We got about the business of launching the ministry at Portland State University today. By the way, PSU is the largest university in Oregon and the third largest in all of our Campus Crusade region, behind U. of Washington and U. of Utah. Didn’t know that, did you?

We started with a short discussion on this powerful article by Tim Keller to give us a framework for our heart to see this urban campus transformed. Keller’s stuff is what pushed me toward making the decision to move to Portland. For Keller fan boys, here’s a link of all his stuff.

Then believing God to breakthrough on campus in powerful ways we braved 97 degree temperature and pounded the streets for information. Joined by five of the regional office interns today that will be working with us 1 day a week this fall we gathered information that will shape our initiatives, outreaches and strategies.

Looking forward to the day when at PSU there is a community where the gospel captures hearts, transforms lives, and launches men and women into a lifelong adventure with Jesus Christ.

***please note. These are in addition to our snail mail letters and blog posts. If you check you’re email but don’t follow our blog, then this is for you! If you’d like to subscribe to our blogpost via email too, then fill out the form in the right column of our website! Got all that?

Bottomline, we want you to know what’s going on with us and how to pray for us as you invest in our ministry. Thanks!

Praises!

• God has provided free housing for us while we’re in Boise in September waiting for the adoption paperwork to finalize.
• God continues to provide in remarkable ways for the expense of adoption. More to come about this later when we know exactly what the cost is going to be.
• God is providing students who are willing to help get us officially recognized at PSU.
• God is providing volunteers all over the city who would like to serve with us!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for my (Matt) lower back. I continue to have lower back and leg pain as a result. I think it’s related to sciatic nerve and I’m currently getting it checked out, but it’s been sort of frustrating as sitting is problematic at the moment.
• Pray for the Lord’s peace to be evident in our lives as we near the due date of our baby boy. It’s count down time!
• Pray for our staff team to continue to gel and for the Lord to give us the right strategies that are unique to Portland.

Other Notes:

• Jody is a blogging machine. You can get more insight into our family life on her blog.
• Our garden is doing well. Cucumbers and tomatoes are taking off and I ate some yummy snap peas tonight!

As the students and staff of Campus Crusade are serving all over the world right now,  Jody and I are launching into a season of expanding our support team in preparation for launching the Portland metro ministry this fall. Please pray for us during this time as we seek to invite people to partner with our ministry.

This is a challenging process for us, but at the same time we’re deeply grateful for the chance to invite people into what God is doing in the lives of college students. The whole process deepens my dependence on the Lord and allows me to take an audit of my perspective of who God is and clarify as necessary.

We are talking to a number of you over the course of this summer. But if you haven’t heard from us yet and you are interested in helping in this process the two major areas of need for us are:

1. Increased monthly support to help cover the cost of living increase as well as new expenses for adoption of our little boy in August.
2. We simply do not know enough people to raise additional support in a timely manner. We are asking friends and current ministry partners to brainstorm 20 friends/family that they would contact to share about the ministry if they were in our shoes responsible for raising funds to fulfill their ministry.

Thanks for all of your partnership and prayers over the years. The vision for reaching the campuses of this city for Christ is great and we are incredibly thankful for your partnership in this great endeavor. We give thanks for all you daily.

We moved into our new house on May 1st and are finally feeling like we’re getting settled in Portland. We’re learning a new culture and city…much like serving overseas somewhere. Just getting used to the new grocery stores and traffic is an adjustment!

All things considered we’re doing well and finally feeling like we can take a breath and enjoy the newness of it all and begin to plant some roots. Speaking of roots, we launched into the adventure of gardening a few weekend ago. We thought we’d take advantage of long growing season to get some tasty veggies going in our backyard.

On a personal note, we’re also in the midst of the adoption application process! More to come on this soon in the next newsletter. It’s an exciting story that we can only give God credit for.

So this summer we’ve launched into an intense time of expanding our ministry partner team here in Portland. We’re working hard to have this completed as quickly as possible so we can turn our attention to the school year that will be here before we know it.

We also continue to be amazed at the doors God is opening up for the ministry here in Portland. In fact just yesterday a fellow staff member and I started compiling the list of potential volunteers who would like to help reach college students with the message of Christ and it wouldn’t be a stretch to have 25 key volunteers by the end of summer. Praise the Lord for laborers.

Prayer requests:

• That God would open up doors for our financial support team to grow
• For wisdom as we do strategic planning for the school year
• Pray for our staff team to form well
• Pray for our adoption process, that God would be glorified in it all.
• Pray for all our staff and students that are on summer project around the world!

So the Lord has provided in his own unique way and timing. We trust his judgment and who knows, by renting our house for a while perhaps we can wait out the downturn in real estate a bit.

We’re incredibly excited to get settled in Portland, get some traction with the ministry there.

I (Matt) am headed to California for the Catalyst West conference along with my co-leader Justin this week to hopefully gain some insight and inspiration into the next steps of the ministry in Portland. And next week Jody is taking in the Orphan Care Summit where she’ll learn more about helping our ministry connect to the need of orphans worldwide.

As you can see we’re not bored around here! Thanks for all your prayers during this time. We continue to covet them for our sanity as we live out of suitcases for a couple more weeks. We give thanks for you daily!

Photo courstesy of PortlandGround

Please pray for us in this time of uncertainty. Our house has yet to sell, but we need to spend significant time in Oregon expanding our ministry team and connecting with key students before the school year is finished. We will be spending a week in Prineville and then housesitting in the Portland area for a while…assuming our house doesn’t sell. FYI we’re starting to think about finding renters, although being a landlord is not what we’d like to do.

We’re doing well in the midst of this transition and clinging to the truth that God is good and faithful. Please continue to pray that God would remove the burden of an unsold house!

Thanks for all your prayers. More info will be in our newsletter at the end of the month!

They have a ton of locations all over the U.S. For more info check out their site. If you’re interested in send me an email and I’ll give you the promotional code.

So right now our days are full of meetings, letters and phone calls to expand our ministry partner team. As well as meetings, conference calls, emails and strategic planning for the Portland ministry. We’re itching to get moving with the Portland ministry, but we’re also thanking the Lord for this time of laying the groundwork for a new day of ministry in Portland.

Please continue to pray for our sanity as we’re stuck in the limbo for the next couple of months. We’re doing really well personally, but we continue to need patience and trust in the Lord’s timing. Also, pray for the right buyer to fall in love with our house soon! We have an open house on Valentines day, so who knows!

Lastly, pray for the Portland ministry. The potential is off the charts for God to do something unique on the campuses in the city. Every day we hear from someone who is excited that we’re coming. We’re believing God to reach the campus for Christ on the way to seeing the city and the world transformed!

The last few weeks have been full of meetings as well as exploring the Portland metro area trying to figure out where we’d like to live. If you’re interested in some nuts and bolts of our relocation, check out a post from a series I started on my leadership blog over here.

Please continue to pray for our transition. We’re doing really well, but feeling unsettled in both Portland and Bozeman. We’re just waiting for our house to sell and then we’ll move full steam ahead. Please pray that God would lift that burden.