The You of A

I boarded the bus in Dallas. Some InterVarsity staff had been on the bus for 6 hours. Six more hours (don't feel sorry for us; we did some staff training, praying, and lots of playing - I laughed so hard on the bus I nearly cried) and all 50 of us staff and volunteers had arrived in Fayetteville! It may not be top of your list of places to visit, but the Red River Region staff team has been looking forward to this trip for nearly a year.

Andrea and Jason Thomas, our Regional Director and Associate Regional Director, took the jobs years ago in part to help us plant. Our region is Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, but when they came, we only had chapters in Texas. For a few years now, we've had a thriving chapter at the U of Oklahoma. But nothing in Arkansas.

Before our regional student retreat in February '13, the staff team met to talk about new directions in ministry, and we latched on to the idea of using our regional staff retreat at the end of the year to plant a chapter in Arkansas.

And by God's grace, it came together!

We stayed in 15 homes, traveled around on "people movers," and got some free Chick-fil-A for lunch one day. Two area churches gave us meeting space, and a Walmart exec VP exhorted us from the life of Moses to be courageous leaders.

Our day on campus was cold, rainy, and wonderful. We had 100's of conversations at our Faking It evangelism stations. We networked with ministry leaders and campus administrators. We met international students. We talked with atheists and agnostics who thought they'd join an IV chapter if it was like what they experienced with us. We even got a game of Spades going with some African American students in the dining hall. It seemed IV could make a big impact on campus. There's lots of great ministries already there, but I think IV brings something unique.

That night, I met 9 IV alum ready to support the new work on campus by giving, praying, and volunteering. Also that night we held a student meeting to cast vision to establish a witnessing community at U of A. Twelve students showed up. Years ago, Jesus called 12 men to follow him, and their decision changed the entire world. Think what God could do through these 12 students on campus and in the world!

Pray for good follow-up with the 105 students who filled out contact cards. Pray for the 22 who seemed like they could form a missional core. Pray for God to raise up a full-time staff worker (will YOU go to the You of A?). And pray for volunteer staff Joseph Pao-Wu who plans to gather students on December 5 after they return from Thanksgiving break. Praise God as these are some awesome students!