Palestine is still on lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which initially flared in Bethlehem after being imported by international visitors. Bethlehem Bible College in Palestine has some unique advantages and disadvantages. Some of the institution’s own students and even a staff member were infected, meaning they had to take a serious approach to the coronavirus early on.

Rev. Dr. Jack Sara, president of Bethlehem Bible College says, “All public institutions and private institutions were asked to close their doors, and that included Bethlem Bible College. Since the fifth of March, we had to stop all our campus activities and send…everybody home.”

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

However, when the college transitioned to online courses for the semester, they were in somewhat familiar territory.

“Bethlehem Bible College is one of the only institutions that could provide theological education for Arabic-speaking people globally and locally,” Sara says. “So our students before have been used to taking some online classes or blended classes.”

Staff and faculty who are able to work remotely took laptops and other resources home to continue supporting Bethlehem Bible College students. Some of the students have struggled with access to good quality technology for their courses but otherwise, the online classroom transition was rather smooth.

Looking ahead, Sara says, “Our hope now is to be able to finish the semester for our students… I hope that we will be able to conduct graduation either in June or July.”

The biggest challenge now for the college is a financial one. The city of Bethlehem depends heavily on tourism, and this local tourist industry also benefits Bethlehem Bible College year-round.

Bethlehem Bible College (Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

“I would say over 30 percent of our income…is generated locally through the groups that visit us or buy at our gift shop or stay at our guesthouse…. So that puts us in a fragile area where we need to look for the funding to make up for this loss. It does help provide for us to support our staff and leaders and school and the running costs of everything we do.”

However, Sara says, “We’re trusting the Lord…. Our hope is always that the life and the power of the resurrection will continue to give us the strength and hope to continue on forward with our ministry in Palestine and beyond.”

In this time of global crisis, everyone is struggling in different ways. But something everyone in the Body of Christ can do to encourage Bethlehem Bible College is pray.

“We’re coveting the prayers of the believers, particularly for God’s wisdom for us to see how we can handle the next phase after the [coronavirus]. We need prayer that the Lord will provide our finances. As of today, we lack over $250,000 that we’re trusting the Lord for,” Sara says.

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

“Pray for the teachers so that they would be able to finish the semester successfully together with the students, and pray for protection over our staff from COVID-19. The staff [member] I mentioned to you that was infected, he is healed. Just pray that no one else would be infected.”

Please also pray for believers in Palestine to remain hopeful in Christ and be a light for Jesus to their communities. Sara says, “Every once in a while, I see people losing hope [and] leaving the country. This is something that we really don’t want to happen. Just imagine Bethlehem without Christians.”

Finally, if you are able to support Bethlehem Bible College financially and feel led by the Holy Spirit, you can click here to give!

“We really want Christians to stand with us, stand with the Christians in Palestine, and trust the Lord that He will continue to raise His Church in the middle of these difficulties. We trust that the Lord will continue to use Bethlehem Bible College as a beacon of hope in the midst of that hopelessness.”

Header photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College.

EveryCampus with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship helped support Collegiate Day of Prayer. InterVarsity’s Jon Hietbrink says yesterday, they saw people doing prayer walks on campuses, praying in churches, and hosting prayer events to see God move. Collegiate Day of Prayer even did a live simulcast from a historic Yale chapel that broadcasted all over the country.

(Photo courtesy of Collegiate Day of Prayer)

“Part of what I love about Collegiate Day of Prayer is there are lots of different avenues for people to get involved and to participate,” Hietbrink says. “The hope is that it’s, of course, not just one day of prayer, but actually a day to shine a spotlight on the strategic need that campuses [have] so that folks would continue to pray for campuses long after Collegiate Day of Prayer is done.”

Other ministries involved in Collegiate Day of Prayer included Chi Alpha, Luke 18, Campus Renewal Ministries, Cru, and Navigators.

Hietbrink says the unity demonstrated between Christian campus ministries for Collegiate Day of Prayer is really unprecedented. But to reach the over 4,000 college campuses in the US with the Gospel, one campus ministry can’t do it alone.

“God knows every single one of those campuses and every single student and faculty and staff that comes through the doors of those campuses…. When we pray through Collegiate Day of Prayer, we get the chance to join in something that Jesus is doing and we gain a greater measure of God’s heart for these campuses and these students. It’s a privilege to be in that space.”

It’s not just ministry leaders leading the charge. Students are also taking the initiative to prompt a movement of the Holy Spirit on their campuses.

For example, Hietbrink says he heard of one group of students from Tennessee who road tripped from Knoxville to New York City. Along the way, “I think they prayer walked something like 20 or 25 different schools as they road tripped up the eastern seaboard. They visited campuses, they made contacts on those campuses, sought to pray for the blessing of God to rest on those campuses.”

(Photo courtesy of Collegiate Day of Prayer)

The need for a spiritual revival among college students is great.

“This emerging generation — call them iGen or Gen Z — is fraught with anxiety, dealing with profound issues of loneliness and isolation from their peers. So the opportunity is really pronounced on college campuses for students to encounter the good news of Jesus in a fresh way, in a way that’s relevant and compelling to them that meets the needs that they have and that they experience on campus.”

Also, Hietbrink points out that college students are unique agents for the Gospel because they are more mobile and can go wherever God calls them.

Although Collegiate Day of Prayer is over, you can still adopt a local college to prayer walk through EveryCampus here!

EveryCampus can help you search for campuses near you. They also provide a customized prayer guide for the campus you prayer walk “to pray on-site with insight.”

For now, Hietbrink asks, “[Pray for] students and faculty and staff — that they would meet God, that they would encounter God on campus, [and] that He would empower those people who already follow Him to bear witness to His goodness and His Gospel on campus.

“I think we’re in the midst of witnessing something pretty historic right now. So it’s a great time to be engaged with young people and to be serving and loving college campuses and we couldn’t do it without the support of the broader Church.”

Header photo courtesy of EveryCampus.

‘Would Jesus Eat Frybread?’  This phrase isn’t actually viewed as a question, but more as something to be talked about. The question itself is the theme of a conference being held this November in Washington (the state).

If you are a Native American, Native Alaskan or Native Hawaiian student or faculty, you are invited to join us at the ‘Would Jesus Eat Frybread?’ Conference. If this conference is for the people groups listed above, how do you really know it’s something for you?

• If you are someone who grew up in your Native community and you wonder if you can follow Jesus and honor your traditions, this conference is for you.
• If you are someone who grew up away from your Native community, and you wonder if you are Native enough, this conference is for you.
• Or, if no one around you would guess that you are Native, but you would really like to learn more about that aspect of your ethnic identity, this conference is for you.
• If you want to laugh with other Natives, to be blessed by elders, to eat traditional Yakama foods and to listen to their traditional stories, this conference is for you.
• If you want to be led in worship by a Native person and to hear how Jesus brought healing to a family that had experienced abuse, this conference is for you.
• If you are looking for hope, healing and harmony in your life, this conference is for you.

Last year Native students from Maryland to Minnesota and New Mexico to North Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii gathered to ask, ‘Would Jesus Eat Frybread?’ The answer transformed them and empowered them to be more fully who Creator made them to be.

Even if this conference sounds of interest to you, but you don’t fit the ‘qualifications’, please don’t think you couldn’t have a part in making a difference. You can be the one who sponsors a native student to attend this conference.

For more information about the conference and conference details visit InterVasity Christian Fellowship’s facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/WJEFcon?fref=ts .

Or check out this informational video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd1kuSoZrcA

Pray questions will be answered and lives will be changed at this conference.

If you are a Native American, Native Alaskan, or Native Hawaiian student or faculty, you are invited to attend the "Would Jesus Eat Frybread?" Conference.

The WFEF 2013 conference is for you:

• If you are someone who grew up in your Native community and you wonder if you can follow Jesus and honor your traditions, this conference is for you.

• If you are someone who grew up away from your Native community, and you wonder if you are Native enough, this conference is for you.

• Or, if no one around you would guess that you are Native, but you would really like to learn more about that aspect of your ethnic identity, this conference is for you.

• If you want to laugh with other Natives, to be blessed by elders, to eat traditional Yakama foods, and to listen to their traditional stories, this conference is for you.

• If you want to be led in worship by a Native person and to hear how Jesus brought healing to a family that had experienced abuse, this conference is for you.

• If you are looking for hope, healing, and harmony in your life, this conference is for you.

Last year, Native students from Maryland to Minnesota and New Mexico to North Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii gathered to ask, "Would Jesus eat frybread?" The answer transformed them and empowered them to be more fully who the Creator made them to be.

If this conference sounds of interest to you, but you don’t fit the "qualifications," please don’t think you couldn’t have a part in making a difference. You can sponsor a Native student to attend this conference.

For more information about the conference and conference details, click here to visit the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Facebook page.

Click here to check out an informational video.

Pray that questions will be answered and lives will be changed at this conference.

Specifically, the school–located in south Germany–serves the
children of international Christian workers and international business families
who want a North American curriculum that incorporates an evangelical worldview.

The reputation of the school has grown over the years, but recent
events threaten to undermine what the school is doing.   

33 years ago, the United States signed
a treaty with Germany which defined the interactions of the German and U.S.
Social Security systems. It boils
down to this: if a U.S. citizen works in Germany for a short term–less than five
years, that person remains under the U.S. Social Security system.

However, if the worker works in
Germany longer than five years, that worker must enter the German social system.
The reverse is true for German citizens working in the U.S. Treaties like this, called "totalization
agreements," exist between the U.S. and 24 other countries.  

You might ask, "What does this have to
do with BFA?" In 1979, Black Forest
Academy workers were all short-term people. However, in those three decades, many academy
faculty and staff have become long-term teachers but have still paid into the
U.S. Social Security system.

This may create future problems for
the expatriates who will eventually be retiring, so BFA decided it will come
into literal compliance with the treaty by next summer. This means that all of
its teachers may serve no more than five years and must then be out of Germany
for at least a year and a day.

Since many faculty and staff have been
with BFA for the full term of five years, a huge staff turnover is expected in
the near future.

BFA is working to keep the daily class schedule from too much
interruption, but it is likely they'll be short-staffed for next year. The Evangelical Alliance Mission is actively
involved in the process, but a number of their staff members will be returning
to the U.S. for Home Assignment.  Ask God to provide the faculty and staff
members needed to fill the gaps at BFA.  

There's more about the school at our Featured Links section.

"The thrust of the Following Christ Fonference is really all
about putting the pieces back together that are all too easy to separate, not
only our faith from our work and private and public lives, but actually helping
to see…that God created everything and is Lord of everything," Boyd said. He added that the conference aims to "draw
fields as different as the arts, and business, and social science back together
again…with a bigger vision of what God's doing in the world." 

The triennial conference was co-sponsored by InterVarsity
Press and the Graduate and Faculty Ministries Division of InterVarsity. Most of the people attending the conference
are graduate students preparing to be university faculty or work professionally
in fields like law, business, health care, or government and public
policy. 

"In all these fields, it's all too easy to get
compartmentalized, and to specialize so much that it's hard to connect the
pieces of your life back together," Boyd said. "So we're all about bringing a clear vision of spiritual formation, a
holistic vision of who God wants us to be as people, back into our professional
lives as well as our spiritual lives." 

Sometimes the conference revolutionizes the way that
students approach their faith and their field. 

"Already, it's been great to hear stories of folks,"
Boyd said. "Just this morning, I heard
somebody who said they sat down with someone in sociology — and this was a
Christian believer, somebody developing as a sociologist, who just had never
tried to put the two together. Nobody
ever really said, ‘Hey, what does your faith have to do with your professional
practice?' And it's that kind of story
that I just love to hear, because that's really what it's all about here."

The conference is also an opportunity for Christians to
encourage each other to boldly live out the Gospel in what is often a hostile
environment. 

"In a lot of these fields, whether it's government or the
secular university world, the powers of fear and hesitation to be an outspoken Christian
— to be someone who's identified as a follower of Jesus — are really powerful,"
Boyd said. "So we need to do a lot of
encouragement of one another to be simple Christians who don't have to be
ashamed of anything, and certainly we can be as loving and friendly as it takes to
be good neighbors to our professional colleagues, just like we would be good
neighbors on our street."

Boyd said the real fruit of the conference appears when it
is all over, and he encouraged Christians to pray for conference attendees as
they return to their studies for the coming semester. 

Boyd asks for prayer "that the seeds that get planted here would
be both challenging and encouraging…folks who need to get a little poke, a
little prod along the way would be challenged. But the work is already hard — being a Christian, being a
professional, and putting the pieces together can sometimes feel like a really
big challenge. So I would hope that
there's a lot of encouragement that goes along with that, that the Spirit would
be quickening folks not only to have new ideas and new practices, but also to
have the courage and energy keep taking those steps with Him."

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has 108 chapters at 25 of the U.S.'s most elite schools, according to a list compiled for 2009 by the U.S. News and World Report. "It's
important to maintain a witness to Jesus at each one of these places, because the people who graduate from these schools really do lead all of our government institutions, every culture-shaping institution, almost all of our businesses, and often are the leaders in our churches," said Greg Jao of InterVarsity. 

Harvard, the top ranked school in the 2009 list, has 11 diverse InterVarsity chapters,
ranging from ethnic specific chapters to academic discipline specific. Jao said their presence at these schools shows that evangelicals are no longer afraid of the life of the mind. "It means that Christians don't need to be afraid of the university. For many years, churches have been told that if you send your children to secular universities or colleges, they're going to lose their faith, they're going to
drift away from their families. What we discern at InterVarsity is that there's no such thing as a secular university. All universities operate under the lordship of Christ whether they realize it or not, and all truth is God's truth," Jao said. 

Jao said in order to have a well-rounded, truly redemptive Christian community at a school, "you've
got to reach faculty. We find, even though it's often intimidating for staff and students to speak to faculty, faculty are uniquely open to a thoughtful engagement with the world, and frankly, I think, with God's Word. So we're watching faculty come to know Jesus.  We're building faculty fellowships."

A study by UCLA from 2007 says that entering college, 73% of the two million college freshman are looking for answers to spiritual questions. There's a limited window of
openness though, said Jao. "That same UCLA study suggests that only 30% of college seniors are still asking that question. So in that four-year period, there's both a tremendous mission opportunity as well as a tremendous lost opportunity for the church if we
don't engage this mission field."

InterVarsity is half way through a five-year campaign to plant 100 more chapters across the U.S. In the first two years, they successfully planted 23 new chapters, and
through those chapters, 68 people came to Christ. There are hundreds of campuses that still
don't have any Christian witness.

Besides the top schools of the nation, there are InterVarsity chapters at a total of 580 campuses, both at state schools and two-year community colleges. A new Web site has made it easier for new college students to find campuses where InterVarsity and other ministries are available. Visit www.liveabove.com.