Our team has been journeying with one young man for the past two years. From when he came to a game night wanting nothing to do with religion, to shared moments of laughter in English classes, to frank discussion during an Alpha course, to answering his list of questions from reading through the Bible twice, and to praying with him to surrender to Christ, it has been a long journey. We have loved this young man - before he believed, we invited him to belong to our community. A lot of time was poured into him. He loves games, and that is why he first came. He was a new transfer student on campus. He was lonely and hadn't met anyone yet. He got the flyer to a game night in the mail. He was intimidated at first as there were some Americans that were just learning French, but that helped him get the courage to come to the weekly English class (the fact that they were learners in a language as well as him). From there, he came to our Mexican Fiesta celebration, and started to make friends with someone else in the English class, an Algerian student who was also new on campus. Because they saw each other in English class and hung out every Friday at Cafe Franglais to practice English, they started to become good friends and to become a part of our community. By December, they realized that there were other things going on, spiritual things like the Reverb Thursday night service for students, Refuge Sunday night church, small groups for girls and for guys - all things which they knew were going on because the people in our community were talking about them. But, they felt like these things weren't for them. The Algerian and this guy now were close friends, and hung out outside of our community. The Algerian celebrated Christmas with us, and it was impactful.
In January, we started an alpha course, held during the regular Reverb student meeting, and specifically invited them. It was time for them to understand our faith. So, they both came faithfully, glad to "be a part" for a legitimate reason. In the small group discussion, the Algerian would often side with our faith, because we believed God existed, while this young man, couldn't accept that. But, he was impacted. And he now felt free to come to any spiritual event - and so he did, becoming a regular in church, singing during worship. But he was always an observer, and a respectful questioner. He decided to read through the Bible. He decided to ask God to answer a prayer (it was an impossible one...that a certain girl would like him). He asked lots of questions. He read through the "Case for Christ" in English. He saw the Case for Christ film. He got angry that God didn't answer his prayer. He tried to pull away from the community. He decided to ask God to answer another prayer, that he would feel him. He got frustrated in that as well. He read through the Bible again, slower. Asked tons more questions.
On a skiing trip with our community in February, someone on our team lost her phone. They prayed to find it. They were about to leave, and it got returned. A stranger found the phone in an impossible place. This young man "never felt so happy". He knew inside it was time to believe, that he already really did believe. But he also felt afraid that if he told us all, that we would stop being so concerned with him, stop paying him so much attention/love him less. Finally, he started going to the men's small group. Worried that he needed to get all of his life in order, become pure and clean and perfect so that he could fulfill a lifelong commitment to Jesus, we let him know that was what Jesus wanted to do IN him as they walked together. He gave his heart to Jesus during a small group in April. Now we continue to journey daily with him as he learns how to walk with Christ toward wholeness and abundant life.
Our team has been journeying with one young man for the past two years. From when he came to a game night wanting nothing to do with religion, to shared moments of laughter in English classes, to frank discussion during an Alpha course, to answering his list of questions from reading through the Bible twice, and to praying with him to surrender to Christ, it has been a long journey.
We have loved this young man - before he believed, we invited him to belong to our community. A lot of time was poured into him. He loves games, and that is why he first came. He was a new transfer student on campus. He was lonely and hadn't met anyone yet. He got the flyer to a game night in the mail. He was intimidated at first as there were some Americans that were just learning French, but that helped him get the courage to come to the weekly English class (the fact that they were learners in a language as well as him). 
From there, he came to our Mexican Fiesta celebration, and started to make friends with someone else in the English class, an Algerian student who was also new on campus. Because they saw each other in English class and hung out every Friday at Cafe Franglais to practice English, they started to become good friends and to become a part of our community. By December, they realized that there were other things going on, spiritual things like the Reverb Thursday night service for students, Refuge Sunday night church, small groups for girls and for guys - all things which they knew were going on because the people in our community were talking about them. But, they felt like these things weren't for them. The Algerian and this guy now were close friends, and hung out outside of our community. The Algerian celebrated Christmas with us, and it was impactful.
In January, we started an alpha course, held during the regular Reverb student meeting, and specifically invited them. It was time for them to understand our faith. So, they both came faithfully, glad to "be a part" for a legitimate reason. In the small group discussion, the Algerian would often side with our faith, because we believed God existed, while this young man, couldn't accept that. But, he was impacted. And he now felt free to come to any spiritual event - and so he did, becoming a regular in church, singing during worship. But he was always an observer, and a respectful questioner. He decided to read through the Bible. He decided to ask God to answer a prayer (it was an impossible one...that a certain girl would like him). He asked lots of questions. He read through the "Case for Christ" in English. He saw the Case for Christ film. He got angry that God didn't answer his prayer. He tried to pull away from the community. He decided to ask God to answer another prayer, that he would feel him. He got frustrated in that as well. He read through the Bible again, slower. Asked tons more questions.
On a skiing trip with our community in February, someone on our team lost her phone. They prayed to find it. They were about to leave, and it got returned. A stranger found the phone in an impossible place. This young man "never felt so happy". He knew inside it was time to believe, that he already really did believe. But he also felt afraid that if he told us all, that we would stop being so concerned with him, stop paying him so much attention/love him less. Finally, he started going to the men's small group. Worried that he needed to get all of his life in order, become pure and clean and perfect so that he could fulfill a lifelong commitment to Jesus, we let him know that was what Jesus wanted to do IN him as they walked together. He gave his heart to Jesus during a small group in April. Now we continue to journey daily with him as he learns how to walk with Christ toward wholeness and abundant life.