What has turned out to be a busy, busy semester is coming to a close.  My wedding day is almost here. And InterVarsity’s four graduate and professional student chapters at NYU are thriving.

Alissa and me at our “I Do BBQ” in North Carolina

On December 8th Alissa and I will be married.  It is hard to believe the big day is almost here.  As you can imagine, we are thrilled.  It has been an arduous journey moving to a new city and starting a new life and ministry.  We are so glad that the rest of our journey will be traveled with each other.  Please keep us in your prayers as we enter into the last few weeks of wedding preparation!

We have found a home, a cozy little two bedroom apartment in a Brooklyn brownstone. With the help of some fantastic students and neighbors, I moved in a few weekends ago and have spent nearly every free minute since hanging pictures, unpacking boxes, installing shelves, and coming up with creative storage solutions.  This apartment really is a gift from God.  It practically fell into our laps when an elderly gentleman on the block, Mr. Mel, took a shine to me because I, like he, am a North Carolina native.  He decided to talk to all of his friends in the neighborhood who were landlords on our behalf and within a few weeks, we had a place. Praise God for His provision of a great home and even better neighbors!

Professor David Skeel, a visiting professor from the University of Pennsylvania, spoke to the NYU Christian Legal Fellowship about being a Christian in the legal profession and academy. His talk was a huge blessing to our students.

My ministries to the four graduate and professional student fellowships at NYU continue to go well.  We are entering the season of paper deadlines and final exams, and so weekly attendance at our big meetings has begun to wane a bit (student ministry is a very seasonal business).  But even at the peak of their workload students are always up for a coffee break to talk about God, and pray together.  At one such coffee recently one of my medical students, Andre, had some very encouraging words for me.  “David,” he said, “when I came here to NYU, I thought that my faith and my schoolwork were completely separate things.  I just kept them in different boxes and never connected them.  But in our Bible studies this semester I realized that these things all go together, that I have been called to practice medicine, and that my studies are preparing me to serve people and serve God.  My whole world is different.”

Gabrielle Apollon, NYU Law School class of 2015, CLF student leader

Recently another student, Gabrielle, one of our Christian Legal Fellowship leaders, appeared before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to testify about the human rights violations against Haitian migrants to Brazil. Gabrielle understands that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not just about saving souls but also about bringing “good news to the poor” and “liberty to the oppressed” (Luke 4:18). For her, law is not a career but a calling: it is her way of using her God-given gifts to love her neighbor and to advance God’s purposes in the world.

These are the sorts of things every InterVarsity staff person lives to see and hear: gracious affirmations that the seeds we are sowing week-by-week are yielding eternal fruit in these students’ lives.

To all of my current supporters, thank you.  Through your generosity God is graciously enabling us to make a difference in the futures of these students and of our world.  I thank God for you daily.

If you are not currently a donor, we need your help.  To maintain this ministry to the next generation of global leaders, we must maintain a budget of nearly $80,000 annually.  We are reaching mid-year and presently have only 54% of this years’ budget pledged.   Will you prayerfully consider supporting this strategic gospel mission by helping us to close this gap by making a special donation this Christmas or by pledging to contribute $25-$200 monthly? You can support my work either by donating online at this link or by mailing checks made out to “InterVarsity/USA” for “The ministry of David Williams at NYU” to:

ATTN: Donation Services

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA
PO Box 7895
Madison, WI 53791-9703

Every dollar donated supports my work and is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

It has been a very busy season of speaking engagements. In the last month alone I had the privilege of addressing the NYU Asian American Christian Fellowship, the NYU Christian Medical Dental Association, and the NYU Campus Alpha Course. It was an incredible blessing to get to serve all of these different groups this semester.

Week by week the students in the NYU Medical Student Christian Fellowship gather to pray, worship, and study the Scriptures together as they seek to follow God’s calling upon their lives to practice medicine for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. Please pray for the young men and women in the MSCF as they pursue Jesus in this challenging environment.