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?