US Campus Ministry Revival

The Campus Service Committee met recently in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to continue planning the 2008 Campus Conference coming up this July 3-6. We prayed, planned, and toured the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans where we will all be volunteering for a day to help the folks there get back on their feet. Thus the theme of the conference is, "Rebuild the City." (Photo courtesy of flickr)

Something became immediately evident as the meeting carried on. The sheer volume of campus good news from across the US was amazing.

• Los Angeles had over 100 students baptized and restored in 2007. This victory is all the more encouraging when you remember that LA only had just over 200 students when the year began.
• The Boston campus revival is now in full gear. Not only were there 12 baptisms in the fall semester alone, but campus ministries were replanted at Harvard and MIT.
• Across Virginia the campuses are rocking. The Norfolk campuses saw 22 students baptized and restored last year, finishing the year with 55 disciples. The campuses in Roanoke have grown to over 30 disciples in just three years since they were planted.
• Baltimore has grown from 16 to 30 disciples in just the last 12 months.
• San Antonio has gone from 4 to 27 campus disciples in the last 20 months.
• Columbia, MO, campuses had an awesome year. Roughly 17 disciples began 2007 in the campus ministry. The saw, besides a few move-ins and graduates, 14 people baptized into Christ! They now have 32 disciples.
• God blessed the St Louis campus ministry with tremendous growth from 7 to 15 last year. They had a total of 5 baptisms, 2 move-ins and 2 move-ups(from teens to campus). They now have students on 6 different campuses in St. Louis and are having Soul Talks on 3 of those campuses.
• One of the sisters baptized last summer in St Louis moved to be a part of the Springfield, Missouri church, and helped to start a revival in their campus ministry. Springfield grew from 3 to 10 last semester! God has definitely been moving powerfully in the campus ministries and churches in Missouri.
• Gainesville, Florida, had a tremendous fall as thousands were invited and 16 were baptized. Gainesville now has about 125 disciples.
• El Paso, Texas, a church of about 100 disciples, has now grown its group from 2 to 12 disciples in the last 16 months. Two more are close to being baptized.

We could go on and on. Sure, not every campus ministry is on fire yet. Still, the big picture is clear. We are in the middle of a campus revival that is picking up steam every day. Let us continue to pour out our hearts in prayer that God will raise up a generation of college students with a passion to win the lost, as well as to plant churches around the world. The wait is over. The revival is on.