March/April 08 Newsletter

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DC Updates from the Other Side

Mike and Jen Godzwa are the lead missionaries for Chi Alpha at American University. Here are links to their thoughts on our recent spring break trip their way:

Mike -from www.thegodzwas.com

Jen -from godzwafam.blogspot.com

DC Trip Media

Photos!
























Audio! - Message from Thursday Night Worship. Matt spoke with the help of UNO Sr. Nikki Gordy


Video !

DC Reflections.

Our trip to Washington D.C. was a blur, in a lot of ways, but a good blur.

I can't recount all of it, but plan to have a student story or two from the trip in our Mar/April newsletter that should show up within 2 weeks (that's called a teaser).

One of the most impactful experiences for me was the Seven Last Words of Christ service we visited at Georgetown University on Tuesday evening, the day we arrived.

Chi Alpha at Georgetown is one of several Protestant ministries affiliated with Georgetown's University Ministry. Like Loyola, Georgetown is a Jesuit Catholic university, however, their structure for Protestant student ministry is much more developed. As part of that affiliation, each of the Protestant groups are required to be a part of occasional meetings and special services. This Seven Words service was one of those required meetings.

My expectations were low: required cooperation in religious services tends to not go so well many times. However, I was moved and challenged, and really encountered God's presence in the remembrance of Jesus crucified.

The Gospel Choir led us in some hymns and spirituals, and each ministry had a representative share for 5-7 min on one of Christ's final words. Each representative had something truly powerful to share. I was especially blessed by and proud of Randy Demary. Randy was a student at UL-Lafayette when Jen and I were interns there, and is now a Chi Alpha missionary to Georgetown. He had to share on "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" not an easy assignment, but he did it well, and challenged all of us to see the hope tied up in that statement, as it connects to the whole of Psalm 22.

The trip got better from there.

Wed & Thursday: Daytime advertising for Holy Week activities and engaging American University students in conversations about Easter, spirituality, etc... good times!
Wed Evening: hosted a program on the origins of Easter
Thurs Evening: participated in and spoke at AU XA's Thursday Night Worship
Fri: touring and sight seeing - we weren't very good at this.
Sat: helped Godzwa's clean around their house and headed home.

Meeting the Superintendent and A whole lot more

Wow, March has been a whirlwind of activity so far, and it continues tomorrow morning, as we take off with 6 students to our nation's capital where we will visit Georgetown Chi Alpha, and then partner with American U Chi Alpha for campus outreach. Please keep us, and our team in prayer.

Last week, we helped host a team from American U Chi Alpha during their spring break. They spent a day doing outreach with us at Tulane, and half a day with us at UNO. It was fun, and an exciting, bold move for our students, as we pushed past some fears and d

iscomforts to engage people in discussions about faith, spirituality, religion, and Jesus. The AU team spent the rest of their stay in New Orleans doing rebuilding work in the city with HisHands2Go, a ministry out of our church.

Speaking of our church, here are some pictures from our Palm Sunday weekend: Jen participated in Saturday's clean-up day, and then their are pictures from Sunday's service.

Also, there are some pictures of us with Rev. Doug Fulenwider, who is the Superintendent of the  Louisiana District of the Assemblies of God, and with Dr. George Wood, Superintendent of the General (national) Council of the Assemblies of God. It was fun to meet them, and share with them a little of what God is doing at St. Luke Assembly of God, and in Chi Alpha New Orleans.

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

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.