November 2014
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Cornell, please email prayer@christianunion.org.Dear partners in prayer for Cornell,
Last month, we asked you to pray for students to come to know the Lord, and for students' freedom from anxiety. Thank you for praying! This month has overflowed with opportunities to share Christ at Cornell. Let me start by telling you about Janelle.
Janelle is a senior finance major from China. Anxiety about her future prompted her to accept a friend's invitation to come to a Christian Union Bible course two weeks ago. Afterwards, she thanked me for her first intellectually engaging encounter with Scripture, one that related directly to some struggles she was facing. Over coffee with me the next day, she broke into tears. She was desperate. All her efforts to control her life were failing. Two meetings later, Janelle committed to give her anxiety, her sins, her future plans, and her whole life to Christ. I wish you could have been there on our walk back to campus across the crowded footbridge when she threw up her arms among the passersby and shouted, "I don't have to be anxious anymore! I am a child of God!"
Pray that more students like Janelle will rejoice in the hope of the Gospel, and that His praises will sound from all corners of campus! The love of Christ is spreading into the neighborhoods outside of campus, too. Leading up to Halloween weekend, students involved with Christian Union fasted and prayed for opportunities to share God's love to a neighborhood famous for its party scene. They stayed up all night in the cold, passing out water and praying over the hordes of party-goers.
Last Wednesday, an organized discussion between an atheist Cornell professor and a Christian geneticist attracted students and university faculty. Students and professors filled the auditorium until even the aisles were full. Students involved with the ministry brought their non-believing friends, and, over a meal afterwards, they resumed the conversation about identity and the existence of God.
In these final weeks of November, the 98 students enrolled in Christian Union's weekly Bible courses will be completing their study of the book of Hebrews. Pray for us as we consider what it looks like daily to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith."
On November 20, our students gathered in the busy center of campus to give away 1,000 copies of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. Each copy contained a bookmark with an invitation to Christian Union's leadership lecture series the following week where they will hear the Gospel. Pray this book can inspire curiosity and discussion, and that the ripple effect will bring non-believers to Christ.
Thank you! Praising the Lord for your faithful prayers!
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