IFES

Lindsay Brown just spoke here in the lunchroom at the NSC, and I want to tell you about it. He's here from Oxford for the last time as the General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, of which InterVarsity/USA is a member.

He was asked, "perhaps you can share some parting comments with us [InterVarsity aka the American movement]". He responded, "don't ever ask a Welshman to speak for 5min without notes, because like Margret Thatcher said, when asked how long she could be PM, 'I could go on and on.' " He didn't go on and on, but what he did say I want to pass on to you all. He told us "some of the best people in the IFES movement have come from America." Many people, he said, view America as just money, and indeed the American movement has financed many new christian student movements. Our giving has sent pioneers from many different nations to nations, especially post-soviet, where millions have never been reached. And, he said, some of those pioneers have been Americans themselves [InterVarsity sends staff and students to pioneer and support work on foriegn college campuses through IFES partnerships]. "Paired with humility and a servant's heart, the North American can-do spirit is unparralelled," He encouraged us. He also explained how Urbana has, not only sent important workers into the fields, but led to other crosscultural missions conferences around the world. There will be one in Rwanda, for Francophone Africa. Where 13 years ago there was mass genocide, there is now the largest student group- 3,000- at one university meeting every week to worship and study.There will be a missions conference in Alexandria, Egypt for students all over the middle east: Syria, the UAE... Palistianians and Isrealis learning about cross cultural missions together. The amazing people leading these conferences came and were inspired by Urbana. Still, He said, "if you had 500 young people to send out to work for the IFES, we could use them! We will always need workers from around the world, we will always need Americans- please pray, please support, please send."

Lindsay is moving on to focus on training university evangelists across Europe. He is being replaced by Daniel Bourdanne, from Chad, the former Regional Secretary of Francophone Africa, and holder of a PhD in Biology- with a thesis on 20cm millipedes to be exact. Daniel and his family (wife, 11, 7 and 5 year olds) will be moving to Oxford, the IFES headquarters, learning English, and going through culture shock. Please pray for them and the great work Daniel will be overseeing.