Steve Tamayo: 0:12
Welcome back to the podcast. My name is Steve Tamayo and joining us on the podcast today is a campus staff worker with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at NYU and the Fashion Institute of Technology. It's her third semester on campus, and she has responded in remarkable ways to the curveballs that God, ministry, and the pandemic have thrown at her. Welcome to the podcast, Sarah Lin.
Sarah Lin: 0:37
Thank you, Steve. It's great to be here.
Steve Tamayo: 0:39
So I'm gonna start off by asking you a question. What Scriptures are resonating with you these days?
Sarah Lin: 0:45
I found myself anchored in John 10 in recent weeks, the passage of Jesus is the good shepherd. So I've been meditating on that passage during prayer and discipleship meetings with students, um and I've been struck by the ways that I've seen Jesus's words come to life. As I've seen him reveal himself as the good shepherd to students in our chapter in recent weeks. In particular, verse nine, Jesus says "I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." And so that idea of just Jesus offering life, life to the full to students, even in the midst of a time when it feels like things are being stolen or taken, um, and everything just feels very uncertain. It's been amazing for me to see just Jesus still generously giving life onto students and students finding themselves. I'm just full of joy at the new life that Jesus is offering them in this season.
Steve Tamayo: 1:52
And that's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you today, because I heard a story through the InterVarsity grapevine about a student experiencing new life in an unexpected way. So you did an online small group. What made you decide to do an online small group?
Sarah Lin: 2:08
Sure. So it was roughly, or actually, two weeks ago exactly. Um, we found ourselves in the midst of, um, everything that was developing with COVID-19. NYU had announced that they were moving all classes online for an unspecified amount of time at that time. So this is day two of online classes at NYU and it was the second day that I found myself just not able to be on campus, not able to be with students in our usual classroom, having small group diving into God's were together. And so the only logical response is you would take it online, you would hop on a seam called together on and have an opportunity to still to still gather and to still continue studying God's word and seeing what he had in store for us. So, yeah, we we went on the Zoom call and had smart group there instead that day.
Steve Tamayo: 3:06
So what surprised you about having small group online?
Sarah Lin: 3:10
It's definitely very different. Um, I think my preferences for doing ministry and having Bible study is always I love being able to be with students in person and all of us being able to share a meal together. And yeah being in one another's presence and in that facilitating the community and the bonding that happens within our small groups. I mean, our move to online ministry was in many ways, um something that we didn't choose, but we've been seeing just the opportunities there for students to encounter God in new and fresh ways um, and for us to still be able to connect even from different states from different time zones. Um and so it's been incredibly interesting to just see the ways that ministry is changing in light of the present circumstances.
Steve Tamayo: 4:04
Yeah. I mean, I think one of the things that this disruption has done for a lot of us is it's forced us to grapple with what is essential about our ministry. And what can God do with those essential elements? And so this ability to connect with each other, to engage Scripture together. It turns out that being in the same room, while wonderful, is not essential in this moment for this particular facet of your ministry. Well, I heard a story about a student having an encounter with Jesus. I felt so encouraged to hear this story. Would it be possible for you to share this story with us?
Sarah Lin: 4:43
Sure, I love, too. So I have a student in our Thursday small group. Her name is Erin. She's a freshman at NYU, this, uh, this year.
Steve Tamayo: 4:53
Hi, Erin. If you listen to this Erin, thanks so much for giving us permission to share your story.
Sarah Lin: 4:58
Yes, it's been such a joy to work with Erin and to see the ways that God has been at work in her life in the last semester and 1/2. I first met her on the first day of the fall semester at our club fair. She had come to the club fair looking for just one student org. That was InterVarsity, and since then, she's been involved in our small groups and faithfully coming out to our Thursday one even when it moved online two weeks ago. Erin and I were studying Luke 10.
Steve Tamayo: 5:29
It was just you and Erin .
Sarah Lin: 5:30
Yes, it was just Erin and me.
Steve Tamayo: 5:32
I feel like you said this small group normally has two or three students who participate in it. And when Erin showed up on that day you didn't know if anyone was gonna show.
Sarah Lin: 5:42
Yeah, I had no idea what would happen given all the different changes and disruptions.
Steve Tamayo: 5:47
How did it feel to see Erin's face on that Zoom call.
Sarah Lin: 5:51
It was exciting. It was new. It was different. Um, she was still on campus that day and be the decision to just have her dinner over Zoom while studying God's word together.
Steve Tamayo: 6:03
Yeah, Well, thanks for letting me interrupt you there. So you said you're studying Luke 10?
Sarah Lin: 6:07
Yes. I don't even remember exactly what we were talking about. But Erin just started sharing about how she had felt like in recent weeks God had been slowly kind of inviting her to recommit and rededicate her life to him. And so she started sharing about how she had been realizing that she hadn't in her words, "Been fully following Jesus." She had grown up in the church, grown up, going to church, to small group, um, but was asking God, how would my life actually change if I I'm really decided to follow you and make that adult decision to follow Jesus.
Steve Tamayo: 6:47
I wonder how often this is happening around the country. This disruption, this pandemic is forcing people to really reexamine their deeply held beliefs. So what happened that she's asking you these questions and sharing this with you in the study? Like what happened next?
Sarah Lin: 7:05
Yeah, so it just felt like God was at where God was speaking something to her in recent weeks. And so, um, we prayed and asked God, um, what he was inviting Erin to do, and by the end of the small group, I got to pray with Erin about um, making that decision to rededicate her life to Jesus as a freshman in college and yeah wanting to really make her faith, her own as something that wasn't just something that she saw her parents do or something that she just went along with as she was growing up, but really wanting to have her life centered on Jesus and respond fully to his love, grace and truth.
Steve Tamayo: 7:48
One of things I love so much about this story, Sarah is how gentle you were with Erin. You didn't prey upon her fear or anxiety about the disruption, but instead you just created a space for Jesus to do what Jesus wanted to do. I really respect that a lot.
Sarah Lin: 8:07
I think, naturally, with everything that's happening in our current climate, students are already asking questions about what really matters. But as students are starting to ask these questions, um, and do a lot of soul searching, I think in the season I have been wondering how, how I as a campus minister and how our structures are small groups can best serve students in bringing those questions to Jesus directly and seeing what his unique invitations are to us in this season.
Steve Tamayo: 8:38
So online, small groups, you're gonna continue trying these things out?
Sarah Lin: 8:43
Yeah, it's our new normal now. And so we're just pressing in to and navigating all of this together. I think, I think part of the joy in it is that our entire region and are our movement. So both of my region in New York and New Jersey, we're kind of exploring and stepping out into this unknown together. And so there's been a ton of space for increased collaboration and partnership to happened, which has been um exciting and um and then just seeing our movement as a whole across the country and the world, really kind of all in the same boat and all of us pivoting together and looking and watching and waiting to see what God is inviting us to and calling us into. Um I think seeing that unite us and call us into a season of unknowns and uncertainties has been really exciting to see as well.
Steve Tamayo: 9:40
Yeah, you don't exactly know what ministry is going to look like during the disruption, but you still know Jesus, the good shepherd and his ministry continues during the disruption, and he invites us into it. Hey, if you're listening to this and you're inspired by hearing Erin's, decision to rededicate her life to Christ and you're saying I really would like to have an online small group of my own, InterVarsity has created an online small group resource kit. If you go to intervarsity.org/online, you can have access to it for free. Right now, we would love to share that with you so that you could start your own online small group to connect with people, to seek the Lord together, to get creative and maybe even to experience some transformation. Sarah I want to pray for you as we close. Would that be okay?
Sarah Lin: 10:28
Yeah, I'd love that.
Steve Tamayo: 10:30
Jesus. Thank you so much that you are the good shepherd and that you are caring for students like Erin who have made decisions to follow you. Jesus, we pray that you would give ministers like Sarah, ministers like Sarah's students, ministers like the faculty on campus, would you give them wisdom as they continue to chase after students who have been seeking you. Would you do your sovereign work to draw them to yourself? We pray this in your name. Jesus. Amen.
Sarah Lin: 11:00
Amen.