A Hint of Snow

In the last few days, we have had our first few flakes of snow ushering in the season of winter. This morning, Lindsay and I awoke to see our neighbors' roofs lightly coated with wet snow. It has all but melted on the ground already.

I must confess, as a true Minnesotan at heart ... I am excited.

We just busted out our hats and mittens/scarfs/etc. last night from storage for the first time. It was 21F when I get up this morning. Whenever people find out that we've just moved here, they always mention that we should prepare for winter. Usually their next question is asking where we are from. When they hear that we're from Minnesota, usually they just say, "Oh, well, you're fine then."

Funding Update 10/27/08

Thank you all so much for your faithful & bold prayers on our behalf concerning our fund-raising! We have had such a wonderful and encouraging last few weeks in regards to our support. The Lord has truly heard your faithful petitions and has been providing in significant and stunning ways.

We have just recently come into partnership with a church in MN for a significant portion of our budget. (This gift is a one-time donation, so we will still need to raise that amount again next year, preferably in monthly support.) This has been such an encouragement since as of October 9th, we were required to cease ministering on campus until we were at 100% of our budget goal. We are so thankful to the Lord for this new church partnership as well as several individuals who have recently partnered with us in the last 2 weeks! This all has enabled us to arrive at 92% of our budget goal!

In addition, we still have some other donations that we are waiting to hear about. So we see the Lord continuing to richly provide beyond what we could have ever asked for or imagined (Ephesians 3:20-21 [NIV])!

Since we are very close to 100% of our budget goal, we will be allowed to minister part-time on campus! But if we are not at 100%, by the time classes begin again on January 19th. We will have to completely cease from ministering till we arrive at our full budget goal.

Above is a pie chart breakdown of our remaining monthly need, and what your potential partnership might look like. Please prayerfully consider how you might partner with us, either financially and or in prayer!

In regards to our fund-raising, one of the scripture verses that we consistently come back to for strength, encouragement, and pray is Psalm 27:13-14 (ESV):

"I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!"

Lindsay and I have seen that the Lord uses this verse to help us to remember the truth of His goodness in which we believe, rely ultimately upon His provision in all things, and beckon us to step out in faith & courageously steward the gifts and resources He has given us.

May we all actively wait in faith for the Lord's provision, whatever it may be. Thank you all again so much for carrying us along in our lives & ministry. We crave your prayers.

Cornell in the Fall

We have a few more photos of campus & Ithaca posted here. Check them out!

Fall Retreat

Lindsay and I just got back from Montrose, PA where we had our 08 Fall Retreat with the Cornell Navigator students. Oct 24-25th. More photos here.

The theme of the weekend was 'Connections'. We were desiring for students to see the interwoven tapestry that is the Holy Bible, that the New & Old Testaments are not separate, but perfectly integrated in Jesus Christ. Doug shared about New Testament & Old Testament 'Connections' Friday night from Matthew 1:1. Then we had a bonfire.

Saturday we did a Lectio Divina exercise in John 10 & Ezekiel 34, connecting Old & New Testaments. Then after some afternoon free time, we met together for our final meeting at which I (Matt) shared some Biblical & historical connections to classic & contemporary worship music. The photo above is our group of about 30 or so students taking some time to reflect after our 'Worship Connections' time Saturday night.

Both Jeff & Tim came on the retreat as well as other freshmen men & women! Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for them. I can see that they are becoming more connected with the other students involved in the Cornell Navs. I look forward to seeing how the Lord works in and through them here at Cornell!

Vermont in the Fall

Please, forgive us for our delinquency in not updating sooner. We have had a wonderfully full last few weeks since we have communicated with you all. Thank you for being patient with us, we cherish you all so much. Thank you.

Part of the reason, in addition to our busyness, is that I lost my laptop power-cable in Vermont! Needless to say, I was sunk without it. So I just recently acquired a new one, now we're back on line (Thanks Steve & Marcia!)

Above is a photo from our trip to Vermont a few weeks ago, October 8-11th (More photos here). We were there for a Navigators Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet is a group of friends that are significant financial partners with the Navigators as a whole. They take 2 trips a year to different Navigator ministry's around the US and the world. We were privileged to get to know them & have a reunion with my old UVM staff team there in Burlington, VT. We had a wonderful time there.

Outreach Meetings

Every three weeks, we have been having outreach meetings, dubbed 'El Paso' (Everyone! Let's Pray and Study Outreach!) We are so witty here at Cornell ; )

Basically, any students interested gather together and we look at Scripture, discuss how to effectively and relevantly reach out to our peers with the Gospel, and pray for them by name. It has been a great time of outward focus.

Jeff has come both weeks, and Tim has come once. Three weeks ago, Jeff and I had some great time to pray for his friends who don't know Jesus. I am hoping to get lunch with Tim soon.

Please pray with us, that these students would go forth as the dawn on this campus with the Light of the Gospel of Jesus going forth drawing many to Himself!

Thanks for holding the ropes (Isaiah 54:2)!

Campus Photos

Check out more autumn photos of the Cornell University campus here in Ithaca, New York. I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

We're leaving for VT in the morning (see *Immediate Action Update* to the right), hopefully we'll have some beautiful fall photos from there soon!

[M&L]

180 MPH Philosophy

Last Thursday, for our freshmen guys Bible study, we went to a philosophy lecture. The lecturer was the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, Alvin Plantinga. (Check out what Christianity Today had to say about him.) This was quite an opportunity! (Most of the engineers had mathematics night-exams last week, so we decided to postpone the study and go see this lecture instead.)



He was brought to town by the Christian Studies Center, Chesterton House, the Cornell Philosophy Department, and Campus On A Hill (COAH) a Christian student organization at Cornell.

Tim came, as well a few other guys from our freshmen Bible study. I'll be honest, it was a pretty heady lecture. Most of it went over our heads. But, he did have a hand out sheet outlining his lecture. That was very helpful.

Doug (our campus director) described it as having front row tickets to Nascar. Ideas and concepts are ripping by at about 180 MPH, and you can sort of tell what color they are. But, the next lap around the track, you realize you were totally wrong.

Afterwards we got some donuts and briefly talked about what we did understand, but ended up discussing more at length about other topics, like ethanol and dairy farming. These relationships are continuing to take shape & depth!

Thanks so much again for your partnership in prayer!

[M&L]