Stories from a Dorm Room

Across the country, a number of students who’ve long finished their freshman year are doing something a little crazy. They’re moving back into residence halls on their campuses in order to reach the freshmen who are so often ravenously hungry for Jesus and just don’t know it. These upperclassmen’s experiences are definitely worth repeating! Here are some exciting stories from dorm room ministry:

Nick: “What God has been doing in my dorm pertains particularly to one guy named Max who lives on my floor. Soon after we met him, Max started coming to everything we invited him to. He went to church for the first time with us, he came to Nav Nights, and he got involved with my Bible study! Max decided to give his life to Christ on October 19, 2014 – at our Navigator fall conference. Seeing God transform Max’s heart and bring him into His kingdom was incredible to experience. It has been a very humbling and encouraging opportunity to see God use an average guy like me who’s simply choosing to be obedient.”

Jenny: “For the past two years, I’ve met with Sophie each week and have gotten to watch God give her a heart for the people around her. She’s now a senior and will graduate soon. While many of her peers are living off campus, Sophie is living on campus in a residence hall so she’ll have more opportunities to share the love of Jesus with the students around her (she’s pictured with me in the midst of moving). Sophie is seizing this last chance to live in the unique community of dorm life for God’s purposes. She has stepped up to the challenge of leading a Bible study of fellow student leaders and is teaching them to love, memorize the Word, and live outwardly. I’m thrilled to think of the generations of laborers that will stem out from her example of following Jesus and sacrificially living for Him.”

Aaron: “God blessed my roommate and me with a good name from day one on our floor. It worked out very cool of how our dorm is set up: there are two floors that combine to be one big community, and there are only female resident assistants (RA’s), which allows for us to be a place many guy students often come to for guidance. We have been able to walk through some very joyous and very difficult times with these students, frequently hearing how thankful they are that we are there. Unless we really need to be studying, we keep our door open and often have students coming in to talk about life, read the Bible, and pray with us. Many of the guys and girls we have gotten to interact with are also now in Bible studies. Our prayer is that God would save every person on our floor this year!”

How beautiful that these students are allowing God to take them back into the craziness of the residence halls. Nick’s final comment about the experience was very challenging; he said, “I’d encourage all upperclassman to consider moving back onto campus because it creates an opportunity to make an impact for eternity and is absolutely worth it!”