January 23rd, 2008

Here is an urgent prayer request!

The four single staff women on our team here at the University of Arizona all live in a house in the same neighborhood as me. This morning, we got a call from them that their house had been broken into. This is following two incidents last semester where the girls had their cars broken into and their radios stolen. Three of the girls had their computers stolen, and one had her purse taken.

1. Pray that the police would recover the computers. None of the girls had backed up their data.

2. Pray that no further harm would come on these women as a result of having their personal information stolen.

3. Pray for the sense of safety and well-being for these women in their home.

4. Pray for their ministry. This is an important time in our ministry and Satan is clearly using this to attack them.

January 16th, 2008

Another semester begins today!

As I said in my newsletter, I have been praying that this would be an important semester of spiritual growth for the guys I meet with. My desire is that they would "flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." Would you pray that these guys would be pursuing God's heart, growing daily in intimacy with him?

I will (I promise!) be updating this blog every Wednesday. My plan is to give an update on a different guy each week with specific prayer requests.

Here is a prayer request for an event that I am helping to coordinate. I am hoping to bring all the campus ministries together for 24 hours of prayer...6 pm Friday until 6 pm Saturday. This event would be the kickoff for forty days of 24/7 prayer on campus. Is that not exciting?

1. Would you pray that God would give the ministries united hearts of prayer for our campus?
2. Would you pray that God would excite students from each ministry to help out with the project?
3. Would you pray that God would use this event to spark revival on our campus?

That last one is a big prayer, but I feel that God is poised to work in powerful ways on our campus. The University of Arizona needs your prayers!

Here is a prayer for me (taken from Ephesians)

"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel."

November 7th

Sorry that I haven't updated my prayer blog lately. It has been several weeks, and I have been meaning to do it every two weeks. I will try to be more regular.

Here are some requests:

1. This weekend we have a big trip to build houses in Mexico. It is an important trip because there will be many non-Christian friends of ours coming along. Also, it is a chance for our students to experience another culture.
--Pray for all the details, that they would wrap themselves up well
--Pray for our non-Christian friends that are coming, that they would experience the love of Jesus.

2. Our ministry is experiencing some growing pains. Would you pray for unity amongst our students, and also for wisdom for the staff team as we ponder some changes?

3. On a personal note, my girlfriend broke up with me this past weekend. Would you pray for my heart, for healing, and also for strength during these next few busy days?

October 10th

Jonathan "Louisville" Stewart is a freshman. I have written about hims a couple times before, but we have been meeting together for about a month and I am encouraged by his eagerness to grow. Here is a picture of Jon:



Jon and another student in our ministry, Tyler, have become great friends. One of our prayers as a staff team is that we would have a strong freshmen class that is very unified. So far, we have a lot of freshmen, but they are not yet very unified. I have been praying that Jon and Tyler would become leaders within the freshmen class.

Here some requests:

1. Blessing for the time I spend with Jon.

2. For Tyler and Jon's friendship, that they would encourage each other and grow together.

3. For our freshmen class, that they would continue to grow in unity and passion for sharing their lives with the lost.

September 26th

God is good, wise, and powerful.

1. Would you pray for me? Being in ministry for the first time is a challenging experience, and it seems like lately all of my issues are sort of drifting up to the surface--fears, insecurities, etc. Pray that I would be open and share with my staff team all of my struggles.

2. I met a student named Jonathan early in the year. It has been exciting to continue to meet with him and get to know him better lately. We have been going over some passages from the Bible lately on the importance of intimacy with God. He has several non-Christian friends on his hall that he is trying to reach out to. Would you pray for Jonathan, or "Louisville" as we call him, and his friends Rick and Tyler?

3. I am heading off to Tuscaloosa, Alabama next Wednesday (Oct. 3rd) to visit my girlfriend. Would you pray for that trip?

September 19th

Praise God for his goodness and his mercy! I am grateful for my friends and family.

Every Thursday night, I have been hanging out with a group of guys from a dormitory on campus called Manzanita. This is the dorm that I lived at during my first year at the University of Arizona, and also a dorm where I had several contacts last year.

Two of these guys profess Christ...but neither of them are living very well. Both drink and party on the weekend and show little evidence of the the Lordship of Jesus in their lives. But they are both very interested in reading the Bible, and even having other non-Christian kids on their hall come along as well.

One of these guys is the president of a new fraternity on campus called Sigma Chi. This frat is one of the oldest and most established in the country, but was kicked off of our campus several years ago because of hazing problems. This guy has been working hard and recruiting hard to re-establish the frat and get a pledge class of over 25 guys.

Would you pray for Duo? He is a man of influence and seems open to the gospel. Working with him will give me access to the entire fraternity.

Other students that I have met that might be interested in reading the Bible are Bobby, Casey, Dane, and Matt. Would you be praying for my Thursday nights, that God would bless my efforts and show mercy to these guys?

September 12th

Some crazy things have been happening at the University of Arizona.

1. On our camping trip, one of the cars got into an accident, and two of our students were seriously injured. Although both have no permanent damage, it was a scary incident. One of them was one of my best friends and a former roommate, Rich Redel. Pray for a speedy recovery for Rich and Erin.

2. In an incident that made national news, a student in one of the dormitories was stabbed to death by her roommate, apparently upset by some allegations of stealing. Both girls were of Navajo descent, and the killer had actually filled out one of our surveys. Krista, one of our staff girls, had followed up the survey; the girl, Galareekah, and come and hung out with us for a night. Because of this, Krista and Bryce had the opportunity to visit the girl in jail and share the gospel with her. Pray for Galareekah.

It seems that Satan is not happy with what God is doing at the University of Arizona, and is strongly opposing it. This is both an encouraging sign (because it means God is moving here) and a warning. The students here and our whole staff team need protective prayer!

3. My Bible study is up and running with about seven or so students coming each week. This study is for students with Christian background. Here are some requests I have regarding the study.
-For Danny, my co-leader, as he leads a Bible study for the first time
-That the guys in the study would bond as a team
-For each one of the guys...Jonathan, Kyle, Jose, Richie, Adam, Colton, Justin