Chicago

As our team in St. Louis has continued to pray about how God would have us to expand and increase our scope of ministry, we have prayerfully adopted Chicago (along with East Asia and Yaounde, Cameroon) into our scope of ministry.

Chicago is home to about 400,000 students as Campus Crusade for Christ has drawn the map. This includes everything from elite public and private universities in the sophisticated downtown area to rural community colleges. The challenges are immense. As I was visiting with the leaders of their team, I shared a verse that so so significant to Holly and me when we first moved to St. Louis--I Samuel 14:6 tells the story of Jonathan's response to his armor bearer in the face of unfavorable military odds, "...It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving whether by many or by few." Jonathan's example of faith has also encouraged me to trust God in His calling regardless of the circumstances around me.

It was fun to coach the CCC city leadership there and to help them from the base of experience that God has entrusted to us. Our next step, Lord willing, in this budding partnership will be to take our entire staff team to Chicago in November to help them launch and build groups of students on area campuses who will worship God and expand His kingdom for His glory!

St. Louis has been a cradle for developing missionaries for the last decade. Now, God is moving us into relationships with other cities in the world where we can leverage our experiences and our leadership to advance the kingdom of God to new places. We simply cannot say thanks enough to you for your partnership in helping to make all of this happen.

Oh, yes--one great side benefit of a partnership in Chicago is BASEBALL!! I did catch a Cubs-Pirates game (all while I was wearing my Cardinal gear) at Wrigley. It was a lot of fun.