January 2008

How God Used You:
Read more about most in the sections below

- House Church is a huge learning experience

-Peru mission trip being planned for Spring Break

-Bible Studies and discipleship keep getting better!

-Events for community

-Sanctuary and Christian Challenge students’ eyes are opened to human trafficking.

-Lots of students are being met through ASU events.

-Student leaders are being trained up. One is the youth pastor of our sponsor church!
-We have been able to have a lot of great one-on-one time with our students & new and/or unchurched students.

-We’ve been praying for you.

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



Sanctuary House Church

For New Readers (to catch you up): I (Bryan) got a heart for Church Planting while Jamie and I were commissioned as missionaries by the North American Mission Board. They shared that Church Planting is the most effective way to reach college students and where Christian Challenge, nationwide, will be heading. God has provided a co-planter/co-pastor, Jason Robinson, student leaders, a FREE place to meet ON CAMPUS and a serious passion to reach the unchurched on the campus. Sanctuary was planted in November, 2007 and has been going strong ever since!

Arizona State University does not offer it’s ballroom to student organizations during Christmas break so Bryan and Jason decided to turn it into an amazing learning experience for all of us and learn about New Testament churches by meeting in a home. One of our on-campus students who is always willing to let us meet in his home agreed to host. It worked well because many of our students go home for break so it’s a smaller group.

For four weeks we met as a House Church and learned about the different things New Testament believers did and changes since then that we consider “normal” or “traditional” and where the changes came from, etc. We took Communion as the early church did: a meal. It was a huge learning experience for many of us and made us want to learn more about early believers.

House Church was a very intimate group where ideas/discussion/wisdom were easily shared and bounced off of one another, fellowship followed naturally and it was a relaxed environment. I (Jamie) tried to envision our brothers and sisters in “closed” nations where it is illegal to have a Bible, etc. and imagine what it would be like to be risking my life to be worshipping with my fellow believers and how critical that worship is for people to risk their lives to share Christ with one another and learn about and praise Him together.






Taking Communion as a meal together, as the New Testament believers did

Children's Minister










Eddie on percussion

Volunteering at House of Refuge

One of our students works with the House of Refuge which ministers to the homeless by providing them a home to stay in and helps them feed their families.

Since he works there, we know what the needs are and we’re able to minister to those families as well as the other people on ASU Poly’s campus. We were able to volunteer and help these people do Christmas for their family as well. It was rewarding doing the work, but it was most rewarding helping our students get into volunteering this season.
Student Spotlight

Derek Powell is our Worship Minister at Sanctuary and has really stepped up to fill that position. The worship experience is so important to college students, and Derek’s dedication, God-given musical skill and heart for the people who come to Sanctuary has really impacted the ministry on the campus.

Derek came as a fill in, only one of three people that we would ask to lead worship, but after a while, he caught the vision and he’s taken it to a new level.

He has also been vocal in encouraging students to go on our Peru mission trip. We praise God for all of our leaders and are very blessed to serve alongside them.

Derek in action



Powers Update

We had a good Christmas. It made us very proud when we asked Dallas what he wanted and he said: “one present.” We decided to keep Christmas gifts simple and limited even when we’re more financially stable. My (Jamie’s) favorite part was Dallas’ look of excitement when putting out the cookies and pure happiness when they were gone the next morning!

We are thrilled and excited to have begun the surrogacy process. Kim and I have begun our injections and the doctor plans to implant on February 7th! It’s been an extremely long journey, and we praise the Lord for loving us & providing for us through our broken hearts with the loss of Madison. Although the surrogacy process has been demanding for all involved, it has given me a sense of hope and excitement. We still need your prayers: we miss Madison very much.

Dallas swimming with Santa!

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

-Student who converted to Mormonism
-Missing 6 year old sister of one of our students.
-Healing with losing Madison Grace –it has been especially difficult for Jamie
-Our support
-PRAISE – Sanctuary’s amazing student leaders
-Mission trip plans for Spring Break.
-That students, especially unchurched/unsaved will continue to be drawn to CC & Sanctuary
-Prayer and PRAISE: In-vitro and surrogacy
-PRAISE: New church plant
-16 have accepted Christ
- C., G., S. & M. to accept Christ
-Sharing the Gospel on campus

How can we pray for you?

December 2008

How God Used You:
Read more about most in the sections below

- Missionary from Peru came to be a guest speaker at Sanctuary
-Peru mission trip being planned for Spring Break

-Bible Studies and discipleship keep getting better!

-Events each weekend for community

- Church attendance is staying strong even with midterms and holidays.

-Sanctuary and Christian Challenge students’ eyes are opened to human trafficking and we are taking action.

-Lots of students are being met through ASU events.

-We have been able to have a lot of great one-on-one time with our students & new and/or unchurched students.

-We’ve been praying for you.

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

Happy Thanksgiving & Merry Christmas!

We hope you had a great time with your family on Thanksgiving. We were pleased to have ours with two people from Sanctuary who weren’t able to be home for the holidays.

Student Spotlight!

It’s surprising that it took us so long to find this out, but we have a student named Jeremiah who was one of the top students in the nation for physics who also scored a perfect score on his S.A.T.’s for math. Needless to say, he is incredibly smart and had planned to go to MIT for quite some time before coming to Poly.

MIT did not accept his application and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do because his dream had been crushed. He actually considered not going to college because of the cost and not getting to go to MIT, but ASU Poly accepted him on a full scholarship.

Although this was great news, Jeremiah was still depressed when he got to Poly because he wasn’t where he thought God had wanted him to be, at his dream school. So after a week being at Poly, Jeremiah sat down to pray. He came to the conclusion that God had put him at Poly for a reason, and although he didn’t know what it was, he committed to God that he would do it.

Within MINUTES, Jamie called him and asked him to be the president of Christian Challenge at Poly so we could be an official organization. He agreed and has been an incredible blessing to us ever since.

He shared this story when I asked him to lead the Man Clan Bible study after my knee surgery. I was amazed by this story and by his natural teaching ability.

We are truly blessed to have Jeremiah, and amazed that God would work to bring us together in a way that only He can do. Pray that God will bring us more leaders like Jeremiah and that we can raise up leaders from our church.

Jeremiah at Christian Challenge's AZ Fuzion event

Purity

For New Readers (to catch you up): I (Bryan) got a heart for Church Planting while Jamie and I were commissioned as missionaries by the North American Mission Board. They shared that Church Planting is the most effective way of reaching college students and where Christian Challenge, nationwide, will be heading. God has provided a co-planter/co-pastor, Jason Robinson, student leaders, a FREE place to meet ON CAMPUS and a serious passion to reach the unchurched on the campus.

Jason and Bryan just finished up a 5 week sermon series on purity. It’s still amazing that we get to work together and how great it is for the students to get two different perspectives from people with two different life experiences.

But it has been a great time for our church, and even with the extreme busyness (end of semester projects, finals) of the students, we are staying steady and even seeing some new faces.

Powers Update

The ACL surgery went well! Thanks for praying. I (Bryan) had never broken a bone or had surgery; so I really didn’t know what to expect. The pain was tolerable, and I am walking around normally now. There are still times in the morning or when I’ve been sitting for too long that it will get stiff and sore, but it is much better than I expected it to be.

Dallas is now 3! He had a great time at his dinosaur-themed party. He is such an amazing blessing to us each day. As usual, he is busy entertaining everyone and cracking us up!

Please pray, our support is not meeting our bills. We are praying for faith and provision.

Prayer Needs

One of the students who has been coming less and less finally stopped coming and we found out that he had been baptized into the Mormon “church.” Please pray that God will direct him back. Also pray that he will be able to see the deep lack of Truth, freedom, Christ as Savior, etc. in that religion and be able to get out of it.

Also, another student’s young sister, age six. Was taken by their addict father (who has custody L) and he has disappeared with her. Please pray for her safety and peace for the distraught family.

Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

- Student to return to Christ
- Missing 6 year old
- Our support is insufficient to pay our bills
- Healing with losing Madison Grace –it has been especially difficult for Jamie
- Bryan’s recovery
- Kim as she starts MSC
- PRAISE – Sanctuary’s amazing student leaders
- Mission trip plans to Peru for Spring Break.
- That students, especially unchurched/unsaved will continue to be drawn to CC & Sanctuary
- Prayer and PRAISE: In-vitro and surrogacy
- PRAISE: New church plant
-16 have accepted Christ
- C., G., S. & M. to accept Christ
-Sharing the Gospel on campus

How can we pray for you?

November, 2008

How God Used You:
Read more about most in the sections below

- Bible Studies keep getting better!

-Events each weekend for community
-Game night
-Movie night
-Boo Bash for ASU

- Sanctuary is staying strong with lots of unchurched/unsaved visitors

-Sanctuary and Christian Challenge students’ eyes are opened to human trafficking and we are taking action.

-Lots of students are being met through ASU events.

-We have been able to have a lot of great one-on-one time with our students & new and/or unchurched students.

-We’ve been praying for you.

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





Peru Mission Trip

We are planning a mission trip to Peru during Spring Break and are excited to get to meet the missionary stationed there. He is even preaching at Sanctuary one Sunday. It’s been wonderful to see God already at work in the trip. We had no idea that this missionary was going to come to Arizona for a conference. We just prayed that God would lead us to the right mission opportunity and this is obviously where He wanted us. We have already had a huge response from our congregation who want to go on the trip, even with few details available.

What we do know is that we will be during Arizona State’s Spring Break, so that our students who don’t live in Arizona during the summer will be able to go. We will also be going to a remote area to a people group who have had little to no gospel exposure.

Recession?

Well some analysts say it’s not and some say it is…either way, it’s been hard for a lot of people. As our support team struggles, we also struggle. We have lost $2250 a month in support and are almost through our savings. We are asking you to please pray about an extra one-time gift or beginning or increasing your monthly support if you are able. God has always provided and we wait knowing that He will provide! Every trip to the mail box has been one of anticipation (expecting a check down to the dollar of the money we need for a bill)!! We are truly, truly in awe of the way God provides for our needs through His people.

I (Jamie) have been reading a lot of Isaiah as I am in need of verses of promise and comfort as and grieve the loss of and miss my Madison. This verse has been a comfort to me as well as reminding me to stay focused on Heaven and remain faithful and fruitful while in this “mist” of a life. I pray it ministers to you as well.

“They will enter Zion with singing;
Everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
Isaiah 35:10

Many dreams have been lost this year for many people: financial security or comfort and the life they expected with that and for Bryan and me, our life on earth parenting both of our children, watching our daughter grow up and marry and hold her hand and guide her as she has her own children, even to just know her personality. This life comes with joy and sorrow, but we are not living for here…join us in keeping our eyes on Heaven.

Intramurals

We have discovered a new way to meet students who would never come to the Christian Challenge table that we set up in the student union. We are now putting teams together for the intramural sports. ASU’s intramural program is just getting off the ground at Poly, so they have been extremely happy to see club involvement.

We just finished a co-ed flag football season, coming in 2nd place, (out of three teamsJ) and we’re getting ready to start in on a softball season. We have met so many new students that we haven’t even seen on campus before, and are getting to form some great relationships with the staff, which is crucial to a Christian club that has to have support from the college.

Please be praying for the students that we meet through sports. We have met some that said they had gotten fliers on their door and would have liked to come to something, but didn’t know anyone who was going, so they didn’t; now they know us. God is using sports in a big way on this campus. Please pray that softball will be a success like football.

Powers Update

While playing flag football with the students, I (Bryan) collapsed in excruciating pain. I have dealt with a knee injury before, but never had conclusive word on what was wrong from my doctor. This time we found out that I tore my ACL in my knee about 7 years ago while wakeboarding. We didn’t know because this injury doesn’t show up on X-ray, only on MRI’s. During the game, the bones in the leg collided into each other because there was no ligament there to stop them from sliding over each other. So I will have to have surgery on the 13th of this month. The
surgeon also looked at the other knee and said that it is also loose and we should do an MRI to see if it was torn as well. Please pray for the surgery, bills and pain.





Thank You for Your Prayers!

Please pray…

-Bryan’s knee surgery

-Kim as she starts MSC

-PRAISE - Fall semester has been amazing reaching new freshman.

-Mission trip plans to Peru for Spring Break.

-That students, especially unchurched/unsaved, will continue to be drawn to CC & Sanctuary

-Our healing with losing Madison Grace

-Prayer and PRAISE: In-vitro and surrogacy

-PRAISE: New church plant
-16 have accepted Christ

- C., G., S. & M. to accept Christ

-Sharing the Gospel on campus

- For our support needs to reach 100%.

How can we pray for you?