Prayer Requests for This Month

Four Greek InterVarsity small groups were recently launched at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Pray for openness among the Pepperdine Greek community and a willingness for students to grow in their relationships with God. 

InterVarsity’s Director of International Student Ministry, Marc Papai, is meeting this week in North Carolina with leaders of more than a dozen organizations dedicated to international student ministry. Pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire innovative outreach to international student ministry on campuses across the country.

As InterVarsity reaches out to plant chapters on more campuses we need the support of Student Life directors on each campus. Pray that Student Life directors will be receptive to InterVarsity caring for the spiritual lives of students and faculty in the college communities.

This week President Tom Lin is hosting a meeting of 12 Area Directors with identified apostolic gifts. The gathering is for mutual learning and encouragement toward InterVarsity’s 2030 Calling. Ask the Lord to give each participant wisdom and discernment.

InterVarsity’s Staff Conference 2020 is more than a year away, but plans for the event are being laid this week. Pray that God will guide those in leadership to prepare the training that will best serve our campus mission in 2020 and beyond.

On November 15, the registration fee increases for Urbana 18, InterVarsity’s triennial Student Missions Conference, set for late December in St. Louis, Missouri. Pray that many students will seek God about attending Urbana, where each can learn about and be part of God’s global mission. 

New church partnerships with InterVarsity have formed in Athens, Georgia; Orlando, Florida; and  Nashville, Tennessee, for the sake of bringing the gospel to nearby campuses. Ask the Lord to lead InterVarsity staff to more churches who want to partner with our ministry to students and faculty.  

In early September, a record turnout of 63 students from Harvard Business School attended a retreat at InterVarsity’s Toah Nipi Retreat and Training Center in New Hampshire. Pray that God will continue to encourage HBS students to pursue their business careers in a way that would serve kingdom purposes.

Thanksgiving is a traditional time of hospitality for students away from home. Pray for Christians who open their homes to students this week, that this will be a Thanksgiving where seeds of the good news are planted.

Pray for God to call the right person to serve in the key leadership role of InterVarsity’s National Director of Campus Volunteers, and for the filling of a number of other vacant positions.

InterVarsity Press has more than a dozen titles identified as finalists for major book awards which will soon be announced. Thank God that sales of IVP’s thoughtful Christian books remain strong in the current fiscal year and pray that the Lord would continue to use these publications to encourage and transform the lives of millions.

InterVarsity staff and students in Jackson, Mississippi, are walking and praying at different campuses in the metro area. On one prayer walk at Hinds Community College, they experienced a “divine appointment” with some students, resulting in the formation of a Bible study. Pray for more divine appointments—that yield spiritual fruit—as InterVarsity staff and students explore and join what God is already doing on nearby campuses.