Believers Baptised on US CampusesLindsay Ellyson - 6 Nov 2009
“I spent the last ten days of October in Western Pennsylvania, and I can honestly say that the Holy Spirit seemed to have arranged my whole time there before I even arrived.” Writes Lindsay Ellison, of Campus America, USA. “For two months before going, I was continuously receiving random calls and emails from folks all over the Pittsburgh area who wanted to connect with movements of missions & prayer on campuses.
There are about 85 campuses within 100 miles of Pittsburgh. My friends & I spent time at Robert Morris University, Slippery Rock University, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Melon University, Grove City College, Geneva College, Kent State, and Youngstown State University.
During my time there, friends & I hosted gatherings for students who want to plant simple churches and 24-7 Prayer Rooms on their University and College campuses. We spent time on eight different campuses laying hands on the sick, praying with random students God led us to, and sharing the love of Jesus with people everywhere. I had many profound encounters with young people who were super hungry and simply waiting for someone to share God’s love for them…
Within hours of arriving in Pittsburgh, I found myself in the middle of a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit at a student-led Bible study in the cafeteria of Robert Morris University. All around me football players were weeping on their faces in repentance, students were receiving Jesus into their lives and praying to befilled with the Spirit, and a Muslim guy was receiving prayer. I began telling a few stories about baptising students on campuses, and a few brand-new believers piped up exclaiming that they wanted to be baptised that night!
Filled with excitement, we tromped across campus in search of the dormitory showers to baptise these two eager girls. There were loads of students hanging around outside the dorm, so we invited them to come and watch. Curious & a bit confused, three guys and a girl followed the excited group of believers into the shower room. The new Christians then told everyone who was crowded around the stories of how Jesus had just transformed their lives while their friends baptised them in the shower. The moment was so powerful that two other students who had also recently given their lives to Jesus wanted to be baptised right then and there too!
After the cheering had subsided, one of the curious onlookers named Emily asked if we would pray for her and we promptly agreed! We ended up sharing the gospel with her and praying over her for quite some time. It was 3am before we crawled into bed that night, but God had met us so powerfully that we didn’t even care!
Since that night, these same students have been laying hands on the sick all over their campus. The week I was there, a guy left a prayer meeting carrying his crutches, and just yesterday they texted me saying a woman’s back had been healed. Heaven is here now!
Find out more about why young Americans are traveling from campus to campus across the United States of America sharing their passion for prayer, mission and justice at CampusAmerica.org