In their own words

We wanted you to get to hear directly from our students at SFA about their experience at The Winter Conference this year. It is so amazing to see how incredibly personal our God is- that he speaks so directly to each of our hearts just how we need it. I love to see how the Lord worked- so read on!

"My week at TWC was about making sure my own heart was in check. Christ has given me a huge passion to do ministry one day. TWC reminded me that I need to Love Christ more than my dream of doing ministry. Christ also showed me some practical ways to prepare my heart for my future of doing ministry. It was an amazing week and I am so glad that I went!"- Deena, junior

"Before I went to TWC, I was having a hard time, such a hard time I wasn't going to go. My mom convinced me to go, and I did. I'm very glad I went because if I didn't, then I would have missed out on my blessings. By going I experienced a closer walk with God, and by having that quiet time with God and hearing the speakers sermons; I learned that my problems are not meant to tear me down, but to make me stronger."- Leia, freshman

"Being at TWC helped me understand that there are other people who are going through or have gone through some of the same things that I am dealing with in my own walk, and its okay to ask for help. It also helped me figure out that my next step is to start over by ending my addiction and clinging solely to Him." -Jodi, senior

"Winter Conference was a great time for me to reunite with some of my friends from Crusade Summer Project. Being there helped me to realize how important community is in the life of believers and how much I need that community at school. I heard so much truth from the Bible through new perspectives from our speakers - it was challenging, but so refreshing!"- Margaret, senior

We are so thankful that God is alive and at work in the lives of students, and ours too. Hope you enjoyed hearing from them!


Blessings, Vince and Autumn

Summer Project

Hey friends! We hope this finds you doing well! I will post up more about Winter conference in a few days, but for now...

I just got an article from a magazine called Worldwide Challenge (a magazine written by Campus Crusade for Christ staff) in the mail that I thought you might find interesting. We have shared with you about some options for students during the summer, Summer Projects. These short and long term projects take students all over the country, the world, and to new depths in their personal walk with Christ. Every year we see lives changed by students who commit and go on summer projects. We are excited to get to facilitate and lead them during our time on staff!
Worldwide Challenge had a great set of articles highlighting students who went on a Summer Project to San Diego- and Thailand and you should check it out! In fact, you can check out the whole issue if you like!

We just wanted you to be able to see the awesome things the Lord does in a students life during a summer project!

Please pray for our students at SFA as they are considering going on a Summer Project this coming summer!

Thanks for your prayers!

Vince and Autumn

It's been too long!

We are so sorry that it has been so long since we have updated you on things going on with us, and our wonderful students at SFA! Vince and I realized it had been awhile. The conversation went something like this...

"Vince, have you updated our blog lately honey?". "No, haven't you been writing it?" "Umm... (looks at the website) OH NO!!! It has been 2 months! 2 months!!! Oh dear. I hope they know we still love them!" ....

Needless to say I am very embarrassed. And deeply sorry.

So...

Things have been busy for us, and that has been a great blessing! We are still living in Allen, TX- and it has been wonderful to continue to meet with our current, and new, ministry partners. We have been floored by the Lord's goodness as we are continuing to build our financial team. It is no secret that these are not the most stable financial times, but we have seen God provide in amazing ways. In fact, despite the economic struggles, the Lord continues to grow our team of ministry partners! We are thrilled to announce that during December, we passed the halfway mark, and we are currently at 57% of our needed funds in order to return to campus.

It has been a good season for Vince and I. We have been working hard on support, but we did get a chance to break for a few days and enjoy Christmas with out various families. It was a blessing, and very refreshing to get to have time with all the relatives in from out of town, and local too!

Just a few weeks ago we got the amazing blessing of getting to see some of our awesome SFA Crusaders at our annual Winter Conference. I want to tell you all about that... and I know you want to hear all the amazing details, but I will save that for the upcoming newsletter and future posts. Check back because it will be great!!

Please keep Vince and I in your prayers as we are still in need of support for our ministry. Also, please be praying for our students back at SFA. School starts on Monday, January 19, 2009. Much like you and me, students are in the mindset of New Years Resolutions, and they have a chance to have a great start to a new semester. Please pray that they resolve to take next steps with the Lord, and that they will remain committed to our KING!

Thank you again. There are not words to express our gratitude. But... there will be lots of words to describe all that is going on with us, and students back at SFA right here on the blog to come!

Blessings,
Autumn and Vince.

Bible Studies Flourishing

Our goal is to reach the students at SFA for Christ, and one of the ways we do that is to teach them about who God is. A way we meet that need is having Bible Studies.

This is something our students have been stepping up big time on this year and leading. We host our Bible Studies in dorms so that they are easily accessible to any student who may want to learn about God, and our goal is to have a study in every dorm. Right now we are present in about half of the dorm, which is 6 different studies a week! Currently these are student lead which makes for great stories of faith, and stepping out of your comfort zone for the Lord.

One of our mens Bible studies are being lead by junior, Micah, and senior, Josh. This is a Bible study that they decided to start from scratch at the begining of the year. As the year started they had a couple guys who attended regularly, and they would have topical Bible studies, but this wasn't enough for Josh and Micah. They committed to praying for God to provide more guys, and that they would have and authentic community where the guys would be open and vulnerable with each other (which is not and easy thing to have with guys). After a few weeks of praying and trusting the Lord, they have began to see Him provide. They now have 6 guys coming weekly, and they are all reading a book about knowing God and following Him closely. I'm told this book stirs in depth conversation, and these men are challenging each other to grow closer to the Lord.

We also have a Bible study that exists for Greek students. The Greek population is relativly unreached, and is a very difficult community to get in to. We met a freshman last year named Colin. Colin is a go getter, out going guy who loves the Lord. He rushed a fraternity last spring for the purpose of building relationships with guys who don't know Christ. He has been instrumental in bringing guys to the Greek Bible study. I'm told that there are 4 guys that come faithfully and others who trickle in a out, but the most important thing is that relationships are being built within a community that is difficult to penetrate, and the Truth about what God has done for us through Christ is being spoken to these students. Just the fact that this exists right now is a reason to praise God.

CRU Fall Retreat

This past weekend was Fall Retreat weekend for our students at SFA. Fall Retreat is a weekend long retreat, at Pineywoods Encampment in east Texas. It always at great weekend because it's cool to see what God does in some ones life, when you chose to focus only on Him for a couple days. It's also a great community building time for our students. Lots of great friendships are formed over this weekend, there is just something about a road trips with other like minded people.

The weekend started off well. 2 years ago we took 12 people to Fall Retreat, but this past weekend we had 35! It's great to see God at work! We brought in the campus director from LSU, John Boudreaux, to be the main speaker, and his main theme was living as Christians in a fallen world, and in Christian community, but not secluding yourself to the Christian bubble. The students were challenged to grow and make decisions this weekend, and they really connected with John. One of the coolest things of the weekend was men's and women's time. These are generally lead by staff but this year we had some leadership students step up and take the reigns. Women's time was lead by Lynn, Tiffany, Margaret, and Nicole. They lead a discussion time that centered around all things girls. How to have Godly relationships, what to look for in a Godly man, and how to be a women chasing after Gods heart. Men's time was lead by Brady and Josh. They talked about being God's man in this difficult culture, how they could be leaders on the campus, and had a separate session addressing the sexual temptation in a man's life.

This was a great weekend. The students had a great time, and most importantly connected and grew closer to the Lord!

It's October!

I find it hard to believe that today is the first day of October! It feels like no time since we were telling you school was starting in August! We are so thankful that the Lord is continuing to work and lives are being touched! The beginning of the year at SFA really went great, and they met so many new students, and saw many get involved with the ministry! Bible studies are in full swing, and meeting in dorms all around the campus, and our students are doing a great job leading!

One of the things that we are really excited about is our Fall Retreat, which is coming up this weekend, Oct 3-5. This is a weekend designed to allow students to break away from the normal routine, to be able to connect with the Lord, and build deeper relationships with other students. We are bringing in a speaker, John Boudreau, the campus director for Campus Crusade at Louisiana State University. Already we have almost 30 students signed up to go, and more who are still working out the details. Many of those who are signed up are new to or ministry! We are thankful that the Lord has provided these students and we are praying that God will reveal more of Himself to them as take this weekend away. We are also hoping that it is a great, fun weekend, and that there is significant growth! We will let you know more when the gang gets back from the weekend!

Vince and I are doing really great! The Lord is continuing to provide new people for us to meet, and share our ministry with, and it is such a joy for us! We are very much settled here in Allen, and thankful for our time here. We are also looking forward to a ministry conference we are going to in a few weeks. Things are just going really well for us! Other than that, there is not too much that is new going on with us!

Please be praying!
•For students who are still trying to make up their mind on the retreat- that they would come for the retreat.
•For those who come to Fall Retreat- that they would encounter the Lord and understand Him better.
•For our leadership students- that they would be prepared to effectively lead and serve the other students.
•For the Retreat speaker, John Boudreau, that he would be able to clearly communicate God's truth, and connect with students.
•For safe travel!
•For God to continue to provide new people for us to share our ministry with.
•For our traveling as we go to our conference in a few weeks.

SFA and IKE

As many of you know, and many may have unfortunately experienced, Ike hit and was incredibly destructive. The hurricane left a trail of devastation, and some areas were completely destroyed. So many lives have been impacted, and we just want to let you know how Ike specifically impacted SFA and Nacogdoches.

I mentioned in the last post that Ike did hit, more specifically the eye of the storm went directly through Nac. Even though Nacogdoches is not a costal city, the storm was still incredibly strong when it hit. Nacogdoches lost power a few hours before the storm came through. Then, the storm itself left quite a mess. For a town in the middle of the Woods, trees were quite a problem. There were full grown trees everywhere, smashing cars, breaking windows, going through roofs. I talked with friends back in the area and they said even days after, the streets were still lined with huge trees and tree branches waiting to be moved. However, the most significant impact to SFA and Nac was the power outage. Though it is nothing in comparison to Houston, Nac lost power for days, and in some areas up to a week and a half. Our campus Director and his family (Scott and Heather Allen, Caleb, and Scarlet) were without power for almost a week and a half. There was little food at the grocery stores, and it was pretty difficult for awhile. SFA closed the campus for a day, but was able to recover power quickly to the campus itself. The Nac school district closed for a few days! But the Lord is GOOD and thankfully provided cool weather and enough food. Praise the Lord that things are mostly back to normal back in Nac, although there is still some repair that will need to happen. We are just still so thankful that it was not worse. Our students back at SFA posted some funny pictures, and we wanted to share a few with you. I love that they were able to have so much fun, even in the midst of the storm!

Our hearts and prayers go out to those who were significantly impacted by the storm, and if there are any specific ways we can pray, please let us know. Thank you again for your prayers!