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

August 29th

Praises:

1. God seems to have given a large freshmen class of guys, something we had been praying for all summer!

2. We had our first NavNight on Friday, attended by over 100 people. I had to think of my first NavNight three years ago, right after I transferred to Arizona. That year, we had about 20 people at the first NavNight. God has blessed our ministry through growth, but has allowed to retain a real community feel.

3. My first Bible study was Monday night, attended by six guys. All of us were cramped into a tiny dormroom. All the guys seemed excited and eager to grow!

Requests:

1. For retention of the guys that we have. Pray that they will get plugged in with the older students and with each other.

2. That the freshmen class as a whole will bond together.

3. Tomorrow night (Aug. 30th) I will be hanging with a sophomore kid who might be interested in putting together a non-Christian Bible study for this semester.

4. Pray for wisdom in the way I invest my time. I am still new to this, and trying to figure out how best to use the time I have!

August 22nd

School is up and running! By Sunday, the dorms were filled, and the first day of classes was Monday. So now we have 40,000 undergrads walking around the unbearably hot campus (yesterday was around 105!).

It is neat to see God already answering some prayer requests...so far we have had around 60 men express interest in Bible studies! Likely the number who actually get involved will be smaller, but if even half of them get plugged in, we will have 10 students in each of our three Bible studies.

I am leading a freshmen study with a friend of mine named Daniel De La Huerta.



Daniel and I enjoying a lighter moment during our last Spring Break trip.

Prayer requests:

1. For protection for our staff team. God is moving at the University of Arizona, and the Enemy is not happy about it!

2. For the freshmen guys. We will be continuing to follow them up throughout the rest of this week. Our prayers have been for 8 guys in each study, but God can do immeasurably more than that!

3. For rest and refreshment--we are working really hard right now, and it gets exhausting.

August 15th

Today is the first day of the beginning of the school year!!!!!!!1


Basically, the next three weeks are going to be crazy. This is planting season, and the most important time of the year. Students start relationships at the beginning of their freshman year that will influence the rest of their time in college.

Pray for...

1. Endurance and Perseverance during these busy days.
2. Good contact with freshmen--especially the guys.
3. I am a bit of an introvert, and meeting lots of new people is stressful for me. Pray for energy and joy, and confidence in meeting new friends.


Above all, pray that God would be glorified by our actions on campus, and that he would use our best efforts to bring many men to faith in Christ!