InterVarsity Staff - John Sleeba
John heard God’s call to InterVarsity staff over a period of time and through the advice of many people. He majored in psychology at the University of Illinois–Champaign/Urbana.
After graduation his InterVarsity staff member mentioned that John’s administrative skills could be used on the Urbana team. John listened to that advice and worked for Urbana 96, InterVarsity’s student missions convention. After graduating from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, John returned to work as the registrar for Urbana 2000.
John heard God’s call to InterVarsity staff over a period of time and through the advice of many people. He majored in psychology at the University of Illinois–Champaign/Urbana.
After graduation his InterVarsity staff member mentioned that John’s administrative skills could be used on the Urbana team. John listened to that advice and worked for Urbana 96, InterVarsity’s student missions convention. After graduating from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, John returned to work as the registrar for Urbana 2000.
During his time at the National Service Center in Madison, his colleagues encouraged John to consider joining InterVarsity staff to work with students. Again John saw the value of this advice. After he had completed his responsibilities for Urbana 2000, he attended two InterVarsity student events: Greek Conference and Metamorphosis, the downstate Illinois student conference. John found that he enjoyed working with students. He wanted to help them with their life-shaping decisions, just as others had helped him.
After working at several other schools in Texas, John moved to the University of Texas–Austin in 2003. He began working with the South Asian chapter called One Way. God gave John several gifts which have proved valuable in working with this chapter. In addition to the skill of listening, John has the gifts of wisdom and discernment, along with the willingness to lovingly confront students when needed.
As he worked on campus, John came to understand his gift of discernment in terms of “re-gifting.” He explains, “The wrapping paper [around the problems] changes, but the problems are always the same, the same sins are at the heart of the issue.”
As he has prayed for guidance, John has been led to speak to students, challenging them to deal with the sin in their lives. This has not been easy, but God has allowed John to see the result of his obedience. One alumnus told him, “We used to make fun of you, but now your insistence that we live righteous lives makes sense.”
God has also given John the gift of having grown up bi-culturally, as a South Asian Indian in the United States. From that vantage point, John can see the value of both cultures and judge where one is “stuck in a box.” He has called students to shed those cultural activities that may have been valuable in the past, but do not work as well to reach this generation of students in the United States.
After four years working with the InterVarsity chapter at UT–Austin, John has seen both numerical and spiritual growth. The number of core students involved in the chapter increased from thirty to fifty, with over eighty-five attending many of the Large Group meetings. John is excited that some of the Hindus on campus regularly come to Large Group. While they enjoy the fellowship, they are also hearing the gospel. John is trusting that God will call many of them to himself.
Spiritual growth is also evident in the students of the One Way chapter. Each year leaders have come forward to lead the chapter and advance the kingdom of God on campus. But more encouraging to John is the fact that after graduation these students are going into the churches, taking on leadership responsibilities, and equipping others for the kingdom of God.
John is considering where God will call him in the future. For the present he will continue to use the gifts God has given him to help transform students into men and women of God.
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You can make a direct financial donation to support John Sleeba’s work with InterVarsity by following this link.