student cpx in vegas. jan 17

stories from Las Vegas...

January 17, 2009
So much to process this sunny afternoon at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I’m supposed to be in a training right now, but I’m skipping out to unload my heart and mind. (Plus the sun is just so inviting!)
Last night as Ryan and I were trying unsucessfully to get into the dorm, a young black student helped us get in. I asked him what his name was. Scott. I then saw he was carrying the book by Joyce Meyers “Battlefield of the Mind.” I asked him if he loved Jesus - he grinned a big, happy grin and said “Yes! Do you love Jesus?” We proceeded to tell him about the weekend’s activities here on campus and about the prayer room we’d set up in a student lounge. He seemed intrigued, so we kept talking. He’s a freshman from Chicago with a passion for music. God had really gotten a hold of his life in the past semester. As his dreams of making it in the entertainment industry seemed to be dying, he had begun to ask God, “what are Your ideas for my life?” We talked a lot about Jesus and he ended up coming to the worship service with me.
I ran into Tyler, one of the Native American students who recently got saved at Haskell University, and soon found myself in the middle of a row of Asian students, with a Native American on one side of me, and a black American on the other side. MY HEART WAS SO ALIVE. Half of worship I spent just asking God for His work in the lives of Tyler and Scott. Remnants of oppressed American people - so precious in the eyes of God. Victorious overcomers, they are.
I ended up speaking over Tyler the words I felt the Holy Spirit whisper in my ear. “It’s no accident you’re here. It’s no mistake you are here. This gathering is not complete without you! The Father wanted you here. There is much in His heart for you, and there is much He has already put in you that the rest of us need.”
All the while, I am feeling for Scott and wanting the Holy Spirit to be poured out in his life. So I grab Brian Sun and Paul Kim from Arizona, and David Rempfer from Kentucky and ask them to pray over Scott with me. So right there in the middle of worship we just drench this freshman guy with boldness and authority in the Spirit. IT WAS AWESOME!!
I felt the Father smiling. Here I am, the Wilder project has really not even begun yet... and the first contact I make is with a black student. Of course, Lord. Of course.

Sitting in a session for Student CPX just now, the “Moth Hunter” as we affectionately call him, brought the word of God with such authority... as he has come to be known for! The Moth Hunter is a very tall, very Kentuckian man named Curt Vernon who loves Jesus with simple abandonment that revels most loves I’ve seen. He is humble, simple, hilarious, and one of the most profound people I have ever met. We were discussing baptism, and he broke into the large group conversation with a gentle voice... “The Lord spoke to me a while ago. I was asking him why people are complacent, why the church doesn’t move, why people backslide and He said to me, ‘Curt, you pass out resurrection without requiring death.”