We always have very busy summers with Cru responsibilities and travels, but we try to take special moments, half-days and mini vacations to enjoy the wonderful family the Lord has blessed us with. Here are some favorite family moments from this summer, since we returned from summer project, both before and after our Staff Conference.

On our way to Colorado, we got to see some dinosaur tracks, 4 Corners, and stop in Durango for a night.

Then, on our way home from Colorado, we had the chance to stop in Arches National Park to see the amazing rock formations. The kids loved it!

Back home, we worked on some house repairs and enjoyed playing in our backyard.

In the past couple weeks, we also managed to take some little hikes and have some fun in Sedona, despite the fact that it is thunderstorm season and has been one of the heaviest rainy seasons in Flagstaff history, with lots of flash floods, etc. Isaiah and Bethany start school this next week, so we wanted to fit it in before managing the schedule for 5 busy people really sets in. It is an amazing blessing to live within a short drive of so many beautiful places and sights!

Here was our little hike in Sunset Crater National Monument:

And here is a gorgeous little hike in Oak Creek Canyon, called West Fork. It is super fun and because it is the time for wild blackberries, we brought our little bucket and picked some. It was worth the scratches. It also took us to a little swimming hole with a natural rock slide that was super fun to play on.

Another day, we were able to go to Sedona to feed the ducks, have a picnic, and enjoy walking around the beautiful downtown area.

Finally, I was able to run the half marathon in Flagstaff that I have been training for all summer. It was a great feeling to finally do what I have talked about trying for years.

We have much to be thankful for!

We returned last week from our bi-annual staff conference in Colorado for all US Cru staff. It was a very full week–full of seeing staff friends, hearing from encouraging and challenging speakers, and various staff responsibilities. We especially enjoyed hearing from Alistair Begg, and from some of our National Cru leaders (like Steve Sellers and Steve Douglass), who continue to lead with strength and humility at the same time–only possible, I think, for those who follow Christ and understand that He is our strength. They all challenged us to cling to the truth of God’s Word and to continue to reach out in love across cultural and philosophical barriers to those who do not yet know Christ or experience His grace and truth.

Jeremiah helped with security for the conference, so that kept him running around and meant we didn’t get to sit together much. But it was a great opportunity for him to serve fellow staff, and I (Lori) was encouraged by his servant’s heart in it all. He also served me by taking a lot of responsibility in watching the kids after childcare ended while I had some extended legal meetings regarding some campus access issues we are having around the country.

I did enjoy connecting with the whole legal team during the day and a half when the ministries split up to have ministry-specific meetings. Jeremiah went with the Campus Ministry and I went with the General Council’s Office. It is always nice to have some face-time with the second team I am part of, since they are far away from me in Florida the rest of the year.

We also enjoyed some fun time with the kids during the conference. There is a great pool on campus at CSU that we took the kids to a couple times, and some great parks in Fort Collins too. They also had the chance to experience dorm food for a week, and, amazingly, even our 7 year old commented that he was getting tired of the dorm food at the end of the week (Poor college students that have to deal with it week after week).

We took a day on our way out to Colorado to see some sights as well, visiting 4 Corners (Isaiah had to try putting his feet and arms in all 4 states) and the beautiful city of Durango (with a beautiful river and fun downtown). On our way home, we briefly stopped in Arches National Park too, and it was so fun to see the kids so excited about the amazing arches and rock formations.  They enjoyed hiking up to the Window arches and imagining dragons and sphinxes and all kinds of creatures in the rocks as we drove around.  They were sad we didn’t have more time to explore and hike around.

Traveling to San Diego with all our kids, including our ‘daughter’ Annie, who is a student at NAU and joined us on the summer project.

We wanted to share some pictures of some of our favorite events and memories from an exhausting but very rewarding 2 weeks of ministry.

Mexican food of course…one of the best things about California.

We were blessed with being able to go to Sea World for only 1 ticket purchase! We enjoyed the shows and exhibits and a few rides too!

Choco Tacos at Belmont Park

Jen, my co-director, and Kelsey and Stephen Collins, Cru interns transitioning to church planting in Tucson

Annie (NAU Student) and Arggi (Cru intern)

Andrew, and intern from Jeremiah’s alma mater, Cal Poly SLO.

Perhaps it’s times like this that induce students from all over the country to come to San Diego for the summer. This is during our initial bonfire.

Worship, Beach, Bonfire. Yes please

Giant Pizza. Isaiah and Lori are shocked!

Judah is shocked as well.

Bethany is shocked as well.

Men talking on the beach with amazing sunset. Check.

So happy we got a visit from Great Grandpa and Grandma Kepner. They are some of my heros, having been married for 60 years and in full-time ministry for ~55 years.

Evangelism on the west coast ‘boardwalk’. We approach people hanging out and ask if we can engage in spiritual conversations.

We want to listen to student’s stories and engage them with the Gospel.

Annie caught me taking pictures.

Jeremiah during a teaching time

Overlooking Mission Bay with my beautiful bride.

The animals at the SD County Fair

Enjoying a bit of time at the pool

Lori’s process group. Meeting about every other night to talk about their experiences on project.

Seeing the Sea World fireworks from the beach by our hotel room

And the picture of our whole summer project. A great time with some students we are praying will bring God glory in this world.

As you may know, Jeremiah has been planning and preparing for the San Diego Express Summer Project for months.  He and his co-director of the project have been praying and preparing each detail, asking for the Holy Spirit to guide and enliven each activity and talk.

This week we finally welcomed the students here to the hotel we are staying in for the intense two week experience. In day 5 already, it has been exciting to see how God is stretching and growing the students that have come to participate with us. They come from all over the country, including New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Arizona, and California. We brought one student with us from NAU, our dear Annie (practically part of our family), and she even joined us on our mini one day family vacation before project started.

Annie playing with Judah

The Express project is an intensive two weeks, where the students live and breathe teaching and ministry. Our focus is developing both heart and skills for life and ministry.  We are talking about deepening their walk with the Lord and dependence upon the Holy Spirit through spiritual disciplines, which serve to help us grasp and live out our new life in Christ. We are also training them in many tools for practical Evangelism and using them right away. Almost every day involves teaching, training and doing Evangelism, as well as building friendships and having fun together.  As staff, we are all very busy and engaging almost constantly. But it is so worth it to see God move in their lives and around us (we have already seen 4 people pray to receive Christ through the outreach being done by our group, including a girl from Jeremiah’s home town).

A debrief time with the students

A fun surprise too was being able to see Jeremiah’s Grandparents, who live in San Diego. They have been missionaries for about 55 years, and married for 61, and after they came to have a meal with us, we invited them to share for a few minutes with the students at the start of the evening meeting.  Many of the students were very encouraged by their faithfulness and passion for the Lord over a lifetime!

Fun with the Great Grandparents!

I have also been squeezing in some fun with the kids, enjoying the beauty of San Diego and some summer-time play.  Although travelling every summer for ministry can be stressful, we are blessed and very thankful to be able to go to beautiful places as a family! Thank you for your prayers and for enabling us to minister on this summer project!

Hanging out at Balboa Park

On The Mall, in front of the Capitol

I had the opportunity the first week of June to head out to DC to meet, on behalf of our Cru legal team, with several other nonprofit groups that share our interests in preserving religious liberties for students. It was great to meet several of the people I have been on phone calls with over the past couple years from different organizations in person, as well as meeting some new individuals who are very involved in addressing the challenges we face on college campuses where being a Bible-believing group is not popular, and some administrations would rather we not be there at all.

Our staff in Cru want to serve their communities on college campuses all around the country, and we have great records of engaging well with people who disagree with the Gospel message we proclaim and some of the Biblical values we hold to.  We want to welcome any student to attend and participate in our Chapters, and always proclaim the message of the Gospel with gentleness, grace and love.  But we desire to ensure that those leading our groups will proclaim our message of hope and love and truth that is grounded in Christ’s teaching and the Gospel message. This restriction on leadership selection has begun to conflict with administrators who wish to extend the campus nondiscrimination clauses to club leadership selection as well as membership.

Anyway, while in DC, I did have a few extra hours to see the sights, and enjoyed glancing at a couple museums and the monuments, fondly remembering my summer in DC during college long ago.

Thank you for your prayers and support that enable me to do this legal work for Cru in addition to serving at NAU.

We have been busy the last few weeks. Wrapping up the year means finishing well with students as well as reviewing the year as a staff team and looking forward to next year.

In terms of student activities, we had a fun end of the year BBQ, at a beautiful home here in Flagstaff, generously shared by a ministry partner here! What a blessing to have a comfortable place to relax and play together, celebrating the year.

We also had fun final celebrations with our small groups. Jeremiah had his guys over and they ate meat (OK, to be fair, Jeremiah says “we ate tri-tip, hon, not meat”). What more fun thing can you imagine? (OK, yes, I am a woman, so I don’t fully understand the bonding power of certain manly foods). But they also had a fun time talking and laughing about the year and looking forward to their various summer adventures. I took my girls up to an overlook on the observatory mesa that looks out over Flagstaff. We enjoyed sitting on blankets, eating cookies, and looking at the beautiful evening lights of the city. We reflected on some favorite memories from the year together and some key things we had learned, then were able to pray together. In the midst of it all, we laughed as some of the girls began to freak out about the dark and the momentary shock of lights shining on us each time a car went by on the road.  Jeremiah and I both had really fun groups of students, and we will miss them this summer. We are praying that they all stay focused on the Lord and take care of themselves both spiritually and relationally this summer.

Fun times at the Flagstaff observatory mesa

It was also fun doing our last discipleship times for the year. It is fun to share with students how we have seen them grow and challenge them to move forward passionately following the Lord. I enjoyed talking about worship as a natural part of life, looking at some Psalms together to see the picture of someone who finds his satisfaction only in the Lord and who longs for God above all else. This overflows into a passionate pursuit of God on a personal level and also in wanting others to experience it with us.  I am praying that I, along with them, continue to grow in passionately pursuing God in this way!

Finishing well as a staff team is also important and fun. We just returned from the Regional staff retreat in CA, where we were refreshed by hearing some National Cru leaders encouraging us to examine our own hearts to ensure that we are fully submitted to the Lord and experiencing His joy and strength.  We also enjoyed hearing from staff at other campuses about what God is doing there.

Now we turn our focus to our little team.  We have had one semester with Drew and Leah on our team, and it has been great getting to know them and both learning and relying on one another’s strengths. This week we are meeting to look ahead to next year, and we are excited for what God is going to do next year.  God is good, and He is worthy of our praise, our trust and our hope!

Thank you for being part of this year through your prayers and partnership!

We had an outreach in late March in which we saw great things from within and outside our movement.  Read about it at http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=239f6dfcb4e9b401a5b650c83&id=203d9303ac&e=

Lori and Jeremiah enjoying a warm afternoon in Northern California

This week, as our students arrived back from Spring Break, we dove right into an outreach week on campus. Nothing elaborate, but driven by a desire for our involved students to continue to grow in overcoming their fear of talking to people about spiritual things and giving them the chance to practice doing so.  It has been really fun so far–we all have been wearing T-shirts that say “Think” on the front and “What’s your perspective?” on the back. Then we have had a table in the Union Building where we asked people walking by “Can we get your perspective?” and inviting them to participate in a discussion where they get to select cards that represent how they think about spiritual truths in topics like “Meaning and purpose of live” and “the Nature of God” and “Who is Jesus?”  The cards are called Perspective Cards.  It has been so fun engaging with a diverse group of NAU students and seeing how they view the world and spirituality.  We have found many are open to hearing the Biblical perspective after they share theirs.  While many reject it for a variety of reasons, we are excited that we are able to listen first, engage respecfully, and then encourage them to consider the Christian worldview (some hearing it for the first time).

Both Jeremiah and I enjoy talking to people about spiritual topics, and find that doing so only makes us more passionate to share about Jesus with people. This is because we see all the more clearly how so many worldviews don’t lead to hope and joy, and that only in the person of Christ do we find acceptance and love and hope that is not based on whether we measure up or on the ultimately illogical and dissatisfying concept that it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe it passionately.

It is fun also to see many of our students growing and taking steps of faith, realizing for the first time that it doesn’t have to be scary and can in fact be life-giving to engage with people in a real way about topics that really matter and that most people do want to think about, but maybe are afraid to vocalize until someone brings it up and asks.

Every now and then, I like to do a post about our precious children. They are growing up so fast, it is exciting, and yet a little sad for me as a mother because I know the time is slipping by, and often too fast for me to truly treasure all these memories and experiences in my heart.

I sometimes wonder if I don’t have too much on my plate, causing me to miss little moments here or there. But recently I have been reflecting on the blessings in my life, and I believe that all the opportunities I have to serve (as a wife, mother, church member, campus minister, lawyer, and friend) are all gifts from the Lord. I want to be able to confidently say, along with Paul, that “I have leaned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Phil 4:11). In thinking and praying about contentment, I have been able to see the Lord’s hand at work in and through me even more. I am able to enjoy the time I get to have with my kids at home, as well as the joys of the work I get to do.

I was reading the book Calm my Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow, and 2 of the things listed in a prescription for contentment really struck me: 1) Never allow yourself to complain about anything; and 2) Never compare your lot with another’s.  I have sought to apply them and I already see the fruit. Unfortunately, I participated in complaining (mostly to Jeremiah, about various circumstances) last semester, and I found that it resulted in a subtle poison that, if allowed to simmer long enough, leads to bitterness and cynicism.  Thankfully, the Lord gave me eyes to see my sin, and confess it both to Him and others, instead turning to “Rejoice in the Lord always!”  And I do have so much to rejoice and give thanks for – principally that God has shown me so much mercy and given me His spiritual blessings (Eph 1).  So I see very clearly that choosing to not complain is a wonderful prescription indeed, allowing me to see what is actually true in God’s sovereign goodness (amazingly, I am also seeing this truth and hope in God displayed with amazing beauty and grace by some friends who are choosing to cling to God and not complain in the midst of great sorrow at loosing children and being diagnosed with cancer. I am humbled, encouraged, and inspired by their steadfastness in the midst of brokenness).

So with that little backdrop.  let me share some of the fun, precious things I have been able to do with my three gifts from God–Isaiah, Bethany and Judah.

Isaiah is doing very well in 1st Grade, and has a wonderful teacher at the local public school. He comes home from school happy, and dives right into playing with Bethany and Judah. They are so fun to watch laughing and making up crazy stories and worlds together. I love to join in too, though they often have to correct me because I just don’t know all the details of their imaginary realms quite right. But they are usually pretty patient.

Isaiah is still my little policeman. He wants everyone to follow the rules, though he himself does not always do so. But I am seeing growing maturity in him–he is internalizing so much of what we say, and has become a big helper. He does not usually complain when I ask him to help me with various tasks, and I see him trying to help the other two learn and obey too.

Isaiah also just did a science project for school, and it was fun to walk with him through the whole process. I was so proud of him for working hard and finishing well.Bethany started preschool this semester, and is doing really well there. She picks things up so quickly, and is having fun making new friends.  We try to have special times together when she gets home after lunch; I get to hear all about her morning, read books with her, do some crafts together, or go play outside. She also loves to get in some time playing with Pippin, our dog. She likes to “train” him, and puts on her best commanding voice to do so.Bethany also displays such a soft heart for people and a trust in the Lord. I love that her first thought when she hears of anyone hurting is to suggest we pray for them. She has such childlike faith and wants to know God more–sometimes I hear her humming worship songs that Jeremiah and I play or sing.

Then there is my little Judah. He is so fun and so funny, despite his determination to assert his opinionated 2 year old will. I am enjoying some time with just him in the mornings when Bethany is at school (even though he gets his backpack ready every morning and insists that he is going to school too).  He is learning so much, and has left behind the 2 word sentences for 10 word ones. He loves to read, dance, play “swords,” do exercises with mommy, and build duplos.  He loves football and baseball and soccer too, and can kick and throw for long periods of time.  I can’t help but smile when he throws a ball and then yells out “Oh no, you missed it.” when I don’t catch it.  Most of all, he wants to be like his brother and sister. If I tell him he is 2, he insists that he is either 4 or 6. And he has so much fun with them. 

Finally, something fun we are doing all together several mornings a week is to go over the New City Catechism, which was developed out of Tim Keller’s Redeemer church in NYC. It is an app that has been a great resource, helping us to train the kids in some of the basics of the gospel and God’s word that we have talked about since they were tiny, but that they are now able to articulate more.  It is fun to hear even Judah repeating the phrases we are memorizing, and then to talk to all of them about what those words mean and what stories in the Bible might illustrate the truths. We recommend it!

I have also started reading the Narnia books with the kids (something I fondly remember my parents doing with me), and it has been fun to talk about the worlds CS Lewis created as well as the Biblical analogies that come with them. The kids are so interested in figuring out all the details and implications, though the tension is a bit much for them sometimes. I can feel their nervousness as they sit tensely on my lap…

Hello friends,

I am currently writing from the home of a Cru staff member in Santa Barbara. Last night I was able to share at their weekly meeting about the opportunity to intern with Cru in Flagstaff next year. It went well.  Tonight I am headed up to San Luis Obispo, CA to share at a recruiting dessert they have for graduating seniors.

We have seen amazing things happen even in the last month, with 3 girls indicating decisions to follow Jesus. The harvest is plentiful in Flagstaff. The workers, however, are few. This is why I am on this recruiting trip, to see if I can get 4-6 recent college graduates to spend the 2013-2014 school year ministering to the students of Flagstaff, bringing them the Gospel, helping them grow in their faith, and sending them to reach others.

Please pray with me to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to Flagstaff.