Hi all!
The semester is drawing to a close, and as usual, God is showing up all over the place! I am so excited to be where I am doing what I do, it’s very special. There are many things that happen in so many areas, it’s hard to narrow things down, but I’ll try!
Ballroom Dancing Missional Community
Remember our friend Santos, the instructor who got saved? He continues to blow my mind. He has taken a prayer hour at the Campus House of Prayer and shows up consistently when he’s in town. His humility and awareness of God’s grace astounds me and makes me look at myself and how I respond to what God has done for me. His passion for the things of the Lord has not waned, and it’s wonderful to see how he reaches out in small ways to the people of the class. It truly is a miracle!
In our class, we have a ton of international people; from India, Serbia, China, Russia, and Switzerland (that we know of). My co-worker, Tanya, and I realized that many of them may not have a place to go for the holidays so we wanted to do something for them. God provided a person who has opened up their home, so we are having a Thanksgiving on Friday evening for them. One amazing thing that has happened already is that one of the students in the class who is not particularly friendly, and has on several occasions given us a definite impression that she didn’t particularly like us, RSVP’d and said that she’s bringing her father! WOW! Here is a chance to tangibly be a part of what God is doing in this community: We need folks to volunteer to fix a side dish, dessert or drink (we have the turkey already) to contribute to the meal on Friday. I can come by in the morning and pick it up, and can return any dishes or cookware the next day. If you want to double up a recipe and contribute part, that would be fantastic. Please call, email, text or Facebook me by Monday, November 22nd.
Across The Nation
God is moving in the hearts of students, faculty, staff and general volunteers who have a heart for the collegiate mission field! In New York City after the awesome response at One Cry (click here to read about it!), those students have been praying for the NYC metro area. They set a simple but seemingly impossible goal: to have prayer catalyst groups - students praying for campus transformation - on 44 campuses (half the campuses in the NYC area) by the end of this school year. They just had a catalyst meeting, which really encouraged the core group that this goal can be reached. Jaeson Ma had a screening of his new movie, 1040: Christianity in the New Asia, the previous weekend, and called out for those willing to pray for their city. Over 400 students at that location in Flushing, New York, signed up alone! It was totally unplanned and unexpected. God is bringing in the harvest!
At the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, they’ve seen over 3 times as many students praying at the Campus House of Prayer regularly that at this same time last year. Students are being challenged by our staff to pray for their campus like never before, and they are answering the call!
At Texas State University in San Marcos, Campus Ministers are praying weekly, and they are starting to see the spiritual climate on the campus changing. Students who don’t know Jesus are open to hearing the gospel. Campus Ministers are partnering in covenant relationship with trust. You need to watch this video testimony from one of the Campus Ministers; it’s incredible, and personally builds my faith. It’s nearly 10 minutes long, but worth every minute! Watch here!
Prayer Requests
I think I mention this often; the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Monthly, sometimes weekly, we have student’s campus ministers, parents, contacting us asking if we have volunteers or staff in their area that can help them with united prayer groups or facilitate some missional communities leadership groups – from the Midwest to the southeast, from California even to Canada, and we just don’t have those human resources. Please pray for God to bring the workers in, people – students, graduates, marketplace workers, volunteers- who have a passion to see the collegiate mission field transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Besides human resources, I still need support for the amount I am responsible to raise for the work of Campus Renewal Ministries. It is coming to a critical point, and I need your help. Please pray for the support needed to come in, for open doors as I approach different organizations, and for opportunities to present the mission and vision and mission of CRM to different small groups. If you want to give directly online, either through credit or debit, or through an electronic funds transfer, please visit www.campusrenewal.org, and click on the donate link. I would love to meet with you and tell you more about what is happening.
As always, I’d love to hear from you – what God is doing in your lives, and your triumphs and prayer needs. Shoot me a message or give me a call any time!
Much Love!
Akpene
512.293.9107
Akpenesadventures.blogspot.com
Find me on Facebook – Akpene at Campus Renewal Ministries
www.reachingcampus.com
