Our Family in Spring!

Spring has meant tons of fun for Arthur and Katherine. Arthur has been to some birthday parties with friends, the weather has been beautiful, and we are realizing how much “inflatables” have transformed the face of childhood entertainment!

Arthur has been particularly excited about wildlife education. His favorite show right now is Wild Kratts, where two biologist brothers teach us about exotic animals and then jump into animated adventures of themselves gaining the powers of those animals to save the day. He has been so enthralled by this that he has already incorporated the Kratt brothers into the board game he has been designing (yep, creative just like his parents) and begging his daddy daily to print a new coloring page of an animal with fun facts about their habitat, diet and behavior so he can add it to his homemade science books.

Arthur was also excited to win a copy of the Jesus Film for Children at the Cru tent of our church’s Easter extravaganza (see front page) which was perfect timing as the kids got to see the gospel as one of their first experiences of a live-action movie.

Katherine still follows her brother around in almost everything he does. If he likes Wild Kratts, so does she, and she spends her rest times crafting her own “creature power discs” and her own board game (“Teaspoon the Camel Game”). She has also been super into a toy camera/projector her grandparents got her for her birthday last month.

The house being built for Karen’s mom is almost finished, and we’ll be kind of sad to see her leave, though being a 10-minute walk away eases the blow considerably :).

Does God Make Us Fail On Purpose?

One of the ways we’ve learned to recognize the movement of God is through conspicuous “coincidence.” For example, it is no coincidence that we’ve been studying the book “With” by Skye Jethani, which explains that life is not about what God will do to us or for us, or even what we can do for Him. It’s about an intimate relationship with our Father. God has been coaxing intimacy out of me (Jeff) by all means.

I’m not generally super in-touch with my emotions. Ask me how I’m really doing and most of the time I’ll give you a blank stare until I can think of some circumstance or other that was pleasant or hard. Mostly, my happiness is based on how good of a job I think I’m doing (as a husband, father, missionary, lawn owner, etc). God is showing me again and again, though, how out of my control all of that is. Jethani says that “faith is the opposite of seeking control. It is surrendering control. It embraces the truth that control is an illusion—we never had it and we never will.”

Scripture says that God controls our success or failure, and a friend pointed out that sometimes God won’t let us see success (even as He accomplishes His good will) because it would not be good for us. I learn not to put my hope in circumstances, and as the world fades from my attention, God softens my numb heart and draws me to a special place with Him like a candle in the dark.

Latest news!

Praise God for 538 new believers this past month!

Click here for full letter.

Please pray for us this month as we:

Recruit 2,000 college and high school students to Cru.org/Summerconnect
Work with Barry Cook, Director of Disney’s Mulan, to share his testimony and this Anime Gospel video he helped us make
Seek the Lord about campuses who just aren’t finding student leaders to step up and own the ministry (in TX and GA)

REACHING THE WORLD FROM RIGHT HERE

Bob Rictor speaking with students after a presentation at Full Sail University One of those who asked about a personal relationship with God at our latest event is Deepal (name changed). When we met her, she had only been in the US for 10 days and said the conversation she had with us was “Very positive, unlike any God talks I’ve been to.” When I asked her about it, she said the only encounters with Christians she’d witnessed were fierce debates. But the time we took to listen to her and other students fanned a flame in her heart to hear more.

Deepal has come to 3 of our events now, and brought 2 of her friends this last time as well. Knowing most international students never even see the inside of an American home, we’ve made efforts to reach out to her and even introduce her to our neighbors (who are from her country).

This morning, my neighbor told me that she has been hanging out with Deepal and is taking her to their church this Sunday. Pray for Deepal as she is excited to learn! To reach internationals students, visit BridgesInternational.com.

FAITH & CAREER COLLIDE

I had no idea what was going to happen.

I had arranged a great opportunity for the students to engage with someone who has been out ther e in the industry and whose walk with God has carried him through it all, but would they come? Full of nerves as I interviewed him, Bob confessed that he felt more comfortable at gunpoint in South America than in front of a crowd. Would he deliver? Students are often so cold to Christianity. Would they respond?

As I walked into the highly secured facility, I was pleased to discover that the school had heard about our event and had even advertised it themselves, offering professional credit to any who attended the entire presentation! Bob shared his need to do something meaningful, which resonated deeply with the packed room, and students lined up to hear more.

Of the 50+ in the room, 25 signed up to go deeper and 15 said they’d like to learn how to have a personal relationship with God. Please pray as we follow up with each of them individually!

Family Update

Our gorgeous daughter turned 5 this month! We praise God even more so because it is only by His grace that our little cannonball has survived this long. Katherine is an absolute fire cracker who loves, fights, plays, cries and plays with all her heart since the day she arrived. She and Karen are now a gospel tag-team too. A few weeks ago, Katherine was riding in the grocery cart when she held up a cross she’d made out of a straw and toothpick. She proceeded to quiz the woman behind her in the check-out line about what it means. Karen overheard and joined in the conversation and now the woman has been coming to our church for several weeks along with her husband and son, and she asked about bringing friends of her own as well!

Arthur hit a milestone this month, too! He had his final eye therapy appointment and a graduation celebration with the office workers, including a 3D viewing of Disney’s Frozen (Arthur had never been able to see 3D before therapy)! Arthur and Karen have been a real light in that office, including last time where the therapist told us through tears about her father and grandfather being in the hospital and her heartbreak over growing up in a broken home. Karen is sad that she won’t see all the ladies she has been ministering to in that office for a while, but they all gave her personal numbers and want to meet up for lunch and some even for a tour of Cru headquarters!

We have also begun alternating attendance to our church’s 7 days/week 6am prayer meeting! We have been growing in our faith and in our friendships with fellow church members, as well as seeing God do some pretty amazing things. We are grateful beyond words that Karen has experienced new freedom from despair, and life in our house has been different in a very positive way these past few weeks!

Life WITH God – What God’s Been Teaching Us

One of my favorite things about ministry is the chance to “by faith, try stuff.” Some people talk about formulas for success, but God wants us to engage with Him in relationship, not just check boxes in our schedule. After all, “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Cor 3:7). Other religions put the control in our hands and our relationship with higher powers is strictly transactional—if we perform certain rituals, things will go well.

God doesn’t want any of that! He says “stop bringing me meaningless offerings” and “return to me” (Isaiah 1:13, 44:22). He’s interested in a relationship. My team has been studying a book called “With” by Skye Jethani, and have been learning about the 5 postures we have toward God. We often try to live “over” God by exchanging the living Lord and just keeping the principles and life strategies of the Bible. Other times, we live “under” God as if He’s waiting to zap us if we don’t legalistically do everything right. Then our consumerism kicks in and we live “from” God, like he is a butler who exists only to meet our desires. The most tricky, though, is life “for” God, where we spend so much time doing good things that we lose sight of the actual relationship “WITH” our first love (Revelation 2:4).

STUDENTS RALLY FOR CHRIST

Over 1,000 students from around the Mid-Atlantic region attended our winter conference called RADIATE 2014: Anchored.

24 put their faith in Christ!
105 committed to spending at least a year in full-time ministry!
220 committed to going on a summer mission opportunity with Cru!
741 signed a pledge of surrender which can be found here.

One student impacted was Zach, who had drifted over the summer. Plagued by fears and doubts, he called himself an agnostic and was resentful toward God. Through Cru, Zach came back into fellowship with Him and even joined a city outreach during the Christmas conference. He challenged a young atheist, “do you think it’s possible that there is a God?” The man even agreed to hear Zach’s gospel booklet. Zach explains, “you just have to show up, just say ‘I’m willing to share,’ and God takes care of the rest.”

Pray for Zach and view the main talks here.

Men’s Retreat

I thought this ad for Dockers Jeans is a riot, but it also drives home a point:

“Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never had to cross the street alone. Men took charge because that’s what they did. But somewhere along the way the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khakis and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny.

But today there are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits idly by as cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes. We need grown ups. We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar, and untie the world from the tracks of complacency. It’s time to get your hands dirty. It’s time to answer the call of manhood. It’s time to wear the pants.”

This March, my church will host a men’s weekend retreat based on FamilyLife’s Stepping Up video resource kit. A foundation of strong men will be a blessing to their families. Pray for us, and check it out yourself 🙂

Family News

God is so good. Yes, we all got sick (very sick, sinus infections and bronchitis ran laps around our house), but He provided the strength we needed to get through it. He also provided family and dear friends who visited us over the holidays and this month as well.

One of the great things about living in Orlando is that people we love always have some reason to be here. In Katie and Darren’s case (top), they were here for the Run Disney Dopey Challenge (48.6 miles total)! Whatever reason brings you to our city, definitely call us up so we can give you a hug (and possibly a tour of Cru world headquarters)!

The kids had a great Christmas, full of art supplies and construction toys. They even got a crayon maker (thank you, garage sale!) so they could melt their old broken art supplies and construct new ones :). Karen bravely went “dumpster diving” and cleaned up an old whiteboard that is big enough for both to draw on at once (thank you, neighbors!) 🙂

We are excited to have taken on a new role at church, as part of the teaching team for our middle-school Sunday school class. This is an answer to our prayer that we could get more involved in serving our church family, and we ask for your prayers for wisdom and love as we seek to disciple these young hearts well.