Monday, September 24, 2012

Maggie's birthday!

Last week wasn't just a big week ministry-wise, it was also a big week for our little Maggie. She turned 1 a week ago!  Here are some pictures from her birthday...

Maggie started taking some steps around her first birthday, but just today she seems to have taken to walking as her primary form of transportation.  Looks like we're in for some changes!
Walking with the help of her Grandmas

Monkey cake!



She ate a whole monkey ear & loved it!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Gustavus MAZE

Ridiculous. The room at Gustavus College was set up with 400 chairs.  We estimated that about 550 students were packed into the room! As at MSU, most stayed around to hear Jim, the Maze illusionists' testimony. As we sorted comment cards, we counted 96 that had checked that they trusted Christ! Incredible.

Yesterday afternoon, we started calling students from MSU who'd left contact info on their comment cards so we could set up meetings to talk with them about their decision to trust Christ. I got 5 appointments set up already for next week with women who were at the Maze! I'm excited to meet with them and hear what they've been processing and how we can help them grow in their new walks with Jesus.

Praise God for how He used this outreach to touch the lives of so many!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

wow.

The ballroom of the MSU centennial student union had 850 seats set up and they were FULL last night for the Maze. As Jim, the performer of the Maze, shared his testimony and offered students the opportunity to trust Christ, 211 students took that opportunity and gave their lives to Christ!

This afternoon, Cru staff and student leaders are gathering at our house to begin calling these students to connect with them, to learn how we can encourage them in their faith, and how we can connect them to Christian community.

The Lord has done a great thing!  The Maze will be again tonight at 7 pm at Gustavus....please pray for a great turn out and for the Lord's name to be lifted high once again!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

the MAZE

Its happening right now! I (Kristin) am home with Maggie, but I just texted Matt to see how the turn out was.  He responded that the ballroom is full!  That means 800 MSU students are positioned to hear a powerful gospel message tonight.  Please take a moment to pray as you read this.  More updates to come!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Pray for the Maze

I (Matt) just wanted to ask that if you get a chance, to please pray for a unique ministry opportunity here. This Wednesday (MSU) and Thursday (Gustavus) nights the Maze will will be performing in front of hundreds of students.  The Maze is a show led by Jim who is an illusionist and also a Christian who is passionate about sharing what Jesus has done in his life.

We have been promoting for the Maze for weeks on campus.  Jim will draw more interest for the evening events by doing "street magic" throughout the campus during the day.  The auditoriums where the Maze will be preforming can seat 800 and 450 respectively.  We are praying that each one of those seats will be filled and that many students will come open to Jim's testimony.

Jim states that the only reason he gets up and tours the country performing is to give an opportunity for many people to hear the Gospel and see how Jesus has transformed his life.  In fact, about an hour into the show there is a short intermission.  He says that anyone is free to go, but for anyone who stays he would like to do a couple more of his illusions and also share about his faith and why it matters so much for him.    

Please pray for this event these next couple days.  Pray for the students coming and for Jim as he prepares for the upcoming days.  Pray that they would clearly hear the Gospel through Jim's testimony.  Pray that we would be able to follow up with students who want to discuss more about faith.

Thank you so much for your prayers!  Blessings

What is a Maze?  A confusing network of massages where a single, interrupted path is the only solution.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

a fun story from yesterday...

Jake (our teammate) and I (Matt) just got done talking to a guy named Garrett. It was a really fun conversation. He came to Cru last night with roommate (his roommate wanted to come because of the Cru cup he got during the first week of class and Garrett was invited by Liz, who's one of our student leaders!). We went through the gospel with him and after we discussed salvation by grace vs by works for a while he realized he had never trusted in Christ before. So, in the Preska lobby he prayed (to himself and the Lord) to trust Christ as his Savior and Lord! Another cool thing is he sounds really excited about Fall Retreat and he went to Facebook and liked Mankato Cru right after our conversation! Praise the Lord for a new brother in Christ.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

the results are in!

These numbers include all Cru summer projects, both stateside and overseas...so fun that we got to be part of seeing so many lives changed!

4000 (!!!) men and women received Christ through PERSONAL gospel conversations on summer projects around the world! 

Over 7000 men and women received Christ because of hearing the gospel through a GROUP presentation!!

"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" John 1:12

Friday, September 7, 2012

As I write, Matt is at a root beer kegger that Cru is sponsoring for students tonight to build community and to have some fun together. I'm home (because Maggie is sleeping!) but I have a stack of surveys from international students next to me. We're having a Cru tailgate tomorrow for MSU's first home football game and thought it'd be fun to introduce internationals to 'tailgating' :) I'm going to email them right after I finish this post. I'm pretty sure at least a few are coming so far!

This has been another fun week....our team leader, Jake, shared the gospel clearly during his talk at Cru on Tuesday and invited students to put a check mark on their contact cards if they trusted Christ. Four girls indicated that they had!  I get to meet with two of them on Tuesday. I'm excited to hear more about their decision and to help them get more connected with Cru so they can keep growing in their walks with Jesus. If you think to pray for them, their names are Halley, Shannon, Anna, and Gianna.  Thank you for your prayers! God is moving here around Mankato!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Over Labor Day weekend we had the chance to travel to visit Matt's family in Alexandria. The lake was starting to get cold, but our adventurous daughter loved it anyway! She also took her first step over the weekend! Our world might be changing soon....! Here are some pics...