Never Will I Leave You

Malcolm got to write the newsletter this time around (which he did a great job, I can't wait to post it)! We had a great time this last month and God has been showing us both a lot. I (Leah, if you couldn't guess) really wanted to share something that God showed me this past month.

When we were up in Denver, God really put on my heart to reach out to a couple friends of mine from childhood. They have both been on my "Most Wanted" list for a long time. When we were in middle school, I took both of them to Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je west where one did pray to receive Christ (though I do remember she was very afraid of hell, so I'm not sure if it was actual surrender to Christ or not - I'm not judging her decision, but she definitely is not living for Christ needless to say). The other I remember loved her experience at camp, but not sure she really made any commitments to Jesus. Regardless, they both have been exposed to the Gospel, but neither are living for Christ. In fact, I have seen them both go through very hard things since leaving high school. I don't want to share their personal lives here.

Anyway, with one friend, it took almost all week just to set down a time to see her. She kept changing times, bailing on our set time, etc. It was becoming a little discouraging. But God kept encouraging my heart saying, "Keep pursuing her. Show her how I won't give up pursuing her." So I kept pressing! Finally, we set down to have dinner after her work. Malcolm and I went to her work, and asked if we were still on for dinner. "Oh, I have to go to Boulder for something tonight!" she replied. AH! All this work, and I got 15 minutes of chat time! I wanted so badly to share the Gospel with her, to remind her of how good God is and how much He loves her! But God (and Malcolm) reminded me as we drove away - HE is in control! It's not my job to change hearts. It's my job to be obedient. And that's what I did. Gosh, even now my heart hurts for this friend of mine! How badly she needs Christ's healing in her life! How much hope she could have!! 

God keeps reminding me of one thing she said to me as we were hugging, "You are such a light to my life." How good is God! I barely did anything, and yet I did exactly what God wanted me to do - be obedient - and He did all the rest of the work!

My other friend is at a whole different place than my other friend. We got a whole hour to catch up, but I also didn't get to share the Gospel with her. But while I used the restroom, Malcolm got to share his testimony with her! (May I just say, I love that man I married!) 

I really desired to open up these relationships again, and to show these ladies just how much I love them and care for them, and ultimately how much God loves them. Pray for them please! And pray that I can be more bold next time to share the Gospel - or really, just be faithful to be obedient to what God wants me to do. 

God has really put this on my heart to encourage anyone who is reading this that it is never too late to reach out to those around you! Whenever I think of these friends, He has brought these scriptures to mind:

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" Hebrews 13:5

"...if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."

2 Timothy 2:13

God doesn't give up! God is relentless in His pursuit of people! We don't have to give up either. There are 2 times in which it's too late to keep reaching out to other people: if they die, or if you die. Sharing the Gospel with nonbelievers is one thing you can't do in heaven. Let's pray for each other in this!! Let's be persistent to show how persistent God is!!

Trust and Obey - August 2011 Newsletter

“Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.”

Verse from the hymn Trust and Obey

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” John 14:1

You know those times where you tell God, “Alright man, I have NO CLUE what to do but to trust you right now!” That’s where we’re at!

I (Leah) have been studying recently about the disciples in the early church. As we see time and time again, the disciples did miraculous things, spoke the boldest words even in the most dangerous of situations, and went the craziest of places. And all that they did had two key components.

The first component was the Holy Spirit. God, Himself, living in them, guiding and directing where they should go, what they should do, and what they should say. What encourages me about this is how the SAME Holy Spirit who lived in Paul, Peter, and Barnabus is living in ME – living in YOU as well! WE can do all that they did because of Him!!

The second component is faithfully walking in obedience. What if Peter decided to not go to the house of Cornelius because he didn’t quite like the Gentiles? What if Ananias was too afraid to meet with blinded Saul/Paul? What if the early church stopped sharing their faith once persecution hit? There is a good chance Christianity would’ve stopped if God’s people didn’t step out!

And this is what we’re realizing: God is ready to show up in big ways. For us, we know if we step out in faith – in the power of the Holy Spirit – and make phone calls and appointments to tell people about our ministry, that He will show up! And what we’re even more excited for is to step out in faith, walk on campus, and watch God show up bigger than He has before!

They’re Here!!!

Campus ministry is a fickle thing. One moment you are swamped with more people than you know what to do with, and the next you’re walking around wondering where all the people went.

This definitely described the first weekend of this school year.  We had a good turn out of last years student leaders show up to help  us meet as many new freshmen as possible. It was great to see them ready and willing to serve the Lord at FLC.

We started by helping the new students move all their stuff into their dorms, which went well until the football team crashed the party. So we moved on to doing spiritual interest surveys. 

This comprised of splitting up into pairs and asking a few short questions to see where the perspective student was spiritually and if they had a background in church or any other religion.  As a whole it was super fun! Sometimes there was so many students to talk to that it was overwhelming and other moments where we walked around wondering if this was a ghost town.

While doing the surveys we met two students who, through the course of the day, we saw at least three times. Each time we would stop and converse about how there day was going and invite them to the barbeque on Saturday. It was cool experience because in the course of 4 or 5 hours we had developed a small relationship with them!

That got me (Malcolm) thinking about how amazingly fun it will be to develop lasting relationships with these new students with Christ as our foundation! We can’t wait till we can be fun time working up on campus interacting and watching these students be changed by God!

Prayer Requests

  

Thank you for all your prayers!! We set out a month ago to raise an additional $2,500 a month. And we are currently at 43% of that goal – and, including the faithful finances from previous supporters, we’re at 64%!! We praise God for ALL of you and the role you play in God’s plan to provide for us.

-Pray for us as we continue to persevere through support raising. We spent a month in Craig, and now we will be in Durango for awhile. Pray we can make contacts and not get too distracted, because...

-THE STUDENTS ARE BACK!! Pray for them as they start classes, get settled, and make decisions that will set a tone for the rest of the year! Pray that those who need to be involved will, and that those who do not get involved will hear and respond to the Gospel!
 

-Pray for our marriage! We’re doing great, and we want to keep it that way. =)
 

-Pray for a couple Mormon women that came to our door the other day. Leah shared truth boldly (and lovingly) to them, and asks you to pray that God will lead them into HIS truth!!

 

Malcolm making phone calls to tell people about our ministry!

 

Around 110 people showed up to our beginning of the year BBQ!!

 

Our 1^st Connect was great! We had 100-125 students there. 15 said they trusted Christ, 3 wanted to talk more about Jesus, and 34 wanted to be in a Bible study!! Praise God for how He is working at FLC!!!

 

Excited to go be “fishers of men “ instead of fishermen!!