Category: Conference

My heart is filled with joy as I (Naomi) write this…God allowed me the privilege of leading a precious Children of Abraham student,”Margaret,” to Christ last night. Earlier in the day her fiancé, “Sammy” had prayed to receive Christ! We will send more details about their story in our next prayer letter.

Thank you for your prayers for Lisa. The Lord brought her into His kingdom as well! She was already testifying to other students about what the Lord had done. Her teenage son (who is also here at Vision22) said he can see that her heart has been changed. Thank you Jesus!

It is typical for the Children of Abraham track to not see any decisions for Christ at Vision. Students usually make a decision a week or two later, after they have had time to process. The prayer team has been praying that God would bring COA students to Christ during Vision22, and He answered by bringing three precious ones into His kingdom! Please pray that the Lord would watch over Margaret, Sammy, and Lisa as they return home. That they would get plugged in and grow spiritually.

There is so much more to tell of the Lord’s faithfulness to answer prayer. Zack is not sick, and his team was able to film six wonderful interviews with no technical problems. He even had time to join a Children of Abraham discussion group. Miah joined one as well!

We have heard of students in other tracks coming to Christ! And there are many other students who were very open to the content they learned at Vision22. On the long bus rides home, often there are wonderful spiritual conversations and time for reflection. Pray the Lord would bring even more students into His kingdom on the buses!

Thank you so much for joining us in prayer. Wow. It was quite a conference. God really carried us (and all the Bridges staff) through it!

I heard from my friend who staffed Multi-Nations, that three Japanese Christian girls shared the gospel clearly during the outreach party. This is HUGE, as most Japanese Believers never share their faith (they think sharing the gospel is the pastor’s job). Also during the outreach party, a Japanese guy named Takuro said he wasn’t interested in God before he came to Vision, but he received the gospel explanation and is thinking  “to change religions and be a Christian.”

The prayer team got to be in the room praying while the Chinese students shared the gospel at their outreach party. It was so fun! One gal, Arya, caught my eye as she just glowed with excitement about Jesus while sharing the gospel with the non-Christians at her table. I got a text from a Chinese staff member later that during the outreach time, “at least 2 students accepted Christ, but I’m sure it’s more than that!!”

As we were leaving the hotel today, there were several people milling around the lobby. No one was wearing their conference name tags, so I didn’t know who was with Vision and who was just a guest at the hotel. I said goodbye to an American who I had met in the elevator during the conference. As he acknowledged me, the young men who were with him perked up. They happily introduced themselves with big smiles. Two were from Bangladesh and one was from the Ivory Coast. Their instant warmth towards me was God’s kindness in showing me that He had answered the prayer for love and friendships to be built here in Vision. It really was like one big family!

There are SO many more stories of the work God did at Vision. We will share more in our upcoming prayer letter. We will also send out the Vision Conference Report. It is written by our Bridges staff who are gifted in story telling, highlighting some of the life change that happened these past five days. We may never know this side of heaven all that God did, but we are so thankful to be a part of it. Thank you for joining us in this adventure!!

His,
Naomi (and Zack)

Praise Reports:
-Japanese Christians shared the gospel clearly
-Takuro’s heart to “be a Christian”
-We got to see Chinese students boldly sharing the gospel
-At least 2 Chinese students accepted Christ at the outreach party
-Students felt loved and had great camaraderie at Vision
-The kids did a great job at the talent show! I posted the video to my facebook page, if you want to watch it.

Prayer Requests:
-Good rest and recovery for our family over the next few days (Paxton especially is really worn out)
-Continued gospel conversations on the bus rides home
-Middle Eastern students would accept Christ in the next few weeks (most often students from these nations accept Christ after the conference, instead of during the conference)
-New Christians (including Takuro) to be plugged into fellowship and grow spiritually

We’re at the midway point of the Cru17 Staff Conference, our biennial week-long gathering of 5,000 fellow missionaries. It’s our time as Cru staff to be refreshed by the Lord, renewed in our vision, and be further equipped in our ministry skills. Here are some quotes and highlights so far that we hope will encourage and sharpen you…

“‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.’ This thought is foundational to western thought. We like to break everything down into bite-size pieces. But why would we want to eat an elephant? God is overwhelming; let Him overwhelm us. We can’t have part of God and not the whole.”
– Jake Abraham, Executive Director of Cru City. Watch here.

“Nothing is happening to us that hasn’t first been filtered through the loving hands of our Father for our good. We’re deep into enemy territory when we try to change people’s eternal destiny, when we go after the scope of the great commission, when we work on partnerships, when we try to break down racial and social barriers. The evil one does not want us to reach more people, to become more diverse, to partner with other ministries, to fulfill the scope of the mission. He creates strife and division. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but the rulers and powers and authorities and spiritual forces of evil.”
– Steve Sellers, Vice-President of Cru. Watch here.

“Do you have a ‘sigh and a groan’ (Ezekiel 9:3-6) about the trauma that happens in the black community? For a black person, they need to know about good news that they’ll experience today, not after they die; they know they’re gonna die, because they see it every day on YouTube. So talk about the kingdom that has come.”
– Jimmy McGee, President of Cru’s The Impact Movement
(This was an excellent and emotionally intense session you can watch here)

Finally, I was thrilled to hear the story of Arman Ghamari, who fled Iran as a young man and found a new home in England. At first, based on some shrewd advice from his father, he told the authorities how he had become a Christian and needed asylum. But it wasn’t true – yet. He would later meet real Christians and read the Bible for himself, and he was drawn into a saving faith in Christ. Now, he has an active ministry with Iranian Christians in the UK. You can watch his incredible story here – it ties in perfectly with our vision in Bridges!