Busy time in our lives

The last two weeks have been unbelievably busy for us. It has been filled with a lot of preparation for the Cross Cultural Project (CCP) to South Africa this summer. This has actually been more planning and preparing than I had anticipated. Our time is also being filled with discipling and mentoring our students at Western and now taking this seminary class.
I, Kevin, am also writing a Bible Study along with Evan Iluzada for 10 sophomore guys at Western. We are both very excited about these men and this bible study. We are writing a topical bible study that begins with the Sovereignty of God and each week discusses different aspects of the gospel. It is meant to be an establishing time to help these students really gain a solid foundational understanding of the theology behind the work of the cross. The sophomores in this bible study are very excited about growing in their faith and it has been very fun to interact with them in the dorms and to lead them in this bible study. Three of the guys have just become Christians in the last 4 months through the ministry of Campus Outreach.
This is how crazy our semester is. On top of these things Kevin is speaking at our “Main Event” every other week and this weekend we are helping lead a retreat for all the new members of sororities and fraternities at Western. We are very excited about the Greek retreat because, though it will add to the craziness, great relationships will be established between us and the new members of the Greek system.
Wow. In the midst of this hectic semester with our time crunched, we are learning how to make the most of every opportunity with our staff, students, and one another. We don’t have a lot of time to waste, so we are trusting God to help us use every bit of it to the glory of God.

Preparing for South Africa

As you have probably heard we will be leading the CCP, which stands for Cross Cultural Project, this summer in South Africa. The team will consist of students and another staff partner from Campus Outreach Greenville. We will not be leaving until early June, but already preparations have begun. Our first retreat for our students will be the weekend of January 19-21. Kevin will be teaching support workshops and explaining the theme for our time of preparation in the spring. We want this team to really learn what it means to trust God and live by faith. It will be our goal as we prepare for this summer to trust him together in being matured in Christ, raising support, and ministering to others. The CCP experience is a time when most students for the first time attempt something that really seems impossible, where they see no way of their goal being fulfilled. They step out in faith trusting God to raise their support, but have no idea from where the funds will come. This is exciting because it makes them stretch their faith. But this summer, we want them to focus just as much on trusting God in support raising as trusting God to personally work in their lives, maturing them in Christ, growing them in a healthy identity, and fighting for personal holiness. Catherine will be facilitating times we study the word together and overseeing the budget. All in all we are very excited about this responsibility and opportunity for our own growth and development and hope that as we impart to you what we are learning and experiencing it will be a blessing to you. After our retreat is over we will be sure to send some pictures of our future team and fun stories from the weekend.

Back up again

We have not updated our blog in...well months because we had canceled our internet service to due terrible service from MediaCom. I am still angry about it, but we are back online and we will be updating our blog once to twice a week. We hope this again becomes a place on the internet where our families and friends can stop in and feel like you are in our lives. We will have pictures, stories, and things we are learning in life throughout the posts. It's our prayer that this can continue to keep us better connected with those whom we love. We added two pictures from ATL'06 to the left.