Christian Challenge May 2020 Update!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there! Hope you have a blessed day!

How is everyone holding up? What has been hard during the COVID-19 season? What has filled your heart with joy? We’d love to hear from you!

You may have been wondering, what is Challenge up to? What have Mike and Rachel been up to? Let's check in with what's been going on with Challenge first.

Students finished up finals week and had an online graduation in the form of a compiled video last weekend. The college plans to host an in-person graduation for them at the end of August.

With most students heading home early, we haven't been able to see many in person but we did get to spend some socially-distanced time with one of Mike’s seniors who came back in town to pack up his apartment.

It's been a strange semester with COVID-19. Mike actually ended up getting sick January 20th. Due to a glitch in the Colorado healthcare system, we got dropped by our health insurance so he couldn't go in and get any testing. Our new insurance wouldn't cover us until February 1st. Talk about bad timing.

We actually kind of laugh about it, though. We had an adoption meeting up in Grand Junction. We thought of staying the night there but Mike had a rescheduled hockey game in Durango the next day he didn't want to miss. His team was going to be short players if he didn't make it. So we did the 10-hour roundtrip drive all in one day so that he could make the game. Being that we didn't have insurance, I was worried that he'd end up getting hurt in his game, and he wouldn't be covered. He assured me that he'd be very careful and not mix it up with dirty players on the other team. To Mike's credit, he was very careful and came away from the game without any injuries.

But he did come away with an illness from one of his teammates who infected nearly half of the guys on the team who showed up. Two days later, Mike came down with a 103 degree temperature. It broke after three days but left him also with a pneumonia-like illness that lasted a couple of weeks. Somehow, Mike still got his workouts in even during the fever. Getting back to running was a little more difficult with the pneumonia.

It was also bad timing because we had a retreat that next weekend where Mike had to lead a session on missions. He went but made sure he social distanced as best as he could. I guess he was doing it before it was cool. The retreat went well. The overall focus was on discipleship.

We had former students video in to share about their discipleship experiences, and the impact it had on their lives. It ended up being really encouraging for our students to hear. And who knew that the social distancing and video chats would soon be our new normal?

Despite this being a weird semester, we were still able to get in one of our most popular events. We rent out the movie theater room on campus and watch the Super Bowl on a huge screen. It's a pretty cool experience and always brings in new students. Being a Chiefs fan, this year was pretty special.

Not long after the Super Bowl, our group helped out with Night to Shine, a prom for people with special needs. Our numbers were a little lower than normal but it was still a good time and a great way for our students to share God's love.

Our family dinners were strong this semester. We had a solid group of students coming. Unfortunately, the dinners we put on had to be put on hold. Obviously, you can't have thirty students coming over to the house when things are locked down. We look forward to getting back to having students over next fall.

The Summit Worship Night went well this past semester. Mike lead worship and Aleksandr was brining the message out of Mark. It stayed small but we've got a good committed group of returning students to build with next fall.

Mike and Josh headed up to Colorado Springs at the end of February to meet with other directors from across the state. It's always a good time of fellowship, encouragement, and planning.

Fort Lewis College had spring break March 13th-22nd. A group of nine from our ministry went down to Juarez, Mexico to serve at the James R. Ganley School. Gilberto and his wife, Maria, started and run a school for elementary children in the area. Challenge has been taking students over spring break for many years in order to help build a middle school and housing for the teachers. It is always a good time working hard, loving on the children and teachers, and fellowshiping with Gilberto and his wife as they pour out their lives for their community.

Here's what a couple students had to say about the trip.

Peyton: My faith, heart, and character has completely changed because of this mission trip to Juárez, Mexico. Nothing stopped us from spreading God's love. Pandemic? Nope. Chance of border closing? Nope. Nothing stood between us! All praise and glory goes to God!

Kristoff: The mission trip to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico was awesome! We spent the days building a house with rooms for the teachers of Colegio James R. Ganley. We had amazing food and times of fellowship as well. The border was going to close the day we were going to leave due to coronavirus, so we had to leave the night before. I am so glad I got to be a part of this fun, hardworking team that glorified God with our hard work and community.

I had hoped to join again this year but we had more meetings with our social worker to keep our adoption moving.

Mike usually works up at Purgatory Ski Resort (45 minutes from home) during spring break as a way to bring in more income and to minister to the ski instructors, many of which are college students, using his gifts and talents. However, the night before he was going to be working, the ski resort closed down.

Shortly after that, our governor shut pretty much everything else down as well. Mike's local hockey league he plays in canceled the season along with our church shutting down and going online.

Students were going to return to campus March 23rd, however the COVID-19 had shut campus down by then. Students have been doing online remote learning since then.

Mike has been able to disciple guys online which has been encouraging in this unknown and strange time. Other than having to learn some new technology, things haven't changed too much with one on one discipleship.

We’ve also been able to video chat with our former student, Rikako, in Japan and encourage one another in the Lord. Our times are full of sharing life, sharing what Jesus is showing us, and growing us in. We share about opportunities He’s given us to share Him with others. We spend time in prayer interceding for the lost people we love, and interceding for boldness to share Him. These times are life-giving and mutually beneficial.

A few staff members put together an Easter Service video for the students with Mike leading worship and Aleksandr preaching. It was compiled and put together by Josh. For being shot on an iPhone, it turned out well. The staff have been teaching doing other short videos on YouTube for the students as well.

This past Monday was the annual Colorado Christian Challenge staff retreat. It's normally held in Colorado Springs but this year, it had to be held through Zoom.

It's a time to meet up with our local directors and staff from across the state. It's normally a time to be encouraged, to be spurred on, to share and exchange ideas with other campuses, and join together in prayer. This year, Josh's dad, Mike Story, and our former state director, Max Barnett, joined us to encourage everyone and share some wisdom.

We are praying about what Challenge will look like moving forward, waiting to see if students will be able to return to campus in the fall or continue online until January 2021. Our staff will be meeting next week to plan out the next fall and have a Plan B if there are not students on campus.

In this lockdown time, I have also baked and packaged 216 decorated cut-out sugar cookies for an adoption fundraiser.

We've also started painting the interior of our home since it hadn't been done since 2005. There has been spring yard clean up. I've spent much time in prayer and sending out notes of encouragement as well.

Apart from that, we have been taking time to rest. Something we haven’t done since before the school year started in August. Coupling ministry with pursuing adoption (a full-time job in itself) has been extra taxing and stressful. A break with a much slower pace of life was very welcomed.  

We are enjoying getting quality time as a couple during this season. Something that is much less frequent when students are on campus. We’ve both continued to run three times a week on our neighborhood hiking trails. We’ve gotten out a couple of times to hike together. We are enjoying eating dinner together more often now that Mike is home.

Adoption-wise, we are seven months actively in at this point. Honestly, some days are just so emotionally hard, and the setbacks hit a little harder each time. Our timeline continues to expand which is heartbreaking as we’ve been hoping to be parents for over seven years now. We know God is near the brokenhearted though, and He does fill us with His joy. We are grateful that we have an endless amount of people even in this season to pour our lives into and minister to. We know that He works all things together for our good and along the way, He’s been using us to minister to others whose hearts are breaking from long-term unmet desires.

Stay tuned for more adoption updates. We are currently around thirty-five months out until we would get to go meet and pick up our child in country. As with any grief, the times that are hard are really hard but the majority of the time, we really are doing well, enjoying the season we are in.

Thank you for making all the ministry we do possible and being part of God’s Kingdom advancement in the lives of college students. We don’t take for granted your sacrifice to entrust your resources to the Lord and His Kingdom.

We appreciate each one of you and the part you play in reaching college students with the Good News of Christ! Because of you, many have heard for the first time. Many have come into the Kingdom. Many have been supported in their journey. We are so thankful for that!

If you would like to give for the on-going ministry happening at Fort Lewis, please go to: Give Now.

Cheers and God Bless,
Mike and Rachel

Prayer Requests:

- Praise God for the growth we have seen in our students! We've got a solid core that I think we can build with.

- Pray that God would continue to grow our current student-leaders and provide us with new ones to replace those who have just graduated. It's so important to have student-leaders who buy in to what God is doing on campus.

- Pray for our students that God would continue growing them and keeping them strong in their faith. The summer can be a really rough time for students when they go home. Many have family situations that aren't good. For some, they don't have much of a support system at home for their faith. Sadly, students often take a step back in their walks with Christ during the summer.

- By spring break, we had some students that were really close to accepting Christ. It was tough seeing the semester cut short knowing how close those students were. It's especially tough knowing that some of those students we may never see in person again. Be praying that the Holy Spirit would continue working on those students' hearts and water the seeds that have been planted over the past year.

- Pray that God would help us learn how to connect better with the new generation of students that are arriving on campus. Generation Z is in full force on campus, and they are different than students we have seen in the past. They are a generation that has grown up with technology. It influences how they ask questions, how they seek information, and how they interact with community.

- Being Christians, we are in a spiritual battle. When you do ministry, you become a bigger target in that battle. Keep praying for us and our team that God would protect us from any spiritual attacks. Pray that God would give us the strength and encouragement to endure. Also pray for everyone praying for our ministry because when you pray for the ministry, you become a bigger target as well.

- Over the years, our staff has had a lot of health issues that can really be a discouragement. Pray that God would keep our staff safe and healthy.

- We will be losing two staff members. Rachel Horton and Anna Trbovich are stepping away. Rachel is taking a discipleship position with her church. Anna is getting her real estate license. They've been a huge part of the success we've had as a ministry and they'll certainly be missed. That will leave us a little short with female staff who can disciple. With the COVID-19 craziness, that has put bringing Rikako over to join our staff and work with international students on hold as well. Be praying that God would bring us one more female staff that can help disciple our female students.

- Please pray that despite the coming changes, the different ministries on campus would have unity, being team players, with the common goal reaching FLC with the Gospel.

- Speaking of changes, there are a lot of unknowns going into the next semester with with COVID-19. As you know, a lot of students and their families have taken financial hits. Some of our students may not be able to afford to come back next semester. We also don't know if we'll have any international students next semester. They may not be able to get visas. They may also be scared to travel. We don't know. We do know the the college took a major hit with the shutdown. They've apparently lost millions of dollars in all of this. That could mean some big layoffs. Many prospective students haven't even been able to visit campus and do tours. Student numbers could be much lower next year. They may even be stuck doing the first semester online. There are so many unknowns. As a staff, we're doing our best to adapt and have plan A, B, and C just in case. Pray that God would give us wisdom in our planning, and that we'd start to see some clarity soon.

- Pray that Rachel and I would not neglect the ministry that is our marriage. We can be much more successful in our college ministry if our marriage is in a good place. But it's easy to put that on the back burner when things get busy.

- This adoption process has not been easy. It's already taken much longer than it should due to things out of our control. That's certainly wearing on us. Pray that God would give us strength and endurance while working thru this adoption process. Pray also that God would give us favor with the agencies, and that God would help nudge the process along a little faster. Pray that He would connect us with the right child, a child that will be a good fit for our family.

- With us going thru the adoption process now, we thought this would be a good summer to get back to support raising to get our support up to where it needs to be for the ministry and to bring a new child into the family. But then the pandemic happened, and most churches have been closed and moved to online services. So that makes support raising a little tricky. We're currently looking for churches or small groups or friend groups or family groups to share what God is doing thru our ministry if anyone would be willing to connect us. Any open doors would be helpful. We could always share online as well if that works better in this current environment. We live trusting God to provide financially for us and the ministry. We would appreciate you praying that God would provide.  If you would like to give toward the the ministry work we are doing at Fort Lewis, please go to: Give Now.