Semester Highlights - March/April Newsletter 2013

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

 

Semester Highlights

 

We just wrapped up another school year at Fort Lewis College, and this semester has definitely been eventful!!

         -  At our Mustache March Competition, we had 5 new people show up, 4 of which  were interested in talking to someone more about Jesus.

-       Russ and Linda Akins, the founders of Master Plan Ministries, celebrated their 45^th wedding anniversary with the college students at our Thursday dinner, where the students got to pick their brains about having healthy relationships.

-       Our last retreat of the year was a great success where some of our students took big steps of faith by sharing their testimonies and presenting a talk for the first time.

-       We got to take a fun weekend trip with the students to Moab, UT. We had one student come who we’ve seen on and off throughout the year, and now wants to be discipled next year.

-       We accepted 3 of our students (who are graduating this weekend) onto our staff team! Brandon Cox and Dakota Woodie came in as freshmen, and Anne Barby (almost Anne Cox) came in 2 years ago. All three have been excellent students to work with, and we are thrilled to have them on our team in Durango.

-       This semester alone, we know of at least  6 people who have indicated a decision to follow Christ on campus!! Praise God for changing the policy by this second semester so we can share openly the Gospel. Lives were changed for eternity this semester!!

 

Prayer Requests

-       Pray for the students to have fruitful walks with God over the summer, and to continue to take good steps of faith.

-       Pray for those who have heard the Gospel this year to receive Christ sooner rather than later, and that more people will share with them over the summer

-       Pray for Crush Fear, which is May 19^th- June 2^nd. Pray that the staff will finish all that we need to before hand, that the students coming will have all there funds raised in time, and that they will crush fear during the project that will help them live bold lives for Christ!

-       Pray for us to rest this summer, and also be able to boost our monthly monetary needs by asking others to partner with us.

-       Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial support this school year!! We thank God for you and your partnership in our work on campus.

This Little Light of Mine - October 2012 Newsletter

 

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.”

Matthew 5:16

Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch

 

This Little Light of Mine

 

If you haven’t discovered yet about Master Plan Ministries, we really – I mean REALLY – want people to know Jesus! Though we hit some snags in reaching the campus with the Good News of Jesus Christ this semester, God has had no problems reaching people!!

One day the guys couldn’t find any place on campus to have their bible study, so they went inside a room next to the public ping-pong and pool table. The room has tons of open windows for everyone to look in. The next day, a guy named Elvin approached Malcolm as he was heading into an appointment with another student. “What were you guys doing in that room yesterday?” he asked. “We were having a bible study,” Malcolm replied. The guy proceeded to ask if Malcolm would have time to talk to him. As he couldn’t at that moment, he told him he couldn’t but would like to talk a little later. After Malcolm’s other meeting, he found Elvin in the same place, almost waiting for Malcolm to get done.

Elvin had a lot of hurt from a church from his hometown, and so many other things that weighed heavy on his heart and mind. Malcolm got the chance to not only listen to this guy, but also share the Gospel with him! Though we haven’t seen much of Elvin, we are still hoping for another chance to follow up with him. Please pray for Elvin!

The other great opportunity we had was at our latest retreat. We tried super hard to invite new people to come, and God provided the new people! We had around 6 new people, at least half of which are not Christians!! I (Leah) had an opportunity to share the Gospel with “N”, who was at the retreat solely to find out more about Christianity.

 I asked her questions about what she liked and didn’t like about Christianity. One of the things she liked (which she found quite a few things appealing) was forgiveness, and how you can always be forgiven. The one thing she said she didn’t like was “the whole accepting Christ in your life thing”. I asked, “Oh, like how exclusive it is?” “No,” she replied. “It just doesn’t make sense to me, because I’ve never had an experience like what others have talked about.” Though I did share the Gospel, “N” was very overwhelmed with all the information she was receiving. We are hoping to get together before Thanksgiving break to talk more. Please pray for “N” to know Jesus personally, and that her and I can at least meet up and talk more.

The last neat thing that happened at the retreat was I found out that one of the new students (who has been meeting with another staff member) was a camper in her cabin at Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je West in 2005!! They had had a tender moment in the cabin, which is one of the few moments I can remember from 8 years ago.

In all these stories, we can see how God is orchestrating a grand story. He has been so faithful  in our lives, and in the lives of those around us. He is drawing people to Himself, and He has chosen to use us as we allow ourselves to be available to share His Good News!!

Brandon and Anne giving a talk on discipline and commitment at our last retreat. They got engaged 2 weeks later!! Pray for them as they make plans and finish out their last semester of college.

 

Prayer Requests

 

-       Keep praying for the situation with the administration. A letter has been sent, and the administration said they will look over the policy! Praise God!!

-       Pray for God’s wisdom and good ideas on how to continue to reach the freshmen! We can tell there has been another shift in the students, and we need to just think about our game plan to reach them.

-       Denver Christmas Conference (DCC) is a 5-day conference with Cru, which is such a neat time for our students and us. The students not only get challenged to share their faith and to live boldly back on their campuses, but also to spend their summers for God. Pray that many of our students will commit to go, and that they will learn a lot from their time there.

-       This semester is very quickly coming to a close – and we can hardly believe how fast it has flown by!! Keep praying for perseverance and energy to finish strong on campus!!

-       Continue to let us know how we can be praying for you as well!! We thank and praise God for you and all your prayers and financial contributions to keep us in full time ministry at Fort Lewis!!

Celebrating Shawnee's (far right) at retreat

Renewed and Ready to Run - June 2012 Newsletter

 

“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

 

Renewed and Ready to Run

 

We finally have had the chance to have some down time this summer - HOORAY! God has blessed us tremendously with allowing us opportunity to go camping, enjoy the outdoors, and relax at home. We also got the chance to celebrate our 1^st anniversary! Thank you so much for praying for us and our marriage – and we ask that you keep praying for us too, cause we have a long ways to go still!!

While we’ve been able to make merry our time of summer, we’ve also been able to hear how God has been moving and working in the lives of students. While camping in Crested Butte, CO, we had the chance to meet up with Anne. Anne joined 13 other students from around the U.S. (one of them being Rachel, another gal from FLC) in the month long summer project called Lifelines. Though she had only been there less than two weeks, she said that the lessons she had learned already were worth the trip!! Please pray for Anne and Rachel as they finish this week, and then process their time once they return home.

The other blessing through our students has been through a girl I will call “M”. My (Leah’s) relationship with M has been one over text messages trying to encourage her to follow God, meet together to try to talk, to come to Connect – ANYTHING to help her grow in her walk with God. This has been going on for a couple years now. Not too long ago, she texted me to say that she truly wants to put God first in her life and get connected with other believers. I could tell a change, especially when we actually got to get together for coffee and meet for the first time face to face! PLEASE pray for M in her walk with God, to stay in fellowship with believers, and that the enemy will not snatch her away again!!

We love our students, and we can’t wait to see them all again in a couple months! Keep praying for them to stay strong in the Lord this summer!!

 

Other Prayer Requests

 

-       Night Vision 2012 is July 13^th & 14^th!!! Please pray for us to reach any non-believers that may come, and clearly communicate the Gospel so everyone we talk to can know exactly how to have a personal relationship with God. If you’re in the area, don’t forget to come by and hear great music!!

-       Following Night Vision, we are taking the 3 interns that are working with Master Plan this summer to go climbing and share the Gospel up in the Boulder/Denver area. Pray that we can be VERY intentional with sharing the Gospel with climbers. And if you’re in the area and feel like giving climbing a try – contact us soon! We would love for you to join us!!

-       Both of us need to remember to rest so we can run hard once the school year comes. Please pray that we can not only get through the events, but also have time to rest and prepare for the upcoming semester!!

-       If you don’t know yet, Colorado is on fire! Please pray for those fighting the fires, and for the fires to cease. Rain would be nice as well!

 

 

Fellowship

At Connect this year, we decided to take words that we say all the time and look at what the Bible says about them. I (Leah) had the chance to speak on fellowship a couple weeks and thought you all might enjoy learning more about what it really is as well!! Please pray for us and the students this weekend as we head off to a retreat. I'm giving another talk on being an eternal citizen, which I get to use as another avenue to share the Gospel to those who may not have heard it yet!!

 

When Christians talk about fellowship, I notice a couple things happen.

1.    We say that fellowship more than just hanging out

2.    We treat fellowship like it’s just hanging out

This bothers me, because I have done these two things time and time again. I wanted quit getting into the same pattern of saying one thing and doing another, so I was stoked to finally get the time to study what fellowship truly means.

There are 5 words in the Greek that have been translated into fellowship. And between these words, fellowship means association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse, a sharing, a partner, associate, comrade, companion, sharer in anything, to become a partaker together with others, or to have fellowship with a thing.

That was a whole lot of words, but what I have found is that fellowship can be boiled down to these main points:

1.    Fellowship starts with communion with God

o      What is communion? Having in common, sharing anything. The Lord's Supper is so called communion because in it there is fellowship between Christ and his disciples, and of the disciples with one another. It’s identifying and sharing in Christ’s death.

o      Jesus is who we have in common with God, and when we spend time with God – reading His word, talking to Him in prayer, praising His name – that’s communion.

o      Realistically, as in anything else we do, the point of fellowship is to give glory to God. So true, Christian fellowship can’t happen if you’re not a Christian.

o      1 John 1:3 says, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

o      Our ultimate fellowship is with God, and we share the Gospel so that others can also have the same fellowship!

2.    Fellowship involves community

o      The difference between hanging out and community is a key to understanding fellowship. You can hangout with just about anyone, but community involves a special interest or connection.

o      My freshman year of college, I was in Soc 100, and there was a group of about 8 students that were in a learning community that sat right by me. They were a little obnoxious because they all had the same ideas, all had the same stories and jokes from the weekends that they spent together – and none of them agreed with me on how electric trains were not going to catch on in the U.S.! I really liked them, please don’t get me wrong, but that is community! They shared the same ideals and dedicated time to each other.

o      We have an even better bonding agent than ideals or interests! We have Jesus Christ!! As the body of Christ, we love each other, take care of each other, and want to be around each other because we all have the same foundation of Christ.

o      Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

o      We need each other, and do better together as a unit than we do alone! Which brings me to the final point that…

3.    Fellowship needs participation

o      This part is HUGE because it includes action on our part! What makes fellowship so much more than hanging out is that there are specific things needs to happen in our time together.

o      I could go on all night talking about all the things we get to do together as the body of Christ and how they benefit us, but I’m going to highlight a few things. (If you would like the Bible references for these, come up and look at my notes afterwards and you can get them.)

§       Encourage each other daily (Hebrews 3:13)

§       Build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

§       Carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)

§       Share in each other’s sufferings (2 Corinthians 1:7, Philippians 4:14)

§       Stand side by side in one another’s persecution (Hebrews 10:33)

§       Call out sin in each other’s lives – gently (Galatians 6:1)

§       Confess our sins to one another (James 5:16)

§       Consider each other better than yourself (Philippians 2:3)

§       Look out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4)

§       Give to those who have need – whether that is with money, food, time (Romans 12:13, 15:27, 2 Corinthians 8:4, 9:13 Hebrews 13:16)

§       Provoke one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24)

§       We need to continue to meet together – and we should meet with each other the closer we are to seeing Jesus face to face (Hebrews 10:25)

§       And, together, we need to have the same goal to seek Jesus and to share Jesus with others who don’t have a relationship with Him (Philippians 1:5, Philemon 6)

One thing I love about God’s Word, is that it not only tells us what to do, but gives us examples of what we should do. And there is an amazing example is Acts 2:42-47.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Isn’t that cool?! And that can happen today too among us here in Durango, Colorado! So my challenge to you is get connected in true, real fellowship with your brothers and sisters. Here at Connect, we would love for you to get involved and participate with us in Bible Studies, in sharing your faith, in looking out for each other – we desire to practice true fellowship. If not with us here at Connect, then with others – but don’t neglect fellowship!

Here are pictures of Cascade Lodge at our Fall Retreat last year.