Five Years!

Dear Friend,

This July is somewhat significant for my ministry: it marks my fifth anniversary on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. Five years has certainly passed… I suppose it would be cliche to say “quickly” but that wouldn’t be sufficient. Two years raising support in Ohio. Three years serving in Orlando. Sixty months, and nearly as many prayer letters.

I’ve struggled with how to condense all I want to say about these last several years into one letter. Or even what to say, for that matter. Perhaps the best thing to do is recount the greatness of the Lord through it all. I look back with awe at what God has done so far, and with anticipation, albeit impatiently, to what he has yet to do.

Countless times I’ve shared with others how God led me from the business world to full-time ministry. I still like the puzzled reaction from my fellow staff when I share that, unlike many of them, I was never involved with Campus Crusade as a student. The short response usually goes something like this: I realized God wanted me to invest my life in building His kingdom; I was convinced of both the spiritual need and potential of the emerging generations of young people; and I believed God had uniquely prepared me to do this using digital media and the internet. Among all the options I considered, Campus Crusade was quite simply the best fit.

There’s an old axiom that success is finding something you love to do and then finding a way to make money doing it. I’ve reflected many times while driving into “work” that this is something I love doing no matter what the pay is. Granted, I don’t enjoy every minute of it and sometimes my world can be downright stressful. But ‘m working and living in a different economy, the King’s economy. My paycheck is provision, not reward.

As often as I wish somehow God would just give me a million-dollar gift so I would never have to raise support again, I also realize the immense benefit I receive by involving others in my ministry. Not only is raising support a means the Lord uses to provide for His workers, it’s also a way that He prepares them for the work He’s given them. I know that’ true for me. And in turn, I’ve realized how my ministry not only benefits those whom we seek to reach, but also the people who partner with me in ministry.

I came into this ministry with a basic vision for what God was calling me to do. Our world has changed in the last five years: 9/11, war, Katrina, and an ever-changing culture. My ministry and Campus Crusade have changed as well. It has been both a trial and a blessing to see how God has unfolded His plan. I’ve been involved in ministry opportunities that I could have never dreamed of. And I’ve realized that some of the paths God has blocked weren’t where I needed to go — and I’m trying to accept in faith the blockages I don’t understand yet.

Even as I write this, my ministry environment is being transformed and there are many unanswered questions. Yet I know from the my experiences of the last five years that God is in control, He is sovereign, and He will provide the means to see His plan fulfilled.

At this marker in my ministry history, I’ve realized there have been people who have been my ministry partners for five years now. And others who joined later and are every bit as faithful. I am humbled to think about all the prayers and financial provision God ha brought my way. And I am even more humbled to realize that it has nothing to do with who I am, but who He is!

So I want to close by simply saying… Thank you.

Alive in Christ,