We spent our last day on campus yesterday (Thursday). It was hard to believe that our summer labors on campus are over! We had to say goodbye to some first year students which was tough. Yesterday we had a “Word Feast.” Basically a Word Feast is a three hour time period of feasting out on God’s Word. We went through 1st Peter with the Wits students, they seemed to really like it. Peter directs the churches in Asia minor to set their eyes on Christ’s example and the imperishable inheritance that we have through Christ. He exhorts them to live in holiness and to endure well through trial and suffering. It was a rich time for me.

Today we are leaving to go to a leadership retreat for the Wits students. It is a three day event that was setup in order to better equip student leaders at Wits for the upcoming semester. Our team has the privilege of attending the event. It will be a bitter-sweet time for me. The retreat will be very enjoyable, however this will be the last time I get to spend time with these students I have spent the last six weeks with. I am really going to miss these guys.

After the leadership retreat our team is staying around to do some “mercy ministry.” I’m not sure to what capacity we will be serving. However, we will be in a pretty poor part of South Africa, just outside of Johannesburg. Pray that God would allow us to love the people we will serve (Micah 6:8). We will then depart from there and come back to the guest house. Then we will repack and take off for a leisurely stroll through the African plain…A.K.A. a safari! This should be pretty sweet. I told my mom that we would be hunting some of the big game here in Africa, but unfortunately I don’t think they are going to let us After our safari, which will be three days long, we will come back to the guest house for a two-day summer debriefing. We will depart on the 29th of June at 9:30pm South African time. Wow! I cannot believe how fast it has gone!

Well I have had very limited access to the internet recently.  I apologize for not updating my blog sooner.  Even now I have a very limited connection and only a few minutes to write this.  The last two weeks have been incredible.  Ministry on campus has been great.  Roy and I have had some really neat conversations with Wits students, both non-believers and believers.  There have been 9 Wits students who have professed Christ!  Pray that these are legitimate conversions.  Most of the first year students have left this week from campus.  However the other older believers are still on campus finishing out their exams.  We have had some great time with them the last couple days.

The content that we have been studying through this summer has completely opened my eyes to true, genuine growth in Christ.  This is somewhat difficult to explain during the short time that I have to write this.  Just know that God is working at the core of my soul and it is unexplainable.  This week on campus will be spent with the older Campus Outreach students who are leaders on the campus.  This will be the last week we get to spend with them until they leave to go home.  Pray that I would give myself entirely to them, that I would return from campus exhausted.

This upcoming weekend we have a student leadership retreat with several of the older Campus Outreach Wits students.  It should be pretty powerful.  Pray that students would be able to come and that the retreat would move students to give their lives away to other students.  I have been asked to be the MC as well.  Please pray for that too, often times I have no idea with what is funny in this culture and what isn’t haha!  God is incredibly good!  His mercies are new every morning! Lam 3:23-24

Parents, sorry I wasn’t able to call.  I will do my best to call soon when our internet connection starts working better.  Love you guys, miss you!

Another week has gone by and I cannot believe it. I have gotten used to our weekly routine. We spend long days on campus and then come back to the Guest House exhausted! This week has been a little slower than the previous two weeks on campus. Final exams have started at Wits and they last for four weeks. This was the first week so many students were off studying. Although it was a slow week and frustrating at times, God grew me through it and proved his faithfulness.

There were four more students who surrendered their lives to Christ as Lord and Savior! Their names are Alex, Chavi, Zinzi, and Wendila (Mlu and Lwazi surrendered their lives last week). Please pray that their conversions are genuine and they begin to bear good fruit, for a tree is known by its’ fruit (Matthew 12:33).
I have been challenged this week with being uncomfortable. I naturally seek comfort no matter where I am or what I am doing. Even though this is not necessarily bad, it does become a problem when I trade being comfortable for stepping out on faith. I am convinced that stepping out on faith and being uncomfortable is exciting. Before Christ, I was a purposeless life going nowhere that would last for any kind of eternity, only temporary. Yet, Christ, compelled by love, lived the life that I should have lived and died the death that I should have died, in order to redeem me and give me a purpose. That is not boring, that is exciting. Even though it means that I will be uncomfortable, I would rather live an exciting, uncomfortable life than a predictable, easy life.

Please pray that I would internalize this. Also, please pray for salvation for the men that Roy and I are ministering to: Pule, Cedrick, Tandile, Odwa, Roger, Tepee, Lelu, Kabelo, and Kacheleho. Also, please pray for the men and women student leaders here at Wits. Pray that they would be equipped to disciple these new believers. This has been such an exciting, eye-opening experience. My prayer is that I would not regress in my walk with God upon my return to the states. Once again, thank you all for your support and prayers! For he came to give life and life in abundance (John 10:10).

            Last week was our first week on campus.  Our typical day on campus begins at 1:00pm with lunch and concludes at about 8:00pm.  This past week we were really trying to go broad by meeting many students, mostly first year students who can help build the ministry in the four years that they are at Wits.  My ministry partner is Roy Scruggs, and I must say that we make a dynamic duo.  We have met most of the students by just knocking on doors in the Men’s Residence that we have been assigned to.  There are four men teams, including us, who are split up between two men’s dorms.

            On Thursday we had a big event called High Definition.  The event involves an opening skit (which some of us American guys performed about dumb Americans traveling to South Africa, the students enjoyed it), a testimony of how God changed someone’s life (Ezekiel 36:26), and an evangelistic talk.  We were told that there were many more students there than normal.  It was pretty neat to see students come out for High Definition!  We thought that was neat until Friday when we invited all the first year student guys out to play soccer.  There was an estimated 60 guys who showed up to play!  South African’s love soccer haha!

            Throughout the week Roy and I were able to engage in several gospel centered conversations.  Along with that we were able to share our testimony with many students as well.  One young man named Luazi made a profession of faith last week.  Yesterday another young man named Mlu made a profession of faith.  Roy and I were privileged to lead him before the throne!  Please pray that God really would transform his heart and place a new spirit within him (Ephesians 1:13-14).  There are many men who we have shared with and are in need of prayer.  Tandile, Odwa, Roger, Cedrick, Pule, Tepee, Kabelo, Kakhleho, Marcus, Alex, Onke, and Cia.  Please beg God for the salvation of these men!

            This past week has been extremely revealing to me.  I am learning more and more what it means to grow in grace.  God has been exposing a lot of sin in my life that I never knew was there, or that I knew was there and I just neglected it.  The more I see how dirty I am, the more I see how completely undeserving of Christ I am.  Yet even in my filthiness, Christ makes me clean only through his sacrifice on the cross.  It is the very place where he endured the wrath of God on my behalf, so that upon placing my faith in him, I would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).  It is Christ who makes me clean and presentable to a holy God!  This is a humbling thing, to know that there is nothing I can do to earn God’s favor or love, but that I am completely loved and completely accepted.  I live radically because I am accepted, not to earn his acceptance.

            There is so much more that God has been teaching me.  I wish I could explain it all to you.  However, I am so appreciative of you (as supporters) giving me this incredible opportunity to grow closer to this amazing God of the scriptures.  He is the only one, true God.  I hope you all are enjoying your summer!  P.S.- My email has not been functioning properly.  I hope this is only temporary.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Mom, Dad, Sis, Grandparents – I miss all of you!  Thanks for the birthday card!  It was a great birthday, I will have to tell you more when I return.

It was a long day of travel.  We left the Indianapolis airport at about 7:00am on Tuesday, May 12^th.  We arrived in Johannesburg on Wednesday at about 6:00pm South Africa time (which is about 6 hours ahead of Indiana time).  Surprisingly it was already dark outside.  Upon landing in the airport there were a few scares.  Lisa couldn’t find her passport, Drew couldn’t find is guitar, and I couldn’t find a piece of luggage.  God had his hand upon us though, Lisa ended up finding her passport on the plane and Drew and I found our luggage after going to airport luggage claims.

                We met several Campus Outreach Johannesburg staff when we got to the airport.  They took us to our Guest House where we had pizza and snacks waiting for us.  It was neat to see how well the staff thought for us.  The Guest House that we are staying at is incredibly nice.  There are four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, and a family room.  Each room has four students to a room.  I am rooming with Jeff, Zach, and Roy.  Outside there is a small patio, some grass, and a small swimming pool.  Brett, Maggie, and the girls are staying in a house right next to ours.  Our houses are surrounded by a ten foot wall with an electric fence on the top of it.  This is pretty common in Jo-burg.

                On Thursday we had an orientation with some of the COJ staff and then traveled to the University of Wits (pronounced Vits).  While there, we met several of the students in COJ and walked around the campus.  The campus holds about 35,000 students.  We were able to see where we will be spending our time laboring on the campus.  I have been partnered with Roy and we will be stationed in the Men’s Residence called the “Campus House.”  Thursday night we participated in a Bry.  This is basically a barbecue where they grill out sausages.  After we ate there was some dancing, games, and prayer.  Many of the COJ students attended the Bry.  I was surprised at how well I connected with the students.  They are very friendly and loving, plus they are pretty humorous (I was able to connect with this quite easily)!

                Friday we went to the Apartheid Museum.  It was unreal.  My heart broke for the people of South Africa.  I couldn’t believe how unaware I was of what happened here in recent history.  I was taken aback when I discovered that some of it had occurred in my lifetime.  I could see why Nelson Mandela is such an icon here in S.A.  He brought unity to S.A. and helped to end the Apartheid.  After the museum we went to a place called Rondo’s.  I guess this place is pretty famous here in Jo-burg and after eating it I knew why!  We finished the day with a “C.O. Perspectives” night.  We met the other Campus Outreach Cross Cultural teams from C.O. Augusta and C.O. Atlanta.  There was a lot of perspective given about the world’s needs and our role in world evangelization.  I was challenged by how little I know about the world and its needs.  Yet I am excited that God calls men like myself to bring forth the gospel to the unreached places of the world!  Yesterday (Saturday) was our Sabbath, a day of rest.  We spent the day purchasing the items that we needed and just getting rest.

                God has already challenged me in so many ways since I have been here.  I have seen a lot of sin in my life in the past few days, but with God’s grace I am trying to put it to death.  We are reading a book called Humility by C.J. Mahaney.  We are also studying the character of Jesus through reading the book of Luke.  This shadows our theme for the summer, which is Imitate (1 Cor. 11:1).  There is so much more to tell, but it will have to wait until next time.  Post any questions you have, I would love to answer them.  Please begin praying for the men I will be ministering to.  We will hit the campus tomorrow (Monday).  Pray that I would connect well with them, pray that I would point them towards Christ and challenge their world vision.  We will primarily be running alongside of the student leaders on campus and pouring into them as we, together, pour into the students they are discipling and ministering to.  What an incredible opportunity!  I am so excited for it!  Also, please pray that God would continue sharpening my character to imitate Christ Jesus our Lord.  Thank you all!  Let us all stand on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  It is by grace we have been saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9)!

Our patio, just outside of our house

Yesterday was my first day at home, but it will not be a long stay.  Our team will meet on Monday evening (May 11th) in Indianapolis.  We will depart for Atlanta the next morning and from Atlanta we will be traveling to our final destination.  It will be a quick turn around.  I am extremely excited to get to Johannesburg!  Please pray that my team and I would be able to get everything situated with travel plans, luggage, and final support stuff.  I will be making every effort to update my blog at least once a week while in South Africa.  Once again, thank you for your support!

Psalm 111:6 – “He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations.”

This week I received an email from a student in Turkey.  I met him last summer in Orlando, FL.  He was working a job at Disney World and was staying at the same hotel that the Orlando Project was held.  Throughout the summer we had many spiritual conversations.  At one point I felt that I needed to bring him to a point of decision, meaning he knew and understood the gospel, but he was not putting his faith in Christ.  We went to Starbucks, the universally renowned coffee shop, and it is there that he made the decision to surrender his life to the Lord.  He left Orlando about a week after this.  Sadly, I lost all his contact information.  However, this week was the first I had heard from him since he left for Turkey.  I was so encouraged!  He thanked me for my friendship.  He told me how he has immersed himself in God’s Word and how God has grown him through it.  He told me how he has prayed every night since then.  He concluded the email with, “take care brother also i know God loves u and will protect u as u believe in him and we pray for u!”  Wow!  That is the God we serve!  I am always so encouraged to hear how God is working in other parts of the world.  Our God transcends culture!  I get excited to think that this very same thing could happen in South Africa!  Psalm 96:10, “Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’”

This past weekend we had our South Africa Team Retreat.  Our meeting place was at a lake house in northeastern Indiana.  It was great to get away from the busyness of school and just focus on Christ and our upcoming summer together.  Throughout the weekend we went in depth on topics like humility, pride, and taking ownership of our walks with Christ.  Brett (the team leader) revealed to us our theme for the summer.  The theme derives from 1 Corinthians 11:1, which says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  Our theme is IMITATE.  We will be studying what it means to imitate Jesus in his priorities, actions, attitudes, focus, how he spent his time, etc.

Our team is incredible!  Each one of them spurs me on in my walk.  It was neat to dream with them about the summer and what God could do in us and through us.  We are trusting God for some BIG things, things that will impact the Nations!  We just want to be faithful servants of the High King.  God has called us to be faithful and it is through our faithfulness that he begins to mold us and make us more like his Son.  Please pray that God would grant me incite on what it means to take full owndership of my walk with Christ.  Also, please pray that I would learn what it means to strengthen myself in the Lord as David did in 1 Samuel 30:6.  Thanks for your prayers, I will continue to keep you updated on South Africa preparations and what God is doing in my life!

It is less than a month before our team departs for Johannesburg, South Africa!  I am nearing 100% for support and just received my passport in the mail.  I was trusting God to raise up the $4,500 by April 21st.  He has been so faithful in the last two weeks to provide supporters and finances for this summer.  Pray that the remaining money would come in and that God would begin to turn my eyes to Johannesburg and prepare my heart for ministry there.