It’s Alimentary

Prayer and Pancakes
Timothy Lin

It so happens that God decided to put three Christian first-year students on the third floor of Rose Hall at Grinnell College (IA). So, after Fall Conference, I approached one of the students, Brad, about starting a daily prayer group on that floor. He was thrilled. Unfortunately, because of my morning schedule, I could do it consistently only at 6:45 a.m. “Not a problem,” Brad said. So the two of us began prayer-walking his floor at 6:45 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, stopping by each room and praying for the students who lived there by name.

Praying was one way of serving the floor. But was there something that could be more visible and more extravagant and in a language that the other students could understand? So Brad and I decided to make breakfast on Friday mornings at 6:30 a.m. and serve the floor. We took a couple of electric skillets, plugged them in at the center of the hallway, and started making pancakes. Were people ever surprised! They asked us questions about why we were doing this, and we told them that we were merely sharing the love of Jesus with them.

We hope to spread this model of floor-based ministry around the rest of the campus in a few other dorms where there are concentrated populations of Christian students. They will be encouraged to pray, practice extravagant hospitality, and witness actively to their non-believing friends.

—Timothy Lin is a Campus Intern in eastern Iowa. He is a graduate of Grinnell College and loves to play classical piano.

Salt and Light . . . and Grease?
Jon Doane

Students at Coe College (IA) have been developing a great passion and hunger to see Jesus work in real, concrete ways on campus. As a result, a new Bible study and a weekly GIG have begun in an all-guys dorm. One of the first passages we studied together was the “salt and light” portion of the Sermon on the Mount. We were struck by Jesus’ words: “. . . let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Well, what better way to visibly love our neighbors than with food! So we decided to buy a bunch of cheeseburgers and pass them out to guys in the dorm. We realized fairly quickly, however, that this was going to require some financial resources, and all of us were living on pretty tight budgets. I shared with them the story of Elijah and the widow’s oil, and we decided to pray for God to provide. After passing the hat, we counted $70—much more than any of us thought possible. But God wasn’t done providing. When we got to the store and began to pay, we discovered that we had even more money than we had counted earlier, enough to buy eighty double cheeseburgers!

We returned to campus with armloads full of greasy goodness and began knocking on doors. We got some odd looks (this isn’t exactly a normal thing to do) and had fun telling people that we were just doing what Jesus would do. The best part is that a couple of non-Christians were intrigued and joined us in handing out the food. Then they gathered with us afterwards to pray and thank God for His provision. They are now coming to our GIG and asking questions about Jesus.

—After graduating from Michigan Tech in 2001, Jon Doane moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to work for Rockwell Collins. Jon volunteered in ministry at Coe College before becoming a full time staff member. Jon likes to play screaming 80’s metal, watch Dumb and Dumber, and plan romantic dates with his wife, Andi.