
"You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas." Psalm 65:5 (NLT)
"Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance." Psalm 66:12, (NLT)
Last year, International Students, Inc. saw one student per hour dedicate their life to Christ! This incredible feat highlights God's amazing grace and incredible power in our world. We give full glory to Him.
What does "one student per hour" look like, you ask? Through the dedication of ISI staff, volunteers and ministry partners, 69,587 international students were introduced to our ministry last year. Of these students, 9,228 accepted Christ as their Savior. Our deepest prayer is to increase this already big number! As you may know, ISI's vision and mission is to reach every international student for Christ.
Here's some really good news: We are seeing exponential growth in the number of international students. In fact, there are currently 1.1 million in the United States and 4.3 million worldwide, with a projections that these numbers will increase to over 7 million by the year 2020.
With this in mind, our mission has a bright and exciting future!
This summer, the ISI team was blessed to be able to continue this mission during our trip to India. Many of our staff members led powerful M:28 seminars, while other staffers traveled through India, and other countries, to visit returnees.
One of our staff members shared with us about his trip to India, which focused on connecting with returnee students and families in six cities. He wrote about one of his visits, which took him to South India, where he had the opportunity to share a meal with a former international student as well as the student's parents and grandparents!
I want to share his story with you to show the beautiful way in which God helps orchestrate situations for His glory. I also hope this story reminds you that it only takes one person to initiate the ripple effect of God's contagious power. Our staffer writes about the dinner meeting with the student and the student's family:
The evening with them was very interesting. I walked in with a lot of prayer and support. In the end, God made it possible for me to address their concerns, share my testimony and explain briefly the work we do for International Students, Inc. I was also able to leave a Bible with them, presenting it as an opportunity to see for themselves what I was using to guide their son. A month passed. After a number of conversations between father and son, Marcus’ father began to grow fascinated by the “unstoppable force” he saw his son becoming. Then out of sheer curiosity about what his son was feeding from, he picked up the Bible and started reading it from the beginning. Within no time, he was gripped. In fact, he was amazed at the relationship between God and man described in just the first few chapters of the book of Genesis! What a work of the Holy Spirit!
We are so encouraged by this staffer’s story about how God worked through him to minister to this young man and his father! Our plan is to continue sharing these amazing returnee stories as they filter into the ISI office.
I want to leave you with some more exciting news. Friend, we feel the Lord has called us to accelerate the ministry for exponential impact. I invite you to pray over some of our top initiatives, which include:
- M:28 Global Discipleship
- TRUE Leadership Events
- Church Mobilization
- Leadership Development
- Research and Innovation
- Ministry Expansion
- Technology Outreach
We are so thankful for the opportunity to spread the Gospel to students from all over the world. Our upcoming expanded initiatives will help us greatly in our plans to continue our mission—in the midst of a growing number of international students. We hope you are encouraged by the Lord's guidance and provision for the ministry.
Remember that He faithfully answers our prayers "...with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas" Psalm 65:5 (NLT).
For More Information About our Strategic Initiatives:
Learn more about the M:28 Global Discipleship Initiative
Learn more about ISI's Global Media Outreach Evangelism Website (GMO). On this site, students can learn more about Christ's love! They can listen to the Gospel message and connect with missionaries online for discipleship. Check it out!