As we are preparing for our spring break trip and times of prayer, I was reminded of a few quotes:

We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity.  We should pray when we are not in a praying mood, for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition. - C. H. Spurgeon

The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere.  If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it. - George Mueller

Please pray for the 15 of us who will be serving and praying over this next week and for the RiverChurches in New Castle, CO.

In 2006, our family had the opportunity to lead a mission trip to Oberlin, LA, contribute to the rebuilding of

First Baptist Church and begin some encouraging relationships.  God used that trip to not only reestablish a place for community in Oberlin, but also to establish a heart for people in our family and a desire to be part of what He is doing in the world and to explain Him to the world.  Of course, the main expression of this heart and desire takes place in our sharing our lives with college students at CU, ASU before that, and OU before that.

     As a continuation of this desire, we have been preparing as a family for a trip to SE Asia.  A former student and his family are now serving full-time among students in this country.  They have seen God draw many students to Himself and have their hands full.  Several people have spent the last two years laboring alongside them and are in their last days and months of service. 

     We will be spending around 7-9 days in country.  During this time we will travel with a group of students who are involved in the ministry with the purpose of speaking into their lives and discipling them as we are able.  We will also be working at an orphanage alongside a mix of Christian and non-Christian students.  Our friend there says that this has been a very effective way of seeing new students move to accept Christ.  Another goal would also be to encourage and pray for our friends and the ministry God has given them.

     Finally, we hope to work out the timing so that we can travel to another SE Asian country close by and spend a day or two with a former associate and his family and our summer team from CU and then join them for the trip home.  This last hope is still very tentative, but is on our prayer list.

    The tentative dates for this trip are July 12-21.  Our estimated cost is $15,014.  We would like to invite and ask you to pray about partnering with us financially and prayerfully for this trip.  An undertaking of this size is far bigger than us and we would value anyway you can be part of this with us.  Contributions for this trip can be made to Christian Challenge and will be a missions contribution as this trip is part of our summer missions program.  Please send to 167 Cherokee Way, Boulder, CO 80303.

Thank you for your prayers.

Please be praying for us as we have our first retreat of the Fall this weekend.  At the moment we have 39 signed up, which is the most we have ever had since I’ve been at CU.  Pray that nothing will hinder these from coming.  We will be looking at making the most of our time so as to grow spiritually.

This will be a mix of Christians and non-Christians, so we are looking forward the time.  Generally, this retreat has been a great time and those who attend stick with Christian Challenge.

I admit readily that I am a bad blogger.  I think about it quite a bit.  The little blog elves that are supposed to read my thoughts and turn them into meaningful blog entries have left the house since we started redoing our kitchen.

Ministry has been moving at full pace.  Table talk Tuesdays have been up and down, but today we looked at how the Bible we read was put together.  Our next topic will be ‘does God hear the prayers of non-believers?’   We have been going through 2 Timothy at our weekly meetings and I spoke last week and will speak tomorrow.

the freshmen bible study has also been really good.  they group of guys we have is a good group to have and build on.  Kind of like a great freshmen recruiting class.  I wish I could redshirt some of them.

Pray for the several students who are around and close to following Jesus - R. and M. especially.  They are very close to being ready to commit to Jesus.

Today we celebrate Josh’s 15th birthday. It should be a lot of fun, especially with the fireworks the city of Boulder will be displaying for him (at least thats what we tell him). He quit believing us a long time ago.

Next week Julee and I will speak with students at a training program thats taking place in Denver. That should be a lot of fun also.

The window is closer to completion. The window itself is in now, just having to make modifications in order to install some structural steel. You should see the 1/2 inch concrete screws we are using - Tim the tool man would be proud. We could screw whole houses together with these things.

Continue to pray for our team in South Asia. They have continued to see fruit from their labor and God has been teaching them deep things. Our challenge is to shepherd them so that the things they are learning stick and to help them process all that has happened this summer. Also our good friends who were on staff here at Challenge will be moving there on July 10, so they would appreciate your prayers for their challenging transition.

We will be receiving many freshman contacts soon and will begin the process of connecting with them. Please lift up these freshman whom we don’t know - yet - that God will encourage their hearts and connect them even closer to us and Him over next year.

Colossians 2:1

Our CU team in South Asia has sent back a good report.  In the last week 8 new believers have joined our Family and several others are close.  Please pray for them as they are over their honeymoon period and adjusting.  Also as they begin to disciple their new brothers and sisters and continue to make the word of God fully known.

I hope no one has been holding their breath in eager expectation for the next blog. If so and you are reading this, you might want to contact Guinness Book. I not sure, but I think you might have done something big.

As for us, we haven’t been holding our breath, but doing what we do after school ends: a wedding, a two-week road trip family vacation (a little longer than usual, but what a great time.  And when is the last time you ate fresh grouper throat just pulled from the Gulf?), starting some projects that we can’t do in the fuller flow of ministry (an egress window in a basement bedroom is the big one now), sending off summer teams, and starting up summer ministry.

We have a team of 7 in South Asia for the summer.  Please be praying for them as they are sowing a lot of seed and helping with some church planting.  They are also way hotter than they are used to in Colorado, so pray they can maintain good attitudes amidst the oppressive heat and spiritual climate.

There are also 9 at a training program in Denver.  They are working full time jobs during the week and involved with small groups,  training, and service during the evenings and weekends.  The entire group spent a Saturday at our house and the Pruett’s house working on various projects.  The goal was to wear them out and that we did.  This is a valuable part of training as it displays character which students have.  You can see who works hard and who hardly works.  You can also teach some good skills and show what hard work looks like.  Three small groups even came back the next week for more glorious hard work.

We also just added a hamster to the family.  Pretty exciting.

In all things Christ.

We are preparing to drive to Oklahoma.  My mom called this morning and had to let us know that my dad suddenly died this morning.  It is an incredible shock.  We appreciate your prayers as we drive to be with my mom and sister and family and deal with the details.

Heb. 13:7

Our leaders at Challenge are called Losers (remind me to explain this more fully).  Normally the Losers meet once a month on Sunday afternoon, which is a loser kind of time because it always feels like nap time, not meeting time.  However, our last meeting was a good reminder of why we are here.  It was kind of exciting, even though there were many yawns.

Bobby asked people to share those they knew who had a new relationship with Jesus and those who were close.  Without giving names here was our list:

M, C, C, H, G, L, M, and T (and many of our Losers were missing due to serving at a children’s camp)
These are those who we have relationships with and who are moving closer to Jesus.  So pray for these letters who are real students on a journey to know Jesus and whose paths have intersected with ours. And pray for us to do all we can to help them move closer to knowing Jesus.

Wow!  Right when we least expected it, a great house went up for sale last Friday.  We had been looking at the piece of junk/BAD foundation house when a call came about a house down the street from the Pruett’s (the Challenge director and our temporary home until Nov.)  It was listed at a great price and looked really good.  So Julee, after stepping off a plane from a week in OK, and I looked at it the same day and made an offer the next morning.  It seems to be a God thing from location, to price, to provision and is more than we could have asked for.

Now of course it is not ours yet (we close March 3), but we are thrilled to have the opportunity to own a house in Boulder, where you get less house for more money.  This will put us just 3 miles from campus and students will be able to easily get to our home to hang out, pray, party, eat, be involved with family life, sleep, eat, etc.  And I can ride a bike or bus to campus, or even walk.  So because ministry here is so centered around our homes this is an answer to prayer and something I wasn’t sure could happen like this.

We appreciate your prayers as we move forward.  We are also very aware of how God has led us here and desires us to serve Him at CU and invest our lives in students.