their interaction went something like this...

Staff- "So, what's your name? Where are you from?"
Will- "I'm not religious."
Staff- "That's totally fine, no problem."
Will- "I'm really curious about Christianity though, I'd like to learn more about it."

It's for students like Will and hundreds of others across the campuses of Iowa that we labor. Join us in thanking God for his faithfulness to us, and continuing to ask him for divine appointments with both mission-minded and seeking students over these next days!

Grateful for your partnership!
Jon

It begins

Hello again everyone,

It's official, the year has begun!

Over the weekend, thousands of college students moved into dorm rooms and apartments all across the state. Some are coming back to a place they love, some are leaving home for the first time, and in the midst of it all, God is at work calling students to himself and transforming them to live missional lives.

Quite simply, this is the time of year that we InterVarsity staff love: the energy, potential, and excitement on campus is palpable, and each year, it's fascinating to watch God work through simple things like info tables, knocking on doors, and "chance" meetings in the union.

Just today, I was on campus at Central and walking to my car at a place I've never parked before to head home for lunch...a student (obviously lost!) approached me and asked where the gym was, so I offered him a ride. Turns out, he's a new freshman from Cedar Rapids, knows next to no one on campus, but was very interested in hearing about our ministry...

Jesus said the kingdom of God is "like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants..."

This is exactly what the job of my staff is over the next few weeks...to plant hundreds and thousands of mustard seeds in the hearts of students and watch God do the unthinkable--bring forth the fruit of transformation and mission.

Please join me in praying for two things over these next days:

First, please pray that our staff team would connect with MISSIONAL STUDENTS who follow Jesus and want to live for his purposes on campus.
Second, please pray that God would give us "divine appointments" with SEEKING STUDENTS who are exploring what it means to follow Jesus and live a life of faith.

I can't wait to share the stories in the upcoming weeks...

With great anticipation!
Jon

Year in Review

Hello again everyone,

Once again, I need to apologize for my delay in posting, but thankfully, I've got some great updates to share now that we've reached the end of the school year.

As folks have asked me over the last few months about how the ministry is going, I've said some variation of the following: "In all honesty, this has felt like the most fruitful year of my experience on IV staff" (!), so as we came to our year-end, I was hoping that the measurable results would live up to my expectations.

Of course, I had been hearing stories all year long of God's work on campus, but the end of the school year provides a unique opportunity to take at a "cross section" of our ministry, and I'm so thankful to be able to share some of the results with you all, so I've got a few snapshots and a few stories...

Join me in praising God for...
* Our area growing by 76 students this year to a total of 493 "members" (18% growth)
* 51 students (!) choosing to follow Jesus for the first time (113% growth)
* Students planting 77 missional communities (aka "cells") on campus this year, an increase of 28%!
* 1,240 students attending at least one of our events (32% growth)
* 139 Non-Christian students involved in our ministry (25% growth)
* Five of our seven chapters set new records for overall involvement!

Now for some stories...

Double Dip at Drake
About this time last year, I talked with our two staff at Drake (Steph Schmaltz and Amy Schoepf) about trying to plant a new chapter for international students at Drake University. It felt like a risky move, as neither Steph/Amy had been "solo staff" for a chapter before, but we felt God inviting us into the challenge, so we went ahead. I'm so glad to report that both chapters have experienced tremendous fruitfulness this last year.

• The international chapter (under Steph's leadership) grew from 6 to 44 members and saw over 110 students (that's about 33% of the international population on campus, the vast majority of which are not Christians) attend at least one event.
  
• The undergrad chapter (led by Amy) grew to involve over 90 students, and saw 10 students decide to follow Jesus for the first time!

The University of Iowa- "God will plant"
Mid-way through the fall, our regional leadership team sensed that God was leading us to plant a brand-new chapter at the University of Iowa in the fall of 2009. We had previously had a chapter until a few years ago, but as we heard that there were over 29,000 students on campus who weren't involved in any kind of campus ministry, we felt compelled to try and start something new (even though we didn't know who would lead the plant). In distinctly supernatural ways (I wish I could tell you the whole story), God called Sherami Hinders and Tony Gatewood to be co-planters for the chapter next year. Our only expectations for this Spring were for Tony/Sherami to get situated and to prepare for the fall, but almost every time I talk with them, they have a new story of how God is opening doors for them on campus, and students expressing interest in being mobilized as missionaries to the campus. The chapter plant at Iowa will be among the highest profile plants in the entire nation, and I can't wait to see what God has in store next year!

You want us to plant in Omaha?!
As the spring progressed, I honestly thought we had taken enough big risks, but God had a different idea. Slowly, but surely, he made it clear that he was inviting us to plant not just at Drake, not just at the Univeristy of Iowa, but at Creighton University in Omaha. Initially, both my boss and I thought we needed to wait another year, but through the perseverance of Rachel Lenox (staff at Coe College), and the workings of the Holy Spirit, it became clear that the "time was fulfilled" to plant at Creighton as well! (Again, I wish I could tell you the whole story...the movement of God is all over it!) So, as I write, Rachel Lenox is moving to Omaha, and will be planting a brand-new chapter at Creighton next fall!

Sending and Receiving
A year ago at this time, our ministry was made up of six chatpers involving about 400 students. Before the end of this calendar year (by God's grace), the Iowa area will have been a part (either by planting them ourselves or sending planters) of six different chapter plants (University of Missouri- Kansas City, Johnson County Community College (Kansas), Drake University- International, the University of Iowa, Des Moines Area Community College, Creighton University), involving over 600 students. God has been so faithful to involve us in his purposes, and I'm so thankful!

With Great Joy and Expectation!

Jon

Walking by the Spirit

Hello again everyone,

It's been so long since I've written, I thought I better put up a couple posts to keep the masses happy. :)

As you've probably read above, it was a fantastic year of ministry across Iowa; we saw growth at virtually every level, and I find myself so grateful (and humbled) for God's movement through our ministry this year.

At the same time, Steph and I have found the going difficult at home as we work through parenting two young children and trying to stay deeply connected in marriage at the same time (hard as it may be to believe, these often feel like competing values!)

While all this great stuff has been going on in my world as an area director, I think God has been speaking to me with regard to my posture as a husband and father: he's been challenging me to "walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh".

At a recent area team meeting, we were studying Galatians 5, where Paul is admonishing the Galatian church to avoid giving into the temptation to self-justification through the law in favor of continuing to walk by faith in the power of the Spirit. In his teaching, he references back to the Old Testament story of Sarah and Hagar, the soap opera of a story out of which God begins to establish the nation of Israel as a people.

Sarah and Abraham had received a promise of a child in their old age, but in her impatience for the promises' fulfillment, Sarah chose to take matters into her own hands and "make it happen". Though God ultimately fulfills his promise anyway, her refusal to stand in faith introduces incredible strife and pain into her family.

I'm seeing with more clarity that we too have received promises from God over our marriage and our kids, but all too often in experiences of "barrenness", impatience, or frustration, my response is anything but confident faith in those promises (aka, "walking by the Spirit"), instead, I choose the way of blame, manipulation, and anger to either push down or avoid the experience of barrenness altogether.

What I'm seeing is that these "experiences of barrenness" that each of us face are none other than invitations to choose the way of faith again, more deeply. The hurdles or problems of our lives aren't merely hurdles to be overcome on our way to a happy existence, they are the crucible in which true faith, patience, and love are formed.

I long to be the kind of husband, father, and leader that bears real fruit, "fruit that lasts", and who knows what it means to walk by the Spirit, not just when I'm a "professional", but in the nuts and bolts of life, at 3am holding a crying child, or in the chaos of preparing dinner with the woman I love amidst the chaos of two toddlers!

Praying for eyes to see the invitations...

Jon

PS...As you'll see from the videos, family life isn't always difficult...

God is Good!

Hello again everyone,

So much good news to report, so I'll jump right in!

* The headlining news relates to staff hiring and placement (thanks so much for praying!) I'm super excited to report that we've decided to hire 10 new staff and will be accepting another transfer, which means that our Iowa Area staff team will more than double next year from 9 staff (currently) to 19 staff serving across Iowa next year! I'm so grateful to God for his provision, and can't wait to turn these new folks loose on campus!

* Because of this influx of new staff, we are planning on planting three new chapters in the upcoming year! We'll be planting brand new chapters at the University of Iowa, at Des Moines Area Community College, and one other school to be named. At this time last year we had 6 chapters, and in September, we'll potentially have 10! Unbelievable growth for only a year and a half!

* On a more micro level, witness and evangelism has been happening across our area in ways that are unique to my time on staff. Already this Spring, I'm aware of almost a dozen students who have made decisions to follow Jesus as LORD, and it's likely that dozens more are in the process of making that decision. (Often, we find that folks realize that they've made decisions over the course of the year in April/May, so we typically find out about that change about this time of year!

* Beyond this, our area has been exploding with new GIGs (Bible studies for non-christian students). We don't have firm numbers yet, but I expect that before the end of the year upwards of 25 GIGs will have been hosted across the state, many of which lead to students making decisions to put Jesus first in their lives.

As people ask me how things are going with IV, I tell them honestly that it's been as encouraging a semester as I remember on staff! "For everything there is a season" and we've seen our share of hard times, but I rejoice in the goodness of God for this season of harvest!

All praise to the one who desires transformation far more than we do, and may you be blessed knowing that you have played a role in this incredible outpouring of blessing through your prayers, support, and finances!

With deepest thanksgiving!

Jon

Now I feel a bit sheepish...

Hello Again,

Well, now I do feel a bit sheepish. :) Thanks to all of you who expressed concern over my failing health; I appreciate your care. Last night after I got home, I had this fleeting thought: "Jon, you probably shouldn't have talked in detail about your mystery illness...folks could get unnecessarily alarmed." But alas, I wasn't online until today and saw that in fact, that is what had happened.

Now, I have been sick for a couple weeks, but I'm by no means on death's door...it feels more like the cold and the flu at the same time; not pleasant, but more an annoyance than anything. All the tests that have been run have come back pretty well normal, so while we still don't know why I'm feeling the way I am, we are pretty sure it's just some random virus that my body needs to fight off, although a bit more sleep would probably be helpful. ;)

Anyway, thanks again for your care and concern, and do pray that God would deliver me from even this small health issue, as it would still be quite helpful to be at full strength for these next few weeks.

All for now!

Jon

New Staff Prospects!

Hello Everyone,

It's 60 degrees in Iowa on February 10th, can I get an "amen"?!

I'm sorry for not writing sooner, but as is typical, the beginning of the Spring semester has been rolling on at a breakneck pace! All of our chapters are up and running with some exciting reports already (I'll look forward to sharing these with you sometime soon!)

For now, however, I wanted to make a quick post to invite your prayers for me over the next few weeks on a couple points.

First, and most importantly, we are in the middle of "staff recruitment" season, and I'm so thankful to be working with ELEVEN total applicants for our work across Iowa (our current staff team is only 9!) We've already invited one of these folks to join our team, and am in process with the other ten helping them complete the application and preparing for interviews! As you can imagine, I'm thrilled not only to have so many folks applying, but in particular that a number of them would actually make great staff workers! So, you can be in prayer for me over the next few weeks as I interview these folks and make decisions about whether to offer them a spot on our team, and if so where...here's a quick interview schedule:

Thursday, 2.12- Brian

Friday, 2.13- Sarah W.

Tuesday, 2.17- Dayna

Wednesday, 2.18- Sarah B. 

Thursday, 2.19- Christina

Tuesday-Thursday (2.24-26)- Ryan, Sarah P., Brett, Nick

Friday, 2.27- Trevor

On a related note, I'd love prayers for my health. I've had a pretty odd set of symptoms over the last few weeks and am awaiting the results of some testing to hopefully figure it out. You can pray not only that God grants healing to my body, but that he would keep it from spreading through our family.

Thanks so much, may God's grace be upon you all!

Jon 

Year-End Giving

Just a quick note about year-end funding...

Thankfully, fundraising has been going very well this year despite the general economic climate, but I carried over about $2,000 of deficit from last year that I'm hoping to erase this December. If you would be interested in giving a year-end tax-deductible gift toward that shortfall, you can do so by clicking on the following link. Thank you in advance!

www.intervarsity.org/donate

Priority 1 :: Staff Recruitment

Hello again everyone!

I hope this finds you enjoying the Christmas season! It’s a busy time of year for us as we wrap up our work on campus for the fall, but the “halftime” of Christmas break is almost here!

As many of you know, staff recruitment has been at the top of my list of strategic priorities for our ministry this year. The year began with our sparsest staff:chapter ratio of my seven years on staff, with only seven full time staff for seven campuses, a long way from my ideal of having at least a pair of staff at each campus!

So, I’ve been spending a significant portion of my time working to recruit new staff for our chapters across Iowa. We’ve visited Christian campuses around the Midwest, posted openings online, and of course, talked with our graduating seniors about becoming missionaries to secular campuses across Iowa.

The process is in full swing now, and I’ve got some encouraging news to report! At this point, I’m expecting 10 new staff applications, and am in conversation with another 10-15 candidates! This represents potentially the largest group of new Iowa staff ever, so I am both so grateful to God for his provision so far, and mindful of my need for his continued mercy to both call these prospects to his work and to give me the wisdom I need to see his will clearly.

So, as the year winds down, I would covet your prayers for this staff recruitment process. Please join me in praying that God would call the right staff to be on our team, and that He would give me wisdom as I counsel and try to assess all these candidates.

Thank you for your partnership, and I eagerly anticipate introducing you to the fruit of your prayers in the Spring!

Why we do what we do...

Hello Everyone,

One of the luxuries afforded me by this job (and one of the critical disciplines for my success in this job!) is the freedom to withdraw from the "frontline" ministry of the campus and consider our work from a larger perspective. So often, our lives can become consumed with just "keeping the ship afloat": running our programs, recruiting for events, and doing the ins and outs of campus ministry, but the danger is that we lose the heart of why we are doing all this activity in the first place. I've been so thankful as of late for the clarity that I think God is bringing to my mind about both what we do and why we do it.

There's significant thinking going on in InterVarsity circles these days about conversion. For me, most of my staff, and likely many of you as well, we've understood conversion in very black and white, two-stage language: first, you are a non-Christian, and then you become a Christian when you pray the following prayer.

This way of thinking certainly has some merit, and is to an extent an accurate representation of what happens in conversion: we are transferred from the kingdom of the world into the Kingdom of God; we who were dead are made alive; we were in darkness but find ourselves in light.

The problem is that for many of us (and increasing numbers of students), their experience of their life with God doesn't feel quite this simple. As we train and inspire our current students to reach their friends with the good news of God, we have to acknowledge that under the heading of "non-Christian" there is an entire array of people: some are skeptical, some are indifferent, some are hostile, some are merely "enculturated" into Christianity. While the absence of a vibrant relationship with Jesus unites all these folks, to apply a "one size fits all" approach to witness with each of these subgroups would be painfully ineffective.

The other problem is that the language of "two-stage" conversion has no place for the ongoing discipleship of those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus; it can lend itself to the thought that, "well, I'm a Christian now, so my journey is complete" when we all know that choosing to follow Jesus for the first time is far more an inauguration than it is a destination.

As I reflect on my own life, I have a hard time pointing to "the moment" when I became a Christian. I remember praying for the first time on my parents' bed when I was about 6, but I didn't experience a radical life altering encounter with Jesus then. What I did experience was a steady progression of growing in love for God, and appropriating that love in my own life.

But something distinctly different happened to me in college. I didn't "become a Christian" again, but I began to experience a level of vibrancy and passion for God that I hadn't known before, and in retrospect, I think what happened was a "second conversion": I was transformed from being merely a follower to being a missionary sent by God to my campus. In many ways, this "missional" conversion has altered the entire trajectory of my life in a way that nothing else has (I'm not exactly designing golf courses, as was the original plan!)

As I've prayed and reflected on our work on campus, I'm seeing more and more that the driving motivation behind all of our labor is simply this: we labor to see students' lives transformed. But even more specifically than this, I think God is giving me greater clarity on two critical transformations that we witness God working in our students.

The first is the conversion from being merely "enculturated" into faith to actively, passionately following Jesus. In our midwestern context, students with no church experience or little awareness of Christianity is actually quite rare. Almost every freshman who steps onto the campuses where we work has either "done the church thing" growing up, or may even consider themselves a "christian" in a vague, cultural sense: their allegiance is to a cultural expectation, not to a living God. Our work and our passion is to see these folks "woken up" from their inoculation to the life of faith, by creating spaces where they can encounter a living, active Jesus, and by consistently calling them to make him Lord of their real lives. Not "Lord" in a prayer alone, but "Lord of what they watch, how they speak, and how they love their neighbors. Each year, dozens of students experience this transformation in our midst; it makes me smile just thinking about them.

The second is the conversion from merely "following" Jesus to being engaged in his purposes: a "missional" conversion. The vast majority of genuinely Christian students who show up on our campuses have a view of faith that centers on "their personal relationship with Jesus": worship serves to edify them, they want to "be fed" by good teaching, they are looking for Christian community to help them grow. All these things are good and important, but I would argue that they are missing the lifeblood of Jesus: "Go into the world and make disciples of all nations..." I believe this transformation from living a nice, personal, spiritual life, to living a life of radical mission, sacrifice, hospitality, and invitation is absolutely central to what we do on campus. Our goal is not to help people become better Christians; our goal is to release the next generation of leaders and missionaries who will sow themselves like mustard seeds into every corner of the globe that God's Kingdom may come.

This is why we exist: to see students converted from skeptical, selfish, indifferent lives to vibrant relationship with Jesus and then in turn transformed into followers who spend their entire lives for the sake of God's mission to a broken world.

May God grant us the desires of our hearts!
Jon

So thankful...

Hello again everyone,

Fall in definitely the air, and there are many great stories to report from the work of God across Iowa!

The Men vs. Wild trip that I wrote about in early September was a smashing success (See picture). 18 guys from across Iowa joined in the craziness, and we had a blast roadtripping across Nebraska/Eastern Colorado and then hiking in literally breathtaking venues. It was a fantastic time of networking for me with guys from across the state, but particularly with nine guys from Central who I had known in name only before. These guys are now forming the core of a "missional prayer cell" for men at Central that will be launching in the next week or two! You can pray that God would fuel the movement by his Spirit and that it would bear exceptional fruit: in our lives as sons of God, in the lives of the men of Central College, and hopefully in producing more male staff for God's work across Iowa!

This last weekend, I was with 250 students and staff from Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas for our annual Fall Conference: FC08. Our theme was "Down to Earth", and one of my best friends (and former staff worker/boss!) Jason Brown was the keynote. It was so fun to be with Jason again in a student ministry context, and the conference went exceptionally well. On Saturday night, Jason spoke on "Living as citizens of heaven" through the lens of being "loved and sent". The Spirit was powerfully at work through his talk, and the night culminated with a time of worship and prayer ministry for students who have felt unlovable and unsent in the past. At least two students chose to follow Jesus for the first time that night (!), but all of us were richly blessed by our gracious, heavenly Father!

During the conference, I was privileged to lead a seminar for about 60 men through the lens of David and Goliath. I was so thankful for this time as God challenged all of us to lead our chapters to engage more men on our campuses with the Gospel!

Across Iowa, momentum continues to build on our campuses as students take up the call to live as missionaries to every corner of their campuses. There are truly more stories to be told than there is space, so thank you so much for your prayer and partnership.

With Great Joy!
Jon

Cost and Gain

On a more personal note...

The final talk of FC08 (see below) was on the "crazy math in God's Kingdom", specifically facing the radical costs (and even more radical gains!) that come with following Jesus in his mission to a broken world. Something deep was stirred in my soul as I listened to Jason tell the story of his friends Bill and Katie.

Bill and Katie were born into families of incredible priviledge where a $40k/year private high school, and dinner parties populated exclusively by CEO's and political leaders were the norm. After being transformed by Jesus in college through InterVarsity, the path of their lives was radically altered to lead through the slums of Mexico City to their current ministry in the city of Compton, California. They've had to face incredible pain and rejection from their families for the choices they have made and while their siblings and former classmates are ascending their respective corporate/political ladders around the world, Bill and Katie are spending themselves to see the Gospel transform lives and families and neighborhoods in inner city Los Angeles.

I can't fully communicate the power of the moments after Jason's talk on Sunday morning, but I can say that my heart was moved in a powerful way as Jesus brought my own desires into greater clarity.

A significant portion of my life (more than I'd like to admit) is spent pursuing the "normal" comforts of middle-class living: material provision, ample recreation time, engaging entertainment options, etc. While these things are fine in and of themselves, I found a deeper desire awakened again in me: the desire for a life of impact. While on the surface my heart goes after the trivial things of this world, at my core, I desire nothing more than Jesus and participation in bringing his kingdom to earth, and I found myself saying "yes" again to the one who is truly Lord of heaven and earth.

I don't know the paths that Jesus will guide us on in the upcoming years, but I know that we will not somehow magically arrive at a life lived in its fullness for the kingdom; such a life is only a product of hundreds of "yes, Lord" moments through the different seasons of life.

At the end of my days, I want nothing more than for it to be said of me and my family that we sought Jesus and his kingdom above all else (truly), and that there was no cost we were unwilling to pay to taste of the incomprable gain of a life well-lived in following Jesus.

"Truly, I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--along with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life." --Mark 10.29-30

Compelled by the gain,
Jon

Men vs. Wild

Now, a quick update on the upcoming weekend!

Some of you may remember my post from Catalyst last May where I asked you to pray for my ministry to the men of Iowa. This has continued to be a theme of my summer, and God has been incredibly faithful!

As a a part of this reawakened calling for the men of Iowa, I decided to try and host some kind of "man trip" this fall for some guys across Iowa, so I started throwing out some invites to guys I know, and all of a sudden, we've got close to 20 guys who are going mountain hiking in Colorado this weekend!

We'll hop into vans in Des Moines on Friday afternoon, arrive in Denver at about 2am, watch some football and hike on Saturday, then get up and climb Mt. Bierstadt (14,060 feet!) on Sunday morning and drive home! (I'm getting too old for this stuff!)

Obviously, I think the trip will be a ton of fun (and utterly exhausting!), but beyond that, I'd love your prayer for a few key things:

* Many key male leaders from across Iowa are coming, and this is a crucial time of networking for me with them. You can pray that relationships deepen in natural and authentic ways, and that some of these guys might choose to come on staff! * My hope is that this trip (in combo with an upcoming Men's track at our fall conference) might lead to the emergence of pockets of men across Iowa that I can have ongoing relationship with, and who I can pray/minister with when I visit campuses, so you can pray that that vision coalesces during the trip.

Thanks All,

Jon

A Jesus Outbreak

Hello Everyone!

The next stage in the journey happened on 9.14 at the University of Northern Iowa. After hearing about what had happened at Central, our staff at UNI, Rachel Danley, invited me to make another call to faith at their Large Group, which I was happy to do. When I did so, another student (Evan) stood to mark his desire to give his life over to Jesus! (More on Evan Below!)

That weekend, on 9.18-20, my area staff team hosted FC09: Family Vacation (our annual fall student conference) for 130 students from around the state. I spoke on the final morning, again to give an invitation to faith, but as I was praying about it, I felt like I was supposed to ask Evan from UNI to give the talk with me (he had, after all been following Jesus for 5 days at that point!) So, I approached him to see if he'd be willing to share his story, and though he was a bit shell-shocked at first, he agreed. Sunday morning, Evan did a fantastic job of telling about what Jesus had done in his life, and I again made an invitation for students to give their lives to Jesus for the first time, and another 20 students stood to mark their decision from almost every school represented! Five of these students were from UNI and were inspired by Evan's testimony of receiving Jesus' forgiveness, and several were friends of Callie's, the student from Drake I wrote about above!


So, in the space of a few short weeks (22 days to be exact), we've seen 24 STUDENTS START TO FOLLOW JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME, and another 21 RECOMMIT THEIR LIVES TO JESUS! I wish I had the space to tell you the stories of these 45 students, because Jesus is meeting them in incredible ways as they take steps of faith in following him (students experiencing physical healing, being challenged by parents angry at their desire to follow Jesus, and door after door opening for Jesus' gospel) They are following Jesus immediately into ministry and outreach to their friends, and we are TRULY WATCHING A JESUS OUTBREAK SWEEP THROUGH THESE CAMPUSES!

And, I believe that God isn't done yet. This Wednesday, 9.30, I'll be speaking again at Drake University, and I'll again be inviting students to follow Jesus for the first time (and join the other 5 Drake students who have already made that decision this year!) so I covet your prayers, and can't wait to tell you the next chapter in this crazy story God is writing.

Thank you for your support of this ministry, it's one of the deepest privileges of my life to watch God move in these ways on campuses across the state, and it's your prayers and support that make it possible.

Trying to keep up with a God who is most certainly on the move!

Jon

All Hands on Deck!

Hello again everyone! I hope the summer has been an enjoyable one. I apologize for the delay in my posting online, but I’m glad to get back into the swing of things now!

Put simply, this is the most critical time of year for our ministry on campus: current leaders are returning after summers spent around the globe, students from all walks of life are returning to campus, many of whom are looking to “turn over a new leaf”, and of course, new freshmen and transfer students are everywhere!

Even as I type this, our staff are in the midst of the most significant “sprint” of their staff year. They are casting vision to their leaders, hosting tables at organizational fairs, going door to door in the dorms visiting those students who sign up, and striking up conversation after conversation with literally dozens of students.

It is both an exhausting and exhilarating time of year. Hours are long and filled with what can feel like near endless details and initiation, but each day brings new conversations that have been appointed by God. Our chapter populations turn-over every four years, and these freshmen that we meet will soon be leading our chapters, so it is “mission-critical” time for campus ministry!

So for now, I’d love to invite your prayer as we begin this sprint. In general, you can be praying for the following:
* Pray that our student leaders would join our staff in a vision for mission and campus engagement; it is critical that our leaders buy-in!
* Pray for endurance and passion for our staff as they progress through this exhausting season.
* Pray for divine appointments, both with new missional leaders and spiritually hungry students who are looking to explore faith in college.

If you prefer, you can pray for me through my schedule for the next few weeks:
8.25- On campus and Speaking at UNI (John 1- Calling of the Disciples)
8.26- Meeting with key student at DMACC and Drake staff
8.27- On campus at Penn and Central
8.28- On campus at Grinnell
8.29- On campus at Coe
9.3- On campus and Speaking at Drake (John 4- Samaritan Woman)
9.5- First Area Meeting of the year
9.10- On campus and Speaking at Central (“Reaching Samaria- Unreached People Groups on Campus”)
9.12-14- Men’s Road Trip to Mt. Bierstadt, Colorado (Please pray for my recruitment which is already beginning!)
9.16- On campus and speaking at Grinnell (TBD!)

I’ll greatly look forward to sharing with you incredible stories of God’s provision and faithfulness, the fruit of your prayers and our labors!

With Expectation!
Jon

Abigail Joy!

It's my joy to introduce the newest member of our family, Miss Abigail Joy Hietbrink, born on June 4th! (See picture to the right). We thought Elijah was a big boy, but Abby one-upped her older brother, tipping the scales at just over 8 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 3/4 inches long! She's doing great on the whole, though we'd love for her to go to bed before midnight! She's strikingly beautiful with deep blue eyes and fine brown hair. Steph is recovering well, and Elijah has been a surprisingly gentle older brother thus far (although he did almost step on her while he was watching cartoons this morning!) We are so thankful for her little life: for the promise that it holds and the joy it brings to our entire family. Sometimes it's hard to believe that Steph and I have two children, but parenthood has been an unbelievably rich experience, and Abby's presence only adds yet another layer!