Everything familiar to Maria, a high school senior preparing for college, seemed to be slipping from her. Starting college brings so many questions about identity and worth, and she didn’t feel that she had much. Worst of all, she grieved the loss of someone close to her, and hardened her heart against the God she’d prayed to for his healing. God had failed her. It seemed.
Young students across Hawaii face the emotional challenges we all do when huge life changes come, like starting our first year in college. On top of that, many students here are vulnerable to hopelessness about their future, with the military being the primary opportunity for a better life. The high cost of living, difficulty of traveling, and broken homes due to widespread drug addiction result in single moms working three jobs and kids with no guidance who get into addictions themselves. This is the scene that Every Nation Campus missionary Heather Heck committed herself to transforming when she said yes to God’s call to move.
Thanks to Heather’s obedience and our partners who invested in these Hawaiian students by sending her, she provided God’s answer to Maria’s heart-wrenching questions. And Maria’s life changed right at the start of her college experience at Kapi’olani Community College. She thought she’d abandon faith—but Heather’s intervention helped her see God hadn’t given up on her:
When I met Heather, she asked me to be a part of the grace group (Bible study) she had started on campus. I was terrified to talk to strangers, and invite them to our group. But I knew that God had given me this opportunity and it was a part of His plan.
Heather had been in Hawaii for just two months when she established three small groups at Honolulu Community College, Kapi’olani Community College, and Hawaii Pacific University. She saw evangelism as the missing key to the growth of students here. In some ways, her past of being freed from drug addiction, navigating single motherhood, and ministering to the “untouchables” of society well-equipped her for ministry in Honolulu (read Heather’s backstory). In other ways, she felt she knew nothing. Her utter trust in God led to rapid growth in this new culture where she didn’t quite fit in.
Now, students like Maria who didn’t know how to share their testimony and didn’t believe God could use them are actively sharing their faith, bringing peers to Bible studies, and becoming spiritual leaders in every area of life. “The heart behind every campus minister,” Heather says, “is knowing the students you’re training are going on to do greater things than what you did.” This seems to be the trajectory for Maria, who once came near to giving up on God:
When I met Heather, she asked me to be a part of the grace group (Bible study) she had started on campus. I was terrified to talk to strangers, and invite them to our group. But I knew that God had given me this opportunity and it was a part of His plan.
The story for these students is just beginning. This year, eight student leaders—all who’ve never had the opportunity to leave the country—will go with Heather on the Every Nation short-term mission trip to Lima, Peru. Her hope is that they’ll further witness the power of God to transform lives all over the world, and return home empowered to change their campuses. She’s seen students empowered on mission trips countless times over her more than six years of ministry.
With Hawaii being “the crossroads of the Pacific,” Heather’s excited for the international impact that campus ministry in Hawaii can have. Please join us in praying for God’s will to be accomplished on these islands.
If you’re interested in partnering in Heather’s work to activate campus ministry in Hawaii, please visit her giving profile.