Students were streaming out of the chapel when Ariel stopped in front of me.  “So, when you have those dry, silent times in your relationship with the Lord, what do you do?” she wondered.

I (Scott) had just finished my final talk at Sacramento Cru’s Fall Retreat, when God provided this mini-discipleship opportunity.  I spoke four times over the weekend on the topics of the gospel, the Spirit-filled life, passing on the gospel, and the significance of the word of God in our lives.  It was a wonderful time to get to know and pour God’s word into 41 students from four different colleges in the Sacramento area.

The weekend was full of teaching, small group processing and connecting, fun outdoor activities, eating together, and worshipping together.  Just about every Cru movement around the country has a Fall Retreat.  It’s a key component of forming community and fostering spiritual growth in local movements.

I sympathized with Ariel, and told her she’s not alone.  I encouraged her to persevere, and to try to mix up her times with the Lord.  Work in some times of listening to worship music, sitting quietly, taking a walk, reading a good Christian book, along with her times of Bible reading and prayer.  And I gave her Psalm 13 to look at, to encourage her that even King David experienced times of feeling far from the Lord.  Staying in community and sharing with others about how you’re doing, is also important in those times.

I received some encouraging feedback from the weekend just recently.  Here are some things students said:

“God taught me that guilt and shame are not of Him and that we can be confident because of His love and grace and Jesus’ sacrifice.”

“His [Scott’s] last talk really stood out to me, however, when he asked us who our Paul was and who was going to be our Timothy that we would train up to take our torch. It really made me stop and evaluate “what is my torch? What do I contribute besides just my role and who is God wanting me to walk along side of to speak truth into their life and point them to Christ as they grow?””

“To rely on the holy spirit and that God loves me unconditionally”

“I liked the last few talks about having the courage to share the gospel, and how important it is.”

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Praise God that the Middle East Stint team Scott coached in August is safely in country!
• Pray for strong, healthy, spiritual community to grow on campuses all over the West.
• Pray for Fall Retreats going on now around the West. That students would bond deeply and grow in their faith.
• Praise God and pray for Becky & the kids as they are in full swing of their homeschool year!

“…what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:2

Thank you for partnering with us to build spiritually into the lives of college students!