On Monday, Campus Crusade staff all over the US will participate in a ministry push aptly named Cross 09. Every staff will be ministering cross culturally. For years, Crusade staff have been crossing oceans with the Gospel message. Countless lives have been transformed because of those staff who crossed cultures. But even here in the United States, there are still “oceans” to be crossed. The number of ethnic minorities enrolling in colleges is continuing to exponentially increase. In fact, Latinos are on track to be largest demographic of school age children by 2050.

Staff will be spending those three days (November 9-11) focusing on reaching out to ethnic minority students. Some will be making an evangelistic push on their campus. Some will be traveling to several host city/locations around the country.

Denver is a host city, and Amber and I will be leading 30+ staff on those three days. It has been a lot of work, but very rewarding work, as we’ve prepared for the training times. We’ve grown in our understanding of minority culture, and we’ve grown in our heart for minorities, especially Latinos.

Please pray for us on these three days, as we lead this “conference” here in Denver. Pray that we can communicate clearly, and that God would use us instrumentally with helping staff grow in their heart (and in skills) to reach ethnic minorities here in the US.

[November Ministry Update]
We also recently sent out our November ministry update. Most of our blog readers will either receive it in the mail or an email. If for some reason you don’t you can download a copy here.

Also, if you would like to start receiving our prayerletters via email, you can subscribe through this form.

Download Newsletter Here

HOMEOWNERS::
It’s hard to believe the summer is over. With temperatures being so much cooler here in Denver
than in Texas, it’s easy to feel as if “summer” never even happened. But here we are at the start of the semester and able to look back and rejoice at all of God’s blessings. [read more...]

STAFF CONFERENCE::
Every two years, Campus Crusade holds a conference for all their US based staff. Itʼs quite a conference to be a part of. Imagine being in a basketball arena filled with like-minded individuals committed to helping to fulfill the Great Commission, to bringing the gospel to the world. We walked away from this yearʼs conference refreshed, encouraged, and excited. [read more...]

AURARIA CAMPUS::
One of the most intriguing campuses Iʼve ever stepped foot on is this campus in downtown Denver. The campus is shared by three schools – Denver Community College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and University of Colorado Denver. With the three schools combined, there are over sixty-thousand students. It is the most  diverse school in the state, and presents a great opportunity for kingdom impact in the city of Denver.[read more...]

A great ministry resource that has helped me keep on top of the cultural trends in ministering to students is the Ivy Jungle Network. The following are two reports in their latest newslettter that stood out to me.

“Borrowing More: In 1993, less than a third of undergraduate students borrowed to pay for college.  Last year that figure topped 50% and is expected to keep climbing.  The amount has also increased with the annual debt for borrowers at private universities increasing by 70%.  Not only are more students taking out loans, a report called “Drowning in Debt:  The Emerging Student Loan Crisis” reports that the kinds of loans students are procuring are riskier and carry higher interest rates, especially among minority students.      (Wichita Business Journal  July 9,  2009)”

In Luke 10:2, Jesus asked His disciples to pray for laborers. In the years that I’ve worked with ethnic minority students, the need for laborers is very apparent. These laborers will either come from the community or from students being raised up. But as we’ve seen in with our current economic crisis, debt is extremely crippling. And that is no different when it comes to people being able to minister, free of the shackles of debt. I pray that as we work with students, we are able to not only help them see their need for Christ in their spiritual lives, but that we are able to help students make wise spiritual decisions in their finances.

“Atheists De-baptize: Atheists in four states and a number of college campuses have begun practicing a “de-baptizing” ceremony in which a blow dryer labeled “Reason” is used to blow away the folly of religious belief and previous baptism.   The Secular Student Alliance sponsors atheists groups on a number college campuses across the country that offer the ceremony.    While some question the use of such a mock ceremony, others say they find the process cathartic and have certificates made to commemorate the event.  (USA Today July 21, 2009)”

This report just saddens me to no end. The “mock ceremony” definitely saddens me, but not as much as how students feel the need to “blow away the folly of religious belief and previous baptism”. God, please forgive us, the Church, for the ways we have misrepresented Your love and Your gospel.

Much has happened since the last post. Especially since our last post was over two months ago. Here’s a quick review:

We wrapped up the school year;

said bye to friends, family, staff and students as we prepared to move to our new assignment in Denver;

travelled to Michigan for Stacey (one of Amber’s closest friends) and Paul Bulucz’s wedding;

travelled to Ohio for Evan’s (Amber’s youngest brother) high school graduation;

packed up our house and loaded the truck;

drove for three days to our new home state;

started house hunting and saw God provide in an amazing way; and enjoyed our first July 4th weekend together in Denver, which culminated with a free symphony at the Red Rocks Amphiteater.

Next stop, Fort Collins, for our national staff conference. But in the mean time, we’re busy trying to meet with people to find new families who will partner with us in ministry. Pray with us that we will continue to see God supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. We’ve lost over $500 in monthly support this past month, but we look forward to meeting those who God has raised up to partner with us.

Amber and I are so grateful to all our ministry partners who faithfully pray and give. Your investment in our lives and in the Kingdom serves as a constant reminder to us of God’s incredible grace. In this latest newsletter, you’ll read of how God moved on campus this past school year, as well as some upcoming changes for Amber and I. You don’t want to miss it!

Click here for our latest update.

This past week was our last week of ministry for the school year, which meant a full schedule of meetings, evaluation and planning for the fall, our last staff social of the semester, meeting with students, and an end-of-the-year party to recognize the seniors in our ministry and send our students off for the summer!

I kicked off the week by hosting a celebration dinner for my small group girls.  We had a time for each girl to share how God has been at work in their life this year and we also had a time of prayer over each person.  It was a sweet way to end our year together!

For our staff team, part of the week was spent at a planning retreat at a lakehouse 2 hours outside of Austin.  One of our ministry partners was able to arrange the location for us and it was a blessing for our team!

Some of our staff team taking an afternoon break from meetings to play bocce ball.

On Thursday night, there was an end of the year party for our UT Epic ministry to send off the students for the summer and recognize the seniors who are graduating from our movement.  Truman shared a few words of encouragement with the seniors and issued a challenge for them as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

The Seniors walking the “Red Carpet”

Two of the girls in my bible study asked if I would bake the cake for our End of the Year Party. I decorated it to reflect the Hollywood theme of the Senior Recognition night.

I will be sad not to meet with these sweet girls to study the Word together every week! Three of them are graduating and off to their next adventures! Three of them are heading off on summer mission trips to East Asia. I am so excited to hear their stories of how God is at work in and through them this summer!

Please pray for our students this summer!  Pray that they would honor God and continue to grow in their faith wherever they are this summer.

We are SO thankful for our team of ministry partners!  This year of ministry would not have been possible without your faithful prayers and financial support!  We have been incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to share in what God has done this year in the lives of college students.

One of my favorite things about spring!

Before the Boil

One thing that I picked up from my dad is a desire for gardening. It started with a simple vegetable garden this past year. But that little desire combined with my wife’s love for flowers is starting to influence me in wanting to maybe start dabbling with not only growing vegetables, but also growing flowers. Here’s a pic from our day at the Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin.

Zilker Botanical Garden

In addition to Foto Friday, my desire is to add a Ministry Monday. Unfortunately, this Monday got away from me (seeing that it’s now Wednesday). Well, here’s our latest ministry update in our latest newsletter.

Here are a few highlights:

• “This year, we were able to host the first ever Epic conference for the Red River Region (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana). And it was amazing!”
• We started the year with only about 50 students involved in our ministry.
• By God’s grace, by the time the conference rolled around, we had over 100 students attending!!! We had students from UT, UT San Antonio, Baylor, Dallas, and Houston.

And a fun personal update:

• We’re going to be on TV (TLC on May 2)

You can get the complete newsletter here.

In attempts to be more regular with my posts, much like I am in other areas of my life (hence my three times a day intake of Benefiber), I’ve come up with a few ideas for themed days. Here’s to Foto Friday!

These random old bikes were all over in Salado, TX