Author: Zack Russell

Big Break

We are blessed with an opportunity to serve the American campus ministry next month at Big Break. This is a Spring Break conference put on by Cru, where 3,000 American students will learn how to share their faith, and tens of thousands more will be hearing the gospel on the shores of Panama City Beach, Florida. Zack was invited to join the production team. He is often sought after by other departments in Cru for his skills. We will be there March 4-27.

The Big Break conference team will be sending out emails with a list of names of people who accept Christ on a daily basis (potentially 100 names per day). We would love to have people praying for these new believers!

I (Naomi) will be giving a Bridges recruiting seminar during Big Break. I will be talking to American college students about reaching out to international students. Please pray that all would go well and that God would use it to raise up more laborers to reach the nations that are here with us now.

Our biggest concern with family travel is Cassia. When we were displaced from our home due to the ozone disaster, Cassia did not sleep though the night. The continual change of environment was very difficult on her. Lately, though, she is doing well with her routine here at home. Please pray that she would do well in Florida, too.

The Fourth Will Be With Us

We are very excited for the birth of our fourth child. So far, the baby is looking healthy. I (Naomi) had a talk with my doctor about the Zika virus. They expect it to come to Texas this summer. I know that the link between Zika and microcephaly has not been fully proven, but it is enough to cause concern. Please pray that our baby would continue to grow and development normally.

UPCOMING

We will be at the Big Break conference in Panama City Beach, FL from 3/4 to 3/27.

PRAISE REPORTS

•Changed lives at Vision! 18 students put their faith in Christ, and 186 pledged to God to “go, say, do and give” according to His will.
•God has blessed us with a fourth child!

PRAYER REQUESTS

•Baby #4 would be healthy
•Safe travels to/from Florida
•God’s protection over the production team/equipment for Big Break
•New laborers to reach international students would be raised up from the Bridges seminar that Naomi will give
•Cassia would travel/sleep well and adjust to the new environment in Florida

Does That Count?

I (Naomi) was greeted first thing by Iris telling me that she had been in a deep gospel discussion until 11:30pm. She felt a bit overwhelmed by all the info. So she had taken some time to go out to coffee with some other friends and think. Iris got back to her room, and at about 2AM, she told me, “I don’t know why. I just started to say the words to the prayer in the Knowing God Personally (KGP) booklet.” Then she looked at me innocently and said, “Does that count?” I, of course, assured her that it did count and joyfully welcomed her into the family of God with a hug!

Vision Conference

I am so thankful we had the Vision conference here in Austin this year (December 28 – January 1). Iris and I met in the Explorer (seeker) group of the Multi-Nations Track – just one part of the nationwide gathering that Bridges hosted for 623 college students from 59 nations. I was in a discussion group with 4 Chinese girls. I had great conversations about sin and Jesus’ death on the cross with Iris, “Emily,” “Wendy” and “Terry.”
After Iris told me her story, it did not take long for her to tell her the other girls in our group. Emily told her congratulations and then shared how she had accepted Christ as well!

The morning before, Emily had shared with the group that she thought she had too much sin for Jesus to forgive. We had talked through how there is no limit for the amount of sin that Jesus died for. Then, in the afternoon, she went to a seminar where the speaker shared the story of Jesus forgiving the woman caught in the act of adultery. Emily cried as she shared with the group how deeply this story affected her. She told us she had prayed the prayer in the KGP, asking Jesus to forgive her for her sin. She said she felt like a weight was lifted off of her. As Emily was sharing her testimony, Wendy started weeping, and was so overcome that she left the room to compose herself. As I spoke with Wendy later, I realized that she was not yet ready to surrender her life to Christ. But God is definitely working in her heart!

Later on, it was really neat to see Iris encouraging Emily that her sins were completely forgiven. Emily had been having trouble believing that all it takes to become a Christian is putting faith in Christ (i.e. you don’t have to study the Bible for years).

Iris, on the other hand, was completely assured of her salvation. Her countenance was literally transformed. The day after Vision ended, Iris (one day old in the Lord) sent me this message “I learnt from Vision that they have the mission trip that teach Christian how to grow and spread the message to other people. They have this 2 week or 3 week-long trips in several location. I am thinking about the one in NYC.” She’s already on-mission!

Nine days later, Iris posted on Facebook: “Today is a big day for me – I received baptism at my Church. I am so thankful for my amazing friends who came all the way to support and be with me in such a snowy day. It means SO MUCH! Thank you all my Bridges friends and a bunch of the coolest people I met at the Vision conference 2015 – thank y’all for all the care and love. The moment when I came out of the water, I felt clean, fresh, light, and tons of joy. I know God is with me, and will always be.”

Pictured: Iris (center) after her baptism

Upcoming

I (Zack) am cutting together dozens of video recordings from Vision, evangelistic and Bible-teaching sessions like :

“Science & Belief in God: Can You Have Both?”

“Faith in the Workplace

“Biblical Sexual Identity”

We hope to reach many more students online with these recordings!

Praise Reports

•Iris and Emily, college students from China, are our two newest sisters in Christ!

Prayer Requests

•God would protect Iris spiritually and do great things through her life

•Emily would be assured that her salvation is not something she can earn

•Wendy would come to know Jesus

•Terry (who wasn’t even sure that Jesus actually existed) would read the copy of More than a Carpenter I gave her.