November, 2010

How God Used You;

We could not do this ministry without our team:

Read more about most in the sections below

- Incredible Bible Studies.

- Great Leadership

- Guys coming closer to surrendering to Christ.

-Passionate leadership team ready to do the work it takes this semester.

-New and old students are being reached.

-Getting to guide students through different stages in life.

-Investing in a local church.

Made possible by God’s mighty power and your prayers & giving:

thank you!

November!?!

The one thing that I am unsure of is how November came up so fast. But this semester has been great and our Bible studies have been really progressing. The girls are still going strong and are a big group. We have a couple of really amazing leaders there making that happen, and they’ve seen a girl leave Mormonism!

The guys have also been doing really well. We have two groups, and one has struggled, but it’s been stretching our leadership to be more intentional, which is good. My Bible study has several guys connected to it. For the most part they are all non-Christians, but still engaged in this pretty intense discipleship group.

I haven’t held back anything and there are guys on the brink of making more life changing decisions. Two of them made a commitment to purity and have stopped living the way that they were, which is an incredible step. All of them are hearing the gospel every week, which is what I know I’m there for. It has been such a slow process with some of these guys, but I have to keep reminding myself how God has called me to work with those that are the farthest away from Him.

I have guys who really didn’t care about God at all at the beginning of the semester that are now reading Scripture on their own. It’s encouraging to hear things like, “I’ve heard that before, but now I finally understand,” or “I was reading this on my own, can you explain some of this?” Pray especially for Brandon (read more on the other side) and Steven. They are the two that have shown the most promise and have come the farthest. Pray also for Nate, Anthony, Vince, Nick and David.

Ryan and Kelsey are Engaged!

I talk about these two so much, so I thought everyone may want to hear the good news. This is my number one ministry couple and I love working with them. Ministering to them will change now.

They have asked me to officiate their wedding, which I am honored to do, and I will be doing some premarital counseling with them. I will also talk with Ryan (in our discipleship time) about how to be a good husband and all those new things that he’s going to get to experience. Pray for them as they do ministry, plan a wedding, go to school, study for the MCATS and get ready for a new chapter in their life.

Student Spotlight - Brandon

I met Brandon last year when I first came to the campus, and he was one guy that I couldn’t forget because God kept him on my mind. So I kept inviting to events and Bible studies and everything that we would do and he never showed up at all last year. This year I thought it would be the same but I was still happy to see him, but now he’s involved in my Bible study, reading Scripture and really evaluating his life. I am writing this after planning a Bible study that he will be at tonight where we will again go in depth about how the gospel will change his life.

A couple of weeks ago, he told me that he came because of over a year of me never forgetting to him in anything. I’m encouraged to already see him progressing in his spiritual life. Pray that I can be so clear with the gospel and that God will open his heart to it.

Powers Update (by Jamie)

Bryan has been “plowing” through Seminary, finishing his Master in Divinity. Along with that, he is still Interim Youth Pastor at our church, so we don’t get to see him too much. Granny Dee is in for another visit and that has saved me! With the two ministry jobs and school…well, two women in the house is a BLESSING! My parents also help out a ton.

We celebrated the twins’ First Birthday(!!!) on Sept. 25 and Dallas’ Fifth Bday(!!!) Nov. 5^th! God is so good! I thank Him every day that I get to be a Mommy.

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

§ The older students I’ve been reaching.

§ Recruiting some more people to come on staff. One guy is considering moving from New Mexico.

§ Small groups – God to move mightily

§ Time management with two ministries and full-time school (and family! J)

§ Healing with losing Madison Grace

§ Health for us and the boys.

§ Us to train our boys up in a Godly way.

§ Our support

§ Sanctuary Church

§ More salvations

§ PRAISE: Summer has been busy and productive.

How can we pray for you?

Our God is Greater - Chris Tomlin

September, 2010

How God Used You;

We could not do this ministry without our team:

Read more about most in the sections below

- Welcome Week at ASU very intentional!

- Great Leadership Retreat to prepare for Fall.

- Passionate leadership team ready to do the work it takes this semester.

-New and old students are being reached.

-Lots of Welcome Week events

-Small groups are going great

-Investing in a local church.

Made possible by God’s mighty power and your prayers & giving: thank you!

Fall Has Been Busy and Productive!

I cannot put on paper everything that has hit us this fall. I have been so busy and so pushed to the brink of being overwhelmed, but God has somehow kept me sane. Here are some highlights!

· We had an amazing leadership retreat before the semester and came in more prepared than we’ve ever been for a semester.

· We had 50 students at our first event and we got to meet a ton of freshman and share with them what Christian Challenge is all about during Welcome Week.

· God has allowed me to love both ministries that we’re a part of right now, including youth ministry at our church, where Jamie and I are getting to serve together again!

· I’m learning a lot in seminary and getting closer to my degree.

· We added a Bible study this year, and the girls had 13 their first night!

· God is leading our group in a very purposeful, intentional direction, and all the leaders are on board.

· We’re making some great connections with the guys on the campus who aren’t Christian.

· Some freshman that I have been praying (that ignored me and our group last year) are starting to be involved this year!

· Two of the best Christian Challenge leaders I’ve ever had got engaged!

Pray for ASU Relationship

For some reason, the staff of ASU has put more demands on student organizations this year and it’s been harder for me to do ministry the way I’ve done it over the last few years. There were some ASU events that I was not allowed to be a part of and there have been some more hoops to jump through.

Thankfully as long as I have a student from our group there with me, they don’t hassle me. That’s allowed our student leadership to step up and do more of the things that I’ve done in the past. Although it’s sad for me not to get to be a part of move-in and other things like that, I’m glad to see our leadership get to serve in such big ways.

Loving our Church!

Jamie and I came to our church at just the right time for us. The Children’s Ministry has really impacted our lives and been such a blessing to us. Little did we know, the youth minister was going to leave soon after we got there. Having youth ministry experience, we prayed about helping our beloved church through the transition.

We stepped in as part time Interim Youth Pastor and it’s been great. They are very flexible with my Christian Challenge schedule, Jamie and I get to serve as a team again, and there is childcare for Wednesday nights! God has allowed us to stay on a team with each other as we deal with the busyness that comes with being a student on top of everything that we have going on.

Powers Update

As you can imagine, the twins are changing so fast! They are eleven months old and more and more fun every day! I (Jamie) had an especially wonderful afternoon at a play area in Dallas’ swim school. All three boys playing in and around play houses. The babies were laughing, squealing and crawling and Dallas was helping them and protecting them from reckless two year olds! J

Dallas has started Preschool Five in preschool and God answered our prayer for another great teacher. He loves being a Cubbie in Awanas at church and is excited to start a Karate/Stranger Danger class.

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- PRAISE: leadership retreat and great student leaders!

- For God to allow us to reach the lost freshman (esp. the ones coming to ASU to party, not to seek God).

- Small groups – God to move mightily

- Time management with two ministries and full-time school (and family!)

- Healing with losing Madison Grace

- Health for us and the boys.

- Us to train our boys up in a Godly way.

- Our support

- Sanctuary Church

- More salvations

- PRAISE: Summer has been busy and productive.

How can we pray for you?