It’s a Thursday night at Minot State University. We’re in a lecture hall surrounded by 80 college students who are hungry to follow God and learn more about Him, eager to discover the plans He has for their lives. We’ve sung some worship songs and heard a few announcements … now it’s Jason’s turn to get up and speak.
He knows there’s more at stake here than just ‘finishing this talk’ and getting out of the spotlight. Having an opportunity to share spiritual truth with these thirsty students, he wants to do his best to connect and get his message across. But he’s worried that his nervousness is going to creep up and get in the way of clearly and boldly communicating what God has put on his heart to share.
…For Jason Skjervem, joining staff with Cru and reaching out to college students in North Dakota meant speaking at weekly meetings on campus regularly. “Public speaking is something I’ve never been good at and never really enjoyed, up until a few years ago when it became part of my job description and it became one of those things I was kind of forced into…” (Keynote Hosts Comm Lab, Keynote Connection Blog.)
To help people like Jason, Keynote hosts a four-day Comm Lab every spring. At each event we’ve trained up to 70 people from different walks of life – not just Cru staff, but also pastors and business people. We provide insightful teaching by gifted communicators and personalized coaching for each person who attends. The encouraging, grace-filled environment is designed to help learners grow in confidence as they try out skills that will help them communicate more effectively.
Does it work? Here’s what Jason said after he came to our first Comm Lab in 2010:
“Coming to the Comm Lab, I was a little bit nervous but really excited to learn different ways to communicate and to share what God has laid on my heart. This week has been phenomenal. I learned how to better enunciate, slow down, take my time, and just really let the Holy Spirit speak through me. The different techniques that we were taught here and the different ways to present what the Lord has done in our hearts have been well, well worth it.” (Keynote Hosts Comm Lab, Keynote Connection Blog.)
In 2013 we are trusting God for the resources to offer four Comm Labs. This will enable us to help over 250 people grow in their confidence and skill as communicators. We’ve already scheduled the first two for the last week of March and the first week of April. Interested in coming? Go to www.keynote.org and click on the Comm Lab button for more info.
Short Takes
- Take One: Randall, JJ, and Paul from Keynote’s New Media Labs recently trained 1200 to 1500 students on using social media for outreach. The newly-trained students at Cru’s winter conference in Minneapolis posted an evangelistic video on their blogs and Facebook. One girl immediately got a text in response from her brother. As they texted back and forth he placed his trust in Christ.
- Take Two: Keynote will be sending a team this summer to a major Middle Eastern city where the gospel is rarely shared in the open. The Campus ministry has requested our creative outreaches to help open hearts to conversations about Jesus.
Please pray for…
- full attendance at both spring Comm Labs
- students from the conference to continue applying their new skills in social media outreach
- diligence and boldness to finish my fundraising by March 1
- Follow-through in rebuilding a habit of memorizing Scripture with some other women in my small group at church.
Thank you for praying!