kalahari!!

We just wanted to announce that we have OFFICIAL CE AMBASSADOR T-SHIRTS.

THEY ARE AWESOME. (Much thanks to 18 Spots for designing and producing them for us.)

Marty Dent, youth pastor of Western Reserve, is the first youth pastor in the world to own one of these t-shirts.

They’re $10 — let us know if you want one!

if you want t-shirts designed at a great price, or are looking for a fundraising opportunity, check out the website for 18 spots.

sunny ca

So Stacie and I have tried to update this thing with a video blog a couple times … to no avail. We will get that figured out. 

In the meantime, we’ve been in California for the last week. (Don’t be jealous…) We’ve been reading our Bibles at the beach and sharing our faith in Starbucks (hey, someone has to do it…)

haha, we’ve also gotten to be at our ‘home away from home’ in CA – Norwalk! We love working with the Lansings, and it was a blast to spend last Wednesday night with their youth group. I was especially excited to find out that they are bringing a quiz team to Momentum this year!

We grabbed some Jamba Juice last week with Edwin, a former OB student of mine, now the youth pastor at the Grace Brethren church in Rialto. (gosh do I feel old or what?!) We’re excited about what God is going to do through Edwin and in that ministry. And Edwin told us that ‘God changed my life through Operation Barnabas. I am where I am today because of what God taught me that summer.’ Man. Makes me tear up a little bit. (seriously!)

We’ll be back in the sky tomorrow and in Indiana for a few days.

But if you’ll be at Kalahari, look for us on Saturday!! We can’t wait to see our new Ohio friends we met last week.

seriously frozen

We’re currently in Ohio at a snow retreat in Ashland. We are FROZEN (there’s about a foot of snow and it’s -25!!) but excited about what God’s doing here. Jon Sommer is the retreat speaker — please pray that the Lord uses him to speak truth to the students. Already we’ve seen them respond well to his call to let their hard hearts become soft.

Yesterday we got to hang with some OB alum. We’re so encouraged by how they’re walking with the Lord. We got to meet Rachel, an OB 09 student — she was amazed at how awesome we are. ha. Okay just kidding. But she is really excited about what God is going to do this summer. Hey, we agree Rachel!

Sunday we’re in Kendallville and Tuesday we fly to California … if you can find us we’ll give you a free treat. It’ll be sweet, I promise.

content.

Today I was walking home for lunch (it’s roughly 182 steps. Don’t be too impressed.), and I was overwhelmed by how much I love what is happening right now. My ‘job’ doesn’t even feel like a job. Well, sometimes it does — like this morning when I was wrestling with the paper-cutter, or trying to figure out how to share my printer on the network, or come up with more names to send support letters to.  

But seriously. I’m not trying to throw it up in your face … but I have never been more excited about a job than I am about this one. I get to meet youth and their pastors, have a lot of conversations about discipleship, walk with students in finding disciplers & sort out what the discipleship process looks like, encourage youth pastors with resources, redefine what our ‘follow-up’ looks like after our summer ministries… Man. I love it.

On top of that, I get to work with one of my best friends in the world, who encourages and sharpens me all the time. We get to read sweet books, create new materials, and be hilarious. (Well I suppose that goes without saying).

I’m being discipled by a woman that I respect and would love to be like. I can’t wait to see how the Lord continues to use her to refine me over the next 2 years.

CE is an organization that the Lord has used to impact my life beyond explanation, and I cannot believe I have the chance to work with and for them.

More than any of that, I was totally overwhelmed, as I was making my short walk home, how much I love Jesus. And how he first loved me and saved me and gave me a hunger and desire for him. And what an outrageous privilege it is to serve him and learn more about him.

Sheesh. All that during my 182 steps home.

Ambassador tour 2009 begins…

A lot has happened since we last updated you! We had the chance to spend the 2 weeks over the holidays at home with our families, which a great time of refreshment and relaxation. We had the opportunity to share in the York Grace Brethren Church on Sunday, December 28. Many of the congregation had the chance to meet Stacie for the first time, and told her they have been praying for her already and are glad to have a face to put with her name. It’s awesome to know that York GBC has already begun supporting us consistently in prayer. What an encouraging day for us!

We came back out to Winona Lake last weekend and were in the Warsaw Community Grace Brethren Church on Sunday, January 4. Ed Lewis prayed over us during the service, and the church body there commissioned us to begin our ministry. During the ‘hour of training’, Stacie & I taught the youth class about the necessity of discipleship in every believer’s life. Since we have worked with this youth group for a number of years, it was great to share our heart and passion with these students that we know so well. They also prayed over us, commissioning us to our ministry, and many committed to continue to pray faithfully for us.

Stacie & I are so thankful for the chance to start our ministry in Waldorf, York, and Warsaw, as these are the churches we consider our ‘sending’ churches, because of our long relationships with these church bodies. We are excited and encouraged by their support!

We are in the office this week, finalizing our schedule for this month. Last night we headed up to Grace Community Church in Goshen, Indiana, and got to participate in Axis, their Wednesday night youth time. It was great connect with Kari, an Operation Barnabas 2008 alum, as well as meet the 3 students who will be joining us on Barnabas in 2009! We enjoyed meeting lots of students, talking with friend of ours, Rich Yauger (youth pastor) & Jeremy Byng (worship leader). Stacie & I had the opportunity to teach last night too; we spoke again on the necessity of discipleship, which all starts with a relationship with Jesus. We had so much fun!

Jeremy and his wife Ginger were excited to hear about the Ambassador program. Jeremy said, “I’m so excited for you and this new ministry. God is certainly going to do great things!”

Saturday we head out to Ohio. We have plans to connect with pastors and youth in the following churches: Grace Church of Greater Akron (north & south campuses), Delaware GBC, Rittman GBC, Western Reserve GBC, GBC of Columbus, GBC of Powell, Canton GBC, Southern Hills Church, Wooster GBC, Grace Chapel of Minerva, and Ashland GBC.

It’ll be a busy week for sure, but we can’t wait. If you’re in the Akron or Columbus areas and are interested in getting together to hear more about CE ministries or to talk about discipleship ideas, we’d love to hear from you! Email us as CEambassadors@cenational.org.