January Update
"God, you taught me from my youth, so I am still declaring your awesome deeds. Also, when I reach old age and have gray hair, God, do not forsake me, until I have declared your power to this generation and your might to the next one."
- Psalm 71:17-19 -
Dear Friends and Partners,
Those verses explain why I’m still at it. One million students are leaving the church and the faith each year, so the task is urgent, but your support and prayers help me continue to work in unity with some incredible leaders to lead change for the next generation and I am thankful for all of you.
Locally
+ A team of friends from Oak Grove came down to help us during MLK weekend to re-establish our inner-city ministry at Cuney Homes in Third Ward. With supplies and support from Declaration Church in Spring, and an inflatable gaga pit on load from Chambers Creek Baptist in Grandview we connected with about 85 residents with fun, community, food, music, and the gospel. The staff remarked, “when you come, you bring us such joy”. Special thanks go to Mike and Kayleigh Wallace, Nikki Crites, Holly Burris, Taylor Johnson, Mike Lehnhardt, the Cuney homes board, and our Third Ward Network leader, Angela Knight. We will be returning regularly for discipleship opportunities with pastor David Sincere and more gospel sharing. Our Declaration youth are planning a service day there in April.
+ I still am privileged to lead worship occasionally at Calvary Baptist, Rosenberg, and for Declaration Youth in Spring.
TEXAS & BEYOND
+ The last week of December, I was part of and blessed by “Passion 2023” in For Worth, along with Young Adults from Declaration Church, friends from Louisiana, my son-in-law Jason, and grandson Jacob.
+ I am also able to lead students at Chambers Creek Baptist in Grandview as well as mentor and train their new youth pastor, Anthony Tollette at least once a month.
+ Our “Pray for Texas Schools” Facebook prayer group is a big success with almost 250 members, and we will be sharing that strategy with our NNYM team, with the goal of having an adult and student group in every state by the end of the year. That’s 100 prayer groups across the US! Claim Your Campus and Campus Alliance are allowing me to share this plan with a number of influential ministry leaders on our zoom call February 9th. Beulah Kondur is our point person and moderates the group here in Spring.
+ The second week of January, Carol and I attended our NNYM staff gathering at Word of Life Conference Center in Tampa, Florida. It was the largest staff gathering in our 40-year history. The Lord is increasing our numbers and helping us cover many more areas of the nation with key strategists. Our Texas team shared the research from Movement DFW. We had some powerful worship, strategic meetings, developed plans, and had a bit of down time to enjoy the area as well.
+ Working with Mark Alexander and Jim Runyon from Movement DFW, we sent out close to 1000 invitations to the March 23 Movement Day event at and finalized program staff. We will meet at Dallas Baptist University, and guests will include Billy Beacham (SDM), Greg Stier (Dare2Share), Shane Pruitt (NAMB), Mark Matlock (Movement) Randy Riggins, (Reach Out) and Brad Griffin (Fuller Youth Institute). Area pastors, youth leaders, and laymen in DFW will gather to plan and put into practice actions in response to our research to begin to change the trajectory of student ministry for the next generation beginning with the Metroplex. The plans will be shared with our NxtMove partners, representing top youth leaders from all 10 regions of the globe.
+ Regional coordinator, Kevin Miles and I worked to plan for and enlist key Texas leadership to gather together and strategize at “Accelerate Texas” in Hico on February 23. We will be asking “how can we accelerate networking and campus ministry in Texas this year in order to reach more students?”
+ On January 21, Kevin Miles, Randy Riggins, and I taught Jesus Focused Youth Ministry to a great group of pastors and youth leaders at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. I was privileged to lead and help develop our first implementation workshop.
+ On the last weekend of the month, I had the privilege of being at STORM weekend in Burleson with my long-time friends, and network I helped begin year ago. At Pathway Church, I represented Claim Your Campus, Prayer Walking on campuses, and 9-month mission trip. I even got to enjoy a hot dog meal with my successor, Clint Ables, along with my former youth group and leaders at Oak Grove! They are still incredibly special to me.
INTERNATIONALLY
+ The Lord is using the JFYM strategy across the globe, and YOU have a part in this with us as we train and multiply leaders. I’m so grateful to my friend, Barry St. Clair, for training me almost 50 years ago, and I’m so blessed to continue to be a part of the JFYM team. Along with Network friends, Barry is working with us to update his Campus Ministry book in order to resource and train this generation of youth leaders to see the school campus as a mission field.
+ Through Links International, I will soon be mentoring a key leader in Nicaragua who works with close to 500 students and will be able to multiply to many pastors and youth leaders.
Updates/Prayers
For an incredible year-end, international update with Reach Out, please watch this: https://reach-out.org/year-end-video/
To see our research and learn more about Movement DFW, visit the site. http://movementdfw.com
Please pray for great Kingdom results through our Campus Strategists Zoom Call, Accelerate Texas gathering on Feb. 23, and Movement Day March 23.
Thank you for your generosity that is helping us continue the work of reaching students and training student leaders all across the world.
