As we shared together, Andy told me, “Before I was 80% sure that
there was no God, but, honestly, now I am 50/50.” A week later
Jimmy from our team met and shared with him more. At the end of the
meeting Andy said, “I am 63% towards believing in Jesus now.” Last
week, when I met with Andy, he told me, “I prayed for my girlfriend
to be healed the other day and she immediately got better. I am now
at 67%.”

I told Andy to go home that night and begin to pray to Jesus,
asking him to reveal Himself. Andy did just that. I just got off
the phone with a new report from him. He said, “Toby, I have been
praying to God like you suggested, and I don’t know what is
happening, but I think I am being changed on the inside. I’ve found
there are people I didn’t like before, and I am starting to love
them. And so I just started praying for them… that they would find
everlasting life too.”

I wanted to tell Andy to put on his own oxygen mask before he
helped those sitting next to him, but instead I just laughed. Andy
is definitely well over 80% now and moving fast. And all I want for
Christmas is…

for my friend Andy to reach 100%.

Prayer Requests:

•    URGENT REQUEST: Please pray for our Christmas parties this
weekend (26th and 27th) that Andy and other seeking students like
Him would find the one true God. We will be sharing the gospel with
50+ students. Please pray that He would remove the enemy’s blinding
influence and open their hearts to the gospel.

•    PRAISE REPORT: God’s been doing amazing things this last week. In
our city, we have had 5 students join the family in the last 10
days. He is such an incredible savior! One of them is the first one
to be saved on our campus this year – a girl named Rachel. It is a
powerful story. Stay tuned!

•    PERSONAL REQUEST: Cher’s  pregnancy is going well, and the baby
is very healthy. But she has been battling with some of the tough
parts of pregnancy: specifically, morning sickness and now
sciatica. Please continue to pray for a healthy baby and for Cher
to be healthy too.

We both want to wish you an incredible Christmas. Your kindness to
us is one of the great blessings of our life.

All our love.

Sonny & Cher

She was friendly, and we began to chat. After a few minutes of
getting to know each other, she said, “I am a leader of an English
club on campus. We are working this week to start an English
corner*.” My mind immediately flashed back to the day before. Our
team members had been gathered in our house praying for the campus,
and we specifically asked God to help us find or start an English
corner to meet new students to share God’s love with.

This past Friday, our team showed up at the new English corner not
knowing what to expect. About 20 Chinese students gathered
together, eagerly awaiting our arrival. At our arrival the group
dispersed into small groups of 2-5 students around each of us.

In my little circle of 5, God showed up powerfully. As I began to
share God’s story, students peppered me with questions trying to
understand more about how to have a relationship with God. As I
shared more about Jesus, one girl exclaimed, “This is incredible!”

The stories from other circles were just as awesome. The Spirit was
opening the hearts of this English club to be able to see Jesus.
How amazing that God sat the one girl who leads this group right
next to me on the bus. Not only did we meet 20 new friends to share
with, but
God has already begun planting His seeds deep in their hearts. I
can’t wait to see them grow.

* An English corner is a place where Chinese students gather
together to practice their English. It is one of the best places to
meet students we can easily communicate with.

Each of us took turns drawing a card with a question on it from a
large jar. Then we would answer the questions about experiences and
perspective on life. With each question we got to know each other
better. And with each question Cher and I got to share how
important to us Jesus is. Cher drew a question, “What do you think
happens to people when they die?”. She sincerely shared the truth
of eternity while Snake and Vicky leaned forward in interest.  I
answered “How would you define success?” by talking about God’s
plan for my life, Vicky exclaimed, “I can see that your faith is
the most important thing in your life!”

Snake and Vicky are searching for something more in life. Something
real, something eternal. And I have a feeling not too many weeks
from now they are going to find it…

… in the middle of our living room over Cher’s peanut butter
cookies.

Pr Requests:

1.    Please pray for our team – Vash, Jimmy, Cherie, Priend, Cher, and
I. We are pioneering on a campus where we have never seen
breakthrough before. We are doing a lot of praying in addition to
sharing with others about Christ. We also have had a sense of being
under extra spiritual attack as we contend for breakthrough here.

2.    Please pray for health. Several on our team have been sick. Cherie
has really struggled with allergies. Also, Cher and Jimmy have had
a cold for several weeks.

3.    Pray for Divine connections – we are asking God to lead us to
friends who are seeking Him AND can open doors to whole groups of
friends that will turn to Jesus.

4.    Pray for salvation – Each of us has made a circle of friends over
the last few weeks. We have shared our testimony and about Jesus with
each of them to various degrees. Ask that God would remove the veil
over their eyes so they can see the truth of the gospel.

Thank you so much for praying for us. Prayer is the only thing that
will bring breakthrough to this campus. We need you to stand with
us as we share God’s love over here. Together, we can see Jesus Christ expand
his kingdom in our university.

Sonny & Cher

One team excitedly tells about running a Bible study where students are getting saved almost every week. Another girl’s voice breaks as she shares about leading a friend to Christ for the very first time. A guy deadpans a funny, touching story about leading three friends he had just met into the family all at once. Another team cheers as it shares that it is battling with a Jehovah’s Witness who is trying to convert college students here. They have already won away 2 of his “disciples.” One of our girls cries as she shares about how she stumbled upon a break dancing party where she met a new friend who could speak no English, but managed to invite her to a Bible study.

At the Bible study the girl shared with our girl and Chinese believers how she had been trying to kill herself. The storyteller began to weep for her friend. The group shared the Gospel with her, and our break dancing friend gave her life to Christ and was baptized right on the spot. Between each story is applause and spontaneous praise for Jesus, our Savior.
And these are only a few of the stories!

However, we are hearing the Holy Spirit’s whisperings about being even more committed to the mission, stepping out in more boldness, and seeing even more of God’s power. As I have shared this message with our workers here, God is showing up each time. Just this week I shared with a group of leaders about a greater commitment to the Mission. A spontaneous time of prayer and tears erupted as we cried out for more of God and His passion for the lost. A similar message this week to the whole team in a city moved us to cry out for more of God. The Spirit met us by filling us up again in a powerful way. So all that to say – God is doing incredible things here in us andthrough us. But I believe, as is His way, the best wine is still to come!

She is a graduate student in art criticism at a top 10 university. Suffice it to say, she’s a smart cookie. She was also one of the students that Cher and I got to invest in most last year. We did a foundations class for the future leaders of one of our new house church networks, and she was there every week. When it came time for us to coordinate leaders training, she was the one who helped me do all the communication and get everything setup while being trained herself. And she and Cher have the makings of a great friendship.

Recently, I visited her house church for the first time since being back. It was great to see her and hear about how school was going and how she was helping to lead that house church now. After chatting for awhile I began to mix around the room and meet the new faces that I saw. I connected with a cool new guy, Shane. He was a new Christian passionate about the Lord (he began to weep thinking about the cross during communion that day). I also found out in conversation he was an art student. Then I met the girl sitting next to him, and she was an art student. Then the meeting started and the emcee introduced herself as an art student. Then we went around the circle to introduce ourselves.

Six of the ten students in church that day were art students!

And all six had joined the church this summer.

Karen had caught hold of a vision for her school and began sharing her faith, she started a Bible study meeting right on her campus, and now she had led 6 of her classmates into the family!

She caught the flame.

Let it spread, Lord, let it spread.

After worship, the meeting began. We were gathering with the leaders of this thriving young house church to plan a partnership with them to reach the students at their Top 100 universities. We planned details of working together, but as we discussed our desire to see the group multiply this year so they could reach more people, we were met with resistance. Each of the leaders began to express how worn out they were; they couldn't imagine taking on this new faith challenge.

As they poured out their hearts about this, the Lord gave me a word for the team. “You have been working in your own strength. You are not spending regular, unhurried time with Jesus. As you lean on the Spirit, you will find that Jesus' burden is truly light.”

I cringed at the thought of sharing a corrective word with these young saints in my very first meeting with some of them. But in my heart I knew I God wanted me to share. So I obeyed and gently began to correct these church leaders.

The whirlwind of tears, silence, prayers of repentance, and God's Spirit falling on the group that followed left me walking away in stunned silence. Jesus had shown up. He had called these leaders back to their First Love. And He had filled the group with faith that as we depend together on the Spirit's power, there is no limit to the revival that Jesus can pour out on that campus.

I have been proud of the way our team has responded in this tragedy. While the government will not let us be among the first responders to the most dangerous areas, our people have stepped up where they can. One guy called me and asked if he could collect clothes from our team for the victims. I gave the green light. Several hours later he called back to report he had collected 16 garbage bags full of clothing. That was more than a garbage bag full per person!

Others have gone out to bring food, water, and other supplies to some of the 100,000's of refugees whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake. Our main opportunity has been bringing hope and the truth to the college students here. Because of government fear about old buildings on the campuses, all the students (10,000's on each campus) have been sleeping outside in tents or the open air for some of the last 10 days. There is a lot of fear, but also a lot of vulnerability. People who have been closed to the gospel are open now. Friends who have been resisting the decision for months are jumping in with two feet.

We leave in only 5 days to come back home. This was quite an ending to an amazing year. But even in the midst of tremendous tragedy, we see God at work, drawing his lost children to himself.

We hadn't been waiting long when a white man exited a building near us, gave me a nod and flashed a discreet wave as he began to walk down a side street. “Rozanne, Knight!” I whispered. “Quick! There he goes. He just motioned for me to follow.” The three of us stole along at a 50-yard distance as the mysterious man led the way. He lingered at a corner before turning down another path just to make sure we wouldn't lose his trail. And again, he hung back at a door before entering a building. I thought he was a little too obvious for one trying to stay ‘under cover'.

I followed him through the doorway with Rozanne and Knight in tow. We entered a small lobby where he was leaning on a counter waiting for at us. This was our first meeting.

He squinted at me and asked, “Uh…you aren't Heather, are you?” “Umm, no. I'm not,” I replied. Was this some kind of test? It was at that moment that Knight put the pieces together. “And… you are not John are you?” We had followed the wrong man. At that, the three of us returned to our post, waiting for John at the gate, laughing and slightly bewildered. John pedaled up to the gate and gave us a warm, “Hello!” We followed him with no stealth whatsoever, completely conspicuous to all who may have been watching. We told him of our embarrassing adventures as we were trying to do what John asked and “stay under cover”. John laughed out loud and said, “Oh! I only meant to stay out of the rain!” John turned out be one of many strategic contacts God gave us this past week as all of CT left on a scouting & spiritual warfare trip to the city we are expanding to next year. Not only did God provide open doors and divine connections, but He also through prayer gave significant insight into his direction for next year and breakthrough over spiritual strongholds in the city. The universal report is, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

While Cher was scouting out this new city God has called us to, I (Sonny) was back in the USA for a week training the 35 new workers He has entrusted to us. God came through in every way for us at the training: spiritual, relational, and practical. Spontaneous times of surrender and weeping erupted during worship. A supernatural openness and trust were forged among the team in those 4 short days. And 35 support letters were written, formatted, proofed and printed. It was incredible! During one session, I stood in the back and surveyed the troop of 35 world-changers that filled the room. I thought of John Wesley's words, “Give me 100 men who love God and nothing else and fear sin and nothing else, and I will change the world.” God has now given us 58 total (with returning workers). I am excited for what the next year holds.

This Friday he came with a list of questions about the gospel, so starting in Genesis I spent our lesson explaining “the Story” (ok, I cheated with some pictures and English too). It was thrilling to see the light turn on as he began to fully understand the Good News for the first time. It was doubly thrilling because I know he is a member of a small fellowship of believers from a minority people group. And he plans to go back and teach all of those other young believers what he learned. As our lesson closed he turned to me and, in the words of a kung fu sage, said, “Today… the student has become the teacher.” Asia right now is a parched savannah. We get to light one stalk of grass on fire and watch a whole field ignite. May every last young person in this nation “understand it clearly for the first time.” And may everyone who learns become a teacher.

I was racing from one exciting new meeting to another. At 9am, I had my first meeting of nine returning workers who are preparing to be leaders with CT next year. Over the next 10 weeks I will be walking them through a course preparing each of them to lead 4 other workers next year to plant a church on a university. I was so proud to see them stepping up in different leadership exercises and showing the potential God put in them. We finished up around 11:15am.

I was racing to my new 11:45am meeting to train the 10-15 key leaders in the churches we have been planting over the last three years. These college-age leaders are preparing to each lead a house church/cell group within the next year. We gathered in the living room of a home, ate some fried rice together, and I began to share. As I taught on the need for us to multiply house churches to reach the 250,000 college students in our city, there was a tangible excitement that filled the room. Then the Holy Spirit fell as we prayed together, and they began to offer themselves as workers in this great harvest field. One by one they committed themselves to the task.

I don't have a helicopter, but after 2 meetings like that I can fly.