Thanksgiving Week 2025

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are grateful this year for God's grace.  In the midst of a year of loss and difficulty, He has been near to us, provided for and cared for us.

Catelin has been cancer free for more than one year!  Her last hurdle is reconstruction surgery on December 5, and she will recover living with us for the next month.

We are also grateful for the privilege of serving with Cru, and partnering with you.  Kaylan, Cru staff at Radford University shared this story from this fall.

"I'm giving out Cru surveys wiuth my guy Reagan and I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Go to Muse (the freshman dorm hall).  When we go there, there was absolutely nobody there.  In my head I definitely said, 'Bruhhh, I'm tripping.'  As we were about to leave, this guy came out of Muse on a skateboard.

I complimented his skateboard, introduce myself, and go on to give him a Cru survey.  Long story short, this Cru survey turns into a spiritual conversation and then into a gospel presentation.  Right in front of Muse, all of Heaven rejoiced as David prayed to receive Christ."

We love supporting our staff as they step out in faith like this every day.

As we continue to invest in our work with Cru, we are trusting the Lord for the financial resources to support our calling.  Over the last two years quite a few of our partners have had to end their support, and we are asking the Lord for an additional $20,000 in year end giving.

Would you prayerfully consider giving a year end gift of $1,000, $500, $200 or some other amount?

If you prefer to give by check, you can make out the check to Cru and mail it to our address at 4126 Stonewall Drive, Orlando, FL 32812.  The easiest way is to visit give.cru.org/0374749 and make a gift there.  

With love and thanks,

P.S.  We have noticed that several of our partners have discovered simple, tax-wise ways to maximize their impact, especially at years end.  Scan the QR code or click here to read more.

Glad to be alive!

On most mornings I ride my bike .9 miles from our house to the gym and back.  On October 14 I was riding home on the sidewalk and came to the intersection of the neighborhood before our street.  As usual, there were cars ready to pull out onto Conway Rd, a pretty busy road.  I paused at the corner and made the assessment that ongoing traffic was coming and the cars in front of me would not pull out.  

I was wrong.  At the same time I started to pedal, the car I was pulling in front of drove into my front bike tire and knocked me to the ground!  He had been looking left and had not seen me.  Usually I make eye contact with the drivers, but his windows were tinted.  

I remember sliding along the ground thinking, "Well, this is happening, I wonder how bad this will be."

He stopped quickly and backed up while I got up and pulled my smashed bike out of the road.  I was stunned, but after I sat down a second and noticed the bad scrape on my ankle, I thought, "I"m ok!"  

He was upset, but nice and took care of me. and drove me and my bike home. I thanked him, took a picture of my bike (this one), sent a text to the family, told Dayna the story, and went to take a shower, shave, and got ready for my 8:30 meeting.  I was kind of giddy about being alive and not being hurt.

About 10 minutes into my meeting I noticed I could not straighten my arm, and it was swelling up and hurting.  So, I left the meeting and we went to the orthopedic clinic at the hospital and learned my arm was broken at the elbow!

We made it home from the hospital by my 11 am meeting and I had a full day of meetings that day.  I am pretty sure I was running on the adrenaline from the morning!

Now it is six weeks out and I'm doing OK.  My ankle is still healing and my wrist still hurts, but the bone has healed.  I still can't straighten it all the way, but it's a lot  better.

I still feel a tremendous sense of gratitude to be alive!  I've known a few people that have died from bike accidents, so I know it could have been much worse.  

And yes, I was wearing a helmet.  And no, I have not fixed my bike yet.  

Let us not become weary of doing good.

Thank you for standing with us and supporting us as we serve with Cru.  It is an honor to serve with you to help introduce others to Jesus Christ.

Cru is a missionary sending ministry.  The most important work of Cru is working directly with people on college campuses, high schools, the military, and all around the world.  Every other part of the organization (finance, HR, technology, donations, etc) is necessary to support them, but only exist to see those staff and students be able to share the gospel, disciple others, and send them to reach others.

Recently, I've been asked to take on an assignment at Cru to lead change as we reorganize our HR system, and it has been overwhelming and challenging.  The last two months have been, well, really too busy.  I really think it will be better for our staff for years to come, so I'm glad it is happening,  but honestly, I'm feeling kind of like I'm holding on for dear life!

When I'm in a period like this, I am encouraged when I hear about a story like the one below.  This is the story of a Thai staff member, Joy.  A year ago, she joined the Digital Cohort of the Next Gen program with no experience at all. She simply brought her mustard seed of faith.

God honored that step. Today, Joy is training others and helping churches in Thailand enter the digital harvest, seeing real fruit along the way. What I like about this video is that she took a risk to try something new, and she identifies what she is learning along the way. Take five minutes to watch her story.

You are a part of Joy's story and the impact she is having.  It might seem far away, but the staff I'm helping are helping staff like Joy all over the world.  

Chapter 6 of Galatians closes with several admonitions, and one of them stood out to me today.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."  Galatians 6:9-10.

To be honest, I think Dayna and I are feeling weary.  It's not that we don't want to do good, but this year has been wearing on us, especially emotionally between the family challenges we have faced, our culture in the U.S, and the busyness of the ministry.

Thank you for praying for us, for supporting our work, and for you friendship.  

With love and thanks,

PS  Catelin is doing well.  She is taking two medications that impact her energy and have other side effects, but we recently acknowledged that she has technically been cancer free for over one year last month!  She is preparing for reconstruction surgery in early December.  Thank for your prayers for her.