Monday, April 27, 2009

Prayer & Praise (April 26 - May 2)

- Praise God for our club at Salvation Army Red Shield last Friday! We taught the children about feeding the old self vs. feeding the new self for those who are in Christ. We had some great visuals, and I think they really comprehended the lesson.

Pray that the children who are in Christ would be strengthened in their walk and that those who are not would be drawn toward putting their faith in Jesus.

- Please pray for fundraising efforts toward this summer. Our budget for Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) this year is $7,650. We currently have $2,650 (or 35%) of these funds and need to raise another $5,000 (or 65%).

- This week I am working hard on sessions for our CYIA Team Leader retreat coming up May 8-10. We are doing three sessions for spiritual formation (the theme: learning to seek God first!) and five sessions for leadership development.

Please pray for me as I create the environments and develop the various sessions. I think the retreat promises to be a transformative weekend for our young leaders.

Thanks so much!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Prayer & Praise (April 19-25)



- On Saturday we held our first of two preparatory sessions to help our summer missionaries get ready for training camp in June. (The picture above is of some of them hanging out and playing games after we were done for the day.) The weather was less than desirable, but we still made it!

I can already tell we are going to have a fun and strong crew this year. In this first session, we trained them in how to share the gospel in a child’s vocabulary using the Wordless Book. After much planning and preparation, it was exciting to finally see this year’s program get underway.

- On Friday, I was looking at having 18 summer missionaries signed up for this year. Over the weekend, that number dropped down to 14. This was a bit disappointing, but I know that God will send us exactly the young people he wants us to train and equip this year.

Please pray for wisdom in handling the new scheduling dynamics this creates for our 5-Day Clubs, or possibly for some late recruits (which would allow us to go through with our original scheduling goals).

- This Friday, April 24, we are having our monthly kids’ club at Salvation Army Red Shield. Praise God for this opportunity to teach the children and connect with them! Pray for Lauren, Larea, and I as we teach.

- Praise God for the fruitful times I have had studying 2 Peter the past few weeks! God is so good in giving us the Scriptures.

Thanks for your prayers.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Prayer & Praise (April 12-18)



- Praise God for the opportunity that Hannah and I had to minister at a kids’ Easter festival in east Denver this past Saturday! We started out the afternoon helping the kids make bracelets with beads the colors of the Wordless Book, explaining each color as they added it to the bracelet and giving them a tract to take home so that they could remember the gospel story behind the colors. We ended the afternoon with my sister Christine making animal balloons, which the kids loved!

Please pray for Pastor Richmond and his church as they continue ministering in east Denver. (We will be working with them this summer to have 5-Day Clubs in one or more of the city parks around their church.)

- The application deadline for summer missionaries is this week (April 15). Please pray for a well-formed team to come together by God’s grace!

Each year we hold two preparatory sessions to help our summer missionaries get ready for training camp. Our first session is this Saturday, April 18, from 9am-3pm. Pray for Hannah, Larea, and I as we teach.

- Continue to pray that I could make good connections with families, individuals, and churches as I seek to raise the $3,910/month I need for doing ministry with CEF in Denver.

Thanks so much for your support in prayer! Grace and peace to you.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Prayer & Praise (April 5-11)

- Our application deadline for summer missionaries is coming up soon (April 15). We are praying for 21 summer missionaries, and for 7 of them to serve as team leaders. Please pray that the crew for this summer would come together seamlessly by God’s grace, and pray that each person would begin preparing their hearts and minds for ministry even now.

- Continue to pray that I could make good connections with families, individuals, and churches as I seek to raise the $3,910/month I need for doing ministry with CEF in Denver.

- Praise God for a fruitful meeting with Hannah and Larea last week! Things are shaping up well for this summer, and we are all really excited about what God is going to do.

Thanks for praying!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Recent Sermons

I serve on the teaching team for the young adult community at my church. Our purpose is to faithfully proclaim the gospel and leverage the preaching/teaching of the Scriptures for life transformation.

Here are my most recent sermons, from a series we just wrapped up on work & vocation:

02-22-09: Redeeming Work, Part I: To Work Or Not To Work? - (download mp3)

03-15-09: Redeeming Work, Part IV: Godliness In The Workplace - (download mp3)

03-29-09: Redeeming Work, Part VI: A Parable About Work - (sorry, no mp3!)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Prayer & Praise (March 29 - April 4)

- We have had lots of great contacts lately with folks who are interested in hosting 5-Day Clubs this summer. Please pray for all of the scheduling details to come together smoothly, and pray especially for Connie who is handling the scheduling.

- Each year we hold two preparatory sessions to get our summer missionaries ready for Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) training camp in June. The first session is coming up on April 18; the second session will be May 30.

Please pray for Hannah, Larea, and I as we meet together this week to discuss both the pre-training sessions and the CYIA Team Leader retreat in May.

- Continue to pray that I could make good connections with families, individuals, and churches as I seek to raise the $3,910/month I need for doing ministry with CEF in Denver.

- Praise God for a fruitful CEF of CO staff meeting this past Saturday! I found our time together very encouraging. Additionally, much progress was made in our preparations for the summer.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!