Lara and Robbie holding the "where are you from?" signs
Last
week, some of the CRU staff and students set up a table near one of the student
cafeterias in hopes of connecting with international students.
They
set up a map of the world that students could write on with a sign that said “Where
are you from?” in multiple languages.
During
the 2 hours that the CRU table was there, more than 50 students from 24
different countries stop by and mark where they were from!
The
table was our first coordinated attempt to connect with these future leaders
from all over the world. Overall, USF has close to 1,700 international
students. Please continue to pray that God
would use us to reach the Nations that are here on our campus.
I recently had the opportunity to preach at our church in Spring Hill on Sunday. It was an awesome opportunity! As I prepared to share on that Sunday, I prayed about a topic and only one thought came to my mind: "The Gospel". The most significant and beneficial things we as believers can do is fix our eyes on the cross and the LOVE that God demonstrated to us through it! The extent to which we are continually experiencing the Gospel is directly correlated to the amount we grow spiritually. I know as well as anyone that this is often "easier said than done"...
This message was a compilation of several thoughts and ideas that the Lord has used in my life to help me grow and mature in my faith. I hope that as you listen you may pick up a thing or two that you can put in your "spiritual toolbox" to help you experience the Gospel for your lifetime.
This was the video I showed to close my talk: Awesome spiritual analogy! (excuse the title)
Much of the inspiration for the sermon came from the articles: "The Gospel Centered Life" & "Hearing the Music of the Gospel"
We just returned from a Conference in Atlanta Georgia called Passion. The conference had 44,000 students ages 18-25 and featured speakers like Beth Moore, Francis Chan, John Piper, and Louie Giglio. Imagine a packed Georgia Dome full of young people lifting up the name of Jesus in worship at the top of their lungs. It was indescribable and powerful!
One aspect of the conference was focused on the issue of modern day slavery. Each day featured different stories that brought to light the realities of human trafficking, child exploitation, and forced labor.
FACT: There are 27 million slaves living in the world today which out numbers the entire African slave trade! It is hard to imagine... By challenging these college to "Do Something NOW!" Passion hoped to raise $1 million dollars for Various charities that work to educate, prevent, rescue or rehab people exposed to this modern day atrocity. Some of the charities include: International Justice Mission, Tiny Hands, A21, and The Atlanta Project among others.
For more info check out Passion 2012: DO SOMETHING NOW
THE RESULT: College students stood in line for hours to give and when it was all said and done a total of $2.6 million was given. That's right, the same group of people who live off of Ramen noodles and scrounge in the cracks of the couch for pocket change gave almost triple the goal set before them to END SLAVERY. If that doesn't scream FREEDOM, I don't know what does.
