If you have a match, an oil lantern and a wood stove, which would you light first? Of course, you would light the match first! If you have yourself, a youth group and a university campus, which would you ignite for Jesus Christ first? The same principle applies here as well. You start with yourself. God wants you to sacrifice yourself, your dreams, your passions, your time for Him to be able to pour out His Spirit over you and through you and in you, and then to set you spiritually alight for Him (Check out the book by Steve Shadrach called The Fuel and The Flame: Ten Keys to Ignite Your College Campus for Jesus Christ). Sounds scary? In fact, you wouldn't want to miss out on this life-transforming experience for the world. Literally!

Once you are spiritually on fire, there is definitely something that burns inside of you which compels you to get up off your bum and go out and do something for God. As Jesus said to His disciples before He headed back up to heaven, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NLT). This passion has not died down within the hearts of Spirit-filled young people after 2000 years.

For us in OASIS, this passion burns for setting the university campuses in Western Australia on fire for Jesus Christ. Let me introduce you to OASIS. We are a network of university students across university campuses here in Perth that are focused on the very thing that Jesus told us to concentrate on: building relationships through a process called discipleship. A quick memory refresh for you of Jesus' specific directive: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19,20 NLT).

It started off with my meeting up on campus with some very cool Adventist university students on the ECU, Murdoch, UWA and Curtin campuses. Let me tell you that these are some of the best people in the world—you guys really are gold! Then, we developed what worked out to be G3 discipleship groups. If you have not heard of G3 groups, they are just mini small groups of people (around 3 or 4 young people) that meet up to share their common passion for Jesus Christ (Check out the G3 concept for campus ministry at www.metamore.org ). That's where the name “OASIS” emerged from, because the more time that we would spend together as groups, we recognized that each group was becoming a spiritual oasis on campus. So, it seems natural to call our network what it really is: OASIS!

Now, we are mapping out our mission focus—what God is specifically calling us to do. Each G3 group has a different passion and perspective. One G3 group is focusing on their student college where they live, another G3 group wants to focus on developing a service project within a neighbouring high school which involves mentoring high school students, another G3 group is moving strategically to engage with the nursing community on campus. Another significant way in which G3 discipleship groups are functioning successfully is by supporting young people as they work through the process of deciding whether they want to commit their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ by becoming baptised. The G3 model becomes a training ground for university students who want to learn how to effectively share their faith with their friends.

There is also a fun side to being on a mission with God on university campuses as well. Recently we invited Leighton Cantrill over to Perth. Leighton is the dude from the church headquarters in Sydney who you meet at Big Camp or Youth Rallies and is really helpful if you are interested in getting a job within one of our many awesome Adventist organisations. His role here in Perth was to share with everyone in OASIS the key skills that are required in building strong teams. Let me tell you, Leighton did an excellent job. During the same time, we teamed up to host the inaugural OASIS Intervarsity Games Competition. It was the perfect opportunity for people to invite their non-Christian friends and classmates for a friendly challenge, including the Blind Soccer Competition, the University Trivia Quiz, the Deserted Island Modeling Challenge and the final Pictionary tie-breaker. And in the end, after competing their way through very stiff competition, it was the team representing Curtin University that came out as the champions to win the medals and the trophy. So, congratulations Lydia and your team from Curtin!

But when the dust settles and it is all said and done, our real passion is for building relationships—relationships that cultivate spiritual growth, relationships that open up the doors to sharing our faith, relationships that draw people into the kingdom of God, relationships that last for eternity. Discipleship: that's what OASIS is all about.