God has been so good to us lately and is doing some amazing things in our midst... He has been bringing some amazing divine relationships and connnections with some freshmen at UCSB that are involved in Real Life (Campus Crusade for Christ). Jason has been meeting with some of them sporadically over the last few months, and a number of them have started showing up on Friday nights to the Burger Ministry. It seems like they have been really blessed by being around some of the slightly older people in our fellowship and having the chance to get poured into by them. I think they also see the depth in our people, and these freshmen are hungry for that same depth in their walks with God.
On Saturday night, we had about 5 or 6 of them over for a BBQ at our house, along with about 5 or 6 people from IVC that had already started building some cool connections with them. It was such a blessed night of fellowship and God doing some neat stuff. We had a time of prayer and worship and just enjoying the Holy Spirit towards the end of the night, and God was moving! Praise the Lord for the unity and divine connections He is building for such a time as this in IV!
Also, at church on Sunday (we now have a 4pm gathering in the front yard of the DP Houses), about 8 people from Real Life showed up, along with about 25 or 30 people from IVC. It was not a huge gathering, but God showed up powerfully nevertheless as we worshipped Him and shared testimonies of things He has been doing in our lives. We have been having dinner together after the service, and this has also proved to be a very blessed time of fellowship and building one another up.
We are so thankful for all God is doing in our midst. He is also continuing to connect us more and more with people from the Goleta Vineyard as a number of us have now been joining them on Sunday mornings for the last three weeks for their worship service. The work He is doing with bringing together the generations and the different fellowships and expressions of the Body of Christ is so exciting and something many of us have had a burden for for many years now. What an exciting thing to see it coming to pass in this hour!
