Zac and Kimmy Wille
It has been just about two months since we (Zac and Kimmy) moved down to Dunedin! A year and a half ago, as we were moving forward with the hope of a re-launch of the Otago Navigator ministry, our biggest prayer request was for a team that would join us on the ground in Dunedin. Unsure of who that might be and how it would come together, Tim and Leah Simpson and we adopted a “leave no stone unturned” approach to seeking out and asking individuals. Now, we are beyond blessed to have 4 others as a part of the staff team – Gerdion Venter and his fiancée, Kennedy Burrows, as well as Flynn and Catherine Wilson. Not only that, but God’s abundant provision extends to funding and housing needs that the team and others have been praying for. Everyone has a place to live, and at the time of writing this, the team is extremely close to finishing fundraising.
We will hit the ground running with a staff retreat from the 1-4 of February to strengthen team unity, plan, and prepare. After that, the rest of the team will have a week or so to get settled into living in Dunedin before student orientation week (“O-Week”) at Otago, which will be filled with daily student events and parties. Over the past two years, we have been building relationships and connecting with the chaplains and other Christian groups on campus which will enable us to support the effort to reach students during this time and hopefully be just the beginning of many gospel conversations with students. The university year officially commences on the 23rd of February, and we hope to get at least one Bible study started as well as support a local church in running an Alpha course on campus for those exploring faith. We are specifically praying that the Lord would provide at least one student for each of us to invest in one-to-one. We don’t know how God will work, or who God will put in our path, or how long any of this will take, but we are trusting the Lord to lead us to lost students who are seeking something more for their lives.
“The poor and needy search for water…I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them…so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this.” – Isaiah 41:17-20
Along with other prayers and requests, this passage captures the heart of the prayer of the Otago Navigators Staff team – that God would answer thirsty students in Dunedin who are searching for living water, so that many would come to see and know, consider and understand the Lord. Along with establishing a ministry that disciples and equips students in their walk with God, our longing is to be a ministry that exists among the lost, is intentional to do life with them, and that through this, we may see many come to faith in Jesus for salvation.
Another provision of the Lord in this journey has been through a team of investors that has come together to purchase a property in Dunedin to be used by the Otago Navigators. This house would provide a place to host students, to serve meals and study the Bible, to be a headquarters for our ministry, and even house some students. We give thanks to God for His provision in this area and eagerly pray for a house close to campus that meets our desires that can be purchased soon.
As we look ahead to the coming months, our plans and desires revolve more around relationships than structured gatherings. Our hope is to eventually host consistent Bible studies and large group gatherings (and we may even start with some of these if the Lord provides the students!), but our hope and plan in these first few months is to build relationships. We want to be intentional to be involved with other clubs and events happening on campus and use those as inroads to meeting people. We want to embody the idea of “going to the lost” in the way we conduct ourselves.
We invite you to pray for us, our team, and this ministry as we look to re-launch The Navigators ministry at the University of Otago. Praise God for his provision of a team and funding, and pray for team unity and love for one another as we begin. Pray for the students we’ll meet and connect with over the coming months. Pray for relationships to form, for Bible studies to start, and for students to come to faith in Jesus. Pray that what we start this year would result in a ministry that embodies The Navigators’ values and effectively equips students to become disciple-makers for Jesus for the rest of their lives, and even that God would raise up some from the University of Otago who would be leaders in the Navigator work. Praise God for His provision of a team of investors for a house, and pray for a house to become available in the coming months that would be close to campus and meet our needs.
Thank you for your partnership with us in the gospel as we step out in faith and begin this new chapter of ministry at the University of Otago!