The Masses Descend on Pittsburgh

This afternoon our staff team took a prayer drive through Oakland (we were planning on parking and walking but that proved impossible) - slowly meandering down Forbes, around to Fifth, and over the hill where Pitt's upper campus rests. The air was crisp and fall-like, students were everywhere, parents in tow, activity everywhere. It was terrifically exciting, and hard not to throw the car into park and jump into the chaos.

Thousands of students are arriving as we speak, embarking on a new season in their lives - full of possibility, promise, and discovery, one which will set the course of their lives. Each student has a story behind him, each person is uniquely loved and sought by God. It's awesome to think of the possibilities behind each - leaders in education, business, government; future missionaries who will take the Gospel to far-off lands; future decision-makers who will set the world agenda.

As these throngs arrive, I'm itching to get on campus and meet students. To hand out flyers and Cru cards, to make friends, to share the Gospel. I'm also burdened to pray. Each of these students is an eternal being, an immortal if you will, who will end up in one of two eternal destinations: Heaven or Hell. In Cru, our heart is to make the Gospel known to every one of them, giving them multiple relevant opportunities to respond to Jesus and come to know Him. It's an impossible task, and we must start by desperately seeking God. As you get ready to come to campus yourself, or as you have arrived and are surrounded by the din of a thousand students moving in, take some time to ask God to overwhelm you with the need. Ask Him to drive you to prayer, and take time to do it. It's an eternal investment that won't return void.

Matthew 9:36 describes this reaction that Jesus had when He witnessed huge masses of people: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Ask God to give you the same heart.

Directly after this, we see Jesus' response: "Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."" (Matthew 9:37-38) What Jesus saw was a plentiful harvest, throngs of people hungry for a Savior, broken and hurting. He saw potential. He saw future worshippers. And He invites His disciples to pray that laborers would go into those fields and reap the crop of believers.

Not only are we to pray for laborers to come, we are those laborers in this harvest field. We who know Jesus are called to make Him known, and He's placed us in this place at this time to harvest for Him.

Our regional director compared these first 2 weeks of the semester as our tax season, our March Madness. To throw more analogies at you, it's our playoffs, our bowl game, our Fall harvest time. This is the time where students will make decisions that will determine their next 4 years, and by reciprocation their whole lives. This is the time to get into the crowds, to initiate, to make friends, to start spiritual conversations, to invite people to a spiritual community that could change their lives. This is the time to get in the game.

Over the next 2 weeks we'll have countless opportunities to influence the eternities of hundreds. Look for more encouragement and insight here, and if you haven't yet, follow us on twitter (@pghmetrocru) to keep in the know on what's going on. Let's run hard and get in the game together! May God bless and use us!

--Jason