New entries up!

New posts about BWC and recent happenings are now up at my new site: Deb.Web

Please make sure to bookmark, RSS, or whatever my new blog if you've been following this one, cause that's where all the fun is happening these days!

New Blog!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am moving my blog over to a new site, one that I can maintain and customize as I please, and one that will give me a bit more freedom. My archived blogs will remain here, and I can still get your comments here, but from now on all new content will be hosted at

web.me.com/deb.crane  

All new blogs, updated more regualarly, more prayer, more pictures (coming)... Let's just say it's better in general. Still under construction in a couple places, but still very much up and running. So bookmark that, visit often, send it to friends... whatever. You all are amazing, thank you for adjusting with me!

The Bob Challenge

I am issuing a challenge, to my students, my readers, my supporters, everyone. Find something to pray for, and do it. Pray for a month. Pray for 6 months. Just pray, every day, for God to move. The specific challenge that I am issuing is for students at Fisher to pray for their campus over break. Not that I want to end the challenge after a month, but that it's a great place to start. I got the idea from the book If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat, by John Ortberg, and while I could summarize it, I'd rather quote it...(note: not mine, belongs to John Ortberg)

“One of my favorite adventures in prayer involves Doug Coe, who has a ministry in Washington, DC, that mostly involves people in politics and statecraft. Doug became acquainted with Bob, an insurance salesman who was completely unconnected with any government circles. Bob became a Christian and began to meet with Doug to learn about his new faith.

One day, Bob came in all excited about a statement in the Bible where Jesus says, “Ask whatever you will in my name, and you shall receive it.”

“Is that really true?“ Bob demanded.
Doug explained, “Well, it's not a blank check. You have to take it in context of the teachings of the whole Scripture on prayer. But yes—it really is true. Jesus really does answer prayer.”
“Great!” Bob said. “Then I gotta start praying for something. I think I'll pray for Africa.”
“That's kind of a broad target. Why don't you narrow it down to one country” Doug advised.
“All right. I'll pray for Kenya.”
“Do you know anyone in Kenya?”
“No.”
“Ever been to Kenya?”
“No.” Bob just wanted to pray for Kenya.
So Doug made an unusual arrangement. He challenged Bob to pray every day for six months for Kenya. If Bob would do that and nothing extraordinary happened, Doug would pay him five hundred dollars. But if something remarkable did happen, Bob would pay Doug five hundred dollars. And if Bob did not pray every day, the whole deal was off. It was a pretty unusual prayer program, but then Doug is a creative guy.
Bob began to pray, and for a long while nothing happened. Then one night he was at a dinner in Washington. The people around the table explained what they did for a living. One woman said she helped run an orphanage in Kenya—the largest of its kind.
Bob saw five hundred dollars suddenly sprout wings and begin to fly away. But he could not keep quiet. Bob roared to life. He had not said much up to this point, and now he pounded her relentlessly with question after question.
“You're obviously very interested in my country,” the woman said to Bob, overwhelmed by his sudden barrage of questions. “You've been to Kenya before?”
“No.”
“You know someone in Kenya?”
“No.”
“Then how do you happen to be so curious?”
“Well, someone is kind of paying me five hundred dollars to pray...”
She asked Bob is he would like to come visit Kenya and tour the orphanage. Bob was so eager to go, he would have left that very night if he could.
When Bob arrived in Kenya, he was appalled by the poverty and the lack of basic health care. Upon returning to Washington, he couldn't get this place out of his mind. He began to write to large pharmaceutical companies, describing to them the vast need he had seen. He reminded them that every year they would trow away large amounts of medical supplies that went unsold. “Why not send them to this place in Kenya?” he asked.
And some of them did. This orphanage received more than a million dollars worth of medical supplies.
The woman called Bob up and said, “Bob, this is amazing! We've had the most phenomenal gifts because of the letters you wrote. We would like to fly you back over and have a big party. Will you come?”
So Bob flew back to Kenya. While he was there, the president of Kenya came to the celebration, because it was the largest orphanage in the country, and offered to take Bob on a tour of Nairobi, the capital city. In the course of the tour they saw a prison. Bob asked about a group of prisoners there.
“They're political prisoners,” he was told.
“That's a bad idea,” Bob said brightly. “You should let them out.”
Bob finished the tour and flew back home. Sometime later, Bob received a phone call from the State Department of the United States government:
“Is this Bob?”
“Yes.”
“Were you recently in Kenya?”
“Yes.”
“Did you make any statements to the president about political prisoners?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him he should let them out.”
The State Department official explained that the department had been working for years to get the release of these prisoners, to no avail. Normal diplomatic channels and political maneuverings had led to a dead end. But now the prisoners had been released, and the
State Department was told it had been largely because of... Bob. So, the government was calling to say thanks.
Several months later, the president of Kenya made a phone call to Bob. He was going to rearrange his government and select a new cabinet. Would Bob be willing to fly over and pray for him for three days while he worked on this very important task?
So Bob—who was not politically connected at all—boarded a plane once more and flew back to Kenya, where he prayed and asked God to give wisdom for the leader of the nation as he selected his government. All this happened because one man got out of the boat."

So I'm daring you to pray. Every day. Pray for revival amongst students and faculty, for renewed vision, for changed hearts, for broken spirits, for a call out to God would issue from the hearts and mouths of students. Pray that we would see change, see lives turned around, and see hearts turned to Christ. I challenge you!

PRAISE GOD!

Praise God!!! We have a new sister in Christ tonight! Tiffany, a student at Fisher and a friend of one of the girls I have been discipling, accepted Jesus as her Savior tonight! Please keep her in your prayers, and praise God for the work that He is doing in her. Our God is a God who saves! 

God knows what we need

Last night was the last Bible study at Fisher for the semester, and we spent a good amount of time discussing prayer. We were able to talk about the greatness of God, how He's answered prayer throughout the Bible, and how much He loves to have us talk to Him, from the smartest and most intelligent prayers to the prayers of children. 

One of my students, Rachel, told a story about a child that she works with in children's church. This girl is 5 years old and completely blind, she lives daily on the faith that she'll get where she needs to. 

One day on the bus home she said "Miss Rachel, where does Jesus live?"

"Jesus lives in my heart," Rachel told her.

"Is He ever gonna come out?"

"No, He will stay there forever and never leave me"

"But I want Jesus in my heart too!" the young girl told her.

So Rachel told her about how to accept Jesus into her heart, and the girl offered up this amazing prayer to God, completely innocent and honest. A while later she said "Miss Rachel, do you hear Jesus talking?" "No," Rachel replied, "do you hear Him?" "Yes! He says I don't need to be afraid" How amazing is that!?! God cares about us so much, down to a small child, and He wants us to know that we are loved and taken care of. 

The other story I wanted to share was about what my students did for me. Last night after our study was over, they said that they had something for me, and I was a little confused... Well, they pulled out a cake and a card that they had all signed (all 3 of them, but still amazing!) They had figured out it was my birthday tomorrow and wanted to do that for me as a gift and to say thank you for all I had done this semester. It was just so great to know that I had actually made a difference for them this year, especially when I've been feeling so frustrated with it at times, wondering if I was having any impact at all. Later on that night another student was talking about the possibility of her leaving Fisher, and got very emotional about it. She said she knew that God would take care of her no matter what, but that she just didn't want to leave. She didn't care about living in the dorms, or getting a degree, but she just wanted to be involved with FCF. Hearing that made the hardships of this semester completely worth it. Knowing that my students are growing in their faith, becoming more and more Christ-like, and soaking it all up... That was the best birthday gift I could have gotten. Ever. 

God is just so good, He knows what we need to hear, to have happen, and delivers when we need it the most. 

Be Thou My Vision

I just spent the last few days up in Speculator NY for the Northeast CCC staff. Let me tell you, it was phenomenal! Aside from it being an introvert's nightmare, it was a great time. There were 165 staff and interns assembled, plus 99 staff kids, which is crazy. One of the big things we talked about was grace... grace and truth (John 1:14), grace and peace (Romans 1:7), and grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:8). I can go into detail later about them all, and I will, but right now I'm waiting for someone in a coffee shop, and don't think I'll have time. So I'm going to just put this here to remind me to post later, and leave you with my overwhelming for the weekend...

God is good, so good, and wants the best for us, wants intimacy with us. How can we keep that to ourselves? I just have a renewed desire to share the Gospel, and introduce others to the Savior of the world. 

We sang this song a few times during worship, and it really has become my prayer this week. That Jesus would be my vision, that my eyes would be set on Him at all times. 

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

October Summary

Sorry for the lack of posts. Here's a brief update. I'll try to be better about it in the future...

This has been a month of changes and growth, no doubt about that. The last few days of September we took our students on the Upstate NY Fall Retreat along with students from Buffalo, Syracuse, Cornell, and Albany. In total there were around 250 people there, including almost 90 from Rochester! We had 8 students come from MCC, which is 6 more than ever before, and 10 deaf students from RIT. It was a great weekend as we learned and talked about trusting God with our pasts, presents, and futures. During worship Sunday morning one of the deaf students, Philip, fainted, falling on his face on the concrete floor and was quickly surrounded by blood. Instead of panicking, students all over the room broke into prayer until the students moved to the dining hall to allow the paramedics more room and privacy. Once relocated, the students continued to pray and began to worship God through song in some of the most honest worship I have seen. 

The concept of trusting that God is in control at all times was put to the test that day; it challenged all of us as we understood from experience rather than from hearing someone speak about it. Philip ended up being fine, with only a couple chipped teeth, and when he learned about how the students had prayed for him, he began to cry, astounded at the idea that hearing people could care for him, a deaf person, so much. 

Ministry on campus since the retreat has been challenging, but rewarding. MCC’s small groups continue to grow and the students are really grasping the importance of the Gospel and sharing it with their friends and families. St John Fisher has been more of a challenge; while many students signed up to be involved, only about 10 have stuck with it. I am working individually with one of the girls, however, and we are going to be beginning an outreach in her dorm this year and starting to share the Gospel with them. We are still in the startup phase at Fisher and are hoping to see some real growth as the year progresses.