InterVarsity staff share reports on their campus ministry activities with their supporters on a regular basis. The following is from a recent prayer letter sent by Stephanie Easton, a campus staff member at Stanford University.
At summer conference on Catalina Island I taught the Prayer Seminar. We learned about different aspects of prayer, practicing various disciplines, including silence, confession, intercession, healing prayer, listening prayer and celebration.
At the beginning, many in our group seemed young and inexperienced – almost suspicious of prayer. Stanford students have learned how to work hard to make things happen for themselves, so an entire week devoted to prayer and calling on God to work was very challenging. But their view of God expanded as they saw Him answer specific prayers for other camp seminars. They were so encouraged that on the last two days, they volunteered to pray for anyone in the camp during their precious free time.
Dennis, a sophomore, was one such student. On Thursday, he’d shared that over dinner he had talked to a guy he’d never met before from another campus, and had asked him how his week was going. He offered to pray with him about some confusion over the direction in his life. After praying, the other student felt peace and God’s presence and said to Dennis, “Wow, that was great, man! God uses you.” As Dennis shared this, he was beaming and full of an enthusiasm I hadn’t seen in him before.
Many students also experienced God’s deep healing work in them and their friends. I prayed with some students who were freed from self-hatred, loneliness, fear and/or shame. Through their experience in Prayer Seminar, these students—most of whom had been very reluctant to step into any kind of leadership—were empowered to step out and minister to their brothers and sisters in a new way.
