Financial Update - Praying for $37,000!
By Melanie | January 15, 2010
Finances
In December, we told you we still had $37,000 to raise before Jan 31st, 2010. So far, the Lord has moved the hearts of our partners like you and we have seen $12,285 come in! That is AWESOME and we are praising God like crazy for what He’s done so far! Thank you all for sharing with us the joy of reaching college students in San Diego with Christ’s love by giving of your financial blessings to this ministry.
We still need to raise $24,715 in order for both of us to be on staff with InterVarsity full-time, and spend as much time as we can reaching students on campus with the Gospel. Pray with us as we continue to move towards this goal.
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Urbana09 - The Allred Report
By Melanie | January 10, 2010
Urbana09
Urbana09 was AWESOME! InterVarsity’s triennial Missions Convention brought in 17,000 students from the US, Canada and other countries as well! CSUSM brought 13 students and USD brought 10 students, and each one was impacted in specific ways! We loved seeing our students engage with God through worship, speakers, dramas and seminars, and it was awesome to hear from them how God was clarifying their calling.
A few quotes from our students:
“Since I know God’s called me into the Navy when I graduate, I’ve been asking God how I can serve Him in the Navy. I still have a lot to wrestle through, but this week God’s really shown me that I’m supposed to be in NROTC right now for a reason, and that He will use me to make an impact.” -Chris, USD Senior
“I have felt God speaking to me about the middle east for awhile now. I went to a seminar on reaching out to and loving our Muslim friends, and this vague calling to the middle east has now become alive! I now understand more where the people of Islam are coming from culturally, and how it would look to enter into that culture as a Christian missionary. I’ve committed to do at least a year of missions, we’ll see what happens after that!” -Kayla, USD Senior
Visit our “Pictures” page to see a few pictures from the Conference.
Check out our favorite talks, testimonies and dramas of Urbana09! Go to the Urbana09 Website and navigate around the page to find the below videos (as well as more info about Urbana09). Questions? Ask us: melanieandtyler@gmail.com
Melanie’s Favorites:
Talk: Brenda Salter McNeil (Day 5, Dec. 31st, the 10th Video, Titled: “I’ve Got a River of Life: Brenda Salter McNeil”)
Drama: Fences (Day 5, Dec. 31st, the 7th Video, Titled: “Fences”)
Tyler’s Favorites:
Talk: Oscar Muriu (Day 3, Dec. 29th, the 8th Video, Titled: “Money and Power: Oscar Muriu”
Testimony: Antoine Rutayisire: (Day 5, Dec. 31st, the 1st Vido, Titled: “Testimony: Antoine Rutayisire”)
Our Partners’ (You!) Favorites:
Talk: Shane Claiborne (Day 3, Dec. 29th, the 10th Video, Titled: “Bringing the Kingdom of God down to Earth: Shane Claiborne”)
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Urbana09!
By Melanie | December 29, 2009
Hello from beautifully cold (avg. 25 degrees!) St. Louis!
Urbana09 kicked off Sunday night, and is now in full swing with over 17,000 in attendance! We’ve been having an awesome time seeing God move through the Bible studies, speakers, worship, and random conversations in dinner lines and hotel lobbies.
We encourage you to follow us on:
Twitter Melanie’s name: McAllred Tyler’s name: Tyler_Allred
Facebook Become our friend if you’re not already!
Watch Streaming Video from the conference here
Also, check out more about the conference at Urbana09.org
Thank you for all your prayers, we can’t wait to tell you more about it in January!
Blessings and Grace from Urbana09,
Melanie & Tyler
Topics: Prayer Letter | 33 Comments »
The San Diego InterVarsity Story
By Tyler | December 7, 2009
Press play and watch a great 6 minute video on what God has been doing on our college campuses for the past decade!
San Diego InterVarsity - What We Do (2nd round) from Kathryn Lang on Vimeo.
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Soul Food & Greek Conference: Praise Report
By Melanie | November 18, 2009
Thanks for praying! God showed up powerfully! So much happened, as the dust settles we are still trying to collect all the stories!
40- 50 students made either first time decision or re-commitments to follow Jesus this past month at our conferences, Greek Conference and Soul Food.
At Soul Food: A call to faith was made on Saturday night where 15 students stood up to receive Christ! Then the students went back into their small groups to pray and the student leaders had a chance to invite anyone who didn’t stand in the main session to also make decisions to follow Jesus. One leader shared that every time he asked, “does anyone else want to start a relationship with Jesus tonight?” another person in his group responded; he made five separate calls to faith that night!
To read more about what happened at Greek Conference Soul Food as well as further updates on our ministry check out our current newsletter Click Here.
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The Edge: Praise report
By Tyler | October 8, 2009
James (left) came to faith at the edge!
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Ashton’s Story
By Melanie | October 2, 2009
My first year at CSUSM I joined a fraternity, was always at parties, and knew people all over campus. I was surrounded by friends and parties, but I began to feel, when I got home, that I was completely alone. I felt like there was no one truly there for me.
God began to speak to me through some of my fraternity brothers this summer and I began to consider faith again. Then about 3 weeks ago I gave my life to God! Ramiro had just finished telling his story; it related exactly to what I was feeling. He invited anyone to stand who was ready to let Jesus into their life. That invitation echoed in my mind… and still I kept sitting. My body was telling me “No” but my mind was like, “What are you doing? Stand! God is talking to you!” Ramiro gave us one last chance to stand and I did. I looked around the room and saw all my friends looking at me with such happiness. At that point God showered me with His love and I felt true happiness in my life. I remember walking out of the room on the verge of crying I was so happy.
I called my parents right away my dad picked up the phone, I asked him to put me on speaker phone so I could tell my mom the news too. I told them what had just happened, and my dad said, “Son I’m so proud of you. Your mom and I have been praying and waiting for this moment for a long time!” I’m going to get baptized at their church soon. Now when I go to bed I don’t feel lonely anymore because I know now God is by my side and he will never leave me!
-Ashton
To read more about what’s happening on campus, click here
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Students Coming to Faith!
By Melanie | September 3, 2009
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your prayers. Last night was an awesome night. We had 100 students at our “Living For More” (large group) event at CSUSM! We had 8 students make a decision to follow Jesus. God is on the move. I feel like we are riding a wave. Thanks again for your prayers. Last year’s first Large Group we had around 60 students and 0 decisions. The student leaders are really pumped up as they got to see people they brought stand up.
Blessings,
Tyler and Melanie Allred
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Students Return to Campus
By Melanie | September 2, 2009
This week, both USD and CSUSM resumed classes for the new school year, and we have loved having the students back!
At USD, we had our first gathering of the year with all the student leaders yesterday. It was a great time of prayer together and getting excited for the year. We spent time in Listening Prayer, and the students heard from God that He wants to do a new thing on campus this year, to open doors, and to bring His love and hope through the leaders to the campus. The leaders are looking forward to what God’s going to do on campus in their Fraternities and Sororities. Tonight I’ll be joining a few of the leaders to go door to door in the dorms inviting them to our Capture the Flag game on campus this Friday!
At CSUSM, we had a Leadership Retreat last weekend. We got to spend time planning for the year, and getting fired up for how God’s going to move on campus. The past two days we have been out on campus, inviting students to our events. Last year, we had 89 students sign up throughout 4 days. This year, after only 2 days, we’ve already had 152 CSUSM students sign up as interested in InterVarsity! Tonight is our first Large Group, the topic is “Living for More”. We are looking forward to an awesome evening of students encountering God.
Pray for both campuses:
Pray for USD, that we’ll see lots of students join us this Friday for Capture the Flag, and for our first Large Group next Thursday, Sept. 10th.
Pray for CSUSM, that God will move through tonight’s Large Group. And for Tyler and he prepares to speak next week at Large Group, Sept. 9th. For God to speak through him.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. Knowing that we have your community of love and support encourages us each day to continue spreading the Gospel on campus.
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A Story of Healing & Summer Ministry Begins
By Melanie | June 29, 2009
Healed!
God has already been doing awesome things this summer. At the beginning of June, Whitney, a USD Intervarsity student, went in for surgery for a tumor that was threatening to cause serious damage, and had the potential to be cancerous. We, USD students and staff, met on campus to pray with Whitney the night before and at the hospital (along with members from her church) the morning of the surgery. Four days earlier, the doctors’ scan had shown the tumor to be the size of a fist and potentially causing internal bleeding.
We prayed, and prayed, and prayed. The surgery went great. The doctor removed the tumor successfully, reported that it had shrunk down to the size of a golf ball, and was completely benign! The doctor said she had never seen that before! Whitney was elated upon hearing this news, and couldn’t stop praising God for what He had done to keep her safe and shrink the tumor. Praise God for using this situation and this community to bless Whitney! God used this difficult situation to show not only Whitney, but the other students as well, His miraculous healing power!
Summer Ministry
Over the summer, both CSUSM and USD are hosting a weekly Bible Study Tuesday nights for the students who are still in town. We have already had great times going over scripture together. Students have been opening up their apartments for us to meet in, and has helped the group have an even stronger sense of community. Pray for us as we continue to dive into scripture, and for new students to come and explore faith for the first time!
In addition, the USD Student Leaders will be reading the book I Once Was Lost by Doug Schaupp and Don Everts and engaging in a conversation about it on our campus blog. If you’re interested, you can check out the blog here . . .
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