Home Sweet Mississippi...

After spending time in 2 Corinthians 12 this week and identifying my horrifyingly long list of weaknesses that I see in myself (and many more that I'm sure my pride prevents me from seeing), it has been made clear to myself and I'm sure all who read this blog that blogging is nearing the top of that list. With that said, I have a LOT to catch up on since my last post!

Through no power or effort of our own, Mitch and my support was completed at the beginning of January while we were spending the week in Atlanta at the Passion 2012 conference. I cannot ever express in words the joy and peace we experienced in the moment that we received the news that we were reporting to USM. I believe that I can speak for Mitch and myself when I say that we never doubted that God would one day complete our support. However, I will confess that we shared many days questioning how far in the future that day would be. Thankfully, God chose for that day to come sooner than we could've ever hoped and we moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi just in time to kick off the spring semester! Again, all God's work and all God's glory.

Upon arriving in Hattiesburg and getting settled, Mitch and I have quickly fallen in love with the city, the school, the staff team, the students... well you get my point! Our love for Southern Miss and our overwhelming peace with being in Hattiesburg have been such sweet gifts of assurance from the Lord. We are very confident in our calling to stay at Southern Miss for long enough to really see the ministry get on its feet and flourish and have thus committed to stay in Hattiesburg for at least 4 years.

Although the ministry just started up in August, USM cru is already hosting a weekly meeting on campus every Wednesday night at 8. This semester, we have been studying the book of Ephesians and have spent time outside of the meeting reflecting on the passages within some of our community groups (bible study groups). In addition, we have been focusing on the importance of a global perspective by calling attention to spiritually and physical needs of people groups around the world. Campus Crusade offers several summer discipleship trips and missions trips called "summer projects" that we as staff will spend our time leading through the months of May, June, and July. (Mitch and I will actually be heading to Durban, South Africa this July!) We hope to not only help lead these summer projects but to also bring USM students who share our global perspective and passion for being Christ-centered laborers throughout the world!

The past two months (yikes it really has been a long time since my last post) have been such a joy for us as we have begun the current journey God has for us. Although I constantly find myself questioning how God could ever use such a weak and sinful person as myself, I know that His grace is sufficient for me & that His power is made perfect in my weaknesses. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me! How I hope and pray that I will never know a day that I do not give God all the honor and glory for the things He is faithfully doing through me.

Passion 2012

This past week, Campus Crusade had the privilege of partnering with Passion 2012 for our annual Christmas Conference. This year's Passion conference was held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for the first time and hosted over 42, 000 college-age students and 2,000 volunteers! The Southeast region of Campus Crusade had 1,200 students attend Passion from universities scattered around Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Southern Miss had a group of thirteen go and we were by far the best group, I think (but I guess I'm a little biased). From January 2-5, we rung in the new year by hearing the Word of God from great speakers such as Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, and John Piper. This year, Passion adopted a central message and theme for the week: FREEDOM. In addition to focusing on freedom from spiritual death and the bondage of sin and shame, the week was also spent being educated about alarming issue of human trafficking around the world today. There are over 27 million people in slavery around the world today- the greatest number of people enslaved in history! In order to fight this injustice, students were given the opportunity to donate money toward certain organizations that work to end modern slavery at "Freedom Stations" that were set up around the conference. With a goal of 1 million dollars, the students more than double that by raising 2.56 million dollars in 4 days!! Inspired by the amount that college students gave, other donors gave over 500,000 toward the cause. As of last night, the total amount of money raise was $3,066,670! All the Glory be to God!

At midnight on the last night,
42,000 students lit their candles and
took their stand against slavery.

This hand was made with
common materials made
by slaves that we use everyday
here and symbolizes
the freedom we are
fighting for. 

Although the money raised was extremely mind-blowing, the most incredible part of the week was witnessing students be freed themselves. On the first night of Passion, Louie Giglio gave a message based on the account of Jesus intercepting the funeral and raising the widow's son from the dead. Giglio pointed out that in those days, depending on the status of the family, the dead would be carried on stretchers outside of the city to where they would be buried. On the day that this man was being carried down the road to be buried, Jesus was traveling to the city and intercepted the funeral procession. Jesus went on to touch the young man, telling him to "Arise!". The man then awoke from the dead and was returned to his mother (Luke 7).

Giglio pointed out that many and most likely thousands in the crowd were currently being carried on a stretcher to their deaths. Whether it was a stretcher of unbelief, an immoral relationship, a hateful grudge, pride, or any other sin that was encompassing life and leading to death. Giglio challenged the students to identify the stretcher in their lives and to earnestly pray that God would intercept their funeral. Some students immediately knew what their stretcher was, while many students took a couple days to truly dig out the core sin that was slowly killing them. After four days of meditation, messages, and worship, thousands of kids stood on the last night to unashamedly proclaim that they their funeral had been intercepted by God. Again- All the Glory be to God!

Praise God for an incredible week for the students and staff alike. Please pray that the revelations that God granted this week and the missions he has placed on peoples hearts will continue on into the new school semester. Pray for unashamed hearts and for fearlessness as students and staff alike pursue their mission to boldly proclaim the truth of Christ!

Holiday greetings

How incredible and humbling it is for me to look at our last blog, only a month ago, and to see how far God has brought us since then! As of mid-November, Mitch and I's spirits were running low and our chances of reporting to Southern Mississippi by the new year were sinking even lower. However, God again has provided for us greater than we could have ever imagined or hoped. As of today, Mitch and I are at 97% of our support goal and our hope to report for the new semester is quickly becoming a possibility! Praise be to God for providing for our needs and forgiving our doubt and insecurities!

At the beginning of December, Mitch and I were able to move all of our furniture and belongings to a house that we have begun renting in Hattiesburg. While we were in town, we were able to attend a Campus Crusade dessert night and also sit in on the weekly staff meeting. After being on the support trail for a few months, Mitch and I both were finding our spirits very low and our passions seemed to be quickly dwindling. Whether it was the moving around or being removed from our ministry while we raise support, Mitch and I were in great need of a reminder of why we began this journey in the first place. Being able to meet some of the students at Southern Mississippi and seeing our fellow staff members' and interns' progress and excitement for the coming semester quickly relit our own excitement and passions. As we left Mississippi a few days later, Mitch and I joked that now the hard part would not be overcoming our low spirits but overcoming our great impatience to get back to Hattiesburg!

As He has shown us before, we are confident that God will raise our last 3% of support in His perfect timing and we continually pray for the people that He will raise up to support us. We are so thankful this holiday season for the incredible journey God has already taken us on and we cannot wait until we begin the next chapter at Southern Mississippi.

Please remember us in your prayers as we work to raise our last bit of support. Please continue to pray for the University of Southern Mississippi, the students there, and the Campus Crusade movement that is beginning there. We hope that joy and thanksgiving encompass your holidays this year. Grace and peace to you from God our Father!

Faith + Timing

A short status update:

Having faith in God means also having faith in His timing- a lesson that Mitch and I learned the hard way. A couple weeks ago, Mitch and I had begun making plans to move to Mississippi in order to get there in time to participate in the ministry's planning week (a week dedicated to planning for the next semester). God had blessed us tremendously in our support journey and we were nearing 100% and became fairly confident that we would be finished with our support by December.

However, after a few financial setbacks, Mitch and I are no longer going to be able to move to Mississippi  in December as we had hoped. Although these setbacks were very discouraging, Mitch and I are very confident in God's timing and His desire for us remain where we are for the time being. In addition, we are very confident in the power of prayer and we are remaining hopeful that God will hear our prayers and quickly finish out our last bit of support!

For those who are unsure of the logistics of support raising, Mitch and I are required to reach 100% of our monthly support goal before we can report to our ministry assignment. As of today, we are sitting at about 83% of this goal. Because Campus Crusade is a nonprofit organization, we receive absolutely no payment from the organization itself. Therefore, it is our responsibility (through God's providence) to raise monthly funds that will cover our salary, ministry expenses, health care, etc. We do this through prayer and asking people to join our ministry team by committing to financially support us monthly.

Mitch and I would greatly appreciate any and all prayer! Please pray that we would remain confident in our calling even amidst discouraging times. Please pray that if it be God's will that we could gain our last 17% of support and hit 100% of our goal. And lastly, please pray that God will continue to grow the ministry at Southern Mississippi and that He would continue to prepare Mitch and I to do His will in Hattiesburg.

The power of prayer

(GA follow up Campus Crusade conference group!)

On October 23rd, Mitch and I travelled up to Norcross, Georgia, for our follow up Campus Crusade conference. The conference is designed to check in with new staff members and assess how well their support raising is coming. In addition, each new staffer there had the opportunity to hear a lecture series on financial freedom and meet with a stewardship counselor. Mitch and I were able to sit down with a financial counselor and plan out things from a personal budget to how we will eventually begin saving for our children's college funds. The things we learned through the financial freedom class as well as the Dave Ramsey financial classes recommendations were a huge blessing to Mitch and I as a newly married couple ("saving for college now?? we don't even have kids yet!")

(First time I've had my married name recognized-@ CCC conference!)

In addition to the financial counseling,  the fellowship, encouragement and convictions that came through that week were also a great blessing for us. After being on the support raising road for three months, it is very easy to get dejected and allow yourself to begin to believe the lies that the enemy is feeding us. One morning at the conference, we got together in groups to write down all of the lies concerning ourselves, God, others, and support raising that we were struggling with. A few of these lies included "God doesn't want me in ministry which is why my support is going slow", "No one thinks I'll be good at ministry so they don't support me", "people think i'm annoying", "people don't want to give", etc. Voicing these lies required each of us to be honest about our fears and our need to build up the Truth that will eclipse all falsities. "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

Of all of these wonderful things we gained out of this conference, the greatest blessing was found in our greatest moment of conviction (funny how that happens). One of the first seminars that we had was on the importance of prayer and support- not just praying during support but praying specifically for your support, supporters, team, etc. The speaker biblically supported the need for us to not only pray about support but to believe that God will answer those prayers. He charged us to pray specific prayers, to pray  for big things, and most importantly to believe that God is powerful enough to act.

Our biggest conviction was this: Because we believe that support raising is based of our work, our prayers are weak and our faith is small.
Our biggest blessing was this: God, and God alone, is responsible for every cent that we raise. Prayer is a powerful thing.

Since the conference, we have begun to pray big prayers and specific prayers (that God will finish our support by December). The conference ended a week ago today, and through the power of prayer and God's graciousness, we have gained 6% of support in the last week- leaving us with only 15% left to go!! God is moving, and He is faithful.

"Commit your way to the Lord, TRUST in Him, and He will act" (Psalm 37:5)

Married life thus far...

Well it is finally official, Mitch and I have been married for two and a half weeks! If anyone needs any marriage advice we are always here :) Just kidding. Married life so far has been absolutely wonderful and the wedding was honestly more perfect than we could have ever hoped for. Mitch's parents were able to come down earlier in the week and finally meet my parents. Mitch and I adamantly agree that we have been incredibly blessed with two sets of wonderful parents and we were so glad that we got to spend the week before our wedding with them. Although it is said that at least one thing will go wrong on your wedding day, September 24 was an absolutely perfect day. Mitch and I were married by Pastor Steve Bateman with our family and friends to witness and celebrate with us.

After the wedding, Mitch and I spent a week in St. John, Virgin Islands. Although it was considered hurricane season in the Virgin Islands, the weather was thankfully beautiful every day. We spent the days exploring the islands, snorkeling, hiking, and lounging on the beach. It was a wonderfully relaxing week and it was hard to jump back into things once we got back.

Mitch and I spoke with our support raising coach last week and she has given us an encouraged goal to be finished with our support raising in the next month. Because Southern Mississippi's cru movement is new, she really wants us to complete our support so that we can be present in Mississippi for the spring semester planning period. As of yesterday, Mitch and I are right at 80% of our monthly support and are needing to raise our last 20% by mid-November. Please continue to keep us in your prayers that we will be able to gain enough monthly supporters and ministry partners in the next month to get us to Southern Miss on time! We are very excited and are very assured that God will provide and we cannot wait to take the next step of this journey together!

Wherever you are- be all there. -Jim Elliot

I cannot decide if I am a terrible blogger, or if there are just not many things to blog about during support raising. As an extremely motivated and active person, support raising has proved itself to be fairly difficult. While I am a person who thrives off of schedules and productivity, support raising is unpredictable and at times, appears to be very unproductive. So far, our journey to raise financial support has been greater than either Mitch and I could've ever imagined. God has blessed us financially through wonderful supporters and he has also placed us in a church where people are reaching out to us and pouring into our lives. We have experienced an overwhelming amount of people who not only support our ministry and encourage us, but are genuinely REALLY excited about our ministry. Excitement is contagious and Mitch and I have definitely been caught up in it.

Normally, it is about this point in a journey in my life that I realize that I am missing a huge lesson that God is trying to teach me. It is at the moment that I am so caught up in my own life, the success of support raising, getting involved in the church, wedding this, wedding that, when it hits me like an train. So naturally, that train came rolling around the bend just the other day.

I have come to learn that being engaged is the best tester of your patience; or so I thought. As much as I have struggled with being incredibly impatient about marrying my best friend, I have found that the impatience that I have for finishing support and reporting to USM is eating me from the inside out. Although God has been slowly pointing out this monstrous sin in my life, I admittedly have been justifying it by telling myself "you are impatient to go serve God on campus; thus it is not impatience at all! but dutiful excitement." (pitiful, I know). However, when God fully shows you your sin unveiled, not only are you unable to justify it, but you cannot even look at it straight on.

At my home church, we sing hymns from the trinity hymnal during our worship. Underneath the title of each hymn, there is a short verse that describes the key point of the hymn. As I sat in church yesterday and turned to the hymn number printed in our church bulletin, the verse at the top of the page caught my eye.

"Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?"

1 Chronicles 17:16

Who am I that God should even give me the opportunity to go into ministry? Who am I that God thinks that I am capable and worthy of being His disciple? Who am I that I have the audacity to tell God that I am too impatient to wait any longer to report to the USM campus? Alone, I am no one and absolutely nothing; what a humbling and shameful moment. 

It was then that I looked up at the hymn title, Amazing Grace. 

"...tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home."

Through grace, God has brought me to this ministry. Through grace, God has brought me to this time of support raising. And it is through grace that God has given me the opportunity to learn the patience to be wholly satisfied wherever he has me.