“I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how thankful I am for all your help and advice.  I am so glad that I decided to sign up for a mentor.  I feel like without this experience in my life, I wouldn’t know where I’d be, probably dead, though I am not proud to admit that, it’s most likely true.  I truly feel that you are one of my best friends, even thou we’ve never met and don’t know a lot about each other I feel like you were meant to be my mentor, like God knew it from the start that that’s what he wanted you to do. Thank you so much for being here for me, and I’d love to continue emailing you.”

Our mentor will continue through the journey with this girl and often, our mentors are the only people the teens trust.

It is why I do what I do.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for the thousands of website visitors and partner respondents that connect with our staff and volunteers every month. Pray that we would not only be able to help them through the struggles that they know about, but that we would be able to help them with the eternal struggle.
• We would ask for prayers for wisdom. We are currently finalizing the strategic plans for the 10/11 year. (Power to Change still follows the school year that Campus Crusade for Christ uses for planning purposes.)
• Pray that in everything we do, we would see God’s touch on it.

Besides your prayer support being critical to our ministry, we are in a period of financial need. Would you be willing to give a gift to help TruthMedia continue to be there when people are searching for God?

Normally, we bring in individuals like Erwin MacManus or Mark Driscoll to speak to us but this year we stayed within the Campus Crusade for Christ family and were blessed to have Holly Sheldon and Doug Pollock as speakers. We were led into worship by Chet Ingram and his excellent band from Ebenezer Baptist in Saskatoon.

There was a different feel to this years conference as there seemed to be more unity between ministries. President Leonard Buhler has spent the last five years changing the entire organizational structure of the ministry and we are seeing the results as people are now free and able to work together to reach the domains of society without a corporate org chart getting in the way.

I took Kristin and Ava to Whistler with me this year. Kristin had joined me last year but after talking about her time for the last six months, I realized that Ava would have been devastated if she wasn’t able to come as well.

They really enjoyed their time in the childcare and with Kristin going into Kindergarten this fall, she was in with the big kids and had a blast.

Last year the leadership of Power to Change began the tradition of honoring individuals with Staff Excellence awards. This year, something went wrong in the nomination process and I was awarded one of the awards. Seriously though, it was a great honor and extremely humbling to hear my name called. I even had to make up a quick thank you speech on the fly.

Dave Beck caught me in the middle of trying to think fast and talk at the same time.

I’ll try and write a bit on what I learned from the speakers over the next few weeks.

We don’t do this for the sake of change. We are making these major adjustments to be more effective at fulfilling the vision of reaching the world with Jesus. The world has never been more open to Jesus, however, it has never been more closed to religion. We are unable to start from the understanding that the person we are talking to is aware of who Jesus is. If they have heard the name Jesus, it is usually in vain or skewed by a hostile media. In fact, to most people walking down the street, if you try to start a conversation with the topics of God or Jesus, you aren’t relevant.

There are certain domains of society that we have chosen to concentrate on. Government, sports, family, media, humanitarian, church and Business are all segments of cities around the world. By using these felt-needs as starting points, we can show that Jesus is relevant to where people are at. Jesus is the only way to a cure for the divorce rate but by giving the Biblical principles without actually putting the chapter and verse beside, we can show that we have relevant ideas regardless of whether the individual believes in Jesus yet.

We want to take people on faith adventures. Here’s a clip from our corporate site.

At Power to Change, we want to see everyone living out a Faith Adventure – a dynamic journey where people discover a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, experience the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit by helping someone else discover Jesus, and inspire others to do the same.

At TruthMedia, we have taken this concept onto the internet. Using TheLife.com as our starting point, we have developed content that is relevant, no matter where one is on their spiritual journey. By engaging the individual at the need they need met, we can be Jesus to them and then introduce Jesus as being the true need.

Here are a few emails that we have received from people who have written in.

Please pray for me as I am losing everything that’s dear to me. My family is far away , my boyfriend is not as close to me as before and most of all I have never felt so insecure in my life as right now !I need to be close to God as I used to !thanks for reading my mail (U.K.)

I am just in the beginning, i just said prayed to Jesus for the first time. My life is a mess. I have been in constant presence of drugs. Along w/ the presence of drugs, my financial situation is in a totally ridiculous predicament. I am in despair, on the verge of losing my wife and unborn son, and also my family members. I can’t find the courage to face reality and the predicament that will be dealt to me. So now i turn to Jesus Christ my Lord, and invite him into my life, and change me the way he see fit (Indonesia).

As you can see, people are coming to us with their felt-needs and finding out that we can be there for them.

Would you be interested in helping us by becoming a mentor for these people. We have a specific need for men that can answer emails coming from youth.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Power to Change Staff Member Survives Bomb Blast

Langley, British Columbia
November 9, 2008

Gary Stevenson, a staff member with the Campus for Christ ministry of Power to Change, has survived a bombing at his home in Langley, B.C. The attack occurred at approximately 11:30 AM Saturday morning as the Stevenson family was loading a van to move out of their townhouse. Mr. Stevenson picked up a package delivered anonymously to his door, thinking it was a gift, but it exploded when he attempted to open it.

Mr. Stevenson was taken immediately to hospital where he was treated for lacerations and burns. Surgeons removed shrapnel from his abdomen. No
other members of the Stevenson family were injured. He is expected to make a full recovery.

The townhouse complex was sealed off by police who swept the area to ensure there were no other explosive devices. Investigators gathered evidence until late Saturday evening at which time residents were allowed to return to their homes. Police investigators say that they have no suspects or information about motive and caution against premature speculations.

Mr. Stevenson serves with Campus for Christ on the campus of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia where he works with students. Mike Woodard, National Director of Campus for Christ, expressed shock at the attack. “Gary is a just a great guy,” Woodard said, “one our most innovative staff who really enjoys engaging with university students on life’s most significant issues.” The director of Campus for Christ at Simon Fraser, Derek Hill, added that “Gary really loves people. He spends time getting to know students, and is always ready to help someone with a problem.”

Stevenson is married with two children. In addition to his work at Simon Fraser, Mr. Stevenson has also served internationally. A brief assignment once took him to North Africa. He has worked most extensively in Nicaragua, where he served for two years.

Power to Change President, Leonard Buhler, expressed relief that Mr. Stevenson had survived the attack. “Our hearts are saddened by this terrible event,” Buhler said, “but our staff and others in the community have rallied strongly to support Gary and his family.” Buhler is asking people to pray for the family during the weeks of recovery ahead.

Power to Change is a Canadian Christian ministry with more than 500 staff serving across Canada and around the world. The ministry seeks to assist people in a spiritual journey where they discover the relevance of Jesus Christ to issues of life today.

For more information Contact Dr. Guy S. Saffold (guy.saffold@powertochange.org, 604-514-2000) at Power to Change, 20385 64th Avenue, Langley, B.C. For more information on Power to Change, visit www.powertochange.org.

Thursday at 14:45, we welcomed Jamie Dawn Kotyk outside. She was 6 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long.

As you can see, she has her mommy’s good looks.

Thanks so much for your prayers. The girls are excited that Jamie is out of mommy but they did not anticipate the attention that would be lacking.

The following quote is from Daniel Win, GAiN Australia’s CEO. GAiN is the humanitarian arm of Power to Change, Ministries.

Over 100,000 have died. Over 1.2 million homeless. Yet things are set to get even worse as the problems escalate. The already contaminated water supply is being further threatened as bodies are being dumped into the rivers. Thousands of children have suddenly become orphans. People are confused, afraid and hurting. Communication is down. Transportation is difficult. Disease is starting to spread in epidemic proportions. The real crisis has just begun. It is critical that help is provided immediately before the disaster spreads in exponential proportions.

Read the complete update at PowertoChange.org.

TruthMedia Internet Group wants to offer you a daily encouraging word either by audio or by text.

The one minute podcast is available for free and beats those silly quotes on the side of your Starbucks cup.

That’s why FamilyLife Canada and TruthMedia Internet Group are partnering together on LoveBusters.tv, which just recently launched. Check out the videos on LoveBusters.tv or on the LoveBusters YouTube channel.

The following video is just an introduction.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZB_invJBe9o" height="350" width="425" /]

“For nearly half a century [Taylor] has argued that problems such as violence and bigotry can only be solved by considering both their secular and spiritual dimensions,” said a news release from the prize organizers.

CBC.ca

I’m proud of Taylor for being able to take the theory to the highest levels of Academia but honestly, is it just not expanding on what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12?

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Bible Gateway.com

In 1996, Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, International won the award.

James Cameron, the famous director of films such as The Terminator series and Titanic, has put together a documentary to be shown on the Discovery Channel this Sunday at 9pm Eastern that looks into what he feels is Jesus’ family.

However a quick look at the “evidence” shows that it isn’t quite scientific fact. The fact is, the DNA evidence is simply a negative match between 2 of the 10 mini caskets found in the tomb.

Even The Register finds it hard to swallow.

Equally shocking, at least to anyone who doesn’t buy their reading matter in airports, will be the news that Jesus fathered a son, when he was supposed to have spent his short life performing miracles, redeeming sinful mankind and generally fulfilling his divine mission.

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that this takes The Da Vinci Code one step further.

Read more at our movie blog.