February 2013

Winter Retreat 

This is the fourth Winter Retreat that we have done with Christian Challenge. These are always super impactful for the students and for the churches that we are involved with. This was the first year that we participated in a service with First Baptist Pinetop. I was able to share with them about what Christian Challenge is doing in the Metro Phoenix area and we had three students give a testimony about how CC has impacted them. We even had a student at Northland Pioneer College share, a campus that is in Pinetop that started as a result of the relationships formed with Porter Mountain Baptist Church on the winter retreats. We also did everything in-house this year. We had a couple of speakers lined up that we thought would be great, but they were unable to. We ended up having some of our newer staff members speak, and it was amazing. Brad (our boss) was out of town this year, and left the major planning to Kyle and me. We did forget the food on the sledding day, a couple of cars got stuck heading there, another car broke down on the way home and we had to deal with a drunk guy wandering into the church, but overall it was an amazing weekend. Students walked away challenged, and I walked away with bronchitis. Pray this is a good launching point for the spring semester. We had a great showing from GCU and I’m praying that it will inspire the leadership.



Christian Challenge and Bryan Featured in Golden Gate Bapt. Seminary's Newsletter!

New Staff coming!

Leading so many campuses has been stressful, but by the end of the month, we will have new staff at ASU Downtown! That will immensely help my feelings of being overwhelmed and spread too thin. 
The new staffer is Brian, from Kentucky. I’m a little worried about the transition, because I have worked with some of these students for a long time. I’ve been at ASU Downtown far longer than any other campus. I will still be there training him this semester though.


Powers Update
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 you'll need his school name (please email me for it jamiempowers@yahoo.com). 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(s) is used to get the credit, which is dollar for dollar.

Please tell us if you do, because we would like to thank you and they cannot tell us who donated (Taxpayer Privacy). 






Other Powers News:

Dallas was featured as one of the Missionary Kids of the Month in the publication sent out by the WMU. We (of course) are proud parents. 

We have also been sick for a solid month. Everyone in the house has been sick at least once, and we've had up to four of us being sick at the same time. It’s been passed from one to another and we've all been to the doctor and on antibiotics. It’s just been a hard month as far as health goes. 

But we had a huge blessing: Bryan’s Grandma came in for a visit and the boys LOVED it! We did, too! 

Dallas Was One of the Missionary Kids Featured in November's RA/GA Mission Magazines!  

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. 

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

- Cesar and Andrew at MCC

- 2 supporters recently diagnosed with breast cancer

- 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

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?