Today we’re celebrating Founders Day in InterVarsity. It was on this day 84 years ago that InterVarsity began its existence as a national movement in the United States. If you have a few minutes to swing over to the InterVarsity Blog you can read all about it! My first encounter with InterVarsity was as a freshman at Eastern Illinois University sometime in the Fall semester of 1982. Here’s a little of my time-line from a previous post in the wake of my 25th anniversary with InterVarsity. How about you? When did InterVarsity first cross your path?

Free Prayers!

Last week was part two of a networking adventure in the great state of Iowa! My last post came to you from Iowa City – last week I spent three days in Ames. I couldn’t wait to get to ISU if for the sole purpose of witnessing Bob! Bob Horton is a faculty emeritus in the Agronomy Department at Iowa State. He’s been a long-standing member of the Iowa State Christian Faculty and Staff Association currently led by our GFM staff member Tom Ingebritsen. When I asked Tom and Chad to give me names of people we should talk to about staff recruiting Bob’s name was at the top of the list. “Bob is the most amazing evangelist and discipler of grad students I’ve ever seen.” Chad, Tom’s teammate at ISU, kept telling me things like: “You know, Bob is retiring from active teaching at ISU, but he is a pastor-evangelist at heart and he just can’t help showing spiritual care for faculty and students in agronomy.”

I heard the rumor about Bob on a zoom call with my staff this Fall, that since he’s no longer teaching regularly, Bob likes to just go to campus and talk with students and faculty OUT ON THE QUAD near his old building!

Bob: “Yeah, I had my daughter make me a couple of directors chairs – the kind that fold and you can print something on the back. I wondered what would happen if I just offered to pray for people.

Tim: “I can’t believe you get away with something like this! Isn’t there a rule against doing something like this?

Bob: “Not really – its another expression of free speech on campus. Besides, I figure I am a retired professor. What can they do to me? (laughing)

Tim: “So far since we’ve been out here with you, it doesn’t seem like students are knocking each other out the way to sit in the Prayer Chair. (I’m sure extra dudes hanging out WITH Bob didn’t make it MORE inviting) How many people take you up on this kind of thing?

Bob: “I come out here nearly every weekday. I’ll hang out and catch a couple of passing periods at the top of the hour. There hasn’t been a single day when I have NOT had anyone stop. It’s usually about 3-5 or people by the time I fold up my chairs and head home.”

Tim: “How long have you been doing this?”

Bob: “I’ve been out here every week since September. I don’t keep a precise count, but my tally sheet back home says people have asked for prayer over 300 times so far this semester!”

Tim: “Incredible! Over 300 people?”

Bob: “Well, there would be quite a few repeats in that number. I’m starting to develop a community of regulars. They’ll often come back excited to tell me something about how God has been answering our prayers! It’s so encouraging to be a part of real changes people are experiencing!”

Isaiah walks up while we’re out on the quad with Bob. Bob knows him by name and has prayed with him multiple times. Isaiah is actually from Council Bluffs just across the river from Omaha! We chat for a while, then Bob prays for him! Another student also walked up (in spite of three GFM staff workers cutting into Bob’s turf). He sits in the Free Prayers chair and tells the whole group of us about his girlfriend’s family. Her mom, Denise, is undergoing cancer treatments and is in critical shape. After talking with him for a few minutes, Bob says, “Can I pray for you?” And we ALL stand up and Bob pours out a prayer filled with thoughtful care and grace-giving dignity for this student.n He thanks Bob and is on his way to class. “Come back and tell me how its going and we’ll pray again” Bob says as he walks away.

Tim: “Bob, you are incredibly approachable! Your way of praying is so simple and genuine. You’re schooling us three staff workers in how to actually do ministry. Do all these prayer sessions go like these two?”

Bob: “Pretty much. You know by the time someone looks over at the chair, calculates the risk and walks over here, they’ve pretty much decided there’s something here for them. They always seem to know how this works whether they are a Christian or not. People’s defenses are down. They want help.”

Match the captions to the pics from my ISU trip:

• Tom Ingebritsen and Chad Britten on the quad with Bob! Chad works with  some with faculty and also is building a grad student fellowship.
• Mid-trip I curiously open the armrest in my “No-Smoking” Enterprise rental car and discover a pack of menthol 100s! No I didn’t smoke them. And neither did the guy who left them before me!
• Apparently one of the classroom buildings at ISU has a bat problem on the 5th and 6th floors!
• Only at ISU will you encounter turbo-charged four-wheel drive LAWN MOWERS (on display in the Center for Renewable Energy).
• The old campus water-tower. Just begging engineering students to summit! I bet there are stories…

Lastly, here’s my summary sheet we’ve been chatting about in our networking meetings. IF YOU know of someone we should talk to, please let me know. We’re needing to find staff everywhere in my area. Think of connections you have with people who may have gone to school in these communities or who may be moving toward these campuses. IF you know of a grad-school bound student that’s also a great connection for me to help make with my staff. Just email me! Thanks.