Christmas Reflections

Santa BJ with a student at UCSD's annual Christmas party

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas. At least, on our block it is. As we enjoy Christmas lights, Little Drummer Boy playing in the background, and hanging our stash of ornaments on the tree, Sarah and I are also identifying strongly with the season of Advent... the themes of longing, waiting, hoping in the darkness.

As our life is in the most transition is has ever been in, we are praying and waiting on the Lord for Him to move. In many ways, we've felt like the Israelites, with our backs up against the Red Sea, looking at a charging Egyptian army with no escape route. And in the midst of that fear and chaos, we are praying to the God who parted the Red Sea.

We also identify with the chaos of Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus. A bit nomadic, living in a culture of fear and paranoia, unsure of the future of their family. Isn't that quite a different picture than our happy Christmas cards? In the midst of such a dangerous and fearful time, God sent his son as a vulnerable baby, to an overwhelmed and I imagine a bit haggard young couple, trying to make sense of the world.

Pray with us this season for God's miraculous provision... in ministry, in our personal life, and in this season of transition for Sarah and I. We need God to break through our darkness. We are praying for all of you, especially if you find yourself in a place of waiting, in the darkness of the unknown.

An update on our fundraising goals... we have raised $2,200 of the $15,000 we are praying for. Pray with us through December that God would provide all we need.

Big Changes for the Carters

a high-five @ SDSU

Ministering to college students has shaped us more than almost anything else in our lives. We feel honored and blessed to have seen God pursue and transform students, and helped that happen. That’s why this decision has been particularly difficult to make. After 18 years of (collective) ministry, we have prayerfully decided to end our time serving colleges campuses with InterVarsity. 

We write this news with mixed emotions.  We love college students and the mission of InterVarsity and will continue to be committed to both, but we also feel released and a sense of anticipation as we wait for God to reveal the next step for our lives.  

This is a time of great transition for us. We will finish this year with InterVarsity, and as of now, do not know what jobs await us next! There is sadness in leaving this ministry and community that we love, and there is fear of the unknown. But we are holding onto faith that God has prepared good works in advance for us to step into (Eph. 2:10)

We could not have survived in ministry without such an amazing support team. You are our friends, family, and partners in this ministry. Each gift you have given has made an impact for the Kingdom of God on the college campus. Students lives have been changed forever because of your investment. We are so grateful for you!

Finishing the Race

We want to finish the race we've been running with InterVarsity well. We are working hard to end well on campus, and we want to end fully-funded, able to serve the campus strong this last year. This is where we need you! As supporters that have been with us for the long haul, help us end well.  Whether you have given faithfully for years, used to give, or have given in the past, would you consider giving a special celebration gift to our ministry this December? 

To finish this school year of ministry, and to end our time with InterVarsity fully funded, we need to raise $15,000. This is our last push, and we are so grateful that you have weathered the ups and downs of the economy with us. 

Give now in honor of these last combined 18 years of ministry, and in faith that college students will continue to be reached by the love of Christ for years to come.

Help us finish strong by giving a year-end gift of $200, $500, or $1,000. Click to give now.

Snapshots of an abundant fall harvest!

What happened to the thousands of college students that came to San Diego this fall to begin college? Read some snapshots around the city of God's powerful movement!


The harvest at UCSD

Check out these numbers (and think about all the work!):
Nearly 1,400 free hamburgers and hotdogs given away.
15,000 flyers distributed throughout campus!
Over 1,000 response cards to follow up with.
Over 500 students at the first InterVarsity Wednesday night.

All this work done by staff and students was abundantly worth it when 24 students made first time decisions to become Christians and 43 students made re-commitments to follow Jesus in college.


Momentum growing at SDSU

It has been an unprecedented fall at San Diego State. Already, in the first month, there have been more student conversions to faith than all of last year! They have seen international students coming to faith, Fraternity and Sorority students called to follow Jesus, and students in the dorms say YES to a life following Christ. The staff and student leaders are energized by this momentum, eager to see what God will do throughout this year!


Check out the Campus Leader's blog at SDSU for more amazing stories: reachsdsu.com


CSU San Marcos' second week...
Up at CSU San Marcos, they had 9 students come to faith at their first Large Group. Then... during their second week, 11 students came to faith! Usually the first week is the biggest group of students, and most people respond. How great that even more were thirsty for God the second week of school!

A student who came to faith the first week of school boldly proclaimed his testimony (which you can listen to here) at an outreach on campus just four weeks later.

At USD, and the community colleges around San Diego, God continues to move and pursue students, and there are many more stories to share. Pray with us for students to find new life in Jesus as they come to college, and that this movement of the Holy Spirit will only continue to grow throughout this year!

College Students Losing their Faith Makes Headlines

Yesterday The Washington Post published this article with research and statisitcal analysis on why college students leave the church. Over 100 InterVarsity student leaders and staff will reach out to thousands of incoming UCSD freshmen next week. The next two-week window is crucial for the hearts, faith and destiny of these of young college students. Click below to read the full article

Pray for new students coming to UCSD:


Over 5,000 freshmen are finishing packing and getting ready to move into the dorms at UCSD this weekend!  Our hope and prayer is that they would all find witnessing Christian communities that love them.  InterVarsity's first meeting is this Wednesday night 9/21.  We are praying for 700+ students to attend and for students to make decisions to follow Jesus that night.  

200,000 students coming to San Diego... who will meet them?

It's that time of year again... back to school! For San Diego, that means hundreds of thousands of college students flooding back into our city and onto campus. Almost all of the campuses have begun their New Student Outreach, trying to meet as many of these students as possible!

How can we meet this wave of students?
Every student needs to find a community that cares about them, yet so many of them struggle to find good friends and a place to be know. Currently, we have 19 staff on the ground, on-campus, reaching students. That's not enough! We need more staff to be able to reach these 200,000 students.

God has heard our cry, and he has raised up 7 new staff in the past 5 months. These 7 men and women have heard God's call to the campus, and I (Sarah) am working with them to prepare them for campus. They are in an intensive fundraising process, and hope to be on campus as soon as possible.

Here's a little bit about each of the new staff. 

Nick: Recently graduated from SDSU, Nick came to faith through GreekIV, our ministry to Fraternity and Sorority Students. He worked for his fraternity, SigEp for a year, traveling the country working with fraternity guys. Now, he's committed the next four years to work with GreekIV, and reach fraternity and Sorority students for Christ at San Diego State!

 Jonny: This new staff is exciting for both BJ and I. Jonny has been a student at UCSD, and a leader of the surfing ministry with BJ. He also came on the first San Diego Urban Project with us. Jonny will be working at UCSD, continuing to reach out to surfers, and help college students get involved in our city. He is pictured here with his fiancée, and they will be married in October!

 Kelsey: Kelsey is our first student from CSU San Marcos to come on staff! This is an exciting moment for our division. Kelsey chose to follow God's call to minister to students, even though she had already been offered a prestigious physical therapy position in San Diego. She lived in and ministered to the dorms at CSUSM, and is excited to get back on campus.


Pat: Another SDSU Greek IV graduate, Pat also came to faith in the Greek IV. He is our youngest staff, having graduated in 3 short years! Pat will go back to San Diego State and minister to the Greek system there with Nick. These are our first two fraternity men that we've hired in San Diego. They will surely transform a Greek system that is fraught with drug use, promiscuity, and a pervasive loneliness. 

Aaron: (Pictured here with InterVarsity USA's president) Aaron is a product of our community college ministry. I knew him as a student at Southwestern, when he helped lead worship for the group there. He transfered to San Diego State and got involved with InterVarsity, and came on as an intern last year. He is transitioning to part-time staff this year, and is excited to continue to reach students in the Filipino community on campus. 

Jenn:  Jenn also graduated from San Diego State, and will be returning there to work with the undergraduate fellowship. She helped lead worship for the fellowship after returning from studying abroad. Jenn has been a strong leader her entire time as a student. We are so excited to be sending her back to minister at SDSU.

Patrick: Our most recent new staff, Patrick (on the left in the photo) is coming on staff part-time to help reach our community colleges. He has been volunteering at San Diego City College for the past two years, and now will join Alan (on the right) at Mesa Community College. Patrick has a heart for those on the margins, and will help us continue to pursue community college students. 


As so many students arrive on campus, will you pray with us that God would send out these new workers into the harvest soon? They are currently developing their support team, an important step in being sent out to the campus. If you're interested in joining any one of these new staff's team, please email me!

Blowing doubt away.

http://threetrees-art.blogspot.com/2009/11/focus-focus-focus-and-then-focus.html

At the end of every fiscal year, there is always a time of panic... will God provide what we need this year? Even after nine years in ministry, depending on God, and watching Him provide for our budget without fail, my faith still wavers.

This year, because we have been disappointed and greiving, it has been that much harder to trust that God will come through for us in this area. It has also been a hard year for fundraising in general, with the recession catching up to us and our support base. BJ and I have struggled in prayer and in our minds, weary and frustrated.

Earlier in the year, I was praying and got an image of what we had left to raise, at that time $25,000, and God's breath blowing that number away. At first, I was excited and wanted to hold onto that picture, but also hold onto the ease at which our lack was blown away. As with many images or words from God, doubt crept in. Was that just my own imagination? Was that really a promise from God? And as we marched towards the end of our fiscal year and I wasn't seeing God blowing away our deficit, I really began to doubt.

Where was God's miraculous provision? We would hear stories of other staff receiving thousands of dollars in anonymous gifts, or people giving large gifts of $5,000 or $10,000. Why wasn't God doing that for us? Isn't that what the image was? Fundraising weighed heavy on us, and I wrestled with understanding if I heard the voice of God or not.

This June, and particularly the last few weeks of June, some sort of light has been breaking through clouds of anxiety and doubt. Everyday, we check to see if support has come in. Everyday, we see gifts appear. Friends, family, strangers... offering what they will to the ministry and our need. Everyday, chipping away the amount that is left to raise, and chipping away the fear that God will not come through for us.

We are very close now. With two days left, it really seems like all we need will come in. I was thinking about that image again, and wondering... did that actually happen? It doesn't feel like God blew it all away with one mighty breath. But then another thought quickly followed... many, many people have been blowing it away, slowly, surely, with the breath of God that is within them of generosity, caring, and sacrifice.


"But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding." Job 32:8

Stories of Student lives transformed (this year!)

Meet Sean. I met Sean when he attended our spring break camp, having only prayed once before in his life. He went in looking to see if God was real. By the end of the week, God became real to Sean when he saw his friend encounter God at camp. After that, Sean dedicated his life to God and just weeks later, he shared his testimony in front of dozens of fraternity and sorority students at a Greek IV event.

Meet Marshall. As an SDSU freshman, Marshall was high on drugs when the Holy Spirit put on his heart to repent and come back to Jesus. Marshall was raised a Christian but fell away from his faith. His mom continued to pray for him daily and Marshall had a drastic turnaround when he repented. He stopped drugs, sex and alcohol and began ministering to students through prayer and is now looking to enroll in Bible school. 

Meet Lisa. Previously a hardcore skeptic, Lisa was invited by her roommates (two SDSU InterVarsity leaders) to our annual Fall Retreat at Catalina Island (where I was the keynote speaker). At Catalina, she had an amazing encounter with Jesus but afterwards attempted to ignore God’s call. God did not take no for an answer and continued to press deeper into her life through her roommates. Towards the end of the Spring semester, Lisa came to faith in Jesus!

Meet Tyler, Joanna, and Marcus! Watch a video about three new Christians at UCSD!

This year 53 students became Christians at UCSD! And 149 students began their relationships with Jesus across the 9 campuses in San Diego InterVarsity! Praise God!!

Summer Prayer Letter! Fresh off the press!

Click on the image below to download our latest prayer letter!

And... special insert!
5 ways to spiritually preparing your kids for college!
Click on the image below to download... and pass it along to any parents of college-bound students you know! (Read more on our blog.)

Good Reads for tough questions college students face

Here is a short list of good reads for college students, high-schoolers going away to college, or parents!


True Story by James Choung is a sure winner! James is our former San Diego Divisional Director with InterVarsity and wrote this book in response to a lot of the specific questions InterVarsity staff in San Diego were getting from college students while doing evangelism on campus. Make sure to add this one to your reading list! Out of all the books listed here, this might be the one your child makes it all the way through!

Mere Christianity by CS Lewis  This is a classic and will help your student deal with atheist professors (Lewis was a staunch atheist into his 50s). It is also a great intellectual apologetic for our faith in Jesus. Out of all these books, these first two would be great summer reading for a pre-college student!

A New kind of Christian by Brian McClaren 
Some people don’t like McClaren, but I do. This book is going to meet your child in a way that few others can. Let’s face it, your kid lives in a post-modern world and thinks and interacts with the world in a completely new way than CS Lewis did. McClaren knows how to write about it and ask hard questions about faith from this context.

Finding God in the questions by Dr. Timothy Johnson is another great book, in 2004 it was #8 on the NY Times Bestsellers list, and its from InterVarsity Press!! (can you feel the pride?) Here’s a quote, "Doubt doesn't have to tear down belief, however; it can purify it. When it does, the beliefs on the other side become more certain. This is why I would like to affirm that it is possible to find God even while you are still asking the big questions."

Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?: A Professor and a Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity This is a fun one, I read it a couple years ago. It’s a compilation of emails between a pastor and the atheist lead singer of a very popular punk band called Bad Religion. If your kids are into music try this one, it’s a good book because this guy is a very, very smart atheist, and yet his arguments can’t discredit the pastors answers to his questions. Also by IVP!

Mind Your Faith: A Student's Guide to Thinking and Living Well by David Horner. This is a great handbook for your student! For young Christians about to embark on the collegiate experience, Horner provides a guide to thinking as a Christian. Carefully exploring how ideas work, he gives students essential tools for thinking critically, contextually and coherently, unpacking worldviews and discerning truth.

Is Believing in God Irrational? by Amy Orr-Ewing. I haven’t read this one, but if you or your child is struggling with this, it’s a good one. The author addresses key questions and objections that many people today have about God. She probes whether the Christian claim to a unique personal relationship with God is plausible in light of other world religions, and how anyone can continue to believe in God in a world of pain and suffering.

God on Campus: Sacred Causes & Global Effects By Trent Sheppard. This one is about the prayer movement of young people on campus and the impact that they are having on the world. If you are in doubt about sending your kid to college, read this to be inspired with what God wants to do to change the world and what He can do with young passionate hearts.

Finding God at Harvard by Kelly Kullberg. 
Another great IVP and Boston Globe Bestseller. In it she finds and records the testimonies of 42 Harvard professors. Encouraging that God is still moving at some of our most prestigious institutions and explodes the myth that Christian faith cannot survive a rigorous intellectual atmosphere!

Shaping the Spiritual Life of Student: A Guide for Youth Workers, Pastors, Teachers & Campus Ministers By Richard Dunn. In this book, Dunn shows you how to set the pace with sensitivity to the unique spiritual issues that occur during each stage of adolescent development: junior high, senior high and college. It seems like a good spiritual development book for parents of kids of all ages.

Spring Break Round Two! (community colleges)

Community College students raising money for their spring break camp

Last week, I (Sarah) traveled back to Catalina Island for Spring Break, round two! This time the community colleges were on spring break, and I didn't teach anything,but got to simply hang out with my staff and students.

The three community colleges that I supervise are Mesa, San Diego City, and Southwestern colleges. These colleges are taking more and more of the students in San Diego that can't afford a four-year university, need to get GEs out of the way, or are working on a more technical degree, like heating and air conditioning for example.

Many of these students will go on to be the nurses, firefighters, technicians, and teachers in San Diego. They could be what you call the "backbone" of our cities.

These community colleges are also becoming more and more crowded as students turn to a more affordable and accessible higher education.

We took about 20 of these students to Catalina Island, to study the gospel of Mark for the week. There were ups and downs throughout the week. It's an intense schedule, and can be a challenging way to look at scripture... especially on Spring Break. Many of these students are dealing with tremendous brokenness in their homes and families. More than your average 4-year college student.

I spent a lot of my time praying with students, listening to their insight into Mark, and being impressed with my staff as they taught and pastored their students. Even though it's hard to be away from home for another week, whenever I spend time with community college students, I am more and more convinced that InterVarsity needs to be reaching these campuses.

These students need God's love, healing, and power because they often face overwhelming circumstances in their life. They are a forgotten people, often on the margins. They are exactly who Jesus would be seeking out, calling into wholeness, hanging out with.

So as I spent the week before Easter with these students, I was reminded over and over why Jesus went to the cross for us, a broken people. It was because of His great love for us, especially those who feel forgotten and overlooked.

Breakthrough on the last night!

What sounds better for Spring Break than being on a desert island with 40 SDSU college students looking intensly at the life of Jesus? I say nothing! We had a fantastic Spring Break camp, with over 30 students in the seminar I led. This was one of the biggest Mark seminars I've ever taught!

It was a little hard for the students to get vulnerable with such a large group, but God was relentless about pursuing each student... all the way to the very last night! We had a large group sharing about what God had done. Slowly, students began to share deeper and deeper things that God had been doing in their life that week. 


One woman shared about a broken and unhealthy relationship that she had been in with her ex-boyfriend, and tearfully asked the room to help her stay out of it and follow God into freedom.


One guy in our group was so emotional during the sharing, that he started to cry before it was even his turn to share anything. He walked out of the room, and then when he came back in, he shared about his struggle to want people to like him and admire him, and his hatred for seeming weak in front of people. God had been opening him up to trusting in Him for his strength and value.


Another young woman talked about how her life as a Christian had turned into just following the rules, much like the Pharisees in the gospel of Mark. She explained how it had been easier to rely on being a "good" Christian than actually engage in a relationship with Jesus. But that week, she had come to the realization that that kind of religion wasn't working for her, and she was turning away from being a Pharisee, repenting, and turning towards an intimate relationship with Jesus. 


The sharing went on and on! Afterwards, I prayed with students for healing and the continued work of the Holy Spirit until late in the night! I crawled into bed after 1am, exhausted but exhilarated at how the Word of God, particularly the life of Jesus can radically transform students' lives... in just one week!


Thank you for your prayers! I go back to Catalina next week to be with the community colleges as they go through Mark as well. Pray for even more healing and breakthrough with these students! 

Credited to Your Account

Sarah and I wish we could share more stories of God's work on campus, but we've been spending much of our time this past windter and spring working on our fundraising. The sustained recession affecting all of us has made it more challenging to meet the fundraising goals we have for our ministry with InterVarsity.

We have been studying Philippians 4 lately, where Paul is writing to the believers in Phillipi, who are also givers to his ministry. We feel a lot like Paul when he says: "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances...Not that i desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account."

Paul, like us, was in "need". He was in jail, and needed the daily support of others to be sustained. But he learned how to trust God, and be content with whatever the circumstances were. We haven't quite reached Paul's contentment in life...but we have been learning how to trust God with the needs of our family and our ministry.

We also, like Paul, strongly believe that one day, you will be credited for the amazing things that are happening on the college campuses we work on. God will look at you and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant" because of the gifts you have given to the ministry. Like Paul, we are praying these words over each of you as you invest with us. "They [your gifts] are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." May this be true for you today!

 

From Vandalism into God's Arms

A Fraternity Student's Changed life!

Hosting big outreaches on campus are a lot of work. At UCSD, the "No Secrets" outreach was off to a rocky start. Many of the staff, including myself (BJ), were off-campus fundraising, we had gotten a late start planning such a major outreach, and the majority of the work rested on students and their initiative. We were worried about the outcome of the outreach.

God was not worried, however. He had great plans for reaching out to students all over UCSD's campus and inviting them into a life of freedom. Here is one of our favorite stories from the week.

On Wednesday night, a crew of InterVarsity students camped out at the No Secrets Tent at UCSD. They broke into spontaneous worship and prayer around 3am as two intoxicated fraternity guys approached the tent. They came into the tent, and one of the guys immediately sat down and started crying, as the group continued to worship, this guy started to pray and ask for God's forgiveness for the deep sin and darkness he found himself in. He asked that God bring him home again.

Our student leaders began to pray with him and process what was happening for him, and he began to share about how he had been a Christian in high school, but had joined a fraternity and turned away from God into a life of partying. Later, he explained that he and his friend were originally planning on coming to the tent to vandalize it and mock the worshipers, but w hen he came into the tent (in his own words) he was "hit by a warmth that was unexplainable, and all of a sudden, his own sin and brokenness became clear." He later asked to stay with the worshipers because "it felt so safe". Praise God for this Saul- like moment, where God interrupted satan's plans for evil and redeemed it for good.

Overall, the outreach was a huge success, with thousands of students sharing their secrets and being introduced to a God who knows their deepest secrets, and offers then a life of freedom.

Click here to visit our UCSD No Secrets Website

Watch a video of all the secrets UCSD students carry

Missions Night a Success!

Thank you for your prayers! The missions night at Newbreak was a great success. We had over 40 people show up to hear about what God is doing on colleges around San Diego. We also ate a lot of pizza... a popular college activity!

We are praying that this night will be the start of a new season of support in San Diego for the amazing work God is doing on campus, right here in our city.

Spiritual revival is coming to San Diego... we believe that very strongly. But it will take many people getting fired up enough to pray, fast, give, and get invovled to see God rescue and release the 250,000 college students in our city. Join us in this adventure!

Missions Event in San Diego!

This weekend, Newbreak Church will host a missions event for us at their Tierrasanta Campus. This is a big event for BJ and I... for many reasons.

BJ grew up in Boulder, CO and has been sent as a campus missionary from the community of First Presbyterian Church in Boulder. I was raised in Carmel, CA and Carmel Presbyterian Church played a significant role in my faith journey, and then sent me out as a missionary to the college campus as well. We have been so incredibly grateful for these two communities.

Going to college, coming on staff, getting caught up with the busyness of life and ministry, it has been harder to cultivate a base of supporters here in San Diego. We also didn't grow up here, and haven't had the network of relationships that one grows throughout a lifetime.

However, we have felt embraced and supported in the past few years by a very cool church here in San Diego. Newbreak is one church, but many campuses, with a heart to love and serve the city. We have recently become supported missionaries through that church, and they are throwing us this missions event this weekend.

Believe it or not, we have never had an event like this in San Diego!

We are praying that through this event, many people in San Diego will become familiar with InterVarsity, and the movement of God on secular college campuses in our city. We are praying that people will become caught up with the excitement of God rescuing lost college students: students that have never heard about Jesus, or who have got caught up in the college lifestyle and walked away. There are too many stories to share about college students falling in love with Jesus, committing their life to Him, and then sharing Jesus with their friends. It's a powerful and captivating journey that we, and our supporters, get to be a part of!

We need people to join our support team, and invest in God's movement on campus. Lately, BJ and I have been praying for 30 new supporters giving at $100/month. It's a daunting goal. Pray with us, that people would come this weekend, and find that this is a worthy investment.

Are you in San Diego? We would love for you to come! Contact us for more info, and click the link above for directions.

Freedom from our Secrets

About a year ago SDSU InterVarsity engaged the campus with an outreach called “No Secrets”. It allowed students to anonymously share secrets they had never told anyone before and learn about the freedom that Jesus offers us. We love it, and decided to bring this outreach to UCSD. With the leaders, we studied Mark 4 when Jesus heals the bleeding woman and found that her secret wasn’t that she was bleeding (everyone knew that). Her secret was when she touched Jesus’ cloak, she was healed! And because she had courage and revealed that secret to the crowds, Jesus restored her, set her free, called her daughter and commended her faith!

Here’s a secret a UCSD leader shared at a prayer time we recently had (with her permission)…

“I have been carrying this secret since my freshmen year. It’s not a secret from you guys, but from my family. I haven’t told them that last year I stood up at an InterVarsity meeting to start following Jesus. Nobody in my family believes in God and I am afraid to tell them. Afraid of what they will think, how they will react. But I don’t want it to be a secret anymore! They are coming down to visit this weekend for my birthday and I am going to tell them. That’s why I told you all, so I won’t chicken out.”

Later the following week… “I did it, I told my mom. We were waiting for a table at the restaurant. I was ready for a confrontation, it was probably one of the most nerve-wracking moment of my life. She was quiet for a minute, then smiled and said, “You really have changed, haven’t you?” Now I am closer to my family than probably ever before.

Isn’t this a great story? This leader is taking steps and risks for Jesus! Not only on campus, but with her family, which can be the scariest step of all. Her mom might not believe in God, yet… But she can see a change in her daughter, and her daughter was quick to point out that the change was Jesus, just like the bleeding woman. Jesus is the secret that needs to be told, to bring hope and freedom to students held captive!

Check out this video our UCSD students made about the secrets we carry

Community Colleges Matter

InterVarsity in San Diego is currently reaching 4 community colleges. I helped to start the work at San Diego City College over five years ago. It has been challenging, sometimes disappointing, and hard to sustain. And yet every time I walk onto a community college campus, I feel a deep sense from God telling me that we need to be there. 


These colleges are crucial stepping stones for people to receive technical skills,  get the classes they need to transfer to a four-year university, or complete programs like nursing that otherwise would be unavailable to them. The students that pass through community colleges will likely become the foundations of our communities... technicians, hospital staff, firefighters, teachers.

These students are also hungry for the gospel. 

Before we started reaching community colleges and establishing witnessing communities there, the only groups present on these campuses were cults. As our presence grows, the cults influence diminishes.

We know that in the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience.

- President Obama

July 14, 2009

We are committed to reaching these schools full of men and women that make up the fabric of our society... nurses, fire-fighters, heater/air conditioning techs, teachers and more. 

Right now, I'm using some of my time to help San Diego City College stay afloat with no staff worker. Please pray for me as I minister to these students, and pray for God to make himself known on these campuses that desperately need transformation and renewal. 

Human Trafficking Stopped by a Student

I love this story from San Diego State:

 This is from a student leader named Honey who went on an InterVarsity missions trip to Cairo last summer:


About a month ago, I had yet another amazing opportunity to share my testimony about my missions trip in Cairo. As soon as I was done, I got into a deep conversation with a man who was intrigued by my story. I told him about how hard it was for me to be an American woman in Cairo because of how I was treated. I explained how there was a moment in Egypt where a few even believed my roommate and I were targets for human trafficking and how terrifying it was.

When I told him about that specific experience, I saw tears instantly falling down his cheeks. He eventually confessed that back in the day, he was in the business of human trafficking in California. Through his trembled voice and in his teary eyes, I saw that this was something he was very shameful about. So in that very moment, I prayed for healing in his brokenness and then we went off our way.

Honey is on the right.

A few weeks have gone by and yesterday I got a very unexpected call from him early in the morning. He said that he’s been really praying about it and God convicted him to go to the police to turn in the names of the traffic leaders he knew! He said an image of my face kept coming up in his head and he knew he had to do something. He explained the danger that he was putting himself in, yet he said it was worth saving the souls of the women and children who are sex slaved. Because God tugged on his heart and had made this man into a new creation, six human traffic leaders are now in jail and they were able to shut down the traffic house! Praise God!

Through my missions trip, God has really broke my heart for women and children who are victims of violence and sex trafficking. Sometimes the issue of violence against women seems so immense, it often seems too much for me to bear. In all honesty, I often doubt the role and power I have in what seems to be a hopeless situation. Nevertheless, God has showed me that I do indeed have a responsibility to uphold and that job is too simply share my heart and testimony to as many people as I could.

Alone, I am nothing in the battle of stopping human trafficking. But when I partner up with GOD, I am made into a woman warrior who will witness the power of God unfold. Praise be to God.