Urbana 2022, Part 2

The First Day with Students
I awoke with the sun, feeling more rested than I had in months. Today was the day we would begin ministering to students. I called Christina, and we agreed to meet in the hotel lobby in an hour. I went down to the restaurant for breakfast. The hostess sat me at a small table. I ordered a platter of fruit, then noticed a woman about my age sitting at a small table about 12 feet away, facing me. Our eyes met.
 
I called out, “Are you also here for Urbana?”
 
“Yes,” she said. Then, “You’re Betsy Stalcup, aren’t you?”
 
I startled a bit. Should I know her? “Would you like to join me?” I asked.

 She picked up her cup of coffee and came to my table. She was a friend of Dreya’s. On my left I spied a couple from last night’s leaders meeting. I remembered the man’s name, Nadar, because he had written a book on anxiety that I had on my Kindle. I nodded a greeting to them as well.
 
Soon, Christina and I were walking the three blocks to the convention center. It was bitter cold outside, but we were snug inside our coats, gloves, and hoods.
 
Today’s walk was different from the one yesterday, where I chased after Catherine who was riding Dreya’s scooter. 
 
“Am I going too fast for you?” She called out as she zipped by.
 
“No,” I lied, as I panted for breath, in a vain attempt to jog alongside her. I was amazed to see how quickly she had adapted to the scooter.
 
Today, the streets are full of people who all seem to be headed our way. Our training and preparation day had not been like this. Today everyone is in attendance. We follow the crowds into the convention center, then into the main arena. Inside it is dark. Four mammoth screens, at least 80 feet across, face north, south, east and west. I can see bleachers on my left that climb up, at least 50 feet. I don’t have great night vision, but I can tell that there are thousands of people in the room. I feel very small. We slip into seats in the back row of the floor section closest to us.

Where is the stage? I peer beyond the closest screen and realize it is far away, in the center of the cavernous room. Soon the speakers are welcoming us, rotating as they speak, but we simply watch the huge screen in front of us and can see everything.
 
We begin to worship, and oh what worship it is! We call on the Holy Spirit in English, then different languages. I am astonished to realize that I know some of the songs! One song, a blend of Swahili and English, is familiar because Grace and Mark Andringa sent it to me in 2018, when they were ministering in South Africa. I loved this song the first time I heard it and had learned the words by playing it over and over.
 
Uthando, Uthando.
Lwako, Lwako.
Luyaphila, luyaphila.
Flow living water, flow within us
Come Holy Spirit, move among us.
Come Holy Spirit.
Your love is alive. It’s breaking the darkness.
Bringing the light, to soften the heart of stone.
 
Another, by Brandon Lake, is a song I heard in December while caught up in a vision of the Grand Canyon. The tune had sounded familiar, but I could not place it. I hummed the tune I was hearing to my daughter, Sarah, who knew the name, "Rest on Us”; then we found it on Spotify. Here it is again!
 
So come down
Spirit, when you move, You make my heart pound
When you fill the room
You're here and I know you are moving.
I'm here and I know you will fill me.
Holy Spirit, come rest on us
You're all we want
You're all we want[i]
   
The next song is in Ukrainian, I use WhatsApp to contact my Ukrainian daughter, Sofiya, in London. “Where are you?” She asks. It’s inconceivable that thousands of Americans are worshiping God in her native language in the heartland of America.
 
I close my eyes and let the music surround me. I am filled with indescribable joy. I feel the honor that the Trinity shows each other—the care they display when listening to each other. The room seems to be filled with that same honor. The honor of God for every tongue and tribe and nation. I look around me. The entire planet seems to be represented. This is indeed a glimpse of heaven.
 
After an inspiring talk, we move off to find the rooms where we trained yesterday. The convention center has an odd layout. The large entryway does not extend to where we were before. We must walk deeper into the center, then turn right to find the parallel corridor where we belong or leave the building and enter from a different set of doors. There we meet with our leaders: Josh, Brunel, and Laurel. I am delighted to hear that they have made space for us to be in the presence of God. This was true each morning—we took time to practice the Examen, Lectio, even soaking prayer.
 
They explained some adjustments in logistics, and then gave us time to meet with our small groups. The day before we had claimed an area with upholstered chairs and 20-foot-tall windows as our spot. Some of us sit on the floor and some in chairs. Catherine deftly maneuvers her scooter into our circle, going back and forth until she has it just where she wants it to be. Earlier, she had caught my eyes as she enjoyed making circles in the wide space.
 
How to use our time together? Share our hearts! Of course! Sometimes we share highs and lows and experience the joy of connecting with each other as we see into each other’s souls. On our last day together, we will share our epiphany of our time at Urbana and some share incredible testimonies of their time at Urbana. Our team is bonding, and we are enjoying our two new, impromptu members, Elizabeth and Miriam.
 
Then a quick lunch at a local restaurant, and back to the ministry rooms where we find our spots and settle in. Dr. Karl has a clipboard with a list of various groups. He walks up to me and goes over the plans. I sense that he simply needs someone to listen, and so I listen and occasionally comment. “Oh, yes!,” he responds, as if my small insights are valuable, even though he’s already thought of them! He is welcoming and humble.
I am astonished at the care and preparation that has been put into place, and yet the willingness of the leaders to adjust, even as this long-planned-for event is about to begin. 
 
Whenever I find myself wondering, will this work? I remember the practice session yesterday and the sweet face of the woman I worked with. Towards the end of our session, she basked in the presence of God for several minutes, eyes closed. Then looked up and said, “I think I am finished.” Her face shone with joy.
 
It will work today! We hope and pray. Each station consists of two chairs, not directly facing each other but facing each other offset so that the front right corner of the two seats touch. We can lean forward and speak right into the ear of the student we are working with.
 
Once we choose a station, we leave a personal item on the chair to mark that that station as taken. We then line up against the wall signaling that we are open for business.
 
Each room has a host, who moves from the line of students outside to the line of prayer ministers inside. They introduce the two, then the prayer minister walks the student to their prayer station where they sit with the student’s back to the front of the room.
 
I am seated with the other “Twos” in chairs that line the front of the room. Dr. Karl designated a group of us with more experience in Immanuel Prayer as “Twos”. Our job is to help troubleshoot if another team member gets stuck. The psych team is seated in the next room.
 
The first day is lightly attended. We had been told that this might be the case. At one point one of the leaders comes over to where we “twos” are sitting and says, “Should we have the volunteers work with the IV (InterVarsity) staff since there is capacity?” Earlier, I had noticed a staffer looking vulnerable, so I speak up, “Let’s begin with Georgine.” (Not her real name.) Both men look at me. I explain, “I noticed this morning that she looked stressed.” One of them says, “Why don’t you go find her and offer to do a session?”
 
I squirm. I barely know her. I try to imagine going up to her and saying, “I’ve noticed that you are looking a bit overwhelmed, and I think you need ministry with me!” I can’t do it.
But before I can respond, there she is, headed our way. One of the leaders pops up and intercepts her. The next thing I know, she is telling me she would love to have a session.
 
We find an empty prayer station and begin. I do not know the time, but I give her all the time she needs. I see the Lord meet her in places of grief and trauma. Soon her face looks radiant. We hug and off she goes to resume her duties radiating shalom.
 
That was so satisfying, I think. God is so good to orchestrate all of this! I want to go outside and skip around like a small child. This is exactly what I love. Working with leaders behind the scene.
 
I go back to where the “Twos” are seated and look around. As expected, about a quarter of the seats are empty. I am not sure where we are in our three-session-a-day schedule. Two women are standing nearby chatting. I asked if either of them would like a session. One quickly volunteers. She looks excited. Everyone here is so open to God. It must be all the prayer. This second IV staffer has a powerful encounter with the Lord.
 
Two days later, the same lady came to me as I sat in the “Two” section of chairs. She was near tears because a session with a student had—in her opinion—not gone well. The student had not wanted to connect with Jesus. He was okay with the Father but not the Son. She had quoted scripture to him about how we only come to the Father through the Son, but to no avail. I listened closely and attuned to her. “I am not even sure if he is saved,” she reported, as tears wet her face.
 
I sense that she feels disappointed with herself, so I ask, tentatively, if she feels that way. Yes, she does. Now she is crying. I remind her that often in real life we have to meet with someone for an Immanuel session three or four times before they are willing to interact with the Lord. I explain that some people connect more easily to one person of the Trinity. This often had to do with wounds. Someone with father wounds might have difficulty with the Father. Someone with mother wounds might have trouble with the Holy Spirit. Someone with sibling or peer wounds might have trouble connecting to Jesus. I pray with her and she receives God’s comfort.
 
When she leaves, I realize that Dr. Karl was sitting on the other side of her. He looks at me and says, “Betsy, that was very good advice.” My heart warms at his words, like a kindergartner being praised by a beloved teacher.
 
Whenever I saw that dear woman again, she always smiled and waved. Although we did not do another session, I felt a connection, a bond for having helped her over a hump when she was in a tender place.
 
We end the first day full of joy. It is working! People can hear each other despite multiple sessions going on at one time. They are able to connect with Jesus and hear his voice.
 
The four HCI women on our team head out in search of dinner. We’ve eaten quite a few meals in the hotel bar—pizza, salads, soups, sandwiches—but tonight we have decided to dine in the restaurant across the street. But, no, they are booked until 8:00 PM. We order take out. Two head to the restaurant to pick up our order while the other two go to the hotel to find a spot to sit in the large lobby. We find four large, upholstered chairs with a small round table and settle in.
 
I look up and see Dr. Karl and his wife Charlotte coming in the front door.
“Were you happy with how it went?” I call out. I am curious. I have heard him think out loud about the logistics several times. At one point he had said, “This is the biggest Immanuel event we have ever attempted.” He sees us and heads over. “Oh, we can sit with you!” We welcome them but I wonder if it will be awkward when the rest of our group arrives. I don’t wonder long. Christina and Dreya arrive with bags of food and the six of us squeeze into the four oversized chairs. Everyone is in high spirits as we share the joys of the day.
 
The Second Day with Students
The morning begins with a bang. After our team meeting and a quick lunch, we are astonished to see the prayer stations filling quickly. When I leave to take a break, I cannot believe the line of students waiting patiently outside. There must be hundreds!
 
I am again serving as a “Two” but now I get to be a prayer minister every other session. Soon a prayer minister is holding up two fingers. The recipient cannot connect to Jesus. I listen to both the prayer minister and the man. I ask him if he has any hesitancy about connecting to Jesus. He closes his eyes and ponders my question for a few moments, then says, “Yes.” He does not want to appear before Jesus because he has done some things that were wrong. I tell him that this is understandable. I then ask the man if he would like to ask Jesus about how he felt about being with him? He again closes his eyes and is quiet for a few moments, then responds that Jesus is glad to be with him even when he has done things that were wrong.
 
At that point the session seems to take off. He begins hearing from Jesus clearly. He is not completely confident that he is hearing from Jesus, but I assured him that what he is hearing sounds like Jesus to me. This seems to reassure him. Then I ask him, and his prayer minister, if they are okay going forward without me and they said they are.
 
After the session is over, the prayer minister comes over to talk about what had happened. I explain why I had asked if the recipient was hesitant. Shame can get in the way and block us from perceiving God’s presence. In my experience this is a common blockage.
 
Then another IV staff worker, who I will call Nicole, walks up to where we “Twos” are seated and asks for cleansing prayer. Dr. Andrea Bacon, the medical doctor who had recently returned from Ukraine, found the page on cleansing prayer in our prayer workbook and both of us recite it with Megan. But she still looked distressed. I ask if the session she had just done with a student had triggered her and she said, “Yes.”
I then asked if she would like to have a session. She wavers because she feels that she should be serving, but I gently say, “It isn’t good to try to do ministry with other people when we are triggered.” Then she agrees.
 
Nicole is bearing a heavy load of pain and sorrow. She is able to surrender the burden to Jesus. Peace fills her face. As I am leaving at the end of our time in the convention center, she sees me from a distance and calls out a greeting loudly, with a glowing smile on her face. What a difference an encounter with the Lord made! How gracious he is to bear our sins and our sorrows.
 
Through the rest of the day and our final day of three, I worked with a number of students. I was stunned to recognize that many of them were weighed down by grief and sadness. Typically, they were grieving the loss of grandparents, or a close relationship that ended.
 
How poorly we grieve in the U.S.A! In each case, I encouraged them, once they had encountered the Lord, to release the sadness directly to Jesus. Many cried, at times intensely. In some cases, I leaned forward and pulled them towards me so they could rest their heads on my shoulder, at which point some began to sob. The result was that within about five minutes they were able to release intense sorrow to the Lord. The joy on their faces spoke more than words.  
 
Once, when I was back functioning as a “Two,” one of the psych team approached me. He introduced me to Ricky, a student who he had cleared for prayer ministry. Ricky had suicidal ideation, but since he had been cleared by the psych team, we found an empty prayer station and moved into prayer. Ricky was not connecting with the people he had traveled to Urbana with and was considering going home. I listened then asked if he wanted to try prayer. He was game. He had a positive memory. I spent most of the time coaching him to stay focused on that memory. He would focus on it for a few minutes, then shift focus to the belief that no one wanted to be with him. Especially not at Urbana.
 
Because he had such a hard time staying connected to the memory, I needed to coach him to go back to it repeatedly. Each time we inched forward, filling in more detail from the positive memory, I could see the smile on his face as he recounted the memory of a reunion with close friends, including one who had moved away.
 
Ricky’s whole face would light up as he connected to Jesus in the memory. Then his mind would shift to his worldly woes. It was a fight for him to stay in the memory that brought him so much joy. I explained that staying focused on positive memories is like building muscles at the gym. The longer you stay focused, the stronger your brain becomes. It does not happen in one session, but if one perseveres, our brain will become more resilient. But he seemed quickly to go to worry and distress. It was as if his brain had a worry and self-hatred rut that he kept getting stuck in. Even so, he looked so much better after our hour-plus session. Of all the people I saw, he was the one I wished I could have followed-up with. As we closed out the session, I suggested that he come back on Saturday, our last day, I saw him with a prayer minister and a member of the psych team about ten feet away. He did not look happy. My heart ached.
 
Final Thoughts
Even so, by the end of our final day, my heart was soaring. We had done it! The team of 135 prayer ministers had ministered to 1100 students. In addition, we had ministered to each other. So many had lined up that by the end of the second time, they were turning people away. The last day we were asked to consider skipping lunch so we would do four sessions that day.
 
It was a great joy to see the students coming alive. To see the IV staffers minister to students. One, the son of two of my intercessors, was right in front of me. I often looked his way and was delighted to see him minister to students just a few years younger than himself.
 
The organization and training had been amazing. The checkerboard chair arrangement, where the right corner of each chair kissed the right corner of the facing chair, had worked beautifully. The backup teams had worked to keep everyone safe. The team had operating in unity. In the in-between moments, I spent hours answering questions from others on the team--something I love to do. The best part was being in the presence of Jesus and supporting Dr. Karl and the team in any way that I could.
 
All glory to Jesus who comes to us in our need and tarries with us. Never in a hurry. Feeling what we feel, knowing us better than we know ourselves. Loving us in our distress and showing us the way forward.
 
I want to close by thanking all who interceded for me and the team while we were in Indianapolis. We could not have done it without you!
 
Much love,
Betsy