Prayer & Praise (Feb 15-21)

- This Fri, Feb 20, Larea, Erica, Lauren, & I are teaching our monthly kids’ club at Salvation Army Red Shield.

Our theme for the club will be “Watch what you say!” We are going to talk about the power of words and how God wants us to use our words. This is a huge issue for children and youth today; I am thinking of creating some discussion groups around the various anecdotes in the lesson to help the children internalize the teaching. We’ll see. The memory verse for the day is going to be Psalm 19:14 (look it up ... it’s a good one!).

Praise God for the opportunity we have to teach the children!!!

- 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.

- In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster says: “The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people” (1). I think this is so true. Please pray for greater depth in my relationship with God this week. It is only from depth that we can then minister to others.

Thanks so much!

Recent Sermons

As some of you may know, I serve on the teaching-preaching team for the young adult community at my church. We are just about to wrap up a six part series on theology. I personally give the message about once a month (sometimes twice a month). Here are my two most recent, both from our current theology series:

01-11-09: What Christians Believe: Transcendence & Immanence

02-08-09: What Christians Believe: The Holy Spirit & The Church

Prayer & Praise (Feb 8-14)

So sorry that I missed last week’s update! We are back on track now ... here is what’s going on, and how you can be involved through prayer and intercession:

- We are focusing our promotion & recruitment strategy for Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) on two concepts: (1) church partnerships, and (2) word-of-mouth. In the past couple of weeks, I have given five promotional talks in various settings at two different churches with which we are building partnerships. Today I mailed out the first round of CYIA applications (18 total). In each packet I enclosed a brochure about CYIA, encouraging the applicant to invite at least one friend to join them for the experience this summer.

Our targeted goal for Summer 2009 is to schedule 120 kids’ Bible clubs and train 20 summer missionaries to teach them. (We scheduled the first 40 clubs today!) In this, please pray for fruitful ministry, for God’s glory and kingdom.

- 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 new staff member candidate who put in her application this week! (We currently have seven staff members for metro Denver, including myself.) On Monday, we got to meet her and hear the incredible story of God’s work in her life. It was such a blessing!

Thanks so much for your prayers! Grace and peace to you.

Prayer & Praise (Jan 25-31)

- January thru March is promotion & recruitment time for our Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) program. Please pray that I could cast a compelling vision to the students and that those whom God has called would respond!

This week I am doing a CYIA promo on Tuesday, Jan 27, at one of the community groups for the youth at Bear Valley Church (BVC) and another on Wednesday, Jan 28, at Grace Covenant’s Awana group. Additionally, my CYIA promo originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan 25, at BVC’s youth group worship service has been rescheduled for Sunday, Feb 1.

- 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 new supporter who joined the team in January!

- School has started again. (I am studying at Metro State for a B.A in Speech Communication.) This semester I have two classes: (1) Cultural Influences on Communication, and (2) Intro to Philosophy. Please pray that I could work hard and work smart in my studies.

Thanks!

Prayer & Praise (Jan 18-24)

- January thru March is promotion & recruitment time for our Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) program! I am doing my first CYIA promo this Sunday, Jan 25, at Bear Valley Church’s youth group. Please pray that I could cast a compelling vision to them and that the students God has called would respond.

- 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. Please pray also that I could continue to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with my existing financial support team.

- This week I turned in my staff report for 2008 to Bill Raymer, State Director for CEF of CO, to be submitted to the state board. In it I laid out 10 ministry goals and 10 personal goals for the year 2009. Pray that I would be faithful to God and could be fruitful in ministry as I work toward each of these goals.

Thanks!

Prayer & Praise (Jan 11-17)

- If you pray for the ministry of CEF in Denver on a regular basis, I have a great resource for you... here are all of the important dates for our 2009 Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) program. You can add these to your calendar or prayer list or whatever it is that you use to pray.

I appreciate and covet your prayers as we move forward with the program for 2009. As I said in the last update, you and your prayers are the lifeblood of this ministry! Please pray that 2009 would see students transformed in their faith through doing ministry and children transformed in their lives through coming to faith in Jesus.

- This Fri, Jan 16, Larea, Erica, Lauren, & I are teaching a kids’ club at Salvation Army Red Shield. (We will be continuing to teach this club on the third Friday of every month.) I am excited about this opportunity! This is a club I taught during my internship (before I went to Calvary Bible College), and the kids at Red Shield are just fantastic. It will be good to start the club back up again.

- 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 the young adult community at my church, which nourishes me with community and gives me opportunities to serve. I am regularly reminded that the local church, as God designed it, truly is the hope of the world!

Prayer & Praise (Jan 4-10)

- On Sat, Jan 3, I met with past/present/future Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) team leaders to discuss our vision for CYIA. It was a great time of fellowship and unfiltered discussion!

Statistically, The Barna Group reports that 61% of today’s young adults “had been churched at one point during their teen years but they are now spiritually disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying).” Something is lacking in the spiritual formation of America’s youth. We hope that CYIA--a transformative experience for youth--can play a role in addressing this issue for the youth of metro Denver.

Additionally, there are over 300,000 early childhood and elementary-age children in metro Denver. This is the mission field for our summer missionaries, and we want to be as effective in our ministry to the children as possible.

Pray for us as we move forward with some ideas for making CYIA a more powerful experience for our summer missionaries and a more effective ministry in to the children of our great city!

- 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 three new supporters who joined the team in December!

This week I am mailing out a round of 20 appeal letters, which I will follow-up with phone calls in order to gain face-to-face appointments. Pray for many opportunities to share our vision for CYIA with potential supporters!

- The Good News Club that Margaret and I teach at Centennial K-8 school starts up again this week! I am excited. I hate being away from the kids for more than a week at a time!

Thanks for your prayers. You and your prayers are the lifeblood of this ministry!