Yesterday, I taught week seven of an eight-week Writing for Life class to Cru ministry writers. They’re improving their writing quality and speed.
Heidi, from Cru’s legal team, joined the class. She’s battled and beat cancer three times, and now wants to write her story.
Tori, once a student when I taught high school writing, now collects stories of how the JESUS film is changing lives worldwide. She, too, is in the class.
It feels like harvest time.
Mark and I are in the midst of a three-month training season, one of my favorite times of the year. I’ve written curriculum and tested it. I’ve planned events, written schedules and created notebooks. Now it’s time to teach and to trust God.
Today, I’m emailing final details to eight presenters who will teach during “Called to Write,” a one-day writers conference at Cru on March 8 for bloggers, authors and ministry writers. So far, 57 people have signed up. Both Mark and I will teach breakout sessions.
I’ve been planning for a two-day training event during the Evangelical Press Association annual convention in April. Writers from Christian publications across the country are signing up. We’ll cap the class at 15 so everyone can receive feedback. We’ll both teach on those two days.
Below, you’ll find a prayer letter from our friend Karen Rogers (with me in 2014 in the photo above), who we got to know at training events at Athletes in Action. She wrote about how God was at work at a gymnastics meet at Michigan State University in the aftermath of the recent scandal.
As we prepare for our March 8 training at Cru and the April 3 and 4 EPA training, would you pray for two things:
- That God will put the right people in the room.
- That He will allow them to get everything they need.
These prayer requests cover all the details involved as we prepare for each event, and this prayer will help us focus on the people who will attend.
Please tell us how we can pray for you as well. Thank you for your partnership in the work God has called us to do. We can’t do what we do without you.
_________________________
Here’s Karen’s latest prayer letter:
In the Midst of Suffering
Karen and I tackled Athletes in Action’s ropes course in 2014 (above), as we had in 2013. Walking 25 and 40 feet above the ground, then writing about it, forced writers to find words to use all five senses to describe the experience.
Two mothers stood with tears in their eyes as they watched the large huddle of gymnasts on the floor of Jenison Field House at Michigan State University surrounding their daughters with love and prayer.
Three days after the sentencing of Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics and MSU doctor, a quad gymnastics meet was held in East Lansing. Right before the event, over half of MSU’s gymnasts met together where they were led in God’s Word and prayer by Emma Garner, an AIA intern I coached last summer.
Student athletes from almost every sport at MSU attended the competition to support the team, who have been harassed on social media.
Immediately after the awards ceremony in which MSU placed first, fans began to leave, but the gymnasts stayed on the floor as Libby, a student leader in AIA and a gymnast at Rutgers, led all four teams in prayer.
“We wanted to pray that God continues to heal them and help them move forward, MSU specifically, but also anyone, athlete or gymnast that has been affected by this whole thing,” Libby said.
Hailee, an MSU senior, said, “This prayer symbolized how powerful God’s love is and made our team feel like we matter.”
Hannah Wilson, AIA staff at MSU, reflected, “The greatest victory that night was a girl stepping out in faith and pointing others to Christ in the midst of suffering and pain. Watching an athlete use her sport’s platform to openly glorify the Lord was one of the most incredible things I’ve witnessed during my time with AIA.”
Three days after the meet, a record number of students and coaches came to an AIA meeting, where staff member Julie Gillespie shared about her own experience of sexual assault. She talked about God’s redemption and healing, explaining that He does not abandon us in our suffering, but He is with us.
Afterward, many expressed a desire to know God more. I have the privilege of coaching interns like Emma each year. Pray God will mobilize other laborers for the harvest field. Pray He will bring healing and change to the sports culture in the U.S.
– Karen