use words if necessary - online edition

A Baptism and an Ordination

2008-05-02T13:58:00.003-05:00

Last Friday, we celebrated our second ever baptismal service at Tulane's outdoor pool. This time around, there was only one to be baptized, but it was great!

Liz Bowers made her public proclamation of faith in the presence of the Tulane Chi Alpha community, and a lifeguard.

I don't have any pictures, currently, as Jen and I couldn't find the camera that evening, but hope to have some soon. In the meantime check out Liz's testimony.

Then, on Monday, I was ordained by the Assemblies of God. I'm not too big on formal occasions or for titles, but the service was still quite meaningful. Superintendent Doug Fulenwider preached a deeply challenging address on keeping the Kingdom of God first.

The night was even more meaningful as my dad, and his brother, John, were in attendance. I didn't even know they were coming to town until I discovered them in my dining room Sunday after church! Thank God for family.

Speaking of family, I'm looking forward to a non-surprise visit from my mom, tomorrow. This will be here first time to Louisiana.

Upcoming Developments

2008-04-23T15:32:00.005-05:00

Welcome back, friends. Many of you got your first look at www.nolaxa.com last week, as I accidentally pointed you there with my newsletter email. Feel free to check that site on a regular basis if you like, or just check the headlines listed to the right. That'll help all you praying types to know how you might pray more specifically - thanks!

Some of you, then, already know that Chi Alpha in New Orleans has been chosen as the US Missions focus for The World Missions Summit next winter. This means there will be a targeted call for finances on a large scale, but more than that, a call for laborers - students to "give a year and pray about a lifetime" of service in the Great Commission with us here! Wow!

I'll keep you updated as that develops.

Also, we have a Campus Missionary in Training (CMiT) coming our way for next school year! We are excited to be a part of the Diversity Project internship, training the next generation of campus missionaries.

by the way, I'm getting ordained on Monday in Houma, LA at the Louisiana District Council. Some folks think that's a big deal, so I thought I'd let y'all know.

March/April 08 Newsletter

2008-04-15T11:07:00.004-05:00

Click on the image to zoom in. Click here to download a printer friendly version.

Tulane Likes to Talk about Sex

2008-04-09T11:12:00.002-05:00

Last week, one of my favorite speakers on the planet, and a really nice guy, Curt Harlow, paid a visit to New Orleans. Curt is the West Coast Regional Director for Chi Alpha. He's a blast: full of funny stories and profound insight and the love of Jesus.

While here, for just a quick stay, he shared a talk entitled Sex: Selection and Survival. We did some creative advertising at the lunch break, as Curt shared a few 3-5min comedic vignettes to the students chowing down and studying in an area of Tulane's center for university life, and then one of our students would invite them to come to the talk.

Well, I think the creative advertising helped, but more than that, XA students invited their friends. Nearly 50 people showed up and scarfed 14 pizzas! Close to 20 of them were folks who had never met XA before.

Curt shared more funny stories, illustrating the power of sex and relationships, and giving some brilliant guidance in building a relationship that works. He ended with a personal confession of his faith in Jesus - the power that has enabled him to enjoy more than 20 years of loving marriage. After this, there was some Q & A.

Tulane students love to talk about sex, and we'll keep dialoguing with them. There is a shift going on in our community, as we step into greater boldness, and begin to have faith that God really can impact this university with the Good News! After this wonderful turn-out and discussion, our students are encouraged and expectant for the future in a new way.

DC Updates from the Other Side

2008-04-09T10:14:00.000-05:00

Mike and Jen Godzwa are the lead missionaries for Chi Alpha at American University. Here are links to their thoughts on our recent spring break trip their way:

Mike -from www.thegodzwas.com

Jen -from godzwafam.blogspot.com

DC Trip Media

2008-03-27T18:35:00.004-05:00

Photos!

Audio! - Message from Thursday Night Worship. Matt spoke with the help of UNO Sr. Nikki Gordy

Video !

DC Reflections.

2008-03-27T18:13:00.004-05:00

Our trip to Washington D.C. was a blur, in a lot of ways, but a good blur.

I can't recount all of it, but plan to have a student story or two from the trip in our Mar/April newsletter that should show up within 2 weeks (that's called a teaser).

One of the most impactful experiences for me was the Seven Last Words of Christ service we visited at Georgetown University on Tuesday evening, the day we arrived.

Chi Alpha at Georgetown is one of several Protestant ministries affiliated with Georgetown's University Ministry. Like Loyola, Georgetown is a Jesuit Catholic university, however, their structure for Protestant student ministry is much more developed. As part of that affiliation, each of the Protestant groups are required to be a part of occasional meetings and special services. This Seven Words service was one of those required meetings.

My expectations were low: required cooperation in religious services tends to not go so well many times. However, I was moved and challenged, and really encountered God's presence in the remembrance of Jesus crucified.

The Gospel Choir led us in some hymns and spirituals, and each ministry had a representative share for 5-7 min on one of Christ's final words. Each representative had something truly powerful to share. I was especially blessed by and proud of Randy Demary. Randy was a student at UL-Lafayette when Jen and I were interns there, and is now a Chi Alpha missionary to Georgetown. He had to share on "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" not an easy assignment, but he did it well, and challenged all of us to see the hope tied up in that statement, as it connects to the whole of Psalm 22.

The trip got better from there.

Wed & Thursday: Daytime advertising for Holy Week activities and engaging American University students in conversations about Easter, spirituality, etc... good times!
Wed Evening: hosted a program on the origins of Easter
Thurs Evening: participated in and spoke at AU XA's Thursday Night Worship
Fri: touring and sight seeing - we weren't very good at this.
Sat: helped Godzwa's clean around their house and headed home.

Activity at Tulane

2008-03-23T16:55:00.001-05:00

We just arrived home from D.C. last night, and I'll post some updates on all that shortly, but here's a little current events blast from Tulane in the words of President Scott Cohen:

March 18, 2008

Good Morning:

I know I just wrote you a few days ago but I couldn't wait to tell you the exciting news that emerged from this weekend's inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative U (CGI U).

The energy was electrifying and the enthusiasm infectious as 700 college students joined activists, speakers, more than 30 university and college presidents, celebrities and guests from around the world to make commitments to specific solutions for global problems.

Tulane not only played host but also made several CGI U commitments of its own that address global issues in the areas of health, education, poverty and the environment. One Tulane CGI U commitment, announced by President Clinton himself, was our pledge to open several community health centers in New Orleans neighborhoods. These community centers will provide high-quality heath care for those who cannot afford health insurance and will also help revitalize depressed or hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods.

We also pledged to host annual summits, a web site and other efforts by which we will encourage universities throughout North America to implement our successful post-Katrina curriculum that makes public service a requirement of graduation. As the first major research university with such a requirement, we are already recognized as the national model and leader in civic engagement.

We also became the landmark 500th signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging that the university will measure its impact on global warming and develop a plan to achieve carbon neutrality through reduced energy use, green building, increased recycling efforts and other measures. The one-minute interview at this link will tell you more about these commitments.

Since this will be my last Tulane Talk before our upcoming three-day weekend, I want to take this opportunity to wish each of you a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Meeting the Superintendent and A whole lot more

2008-03-17T13:25:00.003-05:00

Wow, March has been a whirlwind of activity so far, and it continues tomorrow morning, as we take off with 6 students to our nation's capital where we will visit Georgetown Chi Alpha, and then partner with American U Chi Alpha for campus outreach. Please keep us, and our team in prayer.

Last week, we helped host a team from American U Chi Alpha during their spring break. They spent a day doing outreach with us at Tulane, and half a day with us at UNO. It was fun, and an exciting, bold move for our students, as we pushed past some fears and d

iscomforts to engage people in discussions about faith, spirituality, religion, and Jesus. The AU team spent the rest of their stay in New Orleans doing rebuilding work in the city with HisHands2Go, a ministry out of our church.

Speaking of our church, here are some pictures from our Palm Sunday weekend: Jen participated in Saturday's clean-up day, and then their are pictures from Sunday's service.

Also, there are some pictures of us with Rev. Doug Fulenwider, who is the Superintendent of the Louisiana District of the Assemblies of God, and with Dr. George Wood, Superintendent of the General (national) Council of the Assemblies of God. It was fun to meet them, and share with them a little of what God is doing at St. Luke Assembly of God, and in Chi Alpha New Orleans.

Campus Sex Talks

2008-02-28T14:03:00.004-06:00

Over the past few weeks, I've had the privilege of leading a provocatively title discussion on sexuality and God on our three campuses: Tulane, Loyola, and UNO. "Why does God hate Sex" drew out a few new folks, some of whom were just curious, and a few who seemed to be expecting a fight.

At all three campuses, we were able to really break down some false objections to God and to Christianity, and give students, Christian and non, some food for thought regarding why God has rules about sexuality.

I really enjoy engaging students in this kind of an arena, and am grateful to God for the opportunity. I look forward to building on this in the near future.

Here's a copy of the notes that Jen so kindly typed up for me. She also used the talk for a Satellite Group for ladies that she leads at Loyola.

Jan/Feb Newsletter

2008-02-20T17:07:00.004-06:00

Just click on the images to see them full size.
If you would like a printable version, click here.

recovery from sickness

2008-02-16T15:46:00.003-06:00

Well, I meant to get on here a while ago, and chat a bit about my foray into Lent, but I found myself with a nasty fever/flu last weekend that put me out of commission for a 3 days, and slowed me down for another couple. All the catching up and recuperating have kept me busy elsewhere.

I'm feeling just about 100% now, which is very exciting. I'm grateful for all of you out there who pray for Jen and I; Jen has been spared this nasty thing. Thanks be to God!

Just a quick encouragement regarding prayer, in general: we serve a God who responds to the cries of His people! You're probably familiar with the idea of God as the "Unmoved Mover", which is a nifty philosophical idea from Plato and friends. The unmoved mover is not the God revealed to us in Scripture: the God who heard the cries of Israel and delivered them for Egypt, who relented in His anger against that same Israel at the intercessions of His servant Moses, who rescued Hezekiah from his deathbed and granted him 15 extra years of life after Hezekiah prayed and cried to Him after Isaiah's prophecy that the sickness would end in death (2 King 20).

Our God is one who wants to hear His people pray, not because it makes Him feel important, and helps us remember Him, but because He has chosen to act in the Earth through humanity from the beginning. When you pray, God moves. When you cry out like the psalmists, God is moved and responds.

Jesus told us to pray anything in his name, and it would be done for us. Let's shake loose of all our elegant theological reasons why we should not expect God to actually give us what we pray for, and just take Jesus at his word.

Amen!

~newsletter is in the making

Spring Plans = Money

2008-01-30T16:34:00.000-06:00

As we move into the heart of the Spring Semester, we have some exciting events in the works.

1) Next weekend (8-11 Feb) we're bringing in a friend of Chi Alpha, Philip Babineaux (myspace, purevolume) to do some leadership in worship for our community, as well as conduct some teaching and training for our musicians. Philip is a gifted, Spirit-empowered musician and worship leader.

2) Student Leadership class starts on the 10th of Feb, and will run 90min each Sunday for four weeks. We're looking for some great students to step into their leadership potential on campus, and beyond. This will culminate with the Louisiana Leadership Summit in early March.

3) Spring Break in March is our outreach trip to D.C. The end of this week is our deadline for applications. It looks like we have reached our minimum number to make the trip a 'go', so I'm excited. I'm still praying for 2 of 3 more students to join us.

4) One of my favorite Chi Alpha guys, and hilarious yet powerful public speakers, Curt Harlow, will likely be coming to New Orleans around April Fool's Day. It's not 100% finalized, yet, but just about. Curt is a gifted communicator, and does great stand-up comedy. We're looking to employ him in drawing in some students to encounter Chi Alpha, maybe for the first time, and to hear the Good News about Jesus.

Please keep all of this in prayer.

Also, please pray over the financial needs of Chi Alpha. Our ministry account is beginning to run low, and we have some large expenses coming up with some of these events. Please pray that God's provision will come through, and whether or not God might be calling on you to be a part of that.

If you would like more details on specific costs, and so on, please feel free to email me or call me 504.708.2339

You can give via PayPal

or send a check to Chi Alpha at 211 Cherokee St, New Orleans, LA 70118

a good start

2008-01-21T17:40:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy week+ getting the new semester underway. But, it's been a good start.

The first week at Loyola, saw a pretty nice response at our information/contact table. Some of the new folks even came out to visit our co-ed Satellite last week, already, and we hope to see them tonight at Loyola Prayer.

Last week, we had the first Gathering of the semester at Tulane. We had a great turnout, investigating "Why Follow Jesus?" We had a few student testimonies with some commentary and testimony from Jen and I, and some good time for response. It was one of the most spiritually open and responsive Gatherings we've had in a long time.

That spiritual sensitivity and responsiveness continued at Tulane prayer on Friday night, and our Leadership get-together Sunday night. God is moving, and we are catching His wave! Halelujah!

On Saturday, we took a group out in the rain and cold to help build a playground in the city. The weather was less than ideal, but we did some good work, and had some great fun.

prayer for Spring Break

2008-01-10T16:27:00.001-06:00

Hey there friends, Jen and I would like to ask for some specific prayer.

We are planning a trip to American University and the Washington D.C. metro Chi Alpha to engage in some on-campus faith sharing and more. AU Chi Alpha is sending a team down here to share their time between rebuilding New Orleans and on-campus engagement the week before. It works out nicely that their spring break is the 2nd week of March, while ours (Tulane, Loyola, and UNO!) is the 3rd week of March.

Will you pray that the details work out, and work out cheaply?
Will you PRAY that we are able to clearly communicate the vision of this trip to students, and that they will respond to this amazing opportunity?

Thanks a bundle.

International Christmas: Atlanta, Grand Rapids, Chicago...China and Iraq

2008-01-06T17:49:00.000-06:00

Jen and I had the privilege of visiting our families in Atlanta and Grand Rapids for the holidays this year, culminating in a beautiful white Christmas in frigid Michigan. While traveling around the states, we we honored to host our friends, Cher and Inas. Cher is a Chemistry graduate student at Tulane from China, and Inas, an Iraqi physician, is a Fullbright Scholar in Tulane's School of Public Health.

While in Atlanta, we visited some fun sites, including the CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca-Cola, and the Georgia Aquarium. Cher and I played with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear at the World of Coke, while Jen and Inas joined Jen's family at the Aquarium.

Of course, one of the other highlights of the stay in Atlanta was Sarah's (Jen's sister) baby girl, Savannah who will be two this month. She's a doll.

Though, Savannah's not the only cutey in the families these days. Matt's sister, Farrah has a little treasure of her own, 5 month old Micah. Here we are on Christmas Eve.

While visiting my family, in Michigan, we took a day trip to the Windy City with my cousins Gabriel and Courtney. Gabe took this picture of of us at Shedd's Aquarium after a thrilling dolphin show.

It was a whirlwind trip, but lots of fun. It's always a blessing to see family, and it was even more so, as we were able to share the hospitality of our loving families, as well as the wonder of Christmas with our friends from around the globe.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Letter

2007-12-28T09:07:00.000-06:00

Merry post-Christmas!
In all of our holiday traveling, I forgot to post our Christmas letter. It's more of a photo-review than an actual letter, but I hope you enjoy it none-the-less.

If you have a moment, post a comment here with your best 2007 memory before you go.

Happy New Year!
click the image to see it full-size

A Time to Pray and a time to Plan

2007-12-06T15:49:00.000-06:00

Jen and I will be taking some time this weekend to get away and just pray. As we process this semester that is ending, and look towards the spring, we want to give God space to shape and direct our future plans and directions.

We will thank God for the great things He has done, and pray for the students He has given us. We will also take big chunks of time to just listen, hoping for the freedom to let go of our plans and ideas so that the Holy Spirit can show us what steps to take next. We don't want Chi Alpha to become a stagnant set of meetings and programs, but we also don't want to change things just for the sake of change. Only God can get us outside of our limited perspectives, and truly lead us.

Then, next week, we will spend big chunks of time working through the schedule for next semester, and working with the students to find the right fit for them to exercise and grow in their gifts. It will be exciting, but potentially difficult.

I type all of this so that you can remember us in prayer as we seek God's plan for Chi Alpha New Orleans.

In the meantime, please remember the Tulane and Loyola students as they are in crunch time - finals start on Monday. UNO students finish tomorrow.

The Capital

2007-11-29T23:40:00.000-06:00

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Jen and I paid a visit to New England. My best friend from college, Dan Johnson, got married last Saturday. It was great!
Dan is also a Chi Alpha missionary. He is pioneering a new group at the University of Massachusetts.

Instead of coming straight home, we stopped off in Washington, DC for a little Chi Alpha reconnaissance. We hope to bring a team of students up to the Capital to partner with Chi Alpha at American University, as well as Georgetown, and maybe 1 or 2 others. While we were up there we connected with staff from AU and GU, and looked into how a team of New Orleans students might be of service over spring break. Also, American XA is planning to send a team our way on their spring break the week directly preceding ours, so we got to chat about that, too. (This ought to be a great exchange between our campused this March.)

Finally, we were able to pick the brain of Chi Alpha guru, Harv Herman and his wife Sally, regarding campus ministry in general, and the development of a city-wide team.

We had fun, and we learned a lot.

Please pray that our students grasp the vision for this spring break trip.

November Newsletter

2007-11-19T11:29:00.000-06:00

click on the image to see it full-size

fun with internationals

2007-11-12T13:32:00.000-06:00

As our relationship with Tulane's Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) continues to develop, we have more and more opportunities to serve and love international students. This past week, Chi Alpha hosted the monthly 'coffee hour' the OISS sponsors on campus. Jen and one of our student leaders baked some wonderful cookies, and we provided some other harvest-time snacks. Jen also had some fun games for us all to play. Coffee Hour is just getting back on its feet again, and this one was, by far, the most fun and interactive I've been to!

While there, I met a new student from mainland China, Xiangcun, who is here on a government scholarship. In an email over the weekend, he said that I'm the first American friend he's made! What an opportunity.

photo album: http://tulane.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069912&l=a848f&id=2809800

Recap

2007-10-31T11:01:00.001-05:00

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us this week!
Monday night turned out quite well.

At 6:30pm we had a Albanian style dinner with missionary Mark Orfila with some of our Chi Alpha group. Mark shared some stories from his time on the field, and we prayed for him and his family. more pictures

At 8:00pm we welcomed the Tulane community to our counterpoint to Ann Coulter. Typical to Tulane, the response was small. However, Mark's talk, and the subsequent Q & A time was definitely beneficial to our students, and the handful of guests.

The Good News about Jesus was shared, and Mark presented a coherent Christian response to religious hatred, and the trend of tolerance. I hope we can build on this, as our students gain boldness to speak up for the love and truth of God, and as we search out creative ways to share the Good News to wider audiences.

Also, last night I was a part of a panel discussion hosted by the GLBT Caucus of the Tulane College Democrats. I'm not sure why they chose to invite Jen and/or I to represent the Christian Perspective on homesexuality and gay rights in America, but I, with a bit of fear and trembling, accepted the invitation. All in all, the discussion went pretty well. Two of the other panelists (a Reformed Jewish rabbi, and a young Philosophy & Ethics professor) were not particularly happy with my answers to questions about the morality of homosexual behavior, but otherwise the students asked me several questions, and gave my dissenting opinion a fair hearing. I only hope my demeanor, and the bits of God's Truth I was able to share were a small glimmer of light.

Finally, our last monthly Gathering of the Fall semester is next week. Please continue to pray for us and our students!

Ann Coulter Visits Tulane, and Chi Alpha Responds

2007-10-24T15:46:00.000-05:00

Follow the News regarding ultra-conservative political pundit, Ann Coulter's recent visit (this past Monday, the 22nd) to Tulane:

Tulane Hullabaloo 12 Oct 07

Tulane Hullabaloo 19 Oct 07

Letter to Hullabaloo Editor 19 Oct 07 #1

Letter to Hullabaloo Editor 19 Oct 07 #2

Tulane New Wave 24 Oct 07

I was present at the event with some of Tulane's Student Affairs faculty and staff to attempt some level of crowd control. I tried to keep my area somewhat subdued, but the whole event really turned into a circus as Coulter's loaded arguments continually received jeers, rude gestures, and more from a mostly antagonistic audience.

I left the event heavy-hearted as so many students I have been called to share the love and message of Jesus with left with angry, bitter hearts, hardened in their preconceptions about Christians, God, etc... as Coulter regularly identifies herself as a Christian, and the majority of America's evangelicals are heavily associated with political conservatism.

However, I believe God has set us up for a great opportunity of response, and our Tulane students agree. Before we knew of this visit by Ann Coulter, and it's association with what is called Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week we had invited missionary Mark Orfila to come visit our students to share about his experiences ministering among Islamic Albanians in the Balkans on the 29th of October. Mark has an amazing heart of love for Muslims to the point of literally turning the other cheek when he was beaten for his work sharing the message of Jesus!

Mark has agreed to change our planned prayer time into an outreach for dialogue at Tulane. Please pray for us!

As part of the publicity for this event (not much time to get the word out), I have submitted the following letter to the editor of the Tulane Hullabaloo (student newspaper) this afternoon:

One of the most difficult statements Jesus of Nazareth ever made was, “Love your enemies.” Many people throughout history, and around the globe today have made a practice of self-identifying with Jesus as a Christian while routinely neglecting his more difficult teachings. Ms. Ann Coulter is one of those millions. While I cannot speak for the reality of her religious persuasion and faith, I am confident in the assertion that her recent visit and talk at Tulane completely failed to reflect the ethic of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers…Blessed are the meek…Turn the other cheek…Walk an extra mile…” Even as all people fall short of the ultimate expression of Jesus’ teachings, I think it very unfortunate if anyone at Tulane were to take Coulter’s attitudes and beliefs as generally representative of Tulane’s Christian population. Ms. Coulter refuses to give a legitimate hearing to those she disagrees with, and makes her money by belittling opposing people and views. Despite the rather juvenile response of the crowd this past Monday at McAlister Auditorium, I believe we can all be bigger than that. As a leader of one of the Christian communities here are Tulane, I would like to invite the Tulane community to an honest dialogue regarding such difficult issues as cultural and economic imperialism, terrorism and religiously motivated violence in general, tolerance and hatred, and Christian evangelistic work. These are not easy topics, but if we are to be the best people we can be, we must address difficult issues with more than a jeer, a prejudgment, or an apathetic wave of the hand. I also hope Tulane Christians can have the opportunity to graciously present their beliefs, and the ethic they embrace as followers of Jesus of Nazareth. As one step in that direction, I invite the Tulane community to join us this coming Monday, the 29th, in the 1834 Room/Faculty-Staff Dining room in the LBC (#215) at 8pm for a talk and dialogue with a Christian worker who has lived with the Islamic Albanian people in the Balkans for the past decade: When Cultures Clash: Hatred vs. Tolerance… or is there another Way – a counterpoint to Ann Coulter. For the sake of space and real dialogue, only the first 60 guests will be admitted.

news from the Ivy Jungle

2007-10-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

Tuition Inflation: Most of us feel like we already pay a lot at the gas pump, but if the cost of gas had increased at the same rate as college tuition over the last 25 years, it would now cost $9.15 a gallon. By the same comparison, a gallon of milk would cost more than $15. (AP October 14, 2007)

Nano-riffic

2007-10-15T23:27:00.000-05:00

So, I've gotten myself an iPod... I've wanted one for all kinds of silly and vain reasons for quite some time, but I finally put together some good reasons, and so I got one. I got the new Nano, which has video capabilities. However, I primarily got it because I can plug in this little device to the Nano, and another device to my Nike running shoes, and it tells me how far I've gone, how fast I'm going... all kinds of cool stuff! And the nifty part is, I actually run faster when I use it :)

Also, I get to listen to good stuff while I'm running. I've been listening to lots of sermons so far, as I do not yet have an mp3 version of the Bible (can we say Christmas list). I've listened to several messages from Mars Hill Bible Church in my home town of Grand Rapids, MI, a few from Dr. Earl Creps, and now a few from East Coast Chi Alpha: 1 from Mike Godzwa, and a couple by Shawn Galyen - soon to be missionary to Spain.

One thing Shawn said, has struck me, and really rung true: People who seek to follow Jesus will suffer on their career path, absolutely.

Those who put Christ first in their work will live and work with different priorities, and different character than the world around them: sometimes that may give them reward and respect, other times it may give them ridicule, or set them back in the line for promotions, or even make enemies for them.

In America today, we do not face bodily harm for our life of faith, but persecutions will come. The New Testament makes that a guarantee. (Mark 10:30; 2 Timothy 3:12)