eager hearts for a revived campus

So far, we have spent two weeks on the Kwazulu Natal campus here in Durban, meeting students and leveling the foundation for which a ministry can strongly be built. Campus Crusade for Christ used to be a thriving ministry on this campus years ago. Students were raised up as leaders and sent to unreached places all over Africa. The community and fellowship among the students so evidently reflected their love for Jesus Christ and year after year the Lord added to their number. But somewhere, somehow, the ministry began to slip away. I don't know the history of it all, but for whatever reason the life of the Christian community has been sucked dry. For the past 5-6 years, Kwazulu Natal's Campus Crusade  has been one man standing. Gary Price is a campus director from Texas who moved to South Africa nearly 30 years ago with his wife Cheryll. The two felt God calling them to this place and with the leading of the Holy Spirit have willingly moved all over the country with the addition of five boys over the years. They have now been in Durban for the past 13 years as Gary has committed to stay until life is brought back into the hearts of students and onto the campus of Kwazulu Natal. 

Last summer, a group of American students came to Durban for 2 weeks to help see restoration in the ministry on campus. With their time so limited, they left trusting the Lord had used them to plant seeds that would grow a harvest. Truly, the Lord used them as we now get to be a part of that which they have already sown. It is encouraging to see how the fruit of this ministry today, is born out of the faith of those students. 

There are four student leaders on the campus, all whom were raised up by the summer project last July. 

Zetu is a second year student who grew up in a Christian home but never desired to follow the Lord with her own life. Living on the fence of enjoying the world's pleasures during the week and playing "Christian" on Sundays, Zetu finally reached a point in high school when living for the world became exhausting. After dedicating her life to the Lord, she began to see the joy in following Him. When she met with one of the missionaries last year, God instilled a vision of revival within her. Zetu is eager to see change in the lives of others and wants to be used to bring students the joy she now has in Christ.

Sli is also a second year student who became friends with Zetu through a leadership conference they attended with last year's Summer Project. Sli's father left her and her mother when she was born. "My mother is my greatest hero," she proudly told us. Sli, her brother and sister were raised by a single mom who was committed to loving and caring well for her children. Sli never understood the decision her father made which left her confused and angry for years. But after hearing the Gospel and the unfailing love of her heavenly father who has not stopped pursuing her since the day she was born, Sli's understanding of "father" has completely changed. She committed her life to Christ last summer, with the group of students who came in July, and has grown a passion for the Lord that is beautifully contagious. 

Sbu and Anele are two guys in the movement who are also student leaders, committed to seeing the ministry thrive and lives transformed. Our second day on campus was the very first weekly meeting that Kwazulu Natal's Campus Crusade had held in years. Roughly 10 students showed up and the four student leaders (Zetu, Sli, Sbu, and Anele) were ecstatic. Coming from a Campus Crusade ministry that was nearly 800-1000 students in the States, it would be easy to gather these student leaders and give them an outline of how to run and build a student ministry on their campus. But that would completely defeat the purpose of why we came. We did not come to replicate an American ministry. Nor did we come to build a "weekly meeting" of 1000+ students. We didn't come to tell these students what to do or how to do it. We came to see lives changed. We came to see students raised up as leaders for Christ. We came to share our hearts with them and make ourselves available for them to share their hearts with us. We came to draw students closer to the Lord and grow their passion for Him in such a way that would reach the entire campus, and the world. I want to see students eager to live a life worthy of the Gospel and passionate for sharing the love of Christ with others. Already, God is doing just that, and more.

At our first weekly meeting, the 10 of us gathered in a small classroom, filling maybe a fifth of the room. We told the students to let the Holy Spirit guide them and asked them to lead the entire meeting. We sang one song a cappella, and the voices that filled the room sounded like a chorus of heavenly saints. Anele led us in a devotional about trusting in the Lord and finding our hope in Him. As we read the Scriptures together, I peered around the room observing the students with their tattered bibles. Intently reading the Word of God and following along in the passage, they nodded their heads saying "amen" with such passion and conviction. Mhuzo closed us in prayer after about 30 minutes, and chills ran through my body. He prayed with such fervency and faith..he prayed with authority and boldness, expecting God to move..he prayed with such humility and reverence, and I was drawn to a place of worship. Right now, the students involved in the ministry on this campus are few.. but they are faithful. They want to own the movement and take action to see change. I am so excited to see God work in and through these students as it is a privilege to be here with them.