Greetings from Orlando, FL.
Wait, Orlando? Yea, Orlando!
We were in Florida this week doing the exciting work of training new Reliant missionaries. Reliant holds 4 annual trainings for new missionaries at their Orlando headquarters. For the February training, Alan got asked to be a trainer. What this means is that Reliant sees us as skilled at ministry and representing what we do, so he has the chance to train others up to do similar work.
The 16 new missionaries there are going to college campuses across the country and to a few international missions. We've heard their stories and callings are are so excited for how God will use them as they raise support and reach students on campuses and places beyond our own.
Speaking of campus, we're here for a week and it's definitely sad to be away from our students! There's a lot of exciting stuff happening on the Illinois campus at the start of this Spring semester of 2016. Be sure to check out our prayer requests below to see what we mean.
We can't say it enough...Thank you for your partnership. Your support is helping us reach the University of Illinois and other locations through this training. December was an incredibly generous month from our team and we can't say thank you enough!
Oh! And baby Hable is doing great! We're about halfway through the pregnancy and everything is progressing as would be expected. We're so excited for him or her to meet the world!
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This spring semester, Illini Life is launching some new outreach focused groups that we call Connect Groups. In the Fall semester, these groups are location driven which is helpful for new freshman arriving to town.
The spring semester means most people are returning to campus & many relationships are already established. We invited our students to start groups among these established and developing friendships. The students who stepped up and got creative. Five groups of leaders stepped out in faith to try something new, which ranges from game nights to Bible studies. You can read about the groups at illinilife.org
Would you pray with us for these 5 groups of student leaders stepping out in faith, that they would rely on Christ as they help to connect the disconnected.
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Just across town from the University of Illinois sits Parkland College, a 2-year community college with a large enrollment (nearly 20,000) and a partnership that means that more students are starting their first 2 years of college at Parkland and transferring to the U of I.
This Spring, Illini Life is starting a Connect Group there. We have a group of students that love I-Life and wanted us to help them out. Alan will be coaching that group in starting and sustaining a new ministry branch. We're exploring the challenging question of how to reach community colleges, which are gaining traction as University costs increase.
Would you pray for us that God would open doors at Parkland and that we could learn how to reach the next generation in this context?
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