Plant to Grow…Grow to
Plant- InterVarsity of the Inland Northwest Prayer Guide
I love seeing new things.
I love consistency and deeply rooted values.
Often these two loves can feel at odds. When things are
changing around me and I don’t know why, I cling to what I know and I find hope
in the familiar. I think this is why attend a liturgical church. Some
traditions and value gain depth in repetition.
I also long for new things to occur. When I see a
neighborhood that is falling apart, I wonder who will save it. Can it be
restored? I love the freshness of working with college students because the
culture is not stagnant. I feel as
though I am constantly re-learning my job as students change. I enjoy the
freshness of every new fall and every new class. That is why I have stayed with
IV for 10 years.
I believe that in the Inland NW we are in a season of
clinging to the values that have defined InterVarsity; life on life
discipleship, deep scripture study, incarnational ministry and vibrant
community; while looking for new and unreached parts of our current campuses
and new campuses that we have never thought of starting new work at. As we
continue to grow in depth, God has invited us to “lift up our eyes” and truly
see where He is at work on our campuses. It is an exciting time that feels both
deeply rooted and terrifyingly tenuous. I would love to share 5 emerging
ministries and how to pray for them in this exciting and vulnerable season. I
will structure this guide around a 5 day work week, if you would like to
include these ministries in your daily prayer life.
Monday: Commuter
Students
Next
fall, May Gudgel will be planting at Spokane Falls Community College and
Eastern Washington University. The focus of this plant will be commuting
students from Spokane. These students don’t fit neatly in established campus
ministries, due to lack of evening time and struggle in the netherworld between
youth ministry and the rest of church congregations. IV has been growing as a
witness to these students and we are finally “seeing” these students and their
unique roll on campus. This is a great opportunity due to the campuses proximity
to each other, EWU’s abnormally large commuter population and an excellent
partnership opportunity with First Presbyterian Spokane. Please pray for:
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May and her fiancé Daniel. They are getting
married this summer and Daniel is hoping to also join staff.
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For Ross (from FPC Spokane) and his current
ministry for college students that we are hoping to partner with.
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For groundwork to be laid this spring. Finances,
student contacts, more churches to come along May.
Tuesday: Athletes
Unless
you live in or near a college town, athletes are the most visible college
students in our culture. They live extremely stressful and chaotic lives. They
are often isolated from the rest of campus due to intense practice schedules. This
year Athletes InterVarsity officially launched on a national level. Vince Le,
part-time staff at Whitman College, has been investing in athletes since the
fall. He has begun a weekly athletes small group with over 10 students
involved. This spring, he is going to a large scale outreach with the showing
of the film Linsanity (Jeremy Lin’s
story). Please pray for:
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Vince as he works with a population that is
extremely busy
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For the athletes as they wrestle with how to
collegiate athletes, students and Christian all at once.
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For Linsanity,
that it would gather more Christian athletes and be an opportunity to talk
about faith with non-Christian teammates.
Wednesday:
Student-led plants
Heritage
University is a small school in Toppenish, WA in the heart of the Yakama
Nation. Few know of its existence, but it has been on my radar as a plant for
about a year. This fall I was emailed by two students asking for assistance to
plant their own IV chapter! They are a young married couple who had attended “Would
Jesus Eat Frybread?” (IV’s national Native American student conference) and
decided that their campus needed this movement. Next week, I will be driving to
Yakama to do rudimentary small group training and to pray for this new work of
God! Please pray for:
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Early momentum. I long well-attended small
groups early on!
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Interest and resources that allow students from
Heritage to attend IV’s Winter Conference in Vancouver, WA.
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Wisdom for me as I learn to be a “coach”.
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I long that the whole Yakama Nation will be
blessed by this movement. I am so excited that it is an organic and
incarnational idea. I pray that it always would be so.
Thursday: Day-Time
Small Groups
For as
long as I have been part of IV, small groups have almost always taken place during
the evening. This has been great for students in the dorms, but has often left
those who live in apartments out. During the past two weeks, staff at WSU and
UI have attempted to launch multiple small groups in the CUB and Commons (major
gathering places) by simply asking those around if they would like to study
scripture during their lunch breaks. All in all, over 30 people have expressed
interest and May has already had one small group study. Please pray for:
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Staff to have a learning posture. Hosting a 45
minute Bible study around a lunch table is different than over an hour in dorm
floor.
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A sense of community. We pray that these groups
would become friends being transformed by Jesus. We hope these groups are
launching pads to larger community.
- ·
Continued interest! Just today I was able to
meet two more interested people at UI (the only two people I spoke with)! The harvest
seems very ripe right now, pray that it would continue to be so!
Friday:
Ethnic-Specific Small Groups
At WSU,
John Paradis is helping two passionate Latina freshmen launch a Spanish-speaking
small group! These students at Heritage are excited about reaching Native
students. The Asian-American student center would like to co-sponsor a showing
of Linsanity at WSU. God is on the
move with students of color and has been opening doors of community for us in
the Inland NW! Please pray for:
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Deepening relationships between our staff and
student teams with ethnic-specific communities on campus.
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For students who are going back into their
ethnic communities with the gospel. Pray that God would prepare them to be
missionaries to their hometowns.
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For staff “coaching” these students. Pray that
they (and I) would have wisdom and genuine desire to be learners.
New Season, New Needs
During this season planting, Donan and I are also entering a time of leaning into our support needs. Increased ministry and new seasons in life have led us to seek an additional $1000 per month of ministry support, or $12,000 annually. If you are a current partner, I would as that you would consider increasing your partnership towards this end. If you are not yet a partner, please pray about whether God is calling you to join our team at this time. We are hoping to reach this goal by the end of February. I would love to answer any questions that you may have and you if are interested in setting up a donation, you can visit: https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate#8055.
Thank you so much for your support and prayer! God is on the move!!!
