Overflow to the glory of God: October 2015

Life in Bozeman is a blessed, crazy, full, sweet, beautiful mess. Or at least that's how I like to look at it :). It has been neat to see the Lord at work in so many ways.

It has been a whirlwind of a fall teaching kindergarten through 7^th grade PE, 7^th grade computers, journalism and yearbook, while also serving as the Athletic Director at Heritage Christian School. There are about 174 K-12th grade students this year and it has been great getting to know a lot of the new students who have come. Both our boys soccer team and girls volleyball team are having their best seasons in school history and we head this weekend to the Fall State Tournament in Kalispell. It has been neat seeing the Lord challenge the players, coaches, parents and myself alike to respond in a way that honors Him and to glorify His name through competition. The Lord tells us to “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23).” Sports and competition have the distinct ability to reveal where our hearts are and I am constantly reminded of the need to rely on Christ each and every moment. This fall the Lord also opened the door to begin working with a couple families from another one of the Montana Christian Athletic Association schools on putting together sports camps for next summer that will use athletics as a platform to share Christ with children in Montana - please pray that the Lord would go before us in this endeavor and that we would be sensitive to His leading in the coming months.

I have also been taking online seminary classes in Global Studies from Liberty University online since May. What an awesome privilege to study God’s heart for the nations from Genesis to Revelation. In addition to studying, the Lord has opened the door to travel to Tanzania, Africa on a mission trip from November 7-21 next month. SO SO SO SO EXCITED! I will be going with a team of 10 from here in Bozeman to serve with two missionary families. Four other members of the team and myself will be going ahead of the team to serve for a couple days at Mavuno Village. The missionary family there had one of their kids at Heritage when they were home for furlough a couple years ago and I had told them then if the Lord ever opened the door to come serve with them I would definitely love to pursue the opportunity, and I am so grateful that He has provided a way to go serve with their ministry. They run a family style orphanage called Mavuno Village (http://mavunovillage.org/). After serving with them for a few days we will go on to serve with another super sweet missionary family that has served in Africa since 2005. We will be doing children’s ministry in various villages and working to complete a pastor’s house. The Lord tells us to "declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples (Psalm 96:3)."

Please pray:

· That God would go before us and prepare the hearts of those we come in contact with to hear and respond to the gospel.

· That our team would serve together in unity and that Christ would be reflected in all we say and do.

· For God to continue to sustain and strengthen the missionaries that we will be serving with and that our team may be an encouragement to them.

We know nothing can happen apart from God’s power and definitely covet your prayers!

Things are also going well with EPIC Ministries, the middle and high school youth ministry we started back in February at church that is focused on reaching students for Christ using outdoor recreation activities (www.epic406.com). We have really tried to challenge the kids to go deeper in Scripture and know why they believe what they believe and to realize the joy and richness of studying the Word. It has been such a blessing doing life with the other two youth leaders, and the students (and families) of those involved in the youth group. Please pray for continued discernment and wisdom as we work with the youth and that we would continually be intentional in building relationships.

Here are some pictures from the past months out here – truly blessed beyond words by the doors the Lord has opened here on the mission field and I cannot wait to see what He has in store in the time ahead.

Back to School Night prayer and worship time at Heritage!

School Chapel!

Started a golf team last spring at Heritage - had 12 7th-12th graders.
Here is the team at the final high school event at Bridger Creek. It
was such a fun season!