Visiting the Billy Graham Library

While we were visiting Rodney's grandfather near Charlotte, North Carolina we had the chance to visit the Billy Graham Library.  If you're ever in the area, it was pretty interest to spend two or three hours learning more about Billy Graham's ministry.  By the way, it's also free to get in, which always makes things better in my opinion.  On the property is the house that Billy grew up in, Ruth's gravesite, a cafe and a museum full of videos and exhibits.  Below are some of our pictures.  

Here are Rodney and I near the front entrance:

This is the house the Billy Graham grew up in that way taken apart, brick by brick, and moved to this property, about 8 miles from it's original location:

One of my favorite part of the museum was Bessy the Talking Cow.  She talked about Billy's life growing up on a dairy.

Okay, here's one more picture from one of the displays in the museum.  Enjoy!

 

Why minister on a college campus?

In case you've missed us, we're up in North Carolina/Georgia for a few days.  Things have been going well so far, getting some much needed R&R.  We spent most of the day with Rodney's grandfather and had the chance to visit the Billy Graham library, which was very cool.  We'll have more on that (with pictures) on the next post. 

I found this article about why college students are a strategic group of people to minister to.  It was a great reminder for me about the importance of what we are hoping to do.  Whether it's students in Salerno, Italy, or students on your local college campus, wherever that may be, college students are great to invest you life and your time into.  Enjoy!

 

Why College Students are Strategic

By Ken Cochrum with Amber Kineer

Teachable

They ask questions.  THey consume information on a rapid level and can put an idea to action with proper motivation.  New challenges tend to provoke new curiosity or heart openness concerning personal purpose, convictions and life goals.  

Starting Fresh

They are setting a new life trajectory.  The decisions made, the habits formed, and the friendships forged during the college years tend to set the course for a lifetime.

Leading

They are the educated elite that will most likely lead in every domain of society -- government, religion, military, education, even sports and entertainment.  Our future leaders will be people who went to college.

Unfettered

They are free to take incredible risks.   They are unfettered by commitments, mortgages, career ladders and kids.  They are free to go anywhere the Lord leads.

Growing

They form a large presence.  The number of college students in the world has increased from about 60 million to about 120 million in the past decade.

Seeking Identity

They desire significance.  College students want to feel part of something bigger.  THey want their life to count for something and they want a cause to live for.

Global

They are connected to a global student culture.  Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and similar online social networks enable students to be accessible to their peers -- anytime, anywhere.

Innovative

The revolution of digital information has radically changed how people learn.. The average student is online 3 and a half hours per day.  Paper books and printed Bible studies have given way to podcasts, short films, text messages and chat forums.

Integrated

They fuse with society.  Students don't congregate on the campus but spill over into coffee shops, internet bars and along the city center.  Increasingly, they don't even live on campus because there aren't enough dorm spaces.  They're out in the city.

Active

Students are constantly searching for new ways to get involved with student culture and find a niche.  They try many things and are exposed to new organizations, clubs, social groups, classes and professors every semester.  

Tasteful Reminders

We have been in Tampa now for a little over two weeks staying at Amanda's house that she grew up in in New Tampa. It has been a great setup for us as Amanda's dad has been extremely flexible with us coming and going. He even lent me a car when Amanda had to go back to Orlando for two days so I could drive around for those two days. It has also been good catching up with people we usually do not have time to see and spend time with since our whole family is in Tampa and we usually see them the most of the short time we are usually in Tampa. We have been looking at our trip of more of an exploration trip. We have gotten addresses and stuff is more clear on what next time in Tampa is going to look like which I look like a win in a lot of ways. We have inserted fun breaks in between all the people we have been meeting with. We visited the Gelateria Del Duomo which I had noticed in a brief trip to Tampa's International Plaza to pick up something for my sister-in-law, so when we returned to the International Plaza because of long story that involved maybe picking up my mom's husband Ben from the airport that never happened, we or maybe I should say I needed to stop.  I do not want to go into great detail or length explaining my great love for gelato. I think that to make a long story short I do not really like ice cream that much or sweets in general to be frank, but Italian gelato I absolutely love and cannot get enough of! Cream based gelato (chocolate, hazelnut, etc.) contains only 6% fat and fruit based gelato contains none! If you do not know what I am talking about and want some explanation and a visual check out www.gelateriadelduomo.com. It was sooooooo good! It was the most authentic gelato I have tasted in the U.S. and up in the top five that I have tasted Italy! It was kinda pricey but one of my highlights for the week. (It does not take much to make me happy). It was kinda bittersweet in a way because it made me really want to be in Italy and upset that we were not there. On the other hand I wanted to be in Italy not to eat gelato, but to do the ministry God has called us to do. The gelato tastefully reminded me of what God is doing in our own lives and to not give up.  We are now about to leave for Orlando today and stay until next Friday where we leave to go on our 10 day North Carolina/South Carolina/Georgia excursion.

The new Rays

One of our first activities we did, once we got to Tampa, was to go to a Rays game against the Minnesota Twins.  We always try to do at least one fun, non-support related event a week so that we do not go crazy.  The first inning was littered with scoring with 8 runs scored by both teams including a fly ball that landed one seat over and two and half rows up into an old lady's lap.  I was not on my 'A' game since it was just the 1st inning and did not go over there and snag it since there were open seats and I could have.  The Rays ended up blowing the game in the 9th after they were up two runs and all they needed was three outs.  This was my third Rays game in their 11 years and I thought I was watching the Rays of old who only won 70 games in a season once in their previous ten years.  I would say the other crazy surprise of the game was an older gentlemen in the section over from us received a baseball to the top of the head after it bounced off the upper deck but he was okay.  Thats it for the sport report, back to support raising!  Enjoy the pictures!  

Keep On Keeping On

We are nearing the end of our 8th week. Support is going well, we are on pace to reach our goal still, but we are starting to get more one time gifts than monthly which could be a problem later on. I am learning when trusting God for things that current circumstances do not mean a thing, Chicken wing. Sorry had to do that. Anything could happen the next day or the next week, so what is happening now is something you kinda just put in the back of your head and look on. We attended our small group bible study last night. We are just starting a new series that we are going to attend when we can but we are going to be starting to be all over the place. We just had dinner and did an introduction to the book and I was encouraged and so was Amanda. We absolutely loved being a part of it last spring before it had a summer intermission. We both love being around people who like going deeper into each others' lives and the fact their are people that are from different stages of life. I wish we had a picture of everyone to share.

We are heading out to Tampa to make our first 2-3 week excursion on the 18th. At first I was okay and ready to go. Then, I got really frustrated because some things were not working out as I had hoped and now I am doing well again. This situation is just another one of the circumstances where I knew God was working because people were praying. 

I felt like I was always on the side growing up as the one praying for people as they are in difficult situations, but now as the one prayed for, I know it makes a difference in our everyday lives. It is really hard to explain, but I can actually feel my faith being affected. For instance, stuff kinda turned around about the Tampa thing Tuesday night. I realized it today that our church had a quarterly prayer night that we could not attend that without a shadow of a doubt we were being prayed for there. Thanks to everyone who is praying, keep doing it!! Let me know what your prayer needs also because the primary people I am praying for are people I am talking to and that are excited about our ministry.

Check out these videos

I just wanted to take a minute to highlight two links to video clips that are now available on our blog.  If you look over on the right side of the page, under the links section you will see 3 things listed.  The first is a link to setup an online gift.  The next two are video clipping about the ministry in Italy.  The first one, The Condition of Italy, was made by a former UCF student and now professional video producer/editor/guy.  It talks all about the spiritual climate of Italians, especially among young people.  If you want to know more about why we are going to Italy, this is a great place to start.  The second video, Marko Rosetti's Testimony, is the impact that the ministry has had on the life of one man.  Marko has had the opportunity to meet many of the students and staff that Campus Crusade has sent to Salerno over the past four years.  His family owns the hotel where many of the short term students had stayed.  By just seeing the lives of Christians in fellowship with one another, and through many intentional conversations over the years, Marko has come into a personal relationship with Christ.  It is powerful to see and to hear the words come from a man who has been impacted by the ministry.  Both of these videos are a great glimpse of what gets us excited about the ministry in Salerno.  Enjoy!

Meet more of the team

In addition to the long-term team, there is also a group of interns that are making a ten month commitment to live and work on the campus in Salerno. They recently attended a briefing in Colorado for all of the teams of interns being sent all over the world. Most of them are recent college graduates although two of them are returning for a second year of interning in Salerno. You will also see Jutty and Abbey (and Bryce and Addison) and Amanda Craig in the picture as well. Since they are supervising the intern team, they also attended the summit. All of the interns are leaving for Salerno next week so please keep them in your prayers as they are making some last minute preparations and saying goodbye to lots of friends and family.