The moments I feel faint

So I was listening to some music and this song came up on shuffle. “The Moments I Feel Faint” – Relient K

This is really an encouraging song and gives great perspective of Jesus’ supremacy

Some lyrics that stick out:

“Never Underestimate my Jesus. When the world around crumbles He will be strong”

“I think I can’t, I think I can’t. But I think you can, I think you can. Gather my insufficiencies and place them in your hands”

Really quite the encouraging song that spurs me on to trust Jesus and his provision. Just wanted to share this.

Deadline approaching

With my deadline for support right around the corner and still needing $700/month ($8400 total) I can’t see where this is going to come. I trust that Jesus will provide this amount but I haven’t the slightest idea how it’ll come in. I ran out of contacts about 3 weeks ago but God has brought in more the past 2 weeks then any other week this summer. So this just leads me to believe that Jesus is doing all this work and its pointless for me to be independent and do it on my own.

The good thing about raising my financial security for a whole year is that it truly stretches my faith to see that nothing can be done apart from God. Sure I can “muscle through” certain situations (like I did with college haha) but nothing that God is calling me to do can be done in my own abilities. Surrender is a difficult thing to do. It’s easy to say “I surrender to you God and I lay myself down for you.” But actually doing it is the scariest thing on the face of the earth! I’m gonna pull out the athlete verse here and really hold true to it:

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phillippians 4:13 ESV)

This is really what it boils down to. Depending on Jesus for all things. Going to my heavenly father to provide for me in all ways (financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and etc.) But ONLY in the power of the Holy Spirit will anything be done to glorify Christ.

After all whats the point of doing anything if its not to glorify Christ. The only way to glorify Christ is to move in the power of the Holy Spirit to do the will of the Father. The whole purpose of life is to glorify the King of kings and Lord of lords. This can’t be done in my own power or abilities but only in the power and moving of the Holy Spirit in my life. Surrendering to Him (the Holy Spirit) and throwing caution to the wind is what I am learning is most important in anything I do.

My prayer is that Christ makes His name known in my heart daily so that I can proclaim his name to the nations and make disciples. I trust that Jesus will honor this and work on my heart daily to know him more intimately. Not just know about him but actually know the person of Jesus Christ.

Please pray for me that this happens and join me in prayer that my Father provides this last $700/month quickly to glorify his Son.

 

God my Provider

This past week God did some crazy ridiculous stuff. I feel like this is the week that I had put in the least amount of my efforts in MPD but Jesus brought in the most amount in one week that I have ever seen!

I am absolutely baffled by how great God really is! This whole support raising thing is showing me God’s sovereignty in new ways. The good (and I guess stressful) thing about raising a years worth of support in like 2 and a half months is that God shows you that he is your true provider.

I am seeing Jesus bring in support from place I never knew existed! God is really showing me the part of his character that he is my Dad and wants to take care of me and provide for me the same way he provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field!  I was doubting  that support would actually come in. I was putting in so much effort and trying to earn my support, but God shows me that when I just trust him and step back a little he provides in great ways! Now I’m not just giving up and waiting for magical checks to appear. God is showing me that my first priority is to pursue him above all and then He will show me where to go next. I guess this is what it means to live by faith and not by sight. I have no idea where this is all going to come from but Jesus sure does.

I am still trusting him for great things in less then 2 weeks. I am trusting him for 13 more people at $100/month. I know in my heart of hearts that come my deadline I will be fully founded and at staff planing maping out our plan to reach the U of A for Christ this year.

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with my ministry so that the Wildcats at the U of A can have an opportunity to say yes or no to Jesus?

Here is a link to my donation page. Please pray and see if the Lord is leading you to join this ministry. And most important pray that Jesus shows me more of his grace and that I submit to his will and move in the direction he is leading me.
Thanks for your prayers!

In Christ,

Chris

CRAZINESS!

So this just happened.

Yesterday I got a call from an investigator in the US Air Force that was doing a character witness for my dear friend Andy. He asked if we could meet up and do a 5 minute interview about the type of person Andy is. So We met earlier this morning. He asked about two questions and then asked how I had met him. I told him that we met in crusade my freshman year and that he had discipled me my sophomore year. It turns out that the investigator (Mike) is a believer. Mike and I then went on this tangent about our faith and what God has been doing. His son had recently gone on a mission trip to India and he was telling me about that. He then asked what I’ll be doing now since I had graduated. I told him that I’ll be working with Campus Crusade and that this summer I am working on raising my support in order to be able to minister to the U of A starting in the fall.  He was so excited! He started asking what exactly it meant to be raising support and I told him that I was looking to find a team to partner with me financially and prayerfully so that Jesus can be exalted on campus.

I felt this little tingle that I should ask if he would join this team. I was TERRIFIED! Mike was a little up there in age and a typical Air Force guy. So it was a scary thought (even though he was the nicest man.) So I shyly asked if he would consider joining my support team. To my surprise he said yes! I was shocked. He didn’t even think a second thought about it. It was almost as if he was waiting for me to ask him. He said he had to talk about it with his wife and that they would join my team. I stood there with my mouth wide open. I didn’t know what to do. He then went on to tell me to look up his son on facebook. He said that he’ll tell his son about me and that his son would be able to connect me with more people. At this point I was so dumbfounded I was shaking my head.

Mike was so excited about this ministry even though I didn’t tell him anything about it! Our whole conversation lasted maybe 5 or 10 minutes and at the end he pulled me in for a hug. I was still stunned and a big Air Force guy hugging me only furthered my shock.

God just divinely ordained this meeting to glorify himself all the more. The conversation with Mike was supposed to be about Andy but it was mostly about him wanting to partner with me in ministry. I left that conversation extremely humbled. I didn’t say anything except “Would you be interested in joining my support team” and I said that with extreme hesitation and God just did all the rest.

I guess it goes to show you that Jesus is sovereign and that he will be strong in my weakness. I cant help but think of the song “Your love is Strong” by Jon Foreman. It humbles me in knowing that God knows what he has in mind for me (Jeremiah 29:11) and that he loves me (1 John 4:19). I’m still in awe of what God just did. I literally did nothing and God did it all.

Yup Jesus is big and I am not, and I praise God for that!

Here is the Jon Foreman song I was talking about

Crunch time.

One month left and I still have a large majority to raise. This task is very daunting. I don’t think I have ever done attempted something this crazy!

Raising a full years worth of salary, health insurance, social security etc. in 3 months is impossible! But I guess God functions in the impossible.

God made the days longer for Joshua. God defeated massive army’s with Gideon and his 300. God provided mana from heaven for the Israelites to eat in the desert (40 years worth of provisions directly from the hand of God). So God can provide for me as well.

I really need all of you to join me in prayer to see God provide, and to join this ministry financially. If you feel God calling you to join this team to reach the students at the U of A for the Gospel now is the time! You can click the link up top that says give a gift and that goes directly to my staff account.

I’m trustin God to bring in about 21 people at $100/month it 42 at $50/month etc…

But please friends join me in prayer to glorify God and pray that his will is done.

Thank you!
In Christ,
Chris

Life is a learning curve

MPD is teaching me that in my own power ministry and support raising is flat out impossible! I’m learning to just trust God to provide in His time and His ways and rely on Him. This is a lot harder then it sounds. My inherently sinful self wants to take things in my own hands and just Bear Down (go wildcats!) and do it.

Sometimes, most of the time I’m just stupid and try to do it myself. I just pray that God reveals to me his true power and love in this and helps me trust in him more. After all “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV) Praying the Holy Spirit does His thing and I stay out of His way!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in you own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones”

Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV.

Well, that’s one way to do it

The last 2 weeks of MPD were really miraculous. A majority of my support that came in these 2 weeks came on my day off. (I should take more days off!) But DJ (campus director of Cru at UA) wisely pointed out that this very well could be God showing that He doesn’t need me to raise support, but He alone is the true provider.

This BLEW my mind. I know in my head that God is the true provider but me being a sinful man I tend to take things into my own hands and work in my power (stupid I know!) But God showed up in the craziest of ways.

Ever since like week 1 of the summer I have been trying to call back for a decision from an appointment that I had but could never get a hold of this couple. But then all of a sudden I got an email from Crusade saying that they were now monthly supporters! I was floored and very grateful. As pointless as my attempts were to contact them God still came through with them. SO COOL!

But another (and probably the most clear way God has showed me that it’s Him providing and not me earning) was when I went to church yesterday. At church I ran into a lady whom I haven’t met but knew her husband from a men’s Bible study I have been attending. We talked about what I will be doing with Crusade this fall, and she encouraged me and was totally on board with what I was doing. But later after our conversation she apparently spoke with my mom and said that her and her husband had been talking about supporting this ministry. I had never even brought it up with them (I had planned to but didn’t have contact information.) So God totally just did it Himself. Goodness gracious I need to just trust in Him to be what He is (and He is GOOD.)

There are so many other ways that God had showed me how HE is the provider these past 2 weeks but I wont take up anymore of your time.

Just know that God is good and is the true provider!

An interesting week

So this last week of MPD was very interesting. I met with a lot of people and was sharing the vision that God has given me about reaching the U of A campus for Christ and asking them to join me in this mission. These appointments were all very unusual and not what I was expecting at all.

A couple of these appointments were a chance for me to be able to minister to them like in my previous blog (MPD really is ministry) I talked about being able to encourage a man and equip him with ways to share his faith. I had another similar conversation with another lady. All throughout the week the appointments were more of a chance for me to actually be ministering to people. This really encouraged me in what I want to do for the rest of my life (minister to the hearts of people!)

Even though this week was great ministry experience I was feeling a little discouraged since the Lord wasn’t bringing in financial support for me to be able to do this back in Tucson. But God showed up in a way that I was definitely NOT expecting.

As I was leaving my last scheduled appoint for the week I got a text from someone that I had met with the week prior telling me he wanted me to stop by. I went to his place later that evening and he told me that he had prayed about it and felt God call him to give to his kingdom by way of my ministry. He then gave me a check that floored me! His heart to give sacrificially really moved me and showed me how literally every aspect of Ministry Partner Development really is ministry. Whether it is by encouraging fellow brothers and sisters in the faith to share their faith with those around them. Or by seeing people sacrificially give from the depths of their heart to further the kingdom of God.

God really blew me away last week and by the looks of the start of this week He is setting up to do the same thing again!

Glory to God!

MPD really is ministry!

I had a lunch appointment today with a man in my parent’s Bible study. He had the biggest heart and just wants people to know God and does all that he knows how to share Jesus with his friends and family.

Although he was not able to financially support the ministry that God has given me to the U of A, our appointment was probably my favorite so far.

God showed me that MPD is more then support raising, its actual ministry here an now. We got to talking about what it means to share the Gospel. I was able to encourage him in his walk and share with him some was that he can minister to those around him. It’s amazing all the training Campus Crusade gives does with students on how to share the Gospel and the more important why we share the Gospel. This man Had the heart and understood the “Why share the Gospel” question, but didn’t know how. God used this time to allow me to equip him with the basic evangelism stuff. Help him answer some questions that he consistantly gets.

During this conversation I was so blessed to be able to encourage this man and help him in his ministry. He gets that are all called wherever they are to minister there, he just needed help on how to do it. This shows that MPD is really Ministry Partner Development.

Week 1 of Ministry Partner Development

In my first week of MPD God set up 8 appointments and 5 of which were this week. After actually having some experience in this now I am getting the hang of what it looks like to actually raise support. We were given great training on support raising over a weekend a month or so ago, but that was so long ago. The best way to get trained in raising support and ministering to people through this process is by actually doing it. It makes so much more sense now that I’ve had some appointments.

So far the hardest part for me is still actually dialing the phone. I have always hated talking on the phone and now God is choosing to use this method to connect me with His people to minister to them and allow them to minister to me/join me in ministering to the U of A. I would like to ask you all to please pray that God gives me the words to say as I make the difficult phone calls and that above all that all that I do is glorifying to him!

God Bless,

Chris