Merry Christmas 2012!

How are my donations used in Christian Challenge?

- You are creating a position in ministry that would not be there without you. 

- You become part of a team that reaches students for Christ who are not being reached by a typical church. 

- You allow there to be light on four spiritually dark campuses of more than 60,000 students!  

What type of donations are the most helpful?

- A regular monthly donation helps provide a consistent salary for this huge ministry task.   

- One prompted by God. He is the Provider, and He does so through His people. 
         
- One which you want to see make a difference all over Arizona. 

Easiest Way to Give…Online

-Click right below “GIVE NOW:” 

on “Ministry Partner Page of C Bryan and Jamie Powers” (at top of blog)

- It will take you to NAMB’s secure giving site for us: Kintera.org (you should see a picture of us), which is:  https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1023666&supId=356649353

OR Set us up on your Online Banking with the Account Number "8919" and mailing to: 

North American Mission Board

Attn.: Accounting – MSC 

PO Box 116543

Atlanta, GA 30368-6543

Leadership Teams

This semester has stretched us more than any other semester we’ve had yet in college ministry. We are involved with five campuses and I am the Director at four, which is just overkill. When we planted the church at Sanctuary, we had two and really couldn’t manage the second one, and that was before the twins came. 
Thankfully we have some great leadership at each campus that we couldn’t do it without them. Pray for them as we prepare for next semester. 

MCC has Andrew who stepped in from our church as a volunteer because I told him how hectic this semester would be for us. He has helped teach Bible study and been on campus meeting students. 

GCU has Steven who is now teaching and progressed more in a year than I have ever seen a student progress. He brought a girl on board and she is also helping with the Bible study. This month he also proposed to his girlfriend and they will be getting married next year!

ASU Downtown has Jeff (who I highlighted in our student spotlight). I hope to put more of these in our newsletters because I want everyone to know who we are working with and to pray for them like we do. 

We also have Heather there who has stepped up to take over for our strong girls group. We are still getting new girls show up, including the second to last Bible study of the semester. 

The Chandler Gilbert/Corona has been an experiment that is going well, but slowly.  We love it because Jamie and I have childcare and can serve together. We get to serve with Peter, who served with us in youth ministry years ago and has become the group’s chef. We also serve with Terry who is older, but the students respect. I enjoy hearing his prospective in his teaching too. Jeff is also a leader and he was saved in his college ministry, so it’s a calling for him. 

Pray for our leaders because we wouldn't be able to do even close to the work without them. It’s a joy to get to serve with them and we always end up being close friends. 


Student Spotlight

This is the second year that I’ve had with Jeff. He was in the Bible study teaching rotation at ASU Downtown with Ryan and me and was a theologically sound teacher, but a little inexperienced. 

He has been teaching all of this semester now that Ryan is gone and I have so many campuses to be at. He has grown so much and been a great teacher. He’s passionate and relational in his teaching and I have great trust in him. 

One of our goals is to prepare our graduates to be the teachers and leaders in their churches. I just filled out a reference form for two former students who are doing just that. Thank you for supporting our students through this ministry because it is making a lasting impact even after they leave college. 

Powers Update (by Jamie)
Support that doesn’t cost a penny…

AZ Partners: Instead of paying State Tax to the State, you can donate (for a tax CREDIT) that money to be used for Christian education, specifically to benefit a missionary family. You can bless us tremendously by using some of your owed Arizona State income tax dollars to donate to ACSTO (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, Inc.) designated for Dallas Powers and his school name... please email me for his school name, I can't put it here... . You will receive a tax credit dollar for dollar against AZ State income tax. Pls. call me for more information or there is lots of information on their website: ACSTO.org . 

God has led us to send our children to Christian school and where He leads, He provides. Thanks to donors for us to ACSTO, Dallas’ kindergarten and first grade were paid in full! We Praise and Thank God! Thank you for your help. This school year has been AMAZING! Dallas is learning and growing academically and Spiritually. 

So again, it’s money that has to be paid either way. It can be paid to the State or donated to a School Tuition Organization and used for Christian education. One (or three if you donate more) Tax Form is used to get the credit, which is dollar for dollar. 

Other family news: No more seizures! And our sweet boys are so excited for Christmas! They helped put up and decorate the tree. So fun!

We went camping with Dallas' Cub Scout Pack!

Halloween 2012

How God Used You; 

We could not do this ministry without our team:

- New campus!

- Making disciples 

- Great worship community

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- “A” salvation and suicidal thoughts to go away

- We need a new roof and new AC unit. 

- Each Leadership Team : MCC, ASU-Downtown, CGCC/Corona and GCU

- Brian and Addie, who are going to come on with ASU Downtown in the spring.

- Orphans in Mexico 

- Healing with losing Madison 

- Handling four campuses

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

- Our support

- Sanctuary Church 

- More salvations

- Four extended family prayer requests

How can we pray for you?

October, 2012

Purpose of Christian Challenge

Our purpose is to encourage and equip a generation to joyfully pursue Jesus, developing their vision, skills, knowledge, and character to become disciple makers through their churches, on campus, and among the nations.

Sharing Christ with a Suicidal Girl

One of our new freshman girls (who is getting really connected and already showing some great leadership qualities) brought one of her friends to a worship night. She noticed a difference in the Christians she was around compared to the people that she had first connected to when she got to ASU Downtown. Very soon she felt comfortable enough to share with her Christian friend that she was considering suicide. 

She said that she was not a Christian, but wouldn’t really consider herself an atheist. With God’s leading, I felt like the more urgent issue was actually her spiritual wellbeing. We were able to share the gospel with her. Heather, our girl leader who asked that I be there because she wasn’t ready to take this on herself, followed the lead and shared with her as well. It ended up being a good hands on training for her too.  

After talking for a while, I was looking for a verse in Hebrews to share with her and couldn’t find it because I had given away my personal Bible and only had the Scripture on my phone, so I told her that week that I would read Hebrews if she would and we could talk about it. Two days later she had read it and said it was helpful. 

So far Scripture and community with Christians has been the best thing for her. Please pray for A to make a decision for Christ because that is what she need most now. 

Atheist Girl at MCC

I was talking to one student that I’ve connected with at MCC at the coffee shop, (former Mormon who sounds open to Christ) and a girl interjected into our conversation. Within five minutes, we were very deep in the conversation and she was explaining to us why she was atheist, why evangelicals were everything that was wrong with politics and how all religious people are ignorant bigots. 

We ended up talking for an hour, and she was somewhat familiar with a warped gospel, but had been burned so badly by people claiming to have Jesus that she wanted nothing to do with Him. Thankfully the Holy Spirit was there and even though I disagreed with almost everything she said, and told her why I disagreed, she walked away thanking me that I wasn’t one of “those” Christians that had hurt her.  Pray for her and that other Christians will love her with God’s love.  

Powers Update

Colton and Hendrix turned three on September 25th. We can not believe how fast it went or how blessed we are to have these precious boys. They are such a joy. Hendrix is smart, fun, serious, orderly, organized, strong, sweet and kind. Colton is funny, doesn’t have a care in the world, sweet, a dare-devil, constantly making people laugh, has fun anywhere he is, sweet and smart. 

We had a scary couple of months. Colton has his first Febrile Seizure on 8/22.  He was choking while seizing and not breathing. I (Jamie) was terrified. We called 9-1-1 and because he still wasn’t responding, they said he needed to go to the hospital by ambulance. Bryan and Dallas met us there (my parents kept Hendrix).  Colton was put on antibiotics, but had another one 21 days later! I was alone that time, but was able to cool him down by myself (I had 9-1-1 on the phone in case he stopped breathing again) and then we went to the doctor. On the way to a doctor’s appointment for a fever, Hendrix and I were talking. But when I pulled into the parking lot, HE was having a seizure. Even in the adrenaline rush/fear/etc. I thought, “HOW can my other twin be having a seizure?!?!” The doctor walked me through it and then sent me to the hospital, where Bryan met me (my parents kept Colton and Dallas).  He was put on antibiotics. Febrile Seizures run in Bryan’s side of the family: he and both of his siblings had them until age two and his dad had them. Since the twins were almost three…we thought that we were out of the woods. 

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- “A” salvation and suicidal thoughts to go away
- Brian and Addie, who are going to come on with ASU Downtown in the spring.
- Cesar and Andrew at MCC
- Orphans in Mexico 
- Chandler Gilbert Community College and the church partnership
- Healing with losing Madison 
- Handling four campuses
- Us to train our boys up in a Godly way. 
- Our support
- Sanctuary Church 
- More salvations
- Four extended family prayer requests

How can we pray for you?

August, 2012

How are my donations used in Christian Challenge?

- You are creating a position in ministry that would not be there without you. 

- You become part of a team that reaches students for Christ who are not being reached by a typical church. 

- You allow there to be Light on four spiritually dark campuses of more than 60,000 students!  

What type of donations are the most helpful?

- A regular monthly donation helps provide a consistent salary for this huge ministry task.   

- One prompted by God. He is the Provider, and He does so through His people. 
         
- One which you want to see make a difference all over Arizona. 

Student Rededicates their Life to Jesus!

Christian Challenge just took over 50 students from Metro Phoenix to the leadership retreat. This is an invite only for students who are leaders or show potential for leadership.  One of the girls that we took up did not have a good attitude about going, nor did she really want to be there, but after a while God got a hold of her. She is now ready to share Christ with her campus and you can actually see the change in her face. We are so excited for her. Pray that this is a lasting commitment.  

Some of the students on the Leader Retreat

  


More Christian Challenges on More Campuses

On the leadership retreat we had the students from Northern Pioneer College, which we were able to start this year, ACC, birthed from relationships at Zona Youth Camp and CGCC which wasn’t even supposed to start for another year! We now have Christian Challenges on 15 campuses, 4 of which we are handling this year. 

I honestly feel like the end of July and the start of this month has been a year’s worth of work and preparation. Please forgive us if we haven’t verbalized our thanks for all of you who are such a major part of this ministry. It could not happen without you. We are a team together in reaching all these college students. 

This is the semester that we have been working six years for. This is the semester that God has already moved tremendously. Mesa Community College, one of the largest community colleges in the nation is now under our care. We have one leadership student and one volunteer to start with. Pray God does great things here, because He has opened the door for ministry. 

There is so much more to tell, but please pray for the campuses that we will be working with this semester; MCC, ASU Downtown, CGCC, GCU and ASU Tempe, where we will be bringing some students to worship together. I promise there are going to be some good stories and pictures on the way!

Steven taking the lead!

We had a couple of leaders drop out of GCU that were going to play big roles, which puts Steven, who I have been discipling for about a year, next in line for being the main student leader!

I am so excited for him to do ministry like this. Pray for him and his girlfriend during this time. God has some big things for him and his ministry this year. He has come so far and it’s amazing seeing the change. This year will be the groundwork for his ministry leadership experience.  

Powers Update: 1st grade! 

Summer seemed like it flew by and Dallas started his first year at his new school. THANK YOU all who donated your state tax dollars towards his Christian education…God used it all to pay for first grade in full! We feel so blessed! Wherever He leads us, He provides. 

Speaking of Him providing: please pray for us financially as we need to replace our roof and two AC units (no one knows why they put two small units in our average size house!)! If He leads you to give extra this month, that would be amazing…that is the Best part of support raising…seeing Him provide. And He has provided beyond our needs…He amazes me with his love.

Back to Dallas! He loves first grade, his school, his teacher and schoolwork. The twins and I miss him! His first day back, Colton, said, “Where Dallas is?” After I replied, “School,” he said, “No! I want Dallas in the house!” 

We had a fun summer. Dallas, Hendrix and Colton loved going to youth camp with our church, Dallas went to Children’s Camp with our church and we enjoyed doing things together and lots of swimming (100+ degrees is good for swimming!). 

First day of 1st grade!

Jamie's 31st Birthday

Big Surt with cousins and Dallas' best friend

How God Used You; 
We could not do this ministry without our team:

- New campus!
- Making disciples 
- New Christian!

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- Brian and Addie, who are going to come on with ASU Downtown in the spring.
- Cesar and Andrew at MCC
- Orphans in Mexico 
- Chandler Gilbert Community College and the church partnership
- Healing with losing Madison Grace 
- Handling four campuses
- Us to train our boys up in a Godly way. 
- Our support
- Sanctuary Church 
- More salvations
- Four extended family prayer requests

How can we pray for you?

July, 2012

How are my donations used in Christian Challenge?


- You are creating a position in ministry that would not be there without you. 


- You become part of a team that reaches students for Christ who are not being reached by a typical church. 


- You allow there to be light on a spiritually dark campus of 15,000 students. 

What type of donations are the most helpful?


- A regular monthly donation helps provide a consistent salary for this huge ministry task.   


- One prompted by God. He is the Provider, and He does so through His people. 
         
- One which you want to see make a difference all over 


Where do I send it and become a Ministry Partner?


Online: Click on the top of the blog under, "Give Now"


http://msc.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1023666&lis=1&kntae1023666=35371FE408AD43D19E227B558CECF881&supId=356649353


Mail: Please make checks out to: NAMB & write “MIDAS #8919 Powers” on the memo of the check.


Please mail to:
North American Mission Board
Attn.: Accounting – MSC
PO Box 116543
Atlanta, GA 30368-6543






Student Saved at Camp!


Christian Challenge has been forming a reputation of having some quality student leaders. Because of this we were asked to put on a youth camp in Burton, about four hours north of Phoenix for some of the high school and jr. high students who couldn’t afford to go to one of the larger camps in California. What ended up happening was that the kids were glad that they didn’t go to California! Two of our Christian Challenge groups combined to provide all the leadership. 


One of my former disciples who is now a senior pastor, Chris Baker, was the morning speaker and he did an amazing job. I was the night speaker, and spoke on Jonah. We had an amazing response from the kids, one surrendered to Christ, one rededicate and several talk about a call to the ministry. 
Since we were in Burton and it was super rural (meaning you had to pull off of a dirt road onto another dirt road to get to the camp) we knew that we would need to go all out with the band, and we did. It’s amazing how much talent God has blessed our groups with musically. 


My favorite part of the camp was recreation. I gave that part to Steven because I wanted to stretch his leadership ability and see how he would do when he was in control of something. It pained me to not intervene a couple times, but he always came through and made it fun for the kids. They absolutely loved him. I was super proud seeing the camp led in two major ways by a former and current disciple. 


  Steven took that respect and love that he had earned by being the coolest guy that the kids had ever met and turned it into something spiritual. On the last night, he shared his testimony, and it took him a while to get it out because all the kids were cheering for him. Once he did though, he was so open and gave so much glory to God for the changes in his life and left no one in that room questioning if God was loving and forgiving. 


Overall, it was a ton of work and we were going from about 7am to 11pm every day, but it was worth it. Everyone on our team was awesome and did more than was asked of them. They led breakout sessions, Heather, our new girls Bible study leader, taught all week about purity, and they all showed new levels of leadership. 

Roofing in Mexico!


The orphanage that we love so much was really in need of a roof. It was not something that our group could handle doing on its own, so we partnered with our former church plant, Sanctuary.


We took a team down and did a roof tear off, and the next weekend, Sanctuary was there putting a roof on. Most of the problems inside the building that are repeatedly fixed by the American teams (only to reappear) will no longer be problems.  

Powers Update: Summer! 


Summer has been fun and busy! The twins are still in swim, Dallas is in karate and also took an acting class last month,  our summer favorite: Vacation Bible School at our church and a new favorite of Dallas’: church camp! Dallas and Bryan were in Payson for five days: Dallas LOVED it and Bryan will try to stick to ministering to an older crowd! Thankfully, that includes youth and Bryan is the Interim Youth Pastor at our church. Please pray for us as we minister. We are all going to youth camp this summer (please pray for us.). 

How God Used You; 

We could not do this ministry without our team:

- New campus

- Making disciples 

- New Christian

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- Several new staff who could be with us in the fall or spring. 

- Four extended family prayer requests

- Bible study leaders

- Orphans in Mexico 

- Ryan and Kelsey

- God opening the door on more campuses. 

- Healing with losing Madison Grace 

- Handling two campuses

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

- Our support

- Sanctuary Church 

- More salvations

How can we pray for you?

NAMB Changes Giving System: Please read

NAMB Changes Giving System: Please read


Our Mission Board, North American Mission Board (NAMB), has invested in a new online system that they are confident will be much better for missionaries and Ministry Partners, but we are sorry to report, it requires doing a one-time setup of gifts. Due to security requirements to protect you, they will not transfer credit cards to the new system and all online credit card gifts have stopped. I went through the setup process and it is not a long one, but we are sorry to ask you do to it again.  


All who give via mail-in checks or automatic bank drafting are unaffected: thank you. 


THANK YOU for your ongoing support; you are a huge blessing and are enabling us to make disciples in college campuses in Metro Phoenix. We love and appreciate you and pray for you. 


The site to go to is: 
 http://msc.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1023666&lis=1&kntae1023666=35371FE408AD43D19E227B558CECF881&supId=356649353
or click on the link at the top of this page (under "Give Now"). 



GREAT TIME TO JOIN THE TEAM!
Because of this change, we have an urgent need for monthly gifts (ANY amount) or one-time gifts.

   New Christian Challenge Club!


It is our goal to have a healthy Christian Challenge club on all of the campuses in Metro Phoenix. We are the only college ministry in the area with the strategy that includes all of the community colleges. 


Over the last few years, we’ve been blessed with a great relationship with Porter Mountain Fellowship in Pinetop. We have taken our winter retreats up there and have loved the church and the pastor as they have loved Christian Challenge. 


Our last retreat, they had some of their students come and spend some time with us. They caught on the vision and the idea of having a Christian Challenge in their city to reach their community was born. Their college has a partnership with NAU, so students can stay in Pinetop and get a four year degree. 


Brad (Phx. Metro Strategist for Christian Challenge/our boss) and I both went up to Pinetop and met with the students and adults who will be helping to start the club. We had 13 people there who are ready to invest in making this happen. Pastor Jim also let them know that the church is 100% behind them and would help them make this happen. 


The most compelling story there was when Marilyn shared how she had come to Christ through Sanctuary (the church we planted through Christian Challenge) and how she begged the other students to take it seriously because they will reach people like her. She was led to Christ by Kelly who helped us plant Sanctuary and goes to Porter Mountain (when she’s not in school). I haven’t been a pastor at Sanctuary for a couple years, but God is still letting us see Him work there. 


It’s been so amazing over the last few years seeing Metro Phoenix grow from two campuses to over a dozen, and breaking out of Metro Phoenix! This partnership could not be better. 

No Breaks for Summer!


Challenge work is still going strong this summer. With finals done and the kids out of school, I feel like it’s been more busy. We have been meeting with a couple potential staff members and a new church partnership for Mesa Community College.


We also have been planning some camps and mission trips. Some of my leadership team will be putting a high school camp on for high school kids. We’ve been working on those plans, and also doing some more work in Mexico. So far, I have  plans to be away for four weeks this summer. 


I’m still meeting one on one with Steven which is going well and we’ve been working on getting a Bible study going with two couples. Pray especially for that, because we believe that God has been at work in those relationships.

 Powers Update: Bryan Graduates


We are SO proud of Bryan! He graduates with his Master of Divinity this month! (Pictures next month.) He has worked so hard and is excited to be done.


Colton and Hendrix are in swimming lessons each night Monday through Thursday to learn swimming survival; There are pools in just about every other house in AZ and lots of man-made lakes in communities. Colton passed his first level and got a medal and Hendrix will soon.


Dallas is graduating from Kindergarten. They have a ceremony this month and the teacher told us to bring tissues! Dallas’ school only goes through Kinder, so he will be attending a different Christian school next year and we are SO excited: we know that is where God has chosen for Dallas. And God has provided 100% of the tuition through our friends and family and AZ Christian School Tuition Org.: THANK YOU! Dallas is also taking karate lessons, which he loves!


Please pray for us as we have had both of our cars break down: HUGE Thank YOU to Adam Jacky for letting us use his van! The air just went out on my (Jamie’s car) and it’s in the 100’s! Ow! And our roof and air conditioning units need to be replaced on our house. God will (and always has!) provide(d)!!

How God Used You; 
We could not do this ministry without our team:


- New campus!
- Making disciples 


Thank You for Your Prayers!


Please pray…


- Several new staff who could be with us in the fall or spring. 
- Four extended family prayer requests
- Bible study leaders
- Orphans in Mexico 
- Ryan and Kelsey
- New church!
- Healing with losing Madison Grace 
- Handling two campuses
- Us to train our boys up in a Godly way. 
- Our support
- Sanctuary Church 
- More salvations

March/April 2012

How are my donations used in Christian Challenge?

- You are creating a position in ministry that would not be there without you. 

- You become part of a team that reaches students for Christ who are not being reached by a typical church. 

- You allow there to be light on a spiritually dark campus of 15,000 students. 

What type of donations are the most helpful?

- A regular monthly donation helps provide a consistent salary for this huge ministry task.   

- One prompted by God. He is the Provider, and He does so through His people. 

         

- One which you want to see make a difference all over 

New Disciple

Even after doing college ministry for five years, there are still students that take you by surprise. Last semester, I met Steven and we have had a relationship where we friendly with each other, but it didn’t go much beyond that. 

This semester, he started coming to Bible study regularly and just getting passionate about Scripture and living for Jesus. I saw that he was wanting and needing more, so I’ve taken him on as a one on one disciple. 

I’ve done this with guys who show potential in leadership, but Steven has been different. He wanted to start in the Old Testament, so we did and it just brought a flood of questions. He’s now learning for the first time about David and Goliath and Samuel and Saul and it has been amazing seeing how he responds to it all. 

He’s so passionate that he has dropped his internship, that he was able to get as a freshman, which is unheard of, and pursue Biblical education. He feels called to be youth pastor. He just doesn’t call it “being called” because he’s not used to all these terms that we know so well, because he’s been a Christian  for only about seven months. 

In that short amount of time though, he’s already dropped everything that he’s worked for in exercise and wellness and is pursuing Jesus’ call on his life. He is really an inspiration and I feel so privileged to get to work with him. 

 Our second time doing a one on one Bible study together, we spent three hours going over the first six chapters of 1 Samuel. Pray for him because he’s just starting to prepare for a lifetime of ministry!

Opportunity to Share Jesus through Stress

Jamie and I have had to do some major home repairs lately and it has been a stress doing the work, but God has been providing and allowing some good things to come out of it. 

There have been two non-Christians that I have been able to spend a lot of time with while we’ve been doing bathroom repairs along with other things. One is a high school student who came to my door asking for work, obviously brought by God. We had our first spiritual conversation in five minutes brought up by him.

The second is a friend of a friend and we’ve been getting to know each other and having some heavy spiritual discussions. Pray for both of them to be open to Jesus, because they are both closed off right now. 

And thank You, God for a home in need of repair! All the stress is worth it for these two guys. 

Powers Update 


We are so excited to celebrate Easter this year! The twins get more and more fun (2.5 years). I LOVE to se them experience things for the first time! We are in full-swing potty training and it is going better than I thought it would. 
Every night as I tuck each boy in, I pray aloud, “Thank You, God for [child’s name].” A few weeks ago, for the first time, Hendrix said, “Tane Tu God for Mommy.” It made my heart feel like it was going to burst. Last night as I was doing it, I added afterwards, “I love you, Colton and I love being your mommy.” Colton said, “I love apple sauce.” They crack me up! All three are such sweet, amazing boys. God is good. Or as Dallas (6) said today, “God blesses me a lot.” 

Support that doesn’t cost a penny…
AZ residents, if you have State tax liability, PLEASE consider donating it and getting credit for paying it.  http://www.acsto.org/  If donated by 4/15/12, it can count dollar for dollar against your owed state tax dollars and help us with Dallas’ Christian education (please use his name). 

How God Used You; We could not do this ministry without our team:


- Great trips to Mexico!
- Making disciples 


Thank You for Your Prayers!
Please pray…


- Family of ASU Poly student we knew that died in plane crash
- Four extended family prayer requests
- Bible study leaders
- Orphans in Mexico 
- Ryan and Kelsey
- New church!
- Healing with losing Madison Grace 
- Handling two campuses
- Us to train our boys up in a Godly way. 
- Our support (we’re getting close!)
- Sanctuary Church 
- More salvations


How can we pray for you?

February 2012

 How are my donations used in Christian Challenge?


- You are creating a position in ministry that would not be there without you. 


- You become part of a team that reaches students for Christ who are not being reached by a typical church. 


- You allow there to be light on a spiritually dark campus of 15,000 students. 

What type of donations are the most helpful?


- A regular monthly donation helps provide a consistent salary for this huge ministry task.   


- One prompted by God. He is the Provider, and He does so through His people. 
         
- One which you want to see make a difference all over Arizona. 

 Winter Retreat


We took our annual Christian Challenge wide winter retreat in Pinetop. It was amazing as usual. We had students from all over Phoenix. Dallas went too and made a new best friend.


Our group was in charge of worship after the worship leader had to back out due to family illness. A week before we left, we had no one at all for worship, with all of the people we usually ask busy or out of town. After much prayer, God brought together a team. It was by far the best worship experience that we have had in Christian Challenge. 


Since the worship team came together so late, we ended up doing all of our practices when we got there. We must have played for 15 to 20 hours that weekend. It was well worth it when I was playing bass and I looked down in the middle of one of our songs and saw a student that I had never met before, from another campus, with arms raised as far up as they would go, tears streaming down her face, singing her heart out. 
The worship coming together at the last minute was not the only place God moved. We had a speaker, Dr. David Johnson, the president of Golden Gate Seminary, bring so much insight to the Sermon on the Mount. The students were touched by his knowledge and passion, and his story about his son, Jeremiah, who died on the mission field. 


Some of Jeremiah’s last words here in the states were, “I’m all in.” After David shared that, the students began to think about what was holding them back from being “all in.” It became the “all in” trip.     


When students walk away from the winter retreat, they usually talk about how much fun it was, but this time students walked away talking about how they had been challenged. It was because God moved in every part of the retreat. 

New Bible study leader!


One of our students sat down with me and told me how God has been pressing on her about leading Bible studies downtown. This is what we’ve been praying for! Kelsey and Ryan have both been so amazing, but this is my last semester with them. Heather will be a great addition to the team and will be living on campus which gives the girls an opportunity to be with their leader more. 


I’ve also found a freshman guy who I’m going to start discipling and pouring into like I have Ryan. He’s been a Christian for about seven months and comes out of a life of partying. We’ve seen him grow over this last semester in Bible study and I think he’ll be ready next year to be a big help. He has a passion to reach the lost which is refreshing to see.


Be praying for these new students and for Ryan and Kelsey who have a little boy on the way.  

Powers Update


We are halfway through Dallas’ first year of elementary school! What an amazing time! His school only goes through Kindergarten (preschool-K), so we have toured and prepared for his new school. He could not be more excited! At the Open House the 4th graders recited (from memory) how Jesus is in each book of the Bible…from Genesis to Revelation. I (Jamie) got goosebumps and wanted to say “Amen!” over and over. At the end, they passionaltey said Who Jesus is and it was MOVING. I know this is where God has His Dallas for 1st grade and I am SO thankful! 


Hendrix and Colton are sweeter and smarter with each day! All three brothers still (thank God!) adore and love each other. Many kisses, hugs and playing together bless this mommy’s heart. The two-year-olds are soaking up all the knowledge they can. Hendrix “counts to ten.” “One, two, three, five, eight, nine, TEN!!!” They LOVE animals, Elmo, Diego, “choo choo twains,” church, AWANAS, going ANYwhere in the car and so much more. Sweet little boys. 


Support that doesn't cost a penny…


AZ residents, if you have State tax liability, PLEASE consider donating it and getting credit for paying it.  http://www.acsto.org/  If donated by 4/15/12, it can count dollar for dollar against your owed state tax dollars (for 2012) and help us with Dallas’ Christian education (please use his name). 

How God Used You; 

We could not do this ministry without our team:

- “All In” Winter Retreat

- Great trip to Mexico

- New Bible study leader

- Discipling

- Counseling

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- Heather, our new Bible study leader

- Ryan and Kelsey’s baby

- New church!

- Healing with losing Madison Grace 

- Handling two campuses

- Kids in Mexico

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

- Our support

- Sanctuary Church 

- More salvations

How can we pray for you?