Olivia was lost in darkness, desperate for something, but she didn’t know what.  

In high school, Olivia struggled with depression, something she’d been battling since she was a kid. The one thing that kept her going was her belief that everything would get better in university. However, during her first week at Brock University, she quickly discovered that her feelings weren’t changing. “It was the same things as home. I was hopeless and struggling with no sense of purpose.”         

But God was pursuing Olivia.

Later that week she was given a flyer inviting her to a number of events hosted by Power to Change – Students (P2C-Students). The flyer led her to the P2C Brock University Facebook page where she clicked “Like” on a post to join a worship team.

“I liked the status, but I have no musical talent at all so I don’t even know why I did that,” she explains. When another student involved in the ministry saw that she had engaged with the post, she asked Olivia if she wanted to connect in person. They met for a coffee and Olivia heard the gospel for the first time.

Olivia was not at all interested in Christianity. However, she did attend a P2C-Students meeting simply looking for a place to belong. Some of her new P2C friends invited her to attend Summit, a fall retreat. It took quite a bit of convincing, but eventually Olivia agreed to go if the other first year girl promised to go as well.   

On her way to Summit, Olivia questioned why she was even going, and the first few days she regretted being there. “I got frustrated and confused about why I went.”

However, on the last day of the retreat, Olivia began to experience something new. “I was looking around and all of these people were so overjoyed as they sang about God together. I felt what I now know is the presence of God fall on me,” she says. “And after that weekend as I went home, I didn’t believe in Jesus specifically, but I knew that God existed.”  

Olivia, middle, with her two best friends, who she met through P2C.

As someone who gets passionate about things quickly and engages fast, she prayed, “God if you are real and true, don’t let me fall away from this.”

“I knew that I believed in God, but I didn’t know what that meant.”

Olivia continued to attend P2C-Students’ meetings and began to explore the gospel message. “It was very gradual in my first year, but about halfway through the school year I realized that I had come to believe that Jesus was my Saviour,” she says. Slowly as God transformed her life she found the hope and sense of purpose she was looking for, and “the anxieties that I used to live with began to lift.” She also found that in her relationships, “there was a new kind of peace.”

P2C-Students is a ministry of Power to Change that engages students with the gospel and equips them to live their lives on mission for Him. Throughout the year, they offer discipleship groups, prayer meetings, conferences, outreaches and more.    

Every student’s greatest need is a relationship with Jesus.

You can engage new students, just like Olivia, right now with a financial gift to P2C-Students. Your gift will make a difference in the lives of students searching for light this school year. Together, we can introduce them to Jesus and equip them for a lifetime of ministry.

Today’s students will change our world.