February Prayer Letter

Finding Good Soil

Stephen and I(Davy) are walking down the street after an appointment with some of his leaders in training at IFTG. We glance at a building and see a banner for a university. Wait… there are four other banners on the building as well. We just found five new schools not on our decoding map. We have a few minutes to spare, so we mount the stairs and grab the first student we see. Turns out, he is the president of the prayer group at the school. We set up an appointment for the following week. We move on to the next school. Turns out, the security guard has already done follow-ups with Cru and watched the Jesus Film. We tell him we’ll be back the next week as well. That was day one. I went back last week and talked with the administration at the school Onyx, the secretary was watching a video on how to walk with the Holy Spirit when I arrived. 

God is at work in our midst friends. He is bringing about the growth both apart from us and through us. Who is God working on in your sphere of influence that you can join in the story of training?

An Unlikely Helper

Some days you run into a million dead ends before you find an open door. Makda and I (Melissa) ventured to ISTC, but no one was interested in talking. When we finally met a woman who would talk with us she insisted on taking us to the administration to get permission to share with students, even though we already received permission months ago. On the way to the administration we ran into a student named Emanuel (pictured above, to my right) that we had shared with with last month. He isn’t a believer, but is a textbook “person of peace.” After talking with the administration he took us to his classroom and allowed us to speak in front of about 25 students. We were able to pull a few really interested students aside and challenge them to become leaders on their campus. Many of the students enthusiastically promised to share their faith. Please stop and pray for the students from ISTC pictured above. Pray that they have a heart to see their campus reached with the Gospel. 

Prayer Requests

• Mid-Year Conference and vacation were great for reflection and evaluation. Pray for our team to have endurance and effectiveness as we head into the “fourth quarter” of the year. 
• A collection of Cru staff are coming to visit us next week on what we call a “Vision Trip.” These are staff from our partner schools and others looking to get an idea of what is happening. Pray for a couple to decide to STINT with us next year!
• Pray for some of the leaders I am coaching: Kouamé (ESBTP), Paul (ISTSJ), Kevin (ISGEMA), Emmanuela (ESCOGET), and Alpha, a Muslim student. 

Our team departed for three distant cities while our family battled sickness. 43 college students heard the gospel that week.  8 students said yes to owning the responsibility of every student on their campus hearing the good news and received training on how to do that. The gospel is bearing fruit and growing in Daloa, Bouake, and Khorogo.

What's next? Please pray for our Key Volunteer training happening this weekend. Pray that the students are able to attend (can be difficult due to their lack of finances) and make strong commitments to reach their campus with the Gospel.

We are so thankful for our team and the community we are a part of. Here Aiden is pictured with Juliette, the youngest of our teammates’ four kids. Juliette likes to tell everyone “baby Aiden is my best friend!”

January Prayer Letter

Recruiting

It was quite a stark transition to go from sweating in Africa to the cold winds of Denver, CO. Davy spent five days there to recruit students to come on Summer Mission/STINT.

This year’s Winter Conference saw 700 students pack into cars to come for a week of teaching and training. He was able to speak from the stage many times and got to meet one-on-one with several soon-to-be graduates. We are praying for 12 STINT’ers to join us next year. One girl is already accepted and her best friend committed to come as well! Another young man has his application turned in, so we are hoping for a full team as we seek to reach every campus in this country.

Students at ESCOGET drawing an image of  2 Timothy 2:2 

Equipping the Next Generation

Packed around tables, 33 of the young men and women who have committed to being leaders with Cru brainstormed what it means to build a movement and how to coach the next generation of students after them. We taught them the fundamentals of campus ministry and gave them tracks to run on. The young man in the middle of the picture is Hermann from IST-SJ. Davy had the privilege of engaging with Hermann and four other students at his school who have excitedly agreed to take on the mission of bringing Christ to their campus.The task is large. Just last week Davy went to two new schools where two other future leaders have taken on this challenge. We need more laborers to help coach all these students. Please stop right now and pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest field. 

Prayer Requests               

• We will split up to four different cities the second week of February.  There has been some political unrest in the country, so pray for both peace and fruit as we launch movements in new places.
• Pray for some of the leaders Davy is coaching: Narcisse (CIFEC), Hermann (ISTSJ), Cedric (ISGEMA), Jean-Baptiste (ASTC), & Wilfried (ESCOGET)

HOW CAN WE PRAY FOR YOU? FILL OUT THE FORM TO THE RIGHT AND LET US KNOW!

The little guy is growing up! Climbing onto chairs, jumping to us off couches, and starting to waddle run, he’s kept us busy with his active life. He says “bye!” very clearly and when we say “night, night” he wants to give everyone a kiss. 

If you were a part of our team last year, you remember that Davy traveled to MO Southern every week to launch the movement there. This year, with little to no input from Cru staff, they have continued to reach their campus and five students came to the Denver Winter Conference! I got a chance to catch a pic with three of them. 

November/December Prayer Letter

C’est moi! C’est moi!

Picture four Ivorian college students raising their hands and saying the phrase above after I had asked, “Who wants to become the leader for Campus Pour Christ at this school?” Just an hour earlier, another young man had raised his hand confidently amidst a group of peers in response to the same question. The four mentioned previously were standing in a group as well, beside two young men who had just prayed to receive Jesus as their King. These have been the common stories for our team over the past two months. After visiting over half of the 190 campuses in the country we have embarked on a journey to find “Key Volunteers” at each school who will lead the movement for Christ. Narcisse is another young man who I met at CIFEC and the next week he had shared the gospel with four other students. He has since come to our national prayer meeting and a Christmas party. We have found these Key Volunteers on 24 campuses thus far and search for more continually! Please stop and pray that God would continue to connect us with them!

Go North

We had the chance to travel to another city, Daloa, the first week of December. There are five universities there. The team last year was able to connect with two students, Armel and Arnaud, who expressed that they wanted to not only reach their own campus, but the other four in the city!

In the 3 1/2 days we spent in Daloa, we shared the gospel 184 times and saw 64 students indicate a decision to follow Christ. This is praiseworthy and the truly encouraging news is that we found Key Volunteers on each of the four other schools! They will be able to reach infinitely more than we are able in our week long trips.

Armel and Arnaud will begin coaching these students to reach their peers all over the city. Pray for all of them to bear fruit and stay encouraged in the faith.

Prayer Requests

• We are hosting a Medical Mission this summer for the second time. Pray for details as we implement new outreaches and maybe even do surgeries!
• Pray for the Key Volunteers we find. Pray they own the vision and begin to multiply the gospel on their campuses. Pray for energy to press on as we coach many students and it’s only getting hotter here!

HOW CAN WE PRAY FOR YOU? FILL OUT THE FORM TO THE RIGHT AND LET US KNOW!

Aiden’s personality has begun to blossom. He can repeat the words “bubbles, ““crackers” & “night night” and is unfortunately quite adept at utilizing the word “no.” But he is overtly friendly as he waves at every person he passes.

We’ve hosted two Christmas parties. One with children from an orphanage we visit and the other with all the Ivorian Cru staff and student leaders.

Please pray for our team as we attend a conference in Spain, January 20-27. This will be time for training and encouragement for us an our team.