lauryn.lester

My Story

Hello, my name is Lauryn Lester! I am 22 years old, born and raised in Georgia, and a graduate of Liberty University with a BA in Worship Studies! The beginning of my story on how I met the Lord starts in 2020. Like most kids raised in the South, I grew up going to church almost every Sunday which also meant that I was a “Christian.” Years later, I now know how deceived I was into believing that my attendance in a building secured my place on the other side of the pearly white gates. I never knew what it meant to have a relationship with God, let alone did I even know that was a thing! So, by the time I reached my freshman year of college, living in the world with no conviction of my lifestyle whatsoever, I began to see how much of my life was a lie. I was bound to sin that was constantly presenting itself to me; offering me satisfaction for just long enough to feel peace and comfort and then rip it away. This cycle continued weekend after weekend filled with partying, getting drunk and high, and anything else that I could do to numb myself to my reality. I became addicted to counterfeit happiness and satisfaction which ultimately led me to be a shell of a person. It was in this state that I decided to finally give up this life that I had invested so much in, only to have received nothing but emptiness and hurt. On this night in September, my white flag of surrender looked like a prayer. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t even get the words to come out of my mouth. I just sat there on my dorm room floor and cried letting the tears speak for me. After a few more moments of silence, I got the strength to finally say “God, please help me.” And just as a loving Father would, He heard from heaven and answered me by filling my dorm room with His overwhelming presence. I felt the arms of my Father wrap around me for the first time in my life and all I wanted to do was stay there forever.

My Passion

By October, I was baptized and decided to commit the rest of my life to God no matter what it looked like. In answering the call to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, He also revealed another call on my life to lead His people in worship. Since then, I have found myself serving at God’s house each week to create an atmosphere of reverence and honor in worship for the body of Christ at my home church. I have always loved to sing, even when I was a little girl. Looking back now, I can see how God was molding me into the worshipper that I am today. Along with a heart for worship, He has also given me a huge heart for evangelism. I see my generation, a generation that is plagued with anxiety, depression, and suicide, screaming and crying out for help. A real answer, not something temporary. My passion is specifically driven toward college-age students because I understand the glorification, even idolization, that we put on this newfound freedom of being away from home. I abused this freedom and found myself addicted to things I would’ve never seen myself even associating with. These students are being influenced to abuse their freedom and get caught up in the devil’s trap. Therefore, I want nothing more than to see the same grounds the enemy used for evil, be turned and used for God’s glory through young evangelists spreading the gospel message on these campuses. I believe we will see the same dorm rooms that once were used for partying, drinking, smoking, and fornication turned into dorm rooms used for bible studies, prayer meetings, and worship nights. This is the vision of Circuit Riders.

My Calling

In 2021, shortly after giving my life to the Lord, I stumbled upon a group of young, radical, on-fire believers that would shift how I viewed the Great Commission for the rest of my life. Circuit Riders is a young adult missionary organization birthed from YWAM, also known as Youth With a Mission. Their goal is to train and equip young adults across the world to be catalysts on their college campuses and spread the Gospel through a variety of different platforms. After finishing a discipleship training school with Circuit Riders in the fall of 2024, going on outreach in the PNW to preach the Gospel in high schools and seeing close to 200 salvations, 170 rededications, and 6 healings, I would be CRAZY to think that God was finished with me or this generation; He is only getting started! With that being said, I am grateful and honored to have been accepted to come on staff with Circuit Riders as a full-time missionary, dedicating my life to making disciples, empowering others to live a transformed life in Christ, and teaching this generation how to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus everywhere they go!

My first desire is that you would partner with me in prayer. I want to see God move in supernatural ways, to see students touched and marked by the power of the Holy Spirit and chains broken in the name of Jesus!  We WILL see revival sweep the nations and I believe that this generation will be the catalysts for God’s kingdom to come on earth and for His will to be done! The second way that you can partner with me is financially. As I shared this vision of the Great Commission, I pray that your heart was gripped by the love and heart of God, and that you long to be a part in bringing the Gospel to ears that have never heard it! I also pray that you would consider joining my faith investment team as a monthly supporter! My financial goal is $2,500 a month which would cover rent in California, food, gas, flights, and all other necessities. Although these are practical expenses I will have to make, I don’t want you to think about your giving as something that is only covering my food for the day or gas, I want you to see your donation as an actual seed and the opportunity for a college student to hear the Gospel for the first time, and them giving their life to Jesus (this is an actual testimony of what I got to see on tour!).

My Mission

God has moved in my life through ministry in so many powerful ways. I have experienced what I have because He was gracious enough to reveal Himself to me and give me an amazing community of believers who’ve influenced and challenged me to be who and where I am today. When I think about my testimony and how I met God during my freshman year of college, I think about the thousands of other college students who are still bound by the same things that I’ve found freedom from, and my heart is gripped. Just knowing that their lives could be changed forever through one encounter with the same God that I met that night in my dorm room, makes me even more on fire to see it become a reality in this next season of my life. I believe, that through young evangelists in this age rising against the kingdom of darkness, we will see this generation turn away from the idols of our society, turn back to our Heavenly Father, and place our identity back in Him. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a calling higher than living a life just for ourselves. As Colossians 1:16 states, we were created by God and for God. He created us for fellowship and communion with Him. We do this by fulfilling the Great Commission which Jesus says in Matthew 28:19-20, is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” So, with that being said, will you partner with me on this mission that extends far beyond this side of eternity?