Fore! [by Amanda]

The Lord works so mysteriously! Over the last few years, I have seen Him use golf balls on several different occasions. This Sunday, I saw Him work again through another random golf ball during our Club 121 game night.

We had just put pizza on our plates and were looking for a place to sit, when we spotted the open couch. As we sat down the girl I was sitting next to spotted a random golf ball on the floor. Since she had heard that Jonathan had proposed to me using a golf ball, she started asking me questions about our relationship.

For the next several minutes, I had the pleasure of sharing about God’s providence in drawing Jonathan and me together. As she asked questions, I talked about God’s ongoing work and how our marriage has been a refining process in my life. I enjoyed telling her how our faithful God uses those moments of trial to mold us more into Christ’s likeness. At the end of the evening, she came up to me and thanked me for our conversation. She even asked if we could talk again sometime later.

I went home so encouraged! In many ways, it has been a real struggle to connect to the students at Louisburg, but the Lord is faithful. He continues to reinvigorate us and fill us with hope when we need it. I have no idea why there was a golf ball on the floor that night, but I do know that the Lord used it to open a door that had not been opened before.

Happy St. Patrick's Day,

March prayer requests

· YMI — (YouthFront Mission Institute) Continue to pray for wisdom as we plan. We are in contact with several different missionaries to possibly partner with. Pray for clear direction as to where the Lord desires us to serve. Also, pray that the Lord would be directing the students that He wants to come in the fall. Finally, we still need another female staff person.

· Club 121 — Praise the Lord for relationships that we are building! Continue to pray for the students who are attending the weekly Bible study. Pray that God’s light would shine through them on campus and in their homes. Finally, pray for wisdom to know how to challenge them.

· Camp — We are still in the process of recruiting and hiring cabin leaders and a cabin leader supervisor assistant. Pray for wisdom as we interview applicants. Also, the curriculum for camp is changing a little this summer, and it will affect cabin leaders in several different ways. Pray that we would be able to fully prepare the cabin leaders for this transition.

· Family — We just had a sonogram yesterday, and found out that the baby is currently over 5lbs and seems to be healthy. We have just over 5 weeks before it is due! Continue to pray that this new chapter in our lives would draw us into a deeper relationship with Christ. As our baby will depend so heavily on us in the first months, pray that our eyes would be opened to our total dependence on Christ.

P.S.

If you haven’t sent us your prayer requests, please email us.

God's Mission and Ours

Looking at the room of college students, I asked “What is the mission of God? Why did He create the world and seek to redeem a people for Himself?”

On Saturday, I led a workshop for University of Missouri students in Columbia. I challenged them to consider thoughtfully how their mission in life lined up with God’s mission in the world.

God’s mission is to be glorified! In other words, He wants all His diverse excellencies to be seen, cherished, and reflected by the people whom He created. He wants all His people to know, in an experiential way, not simply in their head, the love and joy which exist within the Godhead. Just as the moon does not simply absorb the light of the sun, but reflects it, so we also reflect the glory of God when we participate in this wild river of love and joy.

The result of knowing God’s love and joy is like the result of a bottle of pop being shaken up and opened. Fizz everywhere! We should ooze the love and joy of Jesus if we truly know him. When we do this, He is glorified.

This should be our mission: fizz, ooze, and overflow the love and joy of Jesus! When we do this, we participate in God’s mission to glorify himself!

For college students, their mission may be to love the student on their dorm floor. For dads and moms, glorifying God in your home means overflowing God’s joy and love on your children. Every person’s application will be different. However, for all of us, the most important application is to know, love, and rejoice in God. If we aren’t taking in God’s glory, we cannot reflect it.

February Prayer Requests

YMI (YothFront Mission Institute) - Continue to pray for wisdom as we plan. Pray we would find missionaries to partner with. Also, ask God to prepare the hearts of the students who will be coming. Finally, we really need a female full-time staff member to partner with us. Pray for patience and wisdom as we search.

Club 121 - Pray specifically for the high school students that we are meeting with on a weekly basis. Pray that God’s light would shine through them on campus and in their homes. Finally, pray for wisdom to know how to challenge them.

Camp - Recruiting for cabin leaders is going well, but there is still a lot to get done before camp starts. Pray we will have wisdom as we hire. Also, pray that more male students would apply for the cabin leader position. Finally, ask God to send a Cabin Leader Assistant to work with Jonathan this summer.

Fellowship - Pray for unity as we decide where the Lord wants us to fellowship with others on Sunday morning.

Family — Amanda is looking more and more pregnant each day. With just over 8 weeks left, things are starting to get a little uncomfortable. Continue to pray for the health of her and the baby. Also, pray that God would continue to prepare us for the role of parenting. Ask God to reveal areas of sin and struggle in our lives that we do not want to pass on to the next generation.

Oops

Well,

Yesterday I discovered that we made a couple major errors on our last newsletter. The biggest of which is that the template refers to "OUR MINISTRY IN MINNEAPOLIS". Well, in case you didn't know... we're in Kansas City. Often when we are putting together newsletters, we use a template from previous years. I liked the colors of last year's January newsletter, so we decided to use it again.

We've been known to have a few spelling errors here and there, but nothing this major. In all honesty, its a little embarrassing, but I'm sure most people who write newsletters as often as we do make the same mistakes sometimes.

Oh well, its worth laughing aboutt..... about.

Jonathan

Beginning the Third Trimester!

I thought you might like to see a picture of my wife's belly! We're do April 11th. This month we found out about yet another couple who is pregnant with us. The total is now 9 couples who will be embarking on the journey of parenthood in the next 7 months.