Do you have room in your heart for one more friend? Would you make it an international student? This is the question being asked to hundreds of our Chi Alpha students across the country. Now we have an open door to ask this question to our church family.
Here in the Los Angeles area, Gwen and I have the privilege of teaming up with ISI (International Students Inc, www.isionline.org) to encourage Christian folks to become International Student Friendship Partners. We recently piloted these efforts with Pastor John Johnson and Covina Assembly of God and will 
match six families with international students who have requested meeting with an American friend.
This is nothing new for ISI, who has been doing this specific type of ministry for a number of years. It is not a new idea to Chi Alpha where we have similar programs functioning in a dozen or so churches and campuses (see www.isfpartners.org). What is new is this partnership here in Southern California. This has been one of our objectives since we arrived here 18 months ago and now we are seeing it get off the ground. We are thankful to both ISI Regional Director, Andy Pearce and to Pastor Johnson and his staff for joining hands with us. We are excited about how this could grow!