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?