Newsletters

August 1998

Into Enemy Territory

After waiting many months, we were given our assignment during our third week of training. We will be serving at University of  Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Nate’s former Bible study leader from Ohio State is the director for Campus Crusade on that campus. There is a single woman who we met at training who will also be joining the staff at U-M. The campus is about 3 hours from both Elyria and Springfield, so visits to home will still be possible! We also hope to have many of you come and stay with us! We will now begin to look for housing around the Ann Arbor area. 

"Behind the Lines"

We are calling our prayer letter "Behind the Lines" for a couple reasons. First, we are just two small Buckeye alumni heading into the territory of "that team up north." A more serious reason has to do with the fact that we are headed to a place that is often a stronghold of anti-Christian thought. Campuses have become centers for promoting relativistic thinking where any belief "is good for you" but has no bearing on others' lives. Students come to campus having no exposure to the God of the Bible and having no idea what it means to have a personal relationship with Him. It is our privilege to take the message of Jesus Christ to these students, to watch the Holy Spirit work in their lives and to see many of them come to place their faith in Christ for their eternal salvation.

Shelly becomes a seminary student

I was able to take two classes for seminary credit while at New Staff Training. In one class I teamed about 10 areas of doctrine. This class gave a good foundation for what I believe. The other class taught me how to study the Bible in depth. It was exciting to study the book of Ephesians and realize that I can find out the main idea of an entire book of the Bible! I plan to continue to study, starting with the book of Philippians. I will also be completing another class by cassette tapes. It's called Intro to the New Testament.

Thank You!

Thanks to all of you who supported us through your gifts and prayers this summer. We could not do this ministry without your help! We look forward to keeping you updated on our lives as we transition into ministry.

We are living in Springfield now while we talk to people about our ministry and how they can be involved in it. Pray with us that we might reach campus on or before our goal of January 1999.

Nate Coaches

The highlight of my time at New Staff Training was the opportunity I had to be a coach for the Inductive Bible Methods class. I was able to be a part of guiding a group of 14 students, most of whom were from Texas, through the Bible study process. The class involved studying the book of Ephesians - first the book as a whole and then a small section of the book in greater depth. At the end of the two week class the students had a chance to create 20 minute presentations or an interactive inductive Bible study on their particular passage. It was great not only to see these students get excited about studying the Bible but also to see them creatively present the material in their passage. One of the reasons I enjoyed coaching my small group so much is because I was able to use many of the skills I learned in Seminary. I was also able to be a part in helping these students become proficient in those same skills. I was so thankful to God for allowing me to see such a great return on the investment I had made in Seminary so quickly after finishing. One week after the class had ended I had one of the women in my group named Amy come up and tell me about her excitement in studying the Bible now that she had been through the class. She thanked me and told me that as she studies the Bible now, she finds herself thinking through the various steps she had learned and that she is learning much more in a passage than she ever thought was possible. I was glad to be a part of helping her enjoy studying the Bible.

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