Disciples Making Disciples
I have just been in awe of what God has been doing in UTRGV. We are seeing so much fruit and we are so grateful to be able to witness His power. We are seeing students coming to know Jesus, we are seeing students hungry for the word of God, and we are seeing students transformed by the power of the Gospel. I want to share how a freshman student was transformed in such little time. She got connected to a Bible Study led by one of our upperclassmen and she started to attend very regularly with much joy. Shortly after, she started serving in our Blends Deli/Coffee shop which is open to all students. The shop is donation-based and is run by student volunteers. This is to develop students into leaders who will change the world in Jesus’ name.
Destiny gladly connected through a Freshmen Takeover Blends day at BSM and she absolutely loved it. So she in turn, started to volunteer regularly and one day after her shift we decided to walk together to the Bible Study. I was able to have a very intentional talk with her and I found out through that conversation, weeks after she started to attend the Bible Study she decided one day in her dorm to make the decision to surrender her life to Jesus. I was stunned! We talked about baptism and the significance of it and she did not hesitate to get baptized so we baptized her the day after finding out the news. We informed the whole Bible Study group and they joined us and Angelica, one of the girls that I had been discipling for a while, decided she wanted to disciple Destiny and we got to baptize her together. It has been a joy to see disciples making disciples. This story of Destiny reminds me that there is nothing impossible for God and that students can experience God through a Godly community and that He is at work constantly drawing people to himself.
– Vanessa Salinas serves at the BSM at UTRGV in Texas.
Walking where others have prayed for us to go
It’s 10:38 p.m., and there are five of us helping move our friend into her dorm – the one with bats, no less. She flew in from California, and after many flight delays, finally landed in Vermont. We picked up her stuff from another friend’s house, went to campus, and filled two dollies with suitcases, boxes, garbage bags of pants and sweaters, and a mini fridge half the size of me. Of course, the steps and dollies had irreconcilable differences. And, the grassy hill up to the old dorm never considered being easy on us. The staircase down to her room was so very awkward, but determination is a force to be reckoned with. We got everything just so into her room, and we were way too loud laughing and struggling together.
Now I have this thought, “How did I get to do this? This precious moment, and others like it in college ministry – why me? And, how can I live up to the responsibility?” Sometimes, our Father gives glimpses of how and why, like in Evie. This magnificent 90-year-old woman and her friends – some who have now passed on – prayer walked my campus and city for 50 years. On days like yesterday, where I felt shaken and lost my sense of who I am, God shows me the very foundation on which I live on, His faithful love, and that includes 50 years of prayers from sisters I haven’t all met.
God has never once failed in His faithful love.
So, be in love with Jesus, and live in grace. We don’t often know whose prayers we walk on everyday, yet our feet tread like deer on a mountainside. Love Jesus, and fight to be in love with Him. Jesus has us securely, and He is always more precious. Besides, you have no idea what someone has prayed over you, even if they don’t know you by name.
– Rayanna Cape serves with the Vine Campus Ministry in Vermont.
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