International Newsletter July 2020
“So many there didn’t know the love of Jesus and were crying out for a human answer to a sin problem - you could sense the hurt and anger in the air.”
Feeling the need to respond, the Steiger Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul, USA) team was present for a series of outreaches in the midst of protests surrounding the George Floyd tragedy.
On the first night of the outreach, Cyrena boldly asked one of the protest leaders for the microphone. Miraculously, he gave it to her, and she preached a clear Gospel message to the attentive crowd! The team then spread out to listen, pray and engage with those present.
That night, Cyrena connected with Betsy, who came to Mr. Floyd’s memorial with the intention of buying a shirt for her friend, going home, and ending her life. She had fallen away in her relationship with God, and felt hopeless and tired of the way people continued to treat her.
Cyrena explains, “I was drawn to pray for Betsy, and that was when she shared her story with me and Aaron. You could see a weight lift off her as we ministered to her, and her eyes were filled with the hope of a loving Savior. Right there on the street, she rededicated her life to the Lord!”
Betsy came to the next Steiger outreach and started to go to church with Cyrena. Now, they are growing a beautiful friendship!
This was just one of several new relationships formed as a result of these outreaches. The team held a followup barbecue at a Minneapolis lake to continue building relationships with the people they met, prayed with, and have stayed in touch with since the protest outreaches.
Catapulted Forward Despite These Tumultuous Times
“The Compact School was eye opening and life changing! I was moved by the spiritual maturity and example from every single presenter. I was inspired, encouraged, and humbled by a younger generation.” - Shawna, USA
Following the COVID-related cancellation of Steiger’s local and international events, we restructured our Compact School to offer it online and internationally.
We were blown away by the response! 850 students representing 47 countries filled the school to capacity just two weeks after registration opened. The giant Zoom event was translated into eight languages!
Steiger leaders and City Team members from around the world inspired students to desperately seek God and live radically for Jesus, providing them with practical tools to relevantly reach the Global Youth Culture.
As part of the school, students engaged in local outreaches. Some were able to go to the streets to relevantly preach the Gospel to young people in their cities, while others had to get creative due to the COVID lockdown situation.
Participants from Latin America did interviews via Zoom or phone with friends who don’t yet know Jesus, asking deep questions related to the meaning of life. Oscar from Ecuador shares,
“I interviewed a friend who plays in a Black Metal band. He’s an anarchist on stage and has been a practicing Buddhist, but today God touched his life in an impressive way. We decided to meet again to continue talking. He is eager to spend more time together, because he now wants to follow the teacher of teachers - Jesus!”
God turned our plans upside down and is growing the mission faster than we could have ever imagined through this new worldwide initiative. It’s definitely not a coincidence that He called us to begin 2020 with extraordinary prayer. God deserves all the glory for this unprecedented move of His Spirit we are seeing - not us!
Due to overwhelming demand and the positive response to the first Worldwide Online Compact School, we are offering two more in July and August - held during different hours of the day to accommodate participants from around the world! School 1 is completely full, but School 2 is still open for registration.
School 1 (FULL!): July 10 - 19 (North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East)
School 2: July 24 - August 2 (Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand)*
*this 2nd session, takes place during the night for North & South America
Learn more and sign up for this FREE school (capacity is limited) at: www.steiger.org/scsonline
Growing Steiger in the USA!
According to Pew Research, the religiously unaffiliated are the fastest growing “religious group” in the U.S.
Our vision is to establish 10 Steiger City Teams in 10 cities throughout the USA in the next few years, as part of our global vision to establish 100 Steiger Teams around the world.
A Steiger City Team mobilizes followers of Jesus to relevantly reach young people in their city who would not walk into a church —especially those who are apathetic, cynical, and hostile to the Gospel.
Join Aaron Pierce for a Zoom call on Thursday, July 16 at 7pm (Central Time) to learn about Steiger’s vision to reach young Americans and how YOU can be a part of it!
Email to register!