Prayer Requests for This Month

Students in the class of 2023 are beginning their collegiate journeys. Pray for God to use InterVarsity staff, students, and faculty in powerful ways to welcome all during New Student Outreach (NSO). Also pray that students will find Jesus and a spiritual home among InterVarsity's communities during NSO and other events of the 2019-2020 academic year.

On Wednesday this week, staff at InterVarsity’s National Service Center (NSC) in Madison, Wisconsin, are putting aside their regular duties to devote the entire day to prayer for InterVarsity’s mission on campus. Ask the Lord to equip each NSC staff person for their unique assignment of supporting our ministries on campuses across the country.

Praise God for the over 20 partner ministries and growing number of campus prayer walks around the EveryCampus initiative. Pray that God will call more students, staff, alumni, and church members to prayer walk campuses near them so that we can reach more campuses with the Gospel, and check out EveryCampus.com to find a campus near you that needs to be prayer-walked!

Fresno Team Leader Kevin Reifman has been meeting with two professional nurse volunteers and networking with nursing faculty to plant a Nurses Christian Fellowship chapter this fall. He asks for prayer for strategic connections with faculty and students at California State University, Fresno, and Fresno City College. 

The beginning of a new academic year can be exciting. But isolation and loneliness are the norm for millions of college students these days, fed in part by social media habits. Pray that InterVarsity students will be equipped to specifically counter this trend by offering friendship, affirmation, and the life-giving hope of Jesus Christ.

InterVarsity students at Rensselaer Polytechnic University and Russell Sage College in upstate New York are known as “the cookie people,” because they generously share cookies baked by members of local churches. Thank the Lord for these cookie-bearing students and cookie-baking church friends! As their chapter large group meeting is held this Friday, with the focus of praying for the campus, ask God to show them how to use the goodwill from free cookies to effectively share the Gospel.

Natalie*, a former atheist who came to faith through the witness of InterVarsity, has transferred to the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and wants to plant a new chapter. Praise God for Natalie, and pray for fruitful contacts with InterVarsity staff in the area who can mentor her, and productive interactions with students on the campus.   *Name changed.

Federal courts in Iowa and Michigan are hearing cases to protect InterVarsity's right to require that our student leaders be Christians. Pray that the courts will rule strongly in support of religious freedom on campus.

The annual InterVarsity Greek Golf Marathon takes place at Pebble Brook Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana, this Friday. Ask the Lord to use this event to encourage more support for Greek InterVarsity ministering to fraternity and sorority members.

As growing numbers of InterVarsity students spend a semester or more studying abroad, pray that they will connect with our Study Abroad ministry. As part of InterVarsity Study Abroad, they can join a local campus ministry through the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and/or a small group online.

Jeff Liou, who served on InterVarsity campus staff before pursuing a PhD at Fuller Seminary in California, has been appointed InterVarsity’s National Director of Theological Formation. Ask the Holy Spirit to use Jeff to strengthen InterVarsity’s foundation of spiritual formation through the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, faithful witness, taking Sabbaths, and regular church attendance.

This weekend, InterVarsity students at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, will celebrate the school's sesquicentennial with alumni, students, and partners. The chapter itself has been on campus for 73 years. Thank God and pray that the Lord will use this celebration to encourage all believers and to draw others to Jesus. 

Pray for Native Hawai’ian students as the University of Hawaiʻi plans to build a 30-meter telescope on top of Mauna Kea – a site considered sacred to many. Many students are feeling traumatized and betrayed by their university system that is supposed to care for them. Pray for wisdom for InterVarsity staff and students in how to respond well.

Pray during the coming year for InterVarsity evangelist Mark Slaughter as he offers his expertise in evangelism and mentoring to the Luis Palau Association, helping train the next generation of global evangelists.

This weekend InterVarsity chapters from Long Beach, Dominguez Hills, Chapman, Cal State Los Angeles, and Santa Ana are meeting together for their Fall Conference. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide Regional Ministry Coordinator Kelly Aalseth as she delivers the conference messages she has prepared and that both Christian and non-Christian students will be open to God’s Word.