Greetings! We hope all of you are well! The school year is flying by! Spring break has come and gone. So has Easter. The end of the school year will be here before we know it.
We've got some big news but first, I'll give a quick update on how the ministry is going.
Our conference in Colorado Springs over Christmas break was great. We had around 300 students there. It was awesome for them to hear from Nik Ripken, author of Insanity of God and Insanity of Obedience.
He spoke on living a resurrected life amongst crucifixion. Basically, how do you live for the Gospel in a world that will bring persecution against Christians? And is Jesus worth it to live the Gospel under persecution?
In American Christianity, many often live a somewhat sheltered life when it comes to what Christians are enduring in the rest of the world. It was very eye-opening and challenging for our students to hear personal stories from Nik about his time working with persecuted Christians in closed countries.
Upon returning to Durango, Rachel and I both came down with Omicron. Rachel was mostly over it in 48 hours. I got it a little worse with a 104 degree fever that eventually came down but hovered around 101-102 for about five days. Then there was just a lot of coughing over the next week or two.
Thankfully, Fort Lewis pushed the start of the semester back a week at the last minute. It was perfect timing. I healed up just in time to get back on campus.
The semester thus far has gone really well. Our numbers are a little smaller than last semester but that tends to happen in the spring. The students we have coming and the students we meet with weekly are very committed.
One of the students I've been meeting with is Joseph. He's one of our leaders and has really stepped up this year. He's been a huge help. We're currently going thru James at the moment. As a senior, he's praying about what God wants for his future. He will graduate with a degree in education. We've offered him a spot on our staff but it sounds like he may go the teaching route at this point. He's open to volunteering with us if he stays in the area, though.
Andy is another of our students who is graduating. Aleksandr has been meeting with him. Andy's been one of our most consistent over the years and we, as a ministry, even got to baptize him last year. We'll be sad to see him go, but we're excited to see where God takes him after college.
Despite us losing some really committed students to graduation, God has provided us with new students who are already stepping up. Amanda is one such student Jen met with last semester. Due to her job, we unfortunately didn't see much of Amanda last semester at our group events.
This semester, Amanda worked it out so that she wasn't working the nights when we do things. She's been great at inviting new people. She's also taken over our social media which was sorely needed. It's been a struggle to keep those things updated since students migrated away from Facebook into other apps. When I asked her if she really wanted to do it, she replied, "I'm a yearbook kid. I love this stuff!" It's awesome to have her help, and I'm excited to see how God is going to use her in the ministry going forward!
Speaking of students, we had some former ones come in town to help out at our retreat. William and Chelsea were able to share with our current students about the importance discipleship has had in their lives and what that looks like now that they're in the work world.
We're very thankful for how God continues to work in William and Chelsea's lives!
In other news, we just had spring break recently. It's become a Challenge tradition to take students on a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico during the break. This year, Aleksandr took five of our students down there. Colorado Mesa University Challenge and San Juan College Challenge joined them on the mission trip bringing their own students. In total, they had 16 people on the team including our former students, Randi who is the director of Challenge at SJC and Rachel who is on staff with Challenge at CMU.
The team worked at a school in Juarez helping it rebuild after a recent fire. The school is run by missionaries and provides free eduction for the kids in the area. Having such a big team, they made a lot of progress and even got to share the Gospel with the local students!
By all accounts, it was a great trip and some of our students are even praying about serving down there after they graduate.
While Aleksandr was with students in Mexico, Rachel and I were back in Colorado speaking at churches. We were able to report on what God is doing on campus. We had such a great time sharing and getting to meet new people. It was a blessing and an encouragement!
Now, onto some more exciting news. Most of you know Rachel and I have been in the adoption process for over two and a half years patiently (or sometimes maybe impatiently) waiting for God's timing to be matched. Well, we were finally matched! Our boy is almost eighteen months old.
Though it could be sooner, we're most likely looking at another year and a half before we can pick him up from Thailand. Compared to the time we've already been waiting, it feels like a year and a half is going to fly by, especially with us staying busy filling out grants to cover the last bit of funding we'll need for travel. We praise God for our boy and that He has provided funding to cover both of the agencies we're working with!
Overall, we're excited for what God is doing in our lives and on campus! He has been very good to us. Despite Christmas break bouts with COVID and a torn tricep during my hockey season, we're in fairly good health.
The ministry is going well. We've got a lot of great folks who love us, and support us and the ministry. We feel very blessed!
We appreciate each one of you, and the part you play in our lives and 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 gotten serious about their faith. Many have been supported in their faith journey. We are so thankful for all of that!
If you would like to give for the on-going ministry happening at Fort Lewis or our adoption, please go to: Give Now.
God Bless,Mike and Rachel
-As students finish up their last projects and take their finals, it can be a stressful and time-consuming part of the year. Unfortunately, time spent growing in their faith can wane. Pray for our students that God would continue growing them and keeping them strong in their faith as they head into summer break.
- Unfortunately, the Peru mission trip has once again been pushed back due to COVID restrictions down there. It's now planned to occur in October possibly. In becoming the Challenge director, it's going to be extremely difficult to make the trip happen for us. Rachel and I getting matched in our adoption earlier than we were expecting also makes things tricky as, though unlikely, we could need to be traveling to Thailand to pick up our boy by then. So for now, it looks like we'll be needing to hold off on any international mission trips. We leave the door open for God to surprise us but we'd need some pretty clear leading on that if an opportunity were to arise and work schedule-wise. Pray for the friends we've worked with in Peru over the years that God would provide for them thru the drastic lockdowns they have seen, and that God would use them to be lights to their communities in any way they can be despite restrictions.
- 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.
- In the past, our staff has had a lot of health issues that can really be a discouragement in trying to do ministry. It's hard to do ministry when your health isn't well. Thankfully, COVID hit us at a good time while we were still on break. My tricep tear didn't keep me from playing guitar at our worship nights either...or playing hockey.
- Over the years, my wife has continued to disciple Rikako, one of our former Japanese students, who is now back in Japan. They still video chat every week or two going over scripture together. Recently, Rikako filled out the paperwork to apply for a green card for America. The hope is that if she can get it, she can join us on staff and reach the Japanese foreign exchange students who come to campus. She will find out in May if she can continue the process of applying for the green card. It would be great to ask God for favor for Rikako with the American government but we also just want her to be wherever God can use her the most, whether in America or in Japan.
- Unfortunately, Aleksandr will be shifting out of his staff role at the end of this semester. With that, he'll have more time to focus on the church he is pastoring, have more time for his family, and be able to take more seminary classes online. Thankfully, he's still going to help out with our worship nights. But with him stepping away for the most part and Josh and Jen now in Oklahoma, we're pretty thin when it come to staff. It will just be Rachel and me. I've been brainstorming how to make the ministry work if Rachel and I end up needing to go to Thailand to pick up our boy during the school year. Thankfully, we have some time to figure that out. Rebuilding our staff would really help, though. Pray that God would provide us some new staff or volunteers that could step in to help us out with the ministry.
- For years, Challenge has done everything possible to preserve unity on campus between us and other ministries knowing that division opens the door for the enemy to attack and try to tear down what God is doing. Please pray that the ministries on campus would continue to have unity, being team players, with the common goal reaching FLC with the Gospel.
- 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.
- Pray that God would give me wisdom to lead in a way that is fruitful for His kingdom.
- The adoption process is in full swing, and after being matched, we now see a light at the end of the tunnel. Please be praying that things would run smoothly. That God would provide the final funding for the adoption. That there would be no snags or surprises with the adoption process. Pray that God gives us favor throughout the process, and that God would already be working on our little boy's heart stirring a passion for Him.
- Pray that God would open the door for us to partner with more churches and individuals. In the past, Josh and Jen have raised a big portion of our ministry budget. With me stepping into the director position, that's now going to be up to me to raise that budget. Rachel and I trust God to provide for our family and the ministry but we'd appreciate you praying as well that the funding needs would be met. If you would like to give for the on-going ministry happening at Fort Lewis or the adoption, please go to: Give Now.
