Hearing the Soul's Cry for God

One of the UCLA InterVarsity seniors, Layla, had been friends with a woman named Stella all year. Stella is not a Christian, but knew that Layla was. So when Layla invited Stella to come to an InterVarsity meeting geared toward people curious about God, she figured she owed her a favor and reluctantly agreed. But something happened in that meeting. As she sat and listened to the InterVarsity students perform a cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You”, Stella suddenly began to weep. The speaker shared the story of the prodigal son—how we were made to have more relationship with our Father than we’ve known—and ended with an invitation to consider studying the life of Jesus in the Bible, with a Christian. At the end of the meeting, Stella approached Layla, “What was that thing the speaker was talking about? Where you meet with someone to learn more about Jesus and what he really has to offer? Because we need to do that!”

God is at work on campus. Whether students know it or not, he is in pursuit of each and every one of them. The mission of Inter Varsity is to nurture witnessing communities of students who love their neighbors, who invite them to experience God, and who are equipped to lead them to Jesus. Because we’re living this out with hundreds of students at UCLA, today Stella has heard her soul’s cry for God, and is responding to it by intentionally exploring what Jesus has to offer her. Layla is learning, first-hand, how to let God work through her in the life of her friend.

These things don’t happen without you.

InterVarsity ministry is funded entirely by individuals and churches that have a heart to see the next generation encounter Jesus, be transformed by him, and be equipped to live lives that impact our world. Our mission is one that requires partnership, and you are one of those partners. Thank you for participating in this significant and vital work.

As we come to the close of the calendar year, would you consider giving an extra gift to help us continue to sustain and expand the work on campus? At the halfway point of the academic year, we find ourselves $15K shy of our goal. Any part you feel led and able to play in helping us reach that would be a blessing and encouragement.

As we celebrate the entrance of God into our world this Christmas season, I invite you to also to join me in celebrating the ways that God is entering into the lives of students on campus.

Merry Christmas!

When Secrets Reveal the Truth

To walk the USC campus today is to be impressed. The image of the powerful, confident, determined Tommy Trojan captures the students of the campus: they're young, attractive, and they've got things together. At least that's what you would think until you read their secrets.


Last week the InterVarsity students of USC set up a booth on campus that asked, “We all have a secret...What's Yours?” Students across campus were invited to write something they’d never told anyone on a 3 x 5 card, place it anonymously into a box. Those cards were posted on the walls of the booth every hour, and they tell a whole story all by themselves. In truth there’s a hidden reality on campus today: underneath the veneer of confidence and health, students live their lives in pain, confusion, and emptiness. They are dealing with real issues, and they need real healing, and real hope.


As students viewed others’ secrets on the booth, and put their own into the box, they were invited to hear a Christian perspective on being freed from the shame of secrets. Last Thursday evening, over 100 students showed up. InterVarsity staff Larissa Marks shared some of her own failures and secrets, and how she experienced God offering her forgiveness, healing, and freedom. Two students ended the evening making new commitments of faith, six committed to attending an exploratory Bible study to learn more about what Jesus could offer them, and half the room stood to commit to living more openly and honestly.


As I stood on campus last week, watching InterVarsity students engaging their peers, I was moved. And I was reminded: this is why I do what I do. To get to lead students deep in their faith, and then empower them to offer the healing, the love, and the direction of God to their peers...this is the mission of InterVarsity, and it's one our world is dying for. Yet upon first glance, you'd never know it.


The work is far from over...but the healing and hope of God are as relevant today as they've ever been.

Family Update

Lucy and Tyler are doing great. They just started pre-school and are LOVING it! Tyler takes his learning really seriously and is often the last kid to leave the reading circle. Lucy is reciting each sound of the alphabet and loving her new set of friends. And as they get older--three and a half now--they're becoming better and better friends. It's wonderful to watch. Parenting continues to be the most honoring gifts we've ever received.

Ignite: Students Trained in Sharing Their Faith

Mid-September hundreds of college students from campuses all over Southern California met at Bel Air Presbyterian Church for our Ignite conference, to be inspired and equipped to share their faith with their friends. This year's focus was "Hear and Obey", encouraging and teaching students to listen to God's voice, and respond in faith.

Students hear inspiring messages, were trained in seminars, and had deep experiences with God in worship and prayer. It was a wonderful time, and is planting seeds for students to go deeper in their faith and see God work through them to bring transformation to their campuses.

LAUP, Shivs, Racism...and Faith Made Real

Jonathan (in the yellow shirt with other LAUP interns) is a USC sophomore who spent the summer tutoring Latino teenagers in East Los Angeles. Angel was the biggest problem kid in the whole class: he was disruptive, disrespectful, and intimidating. Angel comes from a long line of gang members. Things came to a head about a month into the summer, when Angel brought a shiv to class. Jonathan was fearful for his own safety. Over the weekend, Jonathan’s LA Urban Project team spent time in deep prayer for Angel. When class began on Monday morning, Angel was a totally different kid: he was helpful, attentive, and responsive in a way he hadn’t been all summer. Jonathan and his team experienced God hearing their prayers, and bringing a powerful character breakthrough.

Have you ever felt the difference between a person who knows a lot about God versus the person who KNOWS God? It’s easy to know a lot about God and still not have much to offer this world. But when you come across a person who has first-hand experience with God’s POWER to bring REAL CHANGE…well that’s the kind of person I want to be around. This past summer God used InterVarsity’s LA Urban Project (LAUP) to take 48 other students like Jonathan (some of them above, with me) from knowing a lot ABOUT God to really KNOWING him.

Carrie is a junior from UC Riverside who spent the summer working with Black youth in Northwest Pasadena. All summer, one of the students in her class—DeAndre, a Black youth—was hostile to Carrie all summer because she was White. DeAndre regularly muttered comments to other students in the class about Carrie being racist. Carrie spent the summer feeling intimidated and guilty. Things came to a head when DeAndre got up in her face and yelled directly at her that she was a racist. Carrie was devastated, and couldn’t respond. That night, she asked her team to pray for her. As they did, God revealed to Carrie that she was wrongfully living in guilt about being White. “Yes, White people have done horrible things, but you don’t have to live under that,” she sensed God speaking. The prayer time released Carrie to trust herself, and engage DeAndre. The following day, no longer fearing his accusations, Carrie confronted DeAndre about his tirade, and apologized for ways White people had hurt him. “Would you be willing to tell me about how you've been hurt by White people?" she asked. DeAndre melted. He apologized for his behavior, and they had an immediate breakthrough in their relationship. Carrie saw God heal and free her, internally, in a way that allowed her to lead in racial reconciliation externally, changing Andre’s experience of White people for the rest of his life.

This summer, LAUP was a place where faith became real for 50 students. Reconciliation, healthy relationships, the power of prayer…these went from being theoretical ideas to daily practice. Your prayer and support is allowing InterVarsity to nurture people with the real kind of faith that our churches, our work places, and our world desperately need. It is my joy and honor to see God take the next generation of leaders from knowing about him to knowing him, and having him to offer.

Family and Financial Update

Our kids continue to bring us rich joy. They turned three in May, and continue to bring more of the same energy, laughter, and fun into our lives.

Lucy loves to look out for younger kids and teaches them with patience, gentleness and compassion. Here she is teaching her little one-year-old friend, Aaron Marks, to dance.


Tyler's active physicality continues to increase with age. Here he is "driving the tractor" (a real tractor) out at Catalina Island in early June with his buddies, Marcus Gee, and Jayden Mammen.

Scott will spend his summer as a co-director of the Los Angeles Urban Project, and Jenny is in the midst of her summer play season, launching one play as we speak, and running two youth programs as the summer goes on.

June marks the end of our fiscal year as well, and so far I’ve seen donors like you provide 95% of our ministry budget. That leaves us seeking an additional $5K of gifts, so if you are in a place to consider an extra year-end gift, it would come as a wonderful blessing to finish our year in the black. You can give by simply clicking the link to the right.

Wrapping Up a Great Year

Your prayers and support have made a profound impact! Steven’s story, below, is just one of hundreds of student testimonies to the power and work of God on campus over this past school year. Next year Steven (Pictured at right) will join our young team of staff interns.

One of the ways InterVarsity assesses the fruitfulness of our ministry is by doing an annual numeric assessment of our growth. Well, this year’s was astounding! To kick the year off, our students followed up with 1122 students interested in InterVarsity...more than ever before! We had 27 student-led bible studies specifically for non-believers, and 64 students made new decisions of faith (the most we've ever had in one year!) We saw huge jumps in our number of student leaders, the number of students gathering to pray, and in students going to our week-long scripture study camps at Catalina Island. Translation: more students are having a richer experience of God in college, they are having greater impact on their campuses, and God is more deeply equipping them to be a blessing to the church and the world.

June marks the end of our fiscal year as well, and so far I’ve seen donors like you provide 95% of our ministry budget. That leaves us seeking an additional $5K of gifts, so if you are in a place to consider an extra year-end gift between now and the end of June, it would come as a wonderful blessing to finish our year in the black. You can give by simply clicking the link just below or to the right.

I look forward to keeping you updated on all that God keeps doing over the summer through the Los Angeles Urban Project, and into next fall!

Summer Blessings!
Scott

Portrait of Transformation: Steven

Jenny and I were so impressed with the students who were in our back yard, especially with the young Latino man who was their leader.

Two weekends ago, students from Cal State LA came to our home to wash cars. They were raising money to help pay for their week-long trip to Catalina Island to study the gospel of Mark. The students were courteous, hard working, and did a great job. But the one who really stood out was the student leader in charge of the group: Steven (pictured above to the right, on a mission trip in Turkey last summer).

Since childhood, Steven has lived with his family of eight in a small apartment in East Los Angeles. It’s a hard place to study. It’s a hard place to pray. It’s in a neighborhood abundant in temptation for a young Latino man. The odds were stacked against him making it in life.

But four years ago, Steven came to East Los Angeles College—a two year city college—and found our InterVarsity group. (To the left, some of our core InterVarsity students at ELAC) He quickly became a central part of the community, and eventually a student leader. Steven grew in faith, he grew in responsibility, and he began to excel in his studies. Despite ELAC’s horrendous 9% transfer rate to four-year colleges, after two years, Steven was accepted at Cal State Los Angeles, where by God’s grace, we had an InterVarsity staff restarting that campus ministry. Steven adjusted to the change of campus, got to know the InterVarsity staff there, and this year, has been instrumental in establishing the chapter, and seeing it grow from a handful of students to a solid group of twenty-five.

In our back yard I saw Steven organize the students’ work, empower and encourage them, and model for them the hard work, thoughtfulness, and servanthood characterized by Christian leaders. Steven was articulate, respectful, confident, and easy to be with. Steven is one of the most impressive college seniors I’ve met in the past decade. It didn’t surprise me a bit when he shared with me, at the end of working at our home, that he feels called by God to become and InterVarsity staff intern, and step into a life of campus ministry next year, when he graduates.

Ten years ago, InterVarsity was not at East LA College. (Right, Steven and other ELAC students) We weren’t at Cal State LA. Much like the rest of society, we’d overlooked those places as less significant than the USC’s and UCLA’s of the world. But in his grace and wisdom, God called us to go. And because we went, amazing young leaders like Steven are being transformed, and are bringing a quality of character and leadership to our churches, our work force, and our city that is unsurpassed.

I’m honored to be a part of God’s development of Steven, and I hope you are too.

LAUP in full swing!

I've just finished the orientation week of the Los Angeles Urban Project.

All of you who are supporting me--THANK YOU--I can't tell you how great it feels to get to be a part of such a PHENOMENAL program. We have 50 WONDERFUL students: they are hungry to grow, eager to learn, and in less than a week have become a powerful community of prayer and faith. The past two nights we've already had more powerful prayer and intercession times than I've had in years, and together we're seeing God respond to our prayers!

Teaching and leading these students over this past week has already been one of the most natural and satisfying ministry experiences I've had.

Now that our week is done, students have been equipped to understand the spiritual dynamics behind poverty and injustice in the inner city and have been introduced to God's deep heart of compassion for those in need, as well as his invitation to them to participate in bringing healing, renewal, and redemption to the inner city.

Today is the first day students are out on their urban ministry sites. I look forward to tell you the stories of what God does in and through them, and who they will become over the next six weeks.

Conversion and Community at Catalina

As some of you know, mid-April, I spent a week at Catalina Island with Cal State Northridge. We had a fantastic time! I spent the week going through the first third of the gospel of Mark with 18 students...and by the end of the week, three of them made new decisions of faith!

Miguel shared that he now understood, for the first time, that God wants to forgive him. Candice confessed her struggles with depression and cutting, and shared that Jesus was leading her into healing.

The highlight of the week was when we had a local pastor come into camp and baptize four of the students who wanted to publicly express their new commitment to faith. One of them from my study, Ariel, shared about Jesus’ pursuit of her, and spent two minutes—from the freezing Pacific Ocean water—exhorting the group about the wonderful love of Jesus that everyone needs. The whole
camp was moved by her words, including myself and my family! (My kids still talk about the baptism!)

It was a beautiful week of watching a bunch of normal college students becoming the people of God, brought together by the love, the healing, and the leadership of Jesus. I look forward to share more about what God keeps doing in them, and how that work impacts their campus.

Ongoing Work: USC Leadership Explosion!

We’re starting to see the fruit of investing in helping students reach students at USC. This past year, the group had 10 student leaders…the last month has been spent training the new team of 20 student leaders who have committed to leading their peers on campus!

These students have spent April being led into deeper intimacy with God, into following Jesus’ model of outreach through relationships, and into visioning for how to engage the campus with God’s love. Each time they are trained in a new facet of faith, they are sent out to put it into practice. One of the recent campus-wide outreach events they put on was called “Signs: is God trying to get your attention”. They had over 80 students show up, and one made a new faith decision that night.

So far this year, we’ve seen USC students lead 5 of their non-Christian peers into new Christian faith…and we’re praying for that number to double by the end of the year. I am celebrating the health and vibrancy of the group, and expect to see it become a place where Christian students become a major force in shaping the campus.

Behind the Scenes: Training Students for Urban Ministry

I spent the past weekend leading our Student Training in Mission conference. 70 students spent 24 hours being equipped to be sent out this summer to the Middle East, Guatemala, Honduras, and inner city Fresno and Los Angeles. They will spend 4 to 6 weeks serving alongside Christian workers in these places.

Possibly more than any other single thing InterVarsity does, these summer experiences teach students to put their faith into action, and graduate them as equipped men and women of character who have shaping influence for the rest of their lives. Pray for them as they bring God’s love into places of need!

On the Horizon: LAUP

What I’m most excited about right now is that I get to spend the summer directing students in the Los Angeles Urban Project. I’ll be working with urban ministries such as PATH on skid row (People Assisting the Homeless), the Brezee Youth Institute, and Redeemer Community Partnership.

Family and Financial Update

Jenny, Lucy, and Tyler were able to come with me to Catalina mid-April, and the kids had the time of their lives! Lucy caught her first fish, tyler caught crabs and gained a prized collection of shells, and Jenny, Lucy, and Tyler spent every morning playing on the beach. It was wonderful!

As I head into the end of the fiscal year, June 30th, I am seeking $6500 in additional support. So far, donors like you have brought in 95% of our need which is wonderful, and for which I’m grateful. If you are in a place to give a year-end gift to help put us over the top of our budget, that would be welcome blessing!

Students’ Lives Making an Eternal Impact

Joanna (center) is a junior at Cal State Northridge, and a Christian involved with InterVarsity. Last year, she decided to become an RA in the campus dorms so that she could have the chance to share the love of God with students who didn’t know him. This past fall, she and one of our staff interns, Terrell, started a “gig”—a God investigation group (translation: a Bible study for folks who aren’t Christians)—in Joanna’s dorm. It began in a dorm room. As it grew, it moved to the dorm lounge. And as time went on, more and more students began coming.

When Joanna and Terrell (left) invited them to consider coming to Catalina island to explore a relationship with God at our Can This Wait conference, eight of them said yes, joining 47 other non-Christians at our conference. They spent their weekend bonding and having fun at Catalina, as well as discussing spiritual questions and hearing messages such as, “Who is Jesus” and “What does it mean to follow him?”

Saturday night of the conference, UCLA staff Sam Rizk gave a message about the great banquet parable from Luke, challenging students that they shouldn’t wait to make a decision of faith. Each student was given an RSVP to God’s banquet table, and at the end of the message, students were offered the chance to RSVP to God’s banquet, and give their lives to following Jesus. At the end of the night, six of those eight students in Joanna and Terrell’s gig walked to the front of the 100-person room, and gave God their RSVP. Ten others joined them, for a total of 16 new decisions of faith.

This past Sunday night, the InterVarsity staff at Northridge had to gather the InterVarsity students for their first ever emergency follow-up meeting because there were so many students who made new faith decisions, and needed help growing into their new faith. Joanna and the other students left the meeting ready to help their new brothers and sisters begin the basics of Christian faith...and with a whole new perspective on what God will do through them when they give him the chance.

Ongoing Work: 47 Non-Christians came with us to Catalina…16 returned home Christians

We had a fantastic weekend at our Can This Wait conference, at Catalina Island. Christian students have been building deep relationships with non-Christian peers all year—hanging out with them, serving them, inviting them to explore things of God—and this past weekend, those Christian students brought 47 of the non-Christian friends to actively seek God. 16 of those students gave their lives to following Jesus.

Pray with us for those 16 decisions of faith to go deep, and turn into true discipleship. Additionally, pray for the 31 students who were at the weekend who didn’t make decisions, and the hundreds of other non-Christian students with whom we’re in relationship, that they would continue forward toward God, and be found by him as we continue to partner with God in seeking and saving those who don’t know him.

Behind the Scenes: Lessons From Can This Wait

This is the second year I’ve been directly involved with Can This Wait, and we’re learning a lot from what we’ve seen this year.

The most exciting aspect of the conference was the sheer number of non-Christians that InterVarsity students brought. 47 is more than double what we’ve brought in past years! I’m attributing this to the growing culture of mission that’s developing in our chapters. Increasingly students are coming to understand that the purpose of their existence as a Christian community is to let God love them deeply, and to offer that love to the rest of the campus. That sounds great on paper…but it’s a whole other thing to see students living it out, and to see the love of God transforming the campus!

Secondly, we’ve noticed the impact of gigs. The non-Christian students who had been involved in a regular Bible discussion with their Christian friends—where they can ask their questions, where they’re reading the teachings of Jesus for themselves—were much further along in their search for God. Gigs are an empowering opportunity for Christian InterVarsity students to lead their friends into the love of God, and they are proving to be a critical opportunity for post-modern seekers to work through their barriers to faith before making the choice to give their lives to God.

On the Horizon: Taking College Students into Urban Los Angeles to Encounter God

This summer, I will be stepping into a new role as the associate director of InterVarsity’s Los Angeles Urban Project, aka: LAUP. LAUP may be the single most powerful leadership experience that we offer college students in Los Angeles today.

Students spend the summer as LAUP interns, and are placed in teams who will live in the inner city. They spend their summer working with urban ministries and justice organizations—Boys and Girls Clubs, Union Rescue Mission, Inner City churches—and being led and trained in prayer, character, and a Biblical perspective on money and economics. During LAUP, students experience working through relational conflict, they learn to find hope in the midst of poverty, and they gain vision for what it means to fully live as Christians in our culture. On the other side of LAUP students come out with maturity, character, and an understanding of the world that makes them the kind of people who will shape their churches, neighborhoods, and places of work for the rest of their lives.

My sense is that participating in the leadership of LAUP—particularly the way it makes space for God to work at the intersection between college students and poor communities of Los Angeles—may be one of the most satisfying leadership experiences I have with InterVarsity.

Family and Financial Update

Tyler, Lucy, Jenny, and I are doing great! Our kids are growing up to be sweet and passionate people who are just pure joy to spend time with. Jenny has finally recovered from Urbana, and some of the pieces she created and performed can be found at http://www.urbana09.org/videos.cfm (My personal favorite is on Day 2, video #14, where Jenny tells Rahab’s story in the first person.)

Scott is going into a final fundraising push to see the remaining $14K of our budget come in. If you feel led to participate in helping reach that goal through an extra one-time gift, it would come as a great blessing to us.