Spring Plans = Money

As we move into the heart of the Spring Semester, we have some exciting events in the works.

1) Next weekend (8-11 Feb) we're bringing in a friend of Chi Alpha, Philip Babineaux (myspace, purevolume) to do some leadership in worship for our community, as well as conduct some teaching and training for our musicians. Philip is a gifted, Spirit-empowered musician and worship leader.

2) Student Leadership class starts on the 10th of Feb, and will run 90min each Sunday for four weeks. We're looking for some great students to step into their leadership potential on campus, and beyond. This will culminate with the Louisiana Leadership Summit in early March.

3) Spring Break in March is our outreach trip to D.C. The end of this week is our deadline for applications. It looks like we have reached our minimum number to make the trip a 'go', so I'm excited. I'm still praying for 2 of 3 more students to join us.

4) One of my favorite Chi Alpha guys, and hilarious yet powerful public speakers, Curt Harlow, will likely be coming to New Orleans around April Fool's Day. It's not 100% finalized, yet, but just about. Curt is a gifted communicator, and does great stand-up comedy. We're looking to employ him in drawing in some students to encounter Chi Alpha, maybe for the first time, and to hear the Good News about Jesus.

Please keep all of this in prayer.

Also, please pray over the financial needs of Chi Alpha. Our ministry account is beginning to run low, and we have some large expenses coming up with some of these events. Please pray that God's provision will come through, and whether or not God might be calling on you to be a part of that.

If you would like more details on specific costs, and so on, please feel free to email me or call me 504.708.2339

You can give via PayPal

or send a check to Chi Alpha at 211 Cherokee St, New Orleans, LA 70118

a good start

It's been a busy week+ getting the new semester underway. But, it's been a good start.

The first week at Loyola, saw a pretty nice response at our information/contact table. Some of the new folks even came out to visit our co-ed Satellite last week, already, and we hope to see them tonight at Loyola Prayer.

Last week, we had the first Gathering of the semester at Tulane. We had a great turnout, investigating "Why Follow Jesus?" We had a few student testimonies with some commentary and testimony from Jen and I, and some good time for response. It was one of the most spiritually open and responsive Gatherings we've had in a long time.

That spiritual sensitivity and responsiveness continued at Tulane prayer on Friday night, and our Leadership get-together Sunday night. God is moving, and we are catching His wave! Halelujah!

On Saturday, we took a group out in the rain and cold to help build a playground in the city. The weather was less than ideal, but we did some good work, and had some great fun.

prayer for Spring Break

Hey there friends, Jen and I would like to ask for some specific prayer.

We are planning a trip to American University and the Washington D.C. metro Chi Alpha to engage in some on-campus faith sharing and more. AU Chi Alpha is sending a team down here to share their time between rebuilding New Orleans and on-campus engagement the week before. It works out nicely that their spring break is the 2nd week of March, while ours (Tulane, Loyola, and UNO!) is the 3rd week of March.

Will you pray that the details work out, and work out cheaply?
Will you PRAY that we are able to clearly communicate the vision of this trip to students, and that they will respond to this amazing opportunity?

Thanks a bundle.

International Christmas: Atlanta, Grand Rapids, Chicago...China and Iraq

Jen and I had the privilege of visiting our families in Atlanta and Grand Rapids for the holidays this year, culminating in a beautiful white Christmas in frigid Michigan. While traveling around the states, we we honored to host our friends, Cher and Inas. Cher is a Chemistry graduate student at Tulane from China, and Inas, an Iraqi physician, is a Fullbright Scholar in Tulane's School of Public Health.

While in Atlanta, we visited some fun sites, including the CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca-Cola, and the Georgia Aquarium. Cher and I played with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear at the World of Coke, while Jen and Inas joined Jen's family at the Aquarium.





Of course, one of the other highlights of the stay in Atlanta was Sarah's (Jen's sister) baby girl, Savannah who will be two this month. She's a doll.







Though, Savannah's not the only cutey in the families these days. Matt's sister, Farrah has a little treasure of her own, 5 month old Micah. Here we are on Christmas Eve.





While visiting my family, in Michigan, we took a day trip to the Windy City with my cousins Gabriel and Courtney. Gabe took this picture of of us at Shedd's Aquarium after a thrilling dolphin show.

It was a whirlwind trip, but lots of fun. It's always a blessing to see family, and it was even more so, as we were able to share the hospitality of our loving families, as well as the wonder of Christmas with our friends from around the globe.

Happy New Year!