August Newsletter

It's August already, and the end of summer is in sight. What a full summer it has been! Here are some updates:

Summer Venture

What a fun time I've had with the summer ministry. Getting knocked down while attempting to tag a buffed-up teenage dude during a game of Flag Football . . . watching students and staff attack each other with jello during JelloFest (yep. I was conveniently occupied during that one) . . . hearing students ask random strangers at the mall, "Are you the Blue Lagoo?" (Long story . . . one of those "you had to be there to appreciate it" kinda things). Besides the fun, it was great to interact with students in a more casual environment and to watch them grow as they had the opportunity to share the gospel or their life testimonies with a group of their peers.

I have included a selection of photos from Summer Venture outreach events for your viewing pleasure.

Top Row (L-R): A group of Carrollton girls at the Stonebriar Mall, where we had our Human Scavenger Hunt (The Blue Lagoo); Two bums we brought off the streets . . .oh, wait, never mind. That's Brooke and Jeremy, SV staff, in their disguise (they were impostors of the Blue Lagoo); Me (shouldn't be hard to recognize) posing with Lauri (the actual Blue Lagoo) and Katy, who's also on staff with SV.

Bottom Row (L-R): Plano, Frisco and Carrollton girls in all their glory after throwing jello at one another; Me and a student from Carrollton at a pool party; Jordan (during a gospel presentation) using a skit to demonstrate how God reached down to us.

Personal Growth

God has been taking me through a personal lesson on Grace--the extent of it; the beauty of it. Grace is a word I have been so familiar with, particularly in the past few years. Each time I share the gospel, I quote Ephesians 2:8:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

The wonderful truth is--we are not only saved, but also sustained through grace. Isn't that great? I forget this sometimes, and I find myself focusing on "doing" things for God instead of just resting in His grace (kind of like Martha in the Bible). I recently read somewhere that rather than trying to do things for God, we should be allowing Him do His work through us.

Hope some of this makes sense to you because it's been making me excited lately :)

Prayer Requests

• I need your prayers in earnest as we prepare to select and challenge potential student leaders for the coming school year. More and more, the Enemy seems to be throwing in distractions in the way of high school students to keep them from being committed to living for Christ. Please pray thay we would be able to help students consider their priorities from an eternal perspective.
• Please pray for wisdom for me to be discerning in selecting faithful, available, and teachable girls to disciple for the next year. This is essential for spiritual multiplication.
• Our final Summer Venture outreach is this Monday. Please pray that many students would come to know the Lord, be challenged to make Christ known, and commit to living for Him once school resumes.

That's all for now, folks :) My love and prayers are with you all. Please let me know if there is anything specific I can agree with you about in prayer.

To Live is Christ!!!

(Philippians 1:21)