International Newsletter December 2020

It’s surreal to look back at what we thought 2020 was going to look like. Had it not been for the specific circumstances of this year, we likely would never have planned a North American SMS. Thankfully, God’s plans are always better than our own.

"Only God could bring this group of students together!"

The majority of our North American SMS students would not have been able to attend the 10-week SMS had it been held at our international center in Germany. Many of them wouldn’t have even known about Steiger had it not been for the pandemic. And yet God brought this group of students together.

Yubely, an SMS student from Orlando, Florida, heard of Steiger early this year and attended one of the Online Compact Schools. “I asked for prayer for my daughter, Lauren, because she was getting far from God. I was feeling alone, sad, and frustrated.” God opened every door possible so that Yubely and Lauren could both attend the North American SMS. Throughout the ten weeks, Yubely leaned into God and practiced listening to His voice - seeking Him with a desperate heart. She and Lauren soaked up the teachings and the time surrounded by followers of Christ, who loved on their family every chance they got. “God makes all things new,” Yubely shared. “Lauren is completely passionate for God. She has been challenged to reach young people who are far away from Him. Our whole family has been transformed and we have a new purpose to share the love of Jesus with others.”

Yubely and Lauren sharing the love of Jesus on the University of Minnesota campus

Hunter, a student from Minneapolis, said of her experience, “The Lord has encouraged me to lean into His body, His people, alongside leaning into Him. In leaning into the people He has placed in my life, I see how they each individually and uniquely reflect part of Jesus’ character.” Our North American SMS students are a body of dynamic world changers, and we can’t wait to see how God will use them to jumpstart our North America City Team Expansion. We know it will be better than we could ever have imagined!

Halloween: Proclaiming the Light in the Darkness

On Halloween, when much of the world was dressing up, going to parties, and even celebrating death and the occult, our Steiger City Teams from all over the world were hitting the streets, boldly proclaiming the hope of the Gospel. Many prayed to receive Jesus! Although our Moscow Team only had an hour to spend on outreach that night, they were able to share the Gospel with over 200 people and pray with 63 of them!

Five young women decided to follow Jesus during the Minneapolis Halloween outreach

One team member in Yekaterinburg, Ukraine, told about meeting a group of five people while engaging in a creative outreach. “I shared a testimony of how God saved me from death from drugs, and it really touched them. After I offered to lead them in a prayer of repentance, and they all prayed with me! We exchanged contacts and talked for another 20 minutes!”

Our Twin Cities Team had a similar experience when they were sharing Jesus on a street lined with fraternity houses in Minneapolis. A group of five girls came up to Pioneer Team member, Carolina. “We talked about how life is really difficult, but I told them that we don’t need to deal with all these things alone - that there is Someone more powerful who can take care of them for us. I asked if they wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts and they said yes!”

Steiger Bogotá put together a powerful flash mob to proclaim the Gospel

In El Quisco, Chile, and Bogotá, Colombia, our City Teams organized powerful flash mobs to share the truth of the Cross. Enzo Brugueras shared that their team was so small, they were tempted to cancel, but they knew they’d been called to share the Good News. And when they bravely went out despite their discomfort, God was faithful to lead them toward powerful conversations with people desperate for a Savior. Praise God for the boldness to go out and proclaim the hope of Jesus on a day such as this!

Revolutionary Art

Our first ever Revolutionary Art event impacted hundreds of artists. We had over 800 participants joining us from 43 countries around the world. Our speakers shared from personal experience how they’ve used art and creativity to bring Jesus to those who would never hear about Him any other way.

Many participants reached out to tell us how inspired they were to offer their art to God and allow Him to use it however He leads. And since then, we’ve had the opportunity to meet some of those Revolutionary Art students in person, and have witnessed them using their talents on creative outreaches around the world.

We urgently need a skilled, full time Executive Assistant and part time Database and Process Manager!

If you have these skills, maybe God is calling you to join us.

Learn more and apply now: steiger.org/opportunities

Our vision is to establish 20 Steiger City Teams in North America by the year 2025! But we need your help to make it happen. Is God calling you to partner with us?

Watch our launch video at: vimeo.com/steigerint/cityteamexpansion

For more information and to donate, visit: steiger.org/cityteamexpansion