January 2004

  Happy New Year! What a great start! I am so excited about the opportunities God has planned for “2004”. I have just returned from a great Winter Camp with the Oregon A/G District Youth Ministries. It was a struggle getting to my destination because of the rare winter storm that hit the Northwest. My first flight was delayed for two days. I have realized that many times when struggles occur, the enemy is trying to delay a major victory God has planned. When I finally arrived I had never seen so much snow at a camp. The area had received four feet of snow and threatened to cancel the camp. Thank God we were able to meet as scheduled and God moved among the young people. Some students told me that the word God had me speak was spoken directly for them. One young lady was weeping as she told me that God impressed her that our time is short before his return and she desperately realized she needed to win her friends to Christ.

  When I speak at a camp I always tell young people that God wants to speak directly into their lives. I told the youth that they had forty hours of camp, away from distractions and everything else, to allow God to speak directly to them. The young people of the Oregon camp allowed God to speak and many received a great word of love, direction and power.

  It has been my experience that every camp has it's own personality and it is amazing how students tend to find their crowd of people and personalities in such a short time. In all the snow activities of the day I noticed a group of students that seemed to isolate themselves from everyone else and the purpose of the camp. I “struck-up” a conversation with these young people and soon began a friendly snowball fight. One of the young men smacked me right in the ear with a hard packed snowball. I am still picking snow out of my ear. (Ha) That little attention, I gave them, paid off. In the evening service, at the alter time I felt that I needed to go back and speak to the young man. He never responded to the alter calls. I began to talk to him about life. He did not have a relationship with God. I was able to convince him that all he was looking for in life, God could provide. He acknowledged and I was able to lead him to the Lord.

  I have come to realize that behind most difficult situations and struggles in life there is victory ahead. There are answers and plans God has directly purposed for our lives, if we will just let him speak and listen to his call.

  A difficult situation came to our home the week before Christmas. Our family pet for the past 12 years suddenly became ill and had to be put to sleep. She was a beautiful Cocker Spaniel named “Yiyi”. For years she filled our home with love and noise. After several days of tears, tears and more tears with long faces, we decided to surprise the kids with a puppy at Christmas. So Jaroy and I took a drive to the county and picked up a gorgeous, six-week-old Lab puppy. Christmas Eve was a “hoot” as Jaroy and I hid the puppy in my closet to keep him a surprise. The kids thought we had lost our minds. Jaroy was singing extra loud (that's not too unusual though) and I had the TV and stereo on. Anytime we heard him crying or yelping Jaroy or I would have to get louder to drown out his noise. It wasn't until after lunch on Christmas day and after all the other gifts were opened that we were able to surprise the kids and also regain our hearing and sanity. The looks on the kid's faces were unforgettable. Carli was brought to all kinds of tears and Cade was so excited he couldn't keep his hands off him. Little Corbin just stood with his mouth open and when he realized this was their puppy he was hands on and full of giggles. We named the little guy “Sandon” and he has already won our hearts. I think he will make a great addition to our family. Just keep us in your prayers as we get through our puppy training stage (Ha).

  We feel so blessed to be able to count on your prayers as we journey to great opportunities of sharing the gospel this year. Please pray that we will have favor and insight to reach a hurting generation of young people and families. We also appreciate your continued financial support. Many times in ministry to young people, the honorariums and offerings are not enough to keep the ministry going. We depend on you and others like you to support us. Your giving is planting a financial seed that produces great harvests like the great testimonies of the Oregon camp. In turn, God will bless and supply your needs. Together we will accomplish God's plan to reach our world in “2004”. Jer. 29:11