Looking forward to presenting to Calvary Baptist, West Lafayette, IN, tomorrow! There are hosting their Missions Conference this weekend. It is an honor to get to present to them. We are actually sharing along with the BCM leadership
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This video gets me choked up! I love the English version of this song, but to see the leader's response to an overwhelmed crowd giving it all they have to sing unto the Lord in their own heart language! It makes me even more excited for heaven! As we work with international students, to hear them speak in their own language, I look forward to hearing them sing unto the Lord! As the semester is wrapping up, the planning stage is only approaching that much faster! We have had a great first semester!!!! Our desire is to continue the growth and progress. Friendships are being built in a variety of different "circles." Please continue to pray for us for great wisdom and discernment. Our hope is that God will change hearts and lives!
We have just recently returned from a trip to GA and NC. We were invited down to Augusta, GA, to be a part of a missions conference. We had a wonderful time sharing the experience with other missionaries who were invited as well. Just to be able to discuss the spiritual, emotional, and physical challenges of getting to and serving in the field, gave Julie and I a lot of encouragement. There was no complaining, but just to be able to have others be able to identify with what you are going through was encouraging.
We are back and ready to get back to work. We have been so encouraged lately! We are excited to see what God has in store for us and the students we are working with. Please continue to pray for us in the balance of life. Schedules are filling up quickly and life is getting real busy! To God be the glory and honor! Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog. Life has gotten just a wee bit crazy! I am working on our letter this week in order to get it out there for our partners. Trying to keep up 2 websites, 2 blogs, activities, group meetings, along with preparing for new events and new potential Bible studies, I can easily get behind. Please pray for me on that!
We are "cruising" right along! We are having very deep spiritual discussions with some students and being able to share the Gospel with them. The Lord is over the harvest. We are simply wanting to share and show love to these students. I won't divulge their names or countries here. But, there are lots of challenges that we face on a daily basis. May God always be before us! One of the greatest issues that we are being faced with is that there can be "cookie cutter" evangelistic strategies that can be helpful, but individuals are not made with the corresponding "cookie cutters". Each individual student has their own story and life experience and struggles. Granted, the answer is still the same: Jesus. And granted, the root of the problems are the same: sin. But, conversations are always filled with different variations that are unique to that person. Please pray for great wisdom! I so desperately want to share truth, but with the great love and compassion from my Lord! Above all, my desire is that either these students come to know that Lord, OR when they leave, they say, "the Runner family loved me." This is my first post for the New Year! My family and I are getting settled in to our new place. I'm trying to get my office in order and line up events and opportunities for international students and local churches. I am excited about what has already begun to happen and to see what God is going to do! I know that nothing is set to happen because of who I am and now that I am here, but I am thrilled that God has allowed me to be here to be a part of what He is going to do! Please keep praying for us!
As we are getting ready to have some international students over for dinner, Father, please allow us to be "a light" for you. As I continue to be exposed to the environment here in Indiana, the needs are great! Father, Your presence is needed everywhere! Please use me and my family here. I know that I am going to fail and have "missed" opportunities but I pray that You will use us as You see fit.
Amen We are praying for opportunities to be a friend to the international students here at Purdue! We are excited about the opportunity that we have tonight to have some students come over. It broke our heart when one said several times in one conversation, "We are lonely." We know that we can't help everyone. Not everyone will want to be helped. We will take hold of every opportunity we get. If you are reading this, please pray for us in this regard. I pray that you will also be burdened by those around you in your town/city. God has placed us respectively where we are to be in order to be salt and light in that place. He has also given us a burden that we need to be aware of and act on it. I have challenged one of my daughters with that thought. BE SALT AND LIGHT! Until next time..... Father, after an "intense" URL (University Religious Leaders) meeting here at Purdue, this campus needs you! This world needs you! Satan and sin has blinded people that they would follow other gods, including worshiping themselves. There is such a pursuit of fulfillment and self-righteousness, that a veil has been placed over their eyes that only You can remove. Please Father, bring a revival to this campus of Your salvation. I thank You for placing my family and I here, but only You can save! Give us Your continuous boldness to speak truth in love to those who You bring across our path.
Father, please grant us wisdom as Julie and I parent our children and disciple them to know You so much more intimately. We are "in the world" but "not of it!" We need Your discernment as we teach our children discernment. May Your glory be ever present and always going before us in all that we do! Amen Life in Indiana is going well, but still trying to get use to the temperature of early winter. We have already experienced the tornado sirens going off, to blustering winds, to a day of snow already! And we are only in the first full week of December!
I know, I know.....it will only get worse (weather wise!) Other than the weather, our greatest challenges have been learning our way around and getting to know people. We have had some great opportunities to meet people representing different areas of our ministry. We have met with folks from the State convention, other ministry leaders, pastors, and of course international students. Arriving here in the area at the end of the semester appears to be to our advantage (thanks to the Lord!) because it is giving us a chance to get to learn our "environment" first before offering our "services." The other awesome thing is how God has sounded the trumpet of our arrival based on His reputation of providing us a house. We have people coming up to us, when they find out our name, and say, "I heard about how God got you here!" We are constantly reminding our family and those who we meet that this is ALL God's doing! He gets the credit! Now we are getting settled in, trying to get adjusted, but also, earnestly seeking the Lord to see where He is working and to join Him. We know without a shadow of a doubt that we are to be here! It is now praying for discernment and wisdom in daily decision making for our home and ministry. Please continue to pray for us! Well, today is the day! God has moved us here to Indiana to get things started! I am thrilled to be here, but as I walk this campus, my heart is overwhelmed by how many international students are here! I wish we could reach them all! The look in their eyes is gripping because I never noticed how lonely some appear to be. Lord help us and lead us!
Unbeknownst to me, I got to go to my first URL meeting (University Religious Leaders). It was a meeting/lecture on the Holocaust. Although it was gripping, the final discussions turned into a theological discussion that revealed that the speakers were actually atheistic or agnostic at best. It was saddening. It revealed how man's intelligence, no matter how many degrees, makes him know God no better. What I mean is these guys had their degrees and we very well-learned, their hearts were only harder to who God is. They were attempting to separate being Jewish from being religious or at least a devout follower of God (although their culture is based on a relationship with God!). They need Jesus! OK, I'm off to pick up my wife and return to the campus to finalize some documents and prayer walk the campus. We are desperately pleading for God to place us in the paths of these international students! |
AuthorDennis Runner- a witness, a follower, a student, and a lump of clay in the hands of my God and Savior. Archives
May 2016
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