Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/NH

"Shalom and Systemic Justice"

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"Shalom and Environmental Justice"

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"Shalom and the Fall"

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Dear friends, 

I must share with you the incredible things God has been doing this last month:  (also I attached my prayer letter for month!)

UNH ATHLETES:  A couple days ago we had our 3rd large outreach to the athletes, over 40 people packed the room to hear Meg, a mid distance track athlete share her testimony of coming to Christ this year and how He has been transforming her life and her identity!  Then a friend and former college quarterback, Roger, shared his story that left  the whole room challenged with the question of where they are placing their identity in.  Our goal of the outreach was to invite the athletes to begin exploring these questions in team GIG's (Groups Investigating God) or team Bible studies.  We had a ton of new athletes come, over 17 girls from the track team alone, plus athletes from the women's soccer team, football team, and men's cross country team!  

We had the largest group of the conference go down to Boston to the Black Campus Ministry conference in early February.  Here are some of the testimonies; 

"I was so grateful that I was able to experience the BCM conference and I strongly believe that it came at a perfect time in my life. That Thursday before the conference I was having an internal battle with myself and relationship that I had just got out of. I wasn't sure if I had made a mistake or it was my fault that our relationship had ended; yet I was the one who was cheated on. I was asking all my friend for advice on what my next move should be. Asking everyone except for God. I prayed that Thursday that I would put my trust in Him and that I needed Him to step into my life. That Saturday at the BCM I got my answer. The ministers spoke of beginning a life of transition and disconnecting oneself from those who may bring you down or hinder the plans that God may have for you; especially after college. During the sermon, the young minister had said that someone was here today that had just got out of a relationship and that he or she had put so much energy and time into that relationship that eventually they drifted away from God. It was that moment that I knew God was talking to me and giving me my answer.  Since the BCM conference I have made a promise to myself and God that I would begin to transition into a person that wants to have a better relationship with Him, focus mainly on myself for the remaining and last semester of my college career, and promised that I would have more faith in Him and not be so quick to only call on Him when I need something. I believe that I was meant to go to the BCM conference for a reason and that reason was to see that God has plans for me, that they will not come easy, and how my God sees potential in me, which I will be witness to only if I make that effort and be one with Him."

"I was hesitant to go at first; i only knew a few other people, but I am so glad I made it to the BCM conference. The last speaker confronted one of the biggest issues that I've been struggling with, and I think my walk with God has been strengthened by getting to listen to his sermon." (a student who had just received Christ, and that Sunday was baptized!)

"The BCM conference was a great experience that I would never trade.  It gave me a chance to grow spiritually in more ways than I could have ever imagined.  I am now becoming more active in athletes InterVarsity as well as other religious groups around campus.  I have gained great new friends because of this conference, as well as great counselors to help me through my spiritual walk.  I am greatly anticipating next year so that I may not only enjoy the fruits for the soul they have to offer, but also the people I plan on inviting to the conference next year." 

Not to mention we have over 100 students coming down (over half are non Christians) to New Orleans in less then two weeks who will be building and engaging in questions of faith and justice!  

AROUND THE REGION: We have two other campuses that have solid groups of athletes coming together to experience God, impact their teams, and change the world around them. On URI's campus, they have had 3 athletes begin a relationship with Christ just this week!!  And have started a weekly Bible study as well as discipleship groups.

On BU's campus, they are bringing over 20 athletes to New Orleans to rebuild!  This is an incredible answer to prayer and a huge opportunity to see momentum build with this young ministry!  

PRAISE GOD!!!  and PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!!!

In awe of Jesus,

Mag Grahn

Does Jesus care about Injuries?

Part of a football player’s testimony from our 1^st Preview Gathering:

"...I finally realized what the Lord had been trying to show me.  First of all, football had in a sense become my God.  I would spend the bulk of my time thinking about the sport and what I can do to be better.  In doing that, I had slowly lost sight of the fact that the Lord is the one who allowed me to play the sport and that he will have no other gods before him.  The second thing that I realized was that I had been relying on myself all of this time.  The Lord let an injury bring me to a place where I could do nothing other than rely on him."

This football player and his mom started praying for this injury to be totally healed and it was, he is now leading the team in defensive tackles. This happened during the first week of training camp in August.

Is Jesus still in the business of miracles?

On Sunday night (our preview gathering), I was praying and asking God to have a chance to pray for healing for someone that night. I truly believe that Jesus is still in the business of miracles and I also believe that He gives us the authority through His name to do what He has done, and greater (John 14:12-14, Luke 9: 1-2). As the end of the night approached, I hadn’t gotten a chance to pray for any one, but then there was this man who was walking around the track where we had the preview gathering. He was a philosophy teacher at UNH for 50 years. Eventually he told me about pain in his heart that had been there for the past 5 yrs and had been escalating that week. In his words, he was going to the doctor the next day “to see if he was going to live or die.” I felt God telling me to pray for healing for his heart right where we were standing. I did.

I went to visit him on Thursday and said to me, “…you won’t believe this, I woke up on Monday morning and the pain was gone from my heart, totally gone.” The doctors said there was nothing on the tests that they could find! He now is confronted with the possibility that Jesus had, in fact, healed him and is wrestling with the idea that this could be an invitation to something more.

Wow, I can’t tell you how profound this interaction has been. (Of course this was the much shorten version but…) God is still pursuing this man at 83 and he knows it. God is still in the business of miracles, because, this was a healing. John 14:12-14 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”

There is a belief in the supernatural that I feel Jesus has continued to press me into these last two months. We do not have because we do not ask. Is it our lack of faith that restricts the power of God in our lives or is it the possibility that if we actually see the power of God, it will have major implications on our life? I believe my friend my be right, maybe this is what holds us back, in his words, “I’m not ready to have my life radically changed by Jesus.”

Cool stories of healing at UNH:

A woman’s track athlete stretched her Achilles, couldn’t run well on this type of injury, and her coach was coming down on her pretty hard. She ended up coming one weekend to our core meeting, and two of us prayed that she would have a great week of training and anything negative that her coach said to her that week would roll off like water on a duck. That week she said she had an awesome week of training, came in first on her team in the race, ran a personal best, didn’t have any problems with her Achilles and then texted me to say her coach hadn’t said anything to her all week. The next weekend she ran another personal best again, and by the third week her injury was totally gone. The trainers couldn’t figure out how this happened, because this kind of injury, athletes need to stay off of it to heal, not run more. She is still in a process of a asking questions about what does this really mean, and do I want to know the same Jesus that claims to heal. Please pray that she continues to ask questions and seeks Jesus in this process.

A men’s cross country runner was having terrible shin splints and asked two of our core members to pray for him. They had a really huge race in the season coming up and he hurt just walking. The boys prayed for his shins, and the runner asked if they would ask the whole Athletes InterVarsity group to pray for him also. That night we had about 40 athletes praying for his healing, and at the end of the race he finished first on his team, 11^th overall in all of New England, and he said that he had never felt the love of God so strong as he did that race.

Another men’s cross country runner has had multiple injuries this summer and came into the season with these injuries still nagging. I challenged him to start praying specifically for healing for himself, and he did, and I am not even kidding, all his injuries went away.

Our latest story was one of the athletes who was shot in the eye with an air soft gun, and had to go to the emergency room because he couldn’t see. He tells the story much better, but while sitting in the emergency room, really getting scared he might loose his eye, he started to pray. He prayed specifically that the blood would drain from his eye, that his pupils would start dilating again, and his vision would be restored. About 10 minutes later he takes his hand off his eye and he starts to see shapes again. The doctors are shocked at how quickly this has healed and how lucky he is to have his sight still.

*For more on this update, download the prayer letter .pdf below*

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Hello once again friends,

Most of you were with me last year when our bus back from our Spring Break Katrina Relief trip in New Orleans literally went 15 feet up in flames in North Georgia.  It was quite an ordeal that seemed like something spiritual was going on but in the end didn't really help or hurt the work God seemed to be doing in the group.  What did happen in the bus fire is that one student's anxiety medication burnt up.  2 weeks later, in the midst of an anxiety attack, she was forced to pray for the first time in 5 years - and bam, anxiety gone and she fell asleep.  This was the story she told us last April.

This past weekend at Fall Conference, she decided to open up her life to Jesus and follow him as her Lord and Savior!  Bus fire redeemed!  I know there was stuff going on for everyone in that bus fire, but I don't doubt that the whole 6 hour ordeal was for her sake.  God loves her that much.  He is just like that.

Another student, a freshmen roommate of one of our Christian students named Justine, also made a first time decision to follow Jesus this past week.  The other 3 non-Christians that came all had really great experiences from all reports, one even saying she wished the retreat "went on all week."

Thanks so much for your prayers.  Things never got as messy as I thought they could have, though a lot of students were dealing with some significant things from their past.  I continue to be amazed at how much stuff students carry around, and real stuff too - sexual abuse, rape, eating disorders, family stuff, death, and on and on and on.  It really astounds and motivates me.  Great relationships formed between the students there - honest, vulnerable, and continuing - which is no small thing for us.  And the freshmen class, all 10 that came, really bonded which gives me hope for the future here.

We are really excited for the final 4 weeks of the semester here, praying hard for the other 3 non-Christians but also that the work the Lord did this past weekend in students's lives would result in many more coming to know Him before the semester is out.  So grateful for your prayers this morning.

In Christ, ben

Hi praying folks,

I appreciate your prayers for me and the students last night.  It's been an interesting 24 hours.  Last night, the student who shared his testimony did a great job (2 of his non-Christian philosophy professors even came to hear him!), and my talk went well.  No one responded to the call to faith, though at least 50 Christian students responded to commit to be a part of reaching UNH with the Gospel this year.

I was really disappointed with the lack of response from non-Christians last night and even more disappointed by how many were there (maybe 25 out of a room of 110).  I really felt like the Lord had moved us to a big risk this first week of school, and so I was dreaming pretty big about what could've happened.  The lack of that big moment was, and is, hard to deal with.  I've learned in conversations today though that students were much more encouraged by the night than I was, so the momentum for the group is still moving forward; the students are still excited.  And I will catch up with their enthusiasm by the end of the weekend, I'm sure

A couple cool things from last night:

-One of the non-Christian freshmen who encountered our group during our early week activities is going to start studying Scripture with one of our students and plans on going to church with them Sunday. -I met with a junior transfer student this afternoon who felt God telling him to stand at the call yesterday, to which he promptly told the Lord, "No" (his words, not mine).  Loved the guy's honesty.  He has a crazy past including jail time amongst other things but is certainly feeling strong conviction in his life right now. -50 Christian students committed to join us this afternoon at 5:30 to pray for revival at UNH. -And 2 philosophy professors heard a call to faith (even though one of them had his eyes closed my whole talk!).

God was moving, even if not in the ways or the magnitude that I had hoped and asked he would.  I'm continuing to process some of my personal disappointment today but have had a good day with students today who are ready to press forward in mission as we begin the year.

Until next time, gratefully yours,

Ben Humphries

Hi Praying People!

Our New Student Outreach blitz the first week of school is winding down with one more big push tonight at our first Large Group meeting of the year.  We've already seen some wild this week including another student coming to know the Lord while studying John 4 with her roommate and an opportunity I had to speak about community in the middle of campus to 70 folks, 40 of them freshmen and most non-Christians.

Tonight, I'll be speaking at our first meeting on receiving the identity that Jesus wants to give us.  This will be on the heels of the student who became a Christian last week giving his testimony.  I will also be calling people to saving faith in Jesus after the talk.  Would you please pray:

-that droves of non-Christians would come to hear the freeing news of the new identity Jesus wants to give them -that Paul's testimony would hit home with folks and give them good soil for the message that is following -that God would save students at UNH tonight -that our Christian students, specifically freshmen, would get a glimpse of God's saving mission at UNH tonight and want to commit to being labors in the white harvest

I continue to be thankful for you all and the praying work you do on behalf of students at UNH.  I pray for an e-mail to you all tomorrow rejoicing in the things we see God do tonight.

In Christ,

Ben Humphries

Hello Friends,

Just wanted to take a moment to look back and fill you in on our "SUMMIT 2009" pre-semester retreat (Aug. 23-27).  It was a really solid week; thanks so much for your prayers.

Both non-Christians that came to camp with us surrendered their lives to Jesus while we were there - Paul, who was an agnostic that's been around our fellowship for a while, and Denise, who is a student in the multicultural sorority on campus.

We praise God for bringing dead students to life before we even set foot on campus!  So blessed for that start.

The rest of the week was great too, really prepared students to return to campus ready to do ministry.  A lot of them were dealing with a lot of relational brokenness and stale spiritual lives coming out of summer.  It was encouraging to watch the Lord meet them in that and continue his good work.

3000 freshmen moved into UNH today, and so we are just setting off on our New Student Outreach tonight with an Ice Cream Social where we usually see ~800 students.  It has been fun watching Paul, the new Christian, participating with us.  Would you please pray:

-that lasting relationships would be made over the next day with freshmen that would result in Christians being brought into God's mission on campus and non-Christians hearing the Gospel -for 200 freshmen to come to our second event tomorrow night at 11pm where I will be giving a talk about our God-given need for community in the middle of campus -that Tropical Storm Danny would leave us alone through our events this weekend -for endurance and rest for me as I'm in the midst of the busiest 2-week stretch of the year

We've been really ambitious in our plans to reach freshmen this year which makes us feel like we are in way over our heads.  Please pray that God would be strong in the midst of our inadequacy.  We are really hoping and praying for God to show up in our big plans this week to increase His name on campus.

So grateful for you all,

Ben Humphries