“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to go. And He said to them, “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way... Heal the sick... Say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” 
(Luke 10:1-3 & 9, ESV)

“Go” is the first thing Jesus tells us to do after commissioning us to pray earnestly. As one wild adventurer recently remarked, “If you pray to the Lord of the harvest and ask Him to send out laborers into His harvest fields, He will most always make you the answer to that prayer.”

It is evident that God is longing to visit the campuses of America in this hour. And all across the nation, little bands of friends are piling in cars and traveling to campuses to prepare the way for His Presence to come. They’re going for a weekend, for spring break, for whole semesters even, with prayer burning in them and the gospel on their lips. They’re offering encouragement to strangers, praying for the sick, telling stories of how Jesus has encountered them, inviting people into redemptive conversation with God, and sharing the Campus America dream that every college would engage in 24-7 prayer in 2010.

It's really not a new idea; it's the way Jesus did it when he sent out seventy-two “others” in pairs to preach the good news of the Kingdom. He sent out the twelve disciples too, but the seventy-two He sent were just “other” guys. What in the world is Jesus thinking, entrusting His ministry and reputation to a nameless bunch of random uneducated young people who don’t even seem to be His official disciples? Yet He confidently sends this motley crew out with the power to heal and all authority over evil - and with what appears to be only two paragraphs worth of instructions. They go out, two by two, to every place that Jesus Himself is about to go.

ROBERT WILDER

Robert Wilder was one such traveling hero and a primary source of inspiration for us.  Robert was a Princeton University student who, in 1886, visited 162 campuses on horseback with a heart burning to see his generation take the gospel to the nations. His prayerful and passionate travel helped catalyze the Student Volunteer Movement, America's first great missions movement. Wilder’s campus-to-campus efforts launched a missions thrust of over 20,000 students signing the pledge that they were “willing and desirous” to go to the foreign mission field. Tens of thousands stayed home, working hard and supporting their friends financially.

During Wilder’s year of travel to America’s campuses, his father became fatally ill, but when Robert returned home, his father just quoted Jesus: "Let the dead bury their own dead" and sent him back on the road. Later, Robert himself got dangerously sick and was ordered by his doctor to stop traveling, but he refused. The rest is history.
 

YOU CAN MAKE HISTORY TOO

Now here we are, a century and a half later. This is the call we’ve been hearing in this hour. To see little bands of friends being sent by Jesus to the places He wants to come with His presence – followers of Jesus believing for healing over sick students and declaring to a campus that the Kingdom of God has come near – two friends here and two friends there, hitting the road with a burning cry for their generation, an invitation to know Jesus.

You and a few friends can literally make history. You can change the world by capturing the imagination of students with a bigger story. It all begins in prayer.

Be Wilder.

Inspired out of friendship with Jesus and the story of Robert Wilder, Student Church leaders Erik & Jen Fish and Campus America team members Ryan Riggs & Lindsay Ellyson set out on an adventure in early 2009.  Their dream was to see students on campuses across the nation encounter the life-changing presence of Jesus.

Prayer and worship in the middle of a student union. Life-changing words of encouragement being given to strangers. Salvation received in a casino. Divine appointments with students praying for revival. Students baptized in the middle of campus with a bucket of water. International students hearing the gospel for the first time. Football players getting miraculously healed. 

These are just a few of the stories and insights from their experiences that have been compiled in hopes of inspiring more young people to travel to campuses bearing the Good News of Jesus.  

To obtain a free hard copy of this resource, please email your request to wilder@campusamerica.org. 

Read Be Wilder (PDF)