D-Ship....AKA Discipleship

Make Disciples...

The last Friday in April, the Jersey Metro team was able to send off our seniors as lifetime laborers for Christ at our last Jersey Cru (monthly statewide meeting) of the semester. It was a great honor to see three of the women I discipled this past year give their bit of wisdom to the student body and praise God for what He’s done in their lives.

 

Ash Bivins (pictured left) is one of the wonderful students I was able to work with this past year. As lead singer in the JCru worship band and a student leader in the Cru ministry at her school (Jersey City University),  Ashley was under a lot of pressure to get many "things done" this year. Early in the semester, Ashley realized that amidst all the craziness she was beginning to lose an eternal perspective on the relationships God had placed her in. She immediately prayed about this and brought it to my attention. As her discipler, there were only two things I could do: point her to what God has to say and pray for her as she follows Him. As Ashley continued to seek God throughout the year, her eyes were immediately opened to those with whom God had been calling her to enter into relationship with. Now as she prepares for Grad school, Ashley is readying her heart for ministry with the young women at NJCU. She plans to pour into other young women while she pursues a masters degree in music education at Jersey City University.

Jenn Lee (pictured right), who I discipled at Montclair State University my internship year and this past year, is graduating and preparing to help lead the Botswana Summer Project. Last year Jenn went to Botswana as a student on a 5 week Summer Missions Project to work with orphaned children. Here is a video link to show you more what she did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbYRkSzWwPY At the end of this past semester, Jenn Lee met with me to tell me her full testimony of how God pursued her heart in the midst of what felt like emotional chaos. Jenn Lee always knew her relationship with God could not depend upon that of others and now she's helping teach that to the youth in her church. I’m so proud of the woman of God she’s become. If you'd like to support Jenn in her trip to Botswana you can email her at: imjenniferxp@yahoo.com

 

Rachel Wallner (pictured right) is one of two student women at the New Jersey Institute of Technology  involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. This past year I’ve had the honor of getting to know her the final year of her undergraduate degree. Rachel is graduating and moving to Virginia for a job this June and one of her highest values before graduating was to learn how to walk with Jesus away from family and “Cru”. Rachel has such a sweet thirst for Jesus in her life and makes sure to pursue Him at every new turn. She’s learned how to study the Word, be vulnerable in community and grow in fellowship. I am confident that Rachel will continue to pursue God anywhere He may bring her.

On some occasions, I have the privilege of helping the student president of a ministry walk with Jesus for a lifetime. Although Sharon is just a junior at Kean, I thought you'd like to hear a bit about her story. This past year I was able to coach and disciple Sharon Hawkins, the student president of Campus Crusade for Christ at Kean University. Sharon has grown in her ability to share her faith shrewdly with grace and truth. She even had the opportunity to train others on how to share their faith on our Spring Break missions trip to Daytona, Fl. She is truly growing into a woman after God's own heart.

Back in America

Jenn Lee, student leader from Montclair State University, is.... back in America!

Here is her story!

I am completely blown away as I sit here and reflect on how powerfully and amazingly God has worked in Botswana within the one month I was there! He is so AWESOME! Coming back to the United States has helped me realize how blessed I am and how I take certain things for granted. It helped me appreciate cars stopping in the middle of the road for me, nice hot showers, nice comfy beds and etc.

God has definitely opened my eyes more to the Great Commission: (Matthew 28:18-20) So amazing to see how God wants us to GO and be His ambassadors to make disciples. What an honor we have! :)

(Just a quick summary of what happened during the month at Botswana)

The first two weeks we were at a Feeding Station where around 40-50 children without parents or parents who are unable to feed their children comes to be fed. The cool part about this is that it is operated by a nearby church so most of the children who come to the feeding station attend church service on Sundays! Before eating, we shared a time of praise and a short sermons on the various armors of God. After eating, we got to talk with them, play with them and even dance with them! The children were a complete JOY and they constantly wanted to be played with, held and just loved. It really broke my heart to see most of the older girls (10-12 or even older) always have an infant on their backs. Most of them also wore the same clothing the whole time we were there. But, when they prayed to God and praise Him…their hearts were so pure. Their hearts were so precious!

And of course, there was a lot of spiritual battles. But one of them was the Islamic influence in Botswana. This past year, they build is Islam mosque right by the feeding station and they have been trying to lure the children with food. It was so hard to see some of the children leave to run to them for during the praise and worship even after they were fed really great meals. (Please continue to pray for them).

The rest of the trip we worked on the campus of University of Botswana. It was so amazing to see how receptive people were to the gospel message. I don’t think we had people refusing to hear what we had to say. There were people that I spoke with that were super excited and really wanted to how to receive Christ even before I shared with them! So cool how God prepares their hearts even before we spoke!  A lot of them had questions about the Old testament and the Ten Commandments. It was so cool how I was able to use the things I learned from doing Quiet times that week to answer the questions that they had. Totally the Holy Spirit. There were actually good number of Christians on the campus that fully understood the gospel message so it was really assuring. (There was a huge mosque that was right across from the campus so we’re hoping people aren’t influence by it.) We had over 1000 spiritual conversations and around 50-60 receive Christ within the two weeks we were on campus!

I even had the opportunity to share with the women who were working at the Lodge we were staying at and two of them made the decision to receive Christ into their lives.

Overall, this trip really helped me realize the importance of making the gospel known. We as Christians should always be on “GOSPEL-MODE”…ready and prepared to share the Gospel anywhere and everywhere.

Thanks for all the support through finances and prayer! God bless you all!

Ke a le boga ta ta! Modimo ga orata! (Thank you very much and God loves you!)

Sala Sentle (stay well )