Exciting News!

It’s been a super fast-paced month for us as the semester wrapped up, and I have so many things I want to share with you that I’m going to have to fly through each one.

The first and biggest thing is perhaps not directly ministry-related, but it’s super exciting nonetheless: Darby is pregnant! We’re expecting a baby boy in December, which is a huge answer to prayer. We’re so excited about our family getting bigger, and Elias keeps talking about his baby brother. We’d love your prayers for this new addition to continue growing strong and healthy, and for us to be prepared for all the changes that will come.

Like I mentioned above, we wrapped up the semester, and there are always so many sweet moments during this time. Thankfully, I didn’t have a ton of seniors in my circle this year, so it’s mostly been all the sweet stuff without as much sadness from people leaving. One of my favorite moments was in our NCTC small group. We went around sharing encouragements with one another, and the students were so vulnerable and thoughtful during that time. My favorite quote came from one student who said that joining our group was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.

We also just had SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry), a conference in Washington that we send students to every year. For those of you who have been around for a while, you know what this is. But even if you do, let me remind you of what a remarkable God-story this is. We’re asking students to spend 10 days traveling across the country to learn more about being disciple-makers on campus and to deepen their relationship with God, and it costs them more than $1,000. That’s a pretty huge ask. Yet this year, we sent 180 students, the most we’ve ever had! And they all came back excited and on fire for Jesus and His mission. I’ll never cease to be astounded by the things God is doing!

That leads to another cool story: the eagerness these students have to be disciple-makers and leaders. Our main student leadership role is that of a Corefa, a student leader who spends 10–15 hours each week planning and leading a small group, discipling students one-on-one, and helping facilitate ministry events. Once again, that’s a huge ask. It’s basically a part-time job, and most of these students already have jobs on top of being full-time students. Yet this year, we have students eagerly desiring to become Corefas. They consistently ask what they need to do to be ready to serve in that way and look for every opportunity they can find to serve and lead. What an amazing thing God is doing in this generation!

I could go on and on, as the stories of what God is doing are boundless—as John so aptly says at the end of his Gospel. I’m so excited about heading into this summer and then into next year.

Darby and I are entering a season of support raising again, so we’ll gladly take all the prayer we can get as we seek to raise additional support to help provide for our growing family. We’ve got about $400 per month left to raise, so prayers that God would put it on people’s hearts to support what He’s doing on these campuses would be greatly appreciated.

Love you all. We’re so thankful that you’re part of what God is doing on these campuses. I hope you’re as encouraged as we are by all that He is doing!