Praises:
- Praise God for one student committing his life to Christ!
- Praise for our student (we'll call her Sarah) who believes in Navajo tradition but who is coming to realize that, "Jesus is a pretty rad dude."
- Praise God for the 100 people who attended the worship night!
- Praise God for sending April to work with international students and for Lam, Jacob, and Chuks who are some of her core students.
- Praise God for an improvement in Small Group attendance this month!
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray that each of the 13 students we are taking to fall conference would grow in their faith. Pray specifically that the non-Christian student we are bringing would dedicate his life to Christ.
- Pray for the student that decided to follow Jesus that he would have a firm foundation and good soil. Pray that he would continue to invest in his discipleship.
- Pray for "Sarah" to see that she can be both fully Navajo and fully Christian. Pray that she would decide to follow Jesus.
- Pray for more of the international students April has met to attend events and become core students.
- Pray for continued growth for our small groups and for perseverance and enthusiasm for our small group leaders who have experienced disappointment with how the semester began.
- Pray for Justin and Samantha as they navigate leading a staff team and student leaders through a challenging season of ministry.
- Pray that we would meet more freshman and sophomore students who have leadership potential.
Praises:
- Baby Autumn arrived, and is a healthy one!
- New small groups have all had new students attend, and are becoming thriving communities.
- God has answered our prayers to start an International student outreach (to love the foreigners among us), and we have met over 20 INTL students interested in a Bible study!
- Our first Faculty Small Group was a wonderful time of encouragement, meaningful conversation, prayer and study of God's Word.
Prayers:
- Pray for students who are curious about Jesus and are considering become disciples of His. Pray for them to say YES to Jesus, and enter his Kingdom this fall.
- Please pray for Samantha's health in caring for Baby Autumn...its harder than we thought!
- Pray for the many new students we've met, that they would follow through on their initial interest in coming to a small group Bible study.
- Pray for our staff and student leaders as they plant new Bible study small groups in these areas:
- Arts Department
- International Students
- Dance Department
- Fitness and Health Center
- Freshman and Transfers
- Faculty and Staff (YES! We finally know enough Christian faculty and staff at UVU to start a small group on campus!)
- Pray for us as we recruit students to attend our annual Fall Conference at the end of October. We have 25 students we would specifically like to have attend the conference with us. Pray they would make themselves available to encounter God that weekend.
Praises:
- A successful Leadership Retreat for Southern Utah Schools
- April, our new coworker, has been wonderful in engaging with our IV leadership team, and is fully committed to the many new students she has met this first week of school.
- We passed out almost 800 fliers last week, and met 79 students who wanted to hear more about InterVarsity!
- Baby Tappan and mama are healthy and looking forward to baby's arrival SOON!
- God has answered our prayers to start an International student outreach (to love the foreigners among us), and we have met over 20 INTL students interested in a Bible study!
- Our New Student BBQ was a success! We had 35 students attend, which was lower than we were hoping for, but our leaders connected well with the 25 NEW students who came, and having it on campus was very helpful.
Prayers:
- Please pray for Samantha as her due date has arrived!
- Pray for these 79 new students, that they would follow through on their initial interest in coming to a small group Bible study.
- Pray for our New Student Outreach at UVU. The first week of school is over, but our student leaders are now investing several hours a week in contacting these new students, getting to know them, and inviting them into our community. We would love to see God bring us:
- Freshman
- Christian students with leadership potential
- International students
- Pray for our staff and student leaders as they plant new Bible study small groups in these areas:
- Arts Department
- International Students
- Dance Department
- Fitness and Health Center
- Freshman and Transfers
- Faculty and Staff (YES! We finally know enough Christian faculty and staff at UVU to start a small group on campus!)
Praises:
- God worked mightily in the area of our ministry funding and recovering from a large deficit this summer. Praise God for his work and for all of the people he used to make this possible!
- Our new staff worker April who moved to Orem this month!
- Baby Tappan and mama are healthy and looking forward to baby's arrival on Aug. 28th!
Prayers:
- Please pray for Samantha as her due date approaches!
- Pray for our Southern Utah Leadership Retreat on Aug. 17-19th. We will host student leaders from USU Eastern, SUU, and UVU in Orem for leadership training.
- Pray for our New Student Outreach at UVU. The first week of school Aug. 21-25 we will be hosting an information table on campus everyday as well as hosting several events on and off campus for new students. We would love to see God bring us:
- Freshman
- Christian students with leadership potential
- Please pray specifically for our New Student BBQ on Aug. 25th. We will be hosting the BBQ on campus and are praying for 50+ students to attend.
- Pray for our staff and student leaders as they plant new Bible study small groups in these areas:
- Arts Department
- International Students
- Dance Department
- Fitness and Health Center
- Freshman and Transfers
- Faculty and Staff (YES! We finally know enough Christian faculty and staff at UVU to start a small group on campus!)
Praises:
- Praise God for another great year of ministry and for a wonderful end of year celebration with our students!
- Continue to praise God for our new staff member April who will arrive in August!
- Praise God for the rest and vacation time we have been and will be able to take this summer.
Prayers:
- Please pray that we would be able to raise enough money to cover our deficit over the summer and that we would be able to increase our pay in order to be able to support baby Autumn.
- Pray for wisdom and diligence for us as we prepare for the fall.
- Continue to pray for health for Samantha and baby. We are now in the third trimester!
- Pray for our summer Bible study. Pray that students would continue to grow in their faith and that there would even be some non-Christians who attend.
- Justin will be traveling solo to Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho on June 23rd to visit some of our ministry partners. Please pray for safe travels and meaningful visits.
- Pray for April as she prepares and raises funds to move to Utah.
- Pray for the Mexico GP team as they travel and teach English over the summer; pray that they would form relationships that would enable them to share the Gospel.
Praises:
- Praise God for Ashley, who recommitted her life to Christ while at camp.
- Praise God for everything He taught students at camp and for the healing and transformation He brought.
- Praise God for safe travels, smooth logistics, and that Samantha didn't get sick while there.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that students would be faithful in following up on the commitments that they made to God at camp. Pray especially for those who were hard-hearted and/or rededicated their lives to Him that they would not be distracted or choked out by the world.
- Upcoming Faith Dialogue on April 13th. Please pray that LDS students would recognize that what they believe is different than what the Bible teaches and what Christians believe. Pray that LDS students would learn to trust a Christian and develop friendships. Pray that our Christian students would ask good questions, share their experiences with Jesus, and genuinely love their Mormon peers. Pray for continued good relations between the LDS student association and InterVarsity.
- Students learning about hearing God's Voice: Currently, our leaders and apprentices are learning about how to hear God's voice in their own lives and as He leads them to interact with others. Pray that students would be responsive by listening to God and responding to what He says.
- Senior Seminar: This week, we started a 4 week class for graduating students on how to transition from the InterVarsity community into "real life"; we will be covering career vs. calling, how to find/develop community, church life, money, decision-making, and saying goodbye. Please pray for these students as they transition from students to world-changers and leaders in their local churches.
- Leadership Selection: We are currently in the process of selecting new leaders and apprentices for next year. Please join us in praying for soft-hearted students who have a passion for seeing the Kingdom come to the campus. Pray for students as they decide whether to enter into the leadership agreement.
Praises:
- Praise God for little baby Tappan!
- Praise God for answering years of prayers for a staff at Dixie!
- Praise God for giving us a new staff at UVU!
- Praise God for the 38 students who attended the faith dialogue and for the curiosity He stirred up in some of the LDS students!
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for continued health for our baby. Also, Samantha would appreciate prayers for her sleep and prayers for this transition into a new season of life.
- Please pray for Craig and April as they transition from interns to staff. Pray for their fundraising this summer as they raise money to be full-time staff. Pray that God would provide them with places to live, prayer partners, and that He would be preparing students even now to work with them as they plant at Dixie State and with International students at UVU.
- Pray for camp recruitment! This year it has been difficult recruiting students. Several students have parents (either nominal Christians or Mormons) who have been against them attending camp. We still hope to see 17 students at camp. So far we have around 12. We would love to see at least 4 more students sign up for Mark 1.
- Pray for camp prep! Pray for Justin as he prepares to teach our new students in Mark 1. Pray for Samantha as she co-teaches Mark 2 and directs camp.
- Pray for the students who attended the faith discussion. Pray that the LDS students would remain curious and come to a Bible study. Pray that the Christians would use their experience to start talking to their friends about faith.
- Pray for our fund development as Justin works hard to be fully funded so that we can provide for our growing family. Pray that God would open up new networks and doors as we reach the end of ours.
Praises:
- Praise God for starting something new in the dance department through Sierra!
- Praise God for 5 Bible studies on campus and the 7 students leading those studies.
- Praise God for a growth coach and exciting goals.
- Praise God for a continually full house for parties, game nights and events.
Prayers:
- Pray that we would reach our goal of 50 students by or before December!
- Pray that the dance small group would continue to grow.
- Pray for our outreach to rock climbers and that this could become a small group in the future.
- Pray for students to have the motivation and funds to go to Mark Camp in March.
- Pray for each of our contact cards to respond as student leaders follow up with them individually; pray that these students would come to a small group.
- There has been a lot of confusion with Chipotle over our fundraiser and exactly how much was raised. We need this money as soon as possible to be able to give out scholarships. Please pray for a blessed and speedy response from Chipotle so that we can get students to camp.
