We hope you had a great Christmas and end of 2016.

We had a joyful celebration with Michael and Bethany both back in Florida, and with Anne Marie’s parents visiting from their home near Tampa. The six of us went to church Christmas eve. (In the photo above, you can see Bethany in the second row, holding a candle while looking at her grandmother. Both are wearing red. Their grandfather, in a green shirt, is lighting Michael’s candle near the center of the
photo.)

On Christmas morning, we had breakfast together (below) before opening gifts.

We are looking forward to new opportunities in 2017. During December, I met with several co-workers to brainstorm about and plan our team’s future work. We’ve landed a plan to report the kinds of stories we used to report in the print magazine.

First, in early March, we expect to release our first issue of an email newsletter. That will combine different formats for stories. Some will look like what the magazine contained: feature stories, photo essays and articles to help readers’ faith grow. But there will also be videos and interactive items that we couldn’t show by print.

Second, we will add a print newsletter. It will likely overlap with the email newsletter, but may contain even more. Meanwhile, we are still editing stories for our website, Cru.org.

My focus the last two weeks has been writing a production calendar, listing dates and deadlines our team will use to produce stories for all three of these ways of communicating. ­It will only become more complex from here.

Thanks so much for praying for our team through this transition. Don’t stop. There is still a lot of planning and work to do as we move through 2017. We’ll keep you informed, and we plan to send you our new publications as they are developed. We’re grateful for your prayers and partnership with us.

I’m not a patient man, so waiting for anything bothers me.

I know patience is a positive trait. It’s listed among the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. I’m grateful for the patience others show me when I’m running a few minutes late or fall short of their expectations. And
I delight in the reality that God shows me, and all of us, unlimited patience.

I grew up seeing patience in my dad, so I know what it looks like. When he visited last December, he spent 74 minutes tuning two dulcimers that he had previously made for us (above).

When I was young, our family went fishing. My dad would put a hook on the line, bait it, cast and wait. Sometimes, he’d watch a bobber. Or listen for a small bell attached to the pole. Or feel for a bite with a finger gently on the line. And wait.

Meanwhile, I’d have cast, reeled, cast, reeled, cast, reeled and given up. I’d take a walk, check the cooler for food, and most likely whine about being bored. Who knows how many fish my dad could have caught had I not been roiling the water with repeated casts or making noise and moving around on the shore.

Now, I need to force myself to be patient. As we mentioned in our last letter, my work is changing. Two weeks ago, I went to Virginia to oversee the printing of the last issue of Worldwide Challenge. I even got out to take a short hike on a section of the Appalachian Trail.

Since then, the patience I’ve needed is not about stillness. I’ve kept busy finishing some magazine business, presiding at an Evangelistic Press Association board meeting and editing for our website, Cru.org. What I’m waiting for now is the chance to start working on the items that will replace the magazine, including a printed newsletter and some email and online publications.

But we haven’t begun that work yet. In the meantime, we wait. Would you pray for our whole team as we continue to make this adjustment? Pray for patience as we wait for details. Then please pray for clarity and wisdom as we begin to work on these new communication tools.

Thank you for your prayers and partnership with us.

We’re preparing for a major change in my work. I’ll still be writing and editing for Cru, but it won’t involve Worldwide Challenge magazine. This change, like most, will be sad, while also offering new opportunities.

We’re getting used to changes, and the mix of good and bad that comes with them. About two and a half years ago, Anne Marie joined the Cru writers team, allowing us to work together on the magazine and other projects. Then about 17 months ago, she moved on to her current job working alongside Judy Douglass, the wife of Cru’s president, Steve.

My work will change as the magazine will not be published after this year. Cru’s leaders made this decision based on two factors—how few Cru staff members were choosing to give the magazine as a gift to their donors and, thus, how few donors to Cru were reading these stories.

The leaders have thus asked our whole team to work on other ways to share these stories. These will include putting more stories on our website, Cru.org, in a print newsletter, an email newsletter and more. We’re still working on the details, and will let you know more as we make decisions.

This is a common trend among organizations like ours. Many people want to read shorter items and to be contacted more frequently. They want specific information that interests them and not a large block of information for everyone. Becky, our new editor, compared the experience to coffee. We used to just brew a big pot of standard coffee for everyone. Now, in a coffee shop, we can order a single cup of coffee specially made to our taste: decaf or regular, latte or espresso, flavored or plain.

Of course, we were shocked when we heard the news. The magazine has been published for 43 years, and has always been part of our lives on staff. Anne Marie worked on it as a summer intern, and then for five years before we moved to the Philippines. I, and then we, were correspondents for the magazine from Asia. And for more than 20 years in Florida it has been central to our work. We even won awards from the Florida Magazine Association this month (above).

As you think of us, please pray for the last issue of the magazine to encourage readers—we’re finishing it now and we’ll mail it later this month, and for our team to plan well and wisely as we make this transition.

Thanks for praying for us and for playing a role in our ministry.

We covered a lot of miles in August, visiting  Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

In Minneapolis, we attended Creating Options Together, a training event that Cru’s inner city ministry put on for their staff and partners. They recognize that most inner cities have solid churches, but due to poverty and related problems, the churches need help. By bringing pastors and other church leaders together for training, they strengthen those partner churches.

On the shuttle from the airport, we Darryl Williams and Antonio Wilder (above, Daryl is in the center and Antonio is on the right), pastors from Charlotte, North Carolina. We talked about their two churches and neighborhoods. They had ideas for helping their communities, but didn’t have money to get started. Anne Marie showed them how to write a project proposal to present to business leaders in their city. These proposals should give the businessmen specific ways to help.

Next, we flew to Milwaukee and drove to Madison to visit Michael. He’s enjoying life in Wisconsin. Weekends and evenings, he runs trails and streets with two running clubs. He took us for a hike on one of the trails he runs on.

Work is going well for him as he learns the ropes and works with his first two customers. He travelled to Pennsylvania last week to visit a customer’s hospital when his coworkers set them up with his company’s software.

From there, we flew to Omaha and drove to Holdrege to be with my dad when he had surgery to remove four discs from his neck and replace them with metal spacers.

We spent two days with him before surgery, doing some things he enjoyed, as he would be less mobile after surgery. We visited the cemetery and left flowers by my mom’s memorial stone, stopped by the farm where dad grew up and visited a museum.

After surgery, dad spent a few days in the hospital. Then I stayed in his apartment with him for a week and Anne Marie returned home. Before I left, I was confident he was doing well and could get by on his own with some help from friends. I flew home after almost three weeks away.

As you think of us during September, would you pray:

• for complete recovery for my dad, Ross, post-surgery (he continues to do well),
• for Mark’s work to complete a special issue of Worldwide Challenge and for some major adjustments his team is making to communicate more effectively, and
• for Anne Marie as she prepares to teach two Bible studies this fall.

As always, we are grateful for your prayers, friendship and generosity.

On July 4, we celebrated Independence Day as a family. It felt appropriate as Michael is independent from us in almost every way. Bethany gets closer to that stage every day. Anne Marie and I are still adjusting but getting used to the empty nest.

Michael left Madison, Wisc., on Friday evening, July 1. His three-leg flight brought him to Orlando at 3 a.m., and we happily greeted him at the airport. He enjoys his job at a software company, and is nearly done with his training.

His flight home was the first that we didn’t buy for him, and he took some pride in that. He’s truly launched. We look plan to see him in August, when we go to a conference in Minneapolis. Our flights will stop in nearby Milwaukee, so we plan to visit him then.

Bethany spent a week with us, ending July 5. She continues to enjoy Nashville and her summer internship, studying how churches address the environment and care for creation. She plans to finish college in December, stay in Nashville, and then attend graduate school. We hope her internship turns into a part-time job this fall.

She still has Lyme disease and related problems. She also sprained her foot and is currently using crutches part of the time. Unfortunately, she just had an auto accident. She and the other driver are okay, and we are offering all the help we can from 500 miles away.

Anne Marie and I continue our communications work for different parts of Cru. Anne Marie’s upgrade of the Prayer for Prodigals website, which we mentioned in our last letter, is nearly done. Redesigning a website with many years of past content is complex. I’m working on a special issue of Worldwide Challenge magazine.

As you think of us in the next few weeks, would you pray:

• for Michael to continue settling into life in Wisconsin and to choose to find a church.
• for Bethany to find health related to Lyme disease, her foot, and minor back and neck pain after the accident. Pray, too, for wisdom as we help her repair or replace the car.
• for Anne Marie as she continues redesigning the Prayer for Prodigals website and for me as our communications team plans for technological changes.

Thank you for playing a role in the lives of our family and in our ministry.

Last weekend, our town, called the City Beautiful, the home to “the happiest place on earth,” broke. On Friday night, Christina Grimmie, a singer known for her participation in the NBC’s The Voice, suffered a fatal gunshot wound after performing a concert. The next Tuesday, 2-year-old Lane Graves, from Elkhorn, Nebr. lost his life during a tragic accident at Disney.

But the biggest shock came Sunday morning, when we learned that more than four dozen people lost their lives in a shooting rampage overnight at a nightclub frequented by gay men. There are no words.

We became #OneOrlando. People lined up for hours to give blood. Others offered food and water to those standing in line. Medical teams worked around the clock to save lives. Churches held vigils. Residents attended rallies, decrying the violence.

This quickly became personal. Two of the women I work with have sons who are gay. The women love their sons, and pray for them daily. We pray for them, too. Both of those mothers are members of Prayer for Prodigals, an online community of 700 people, mostly mothers, who love and pray for their prodigal children. Their stories are heartbreaking.

My boss, Judy Douglass knows first-hand what it means to raise and love a prodigal. Steve and Judy adopted Josh when he was 8 years old. For 20 years, Josh struggled, making poor choices. Judy rallied her friends around the world to pray for Josh, believing only God could change his heart. Soon, other staff mothers said to her, “Me, too. My husband and I are raising a prodigal and it’s breaking our hearts.”

So, Judy started Prayer for Prodigals where members post prayer requests for their children. This summer, I’m upgrading the website to make it more useful for our members as they post prayer requests and find helpful information about addiction, mental illness and treatment centers.

In Orlando, we’re still reeling from events earlier this month. Pray that we will love our neighbors well. And pray for me to be filled with the Spirit and to make wise decisions as I upgrade the Prayer for Prodigals website. If you love a prodigal, or you know someone who does, you can request an invitation to our community by sending an email to prayerforprodigals@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for your generosity and prayers for us. God is using your gifts to allow us to continue doing the work He has called us to do. Please let us know how we can pray for you.

On Tuesday afternoon, May 3, eleven of us split into three groups and hiked in the Garden of the Gods Park near Colorado Springs. On different trails we used our five senses to make observations, and then write about the experience as part of a Writing for Life training.

I went with Diana and Jeen. In the photo above, you can see colors (rocks, trees and sky) and note some textures (tree bark, rock faces) we encountered. In three miles of hiking, we enjoyed the sound of birds and smell of pine trees. One group went to the park’s center; another group hiked seven miles around the park’s rock formations.

The next morning, we wrote about the experience simulating what it might be like to write about a location we visited on a ministry trip. Aside from Anne Marie and me, everyone in the room was a staff member with the International School Project, a branch of Cru. They take volunteers around the world to help teachers learn an ethics curriculum that uses the JESUS film.

In that process, first the teachers and then their students encounter the gospel message in this film form. Over time, teachers begin discipling other teachers and students. Anne Marie went to Taiwan with ISP in January to help teachers learn how to be more effective disciple makers. Amazingly, ISP is invited into public schools by governments even in some countries were traditional missionaries would not be welcomed.

As you think of us in May and June, please pray:

• That the ISP staff members we trained will be able to apply this training to become more effective writers as they take the gospel around the world.
• For some home repairs we need to do. Water leaked onto wood floors, so we need to fix the leak and then dry and repair two damaged walls and the floor.
• For both of our dads. Anne Marie’s dad, Jim, has been suffering back pain. My dad, Ross, has leg and lung problems.

As always, we’re grateful that you play a part in our lives.

This week we are in Colorado Springs teaching writing and other communications skills to a group of Cru staff members. The first three days of the week we taught and went through workshops in a classroom setting. (In the photo above, Anne Marie offers a positive comment to one of our class members.)

Today and Friday, we plan to meet with individuals and small groups to work through individual questions and concerns. Pray that we will meet with the right people, connect well and help find some solutions to problems.

Thanks so much.

April has been a celebration of God’s generosity to us, shown through his people. We’re so
grateful for the mix of people He has brought into our lives.

We were in Pennsylvania March 31 to April 14. While there, we enjoyed gracious hospitality as four families welcomed us into their homes for one night or more. We were treated to meals, cups of tea and coffee and treats. Two churches invited us to speak. And more than that, we enjoyed conversations that encouraged us.

Although Anne Marie’s parents moved from her hometown, it still feels like “home” as so many people welcomed us so warmly. The only part of the welcome that was not warm was the April 9 snowstorm —3 inches in Paoli, where we spent the night—that caught us off guard.

During our visit, we attended the Evangelical Press Association convention. Anne Marie fought off a bad cold to lead an eight-hour writing seminar over two days, and she spoke at an additional seminar. She trained professional communicators from at least seven different Christian organizations.

As the president of the association, I led a day-long board meeting and the short membership meeting, and helped with some behind the scenes work. We welcomed 260 participants from across the U.S. and even a few from overseas to learn for each other how to better proclaim the gospel and news of what God is doing in people’s lives.

During the convention, we collected five awards for Worldwide Challenge, including four for design and photography and one for the magazine as a whole.

As you think of us in April and early May, please pray:

• For rest and strength after two weeks of travel. Anne Marie travels again this week and both of us plan to travel together the first week of May.
• For strength and wisdom for Anne Marie as she travels to Dallas to teach a writing seminar on April 20.
• For strong preparation for both of us as we work with staff members in Colorado Springs to prepare a week-long training there planned for May 2-6.
• For Bethany, as she finishes her semester at college while still fighting the effects of Lyme disease.

As we count our blessings, know that we count you. Thanks for being part of our lives.

March so far for us: Michael moved, Bethany came home for most of a week, Anne Marie begin preparing for three training opportunities and I assigned 19 stories to writers and edited several others. It’s been a busy month, and it’s only half over.

On March 1, Bethany’s book, One Dress, One Year, came out. Our church in Orlando hosted a book signing when she came home for Spring break. During the break, she travelled to Toronto for an interview about the book for a Canadian television show. Now she’s back in Nashville with a semester and a half left until graduation.

Michael started training for his new job with the medical software company that sought him out. He’s preparing to be a technical problem solver, working with the tech support people who are helping those who use the company’s software.

Anne Marie is preparing to train writers who are part of the Evangelical Press Association in Lancaster, Penna., in early April. I will help at that event, too. In late April, she will join Judy Douglass to teach about online communications for leaders from a wide variety of Christian ministries. Then in May, the two of us plan to train a group of Cru staff members in writing and other communications skills.

In the Worldwide Challenge office, we continue to combine our magazine and the website, Cru.org, more effectively. I’m learning how to edit stories for online reading, which is a bit different from editing for a magazine. (In this photo,which photographer Guy Gerrard took as he walked by, I’m in my office.) Some stories will appear both places. Here’s a summary of one I edited last week:

Kenyan Wilson Kipsang won the New York and London Marathons in 2014 and hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics. He sees God at work as he runs. This is his story:

“You can’t go to church to win a race or ask God for prize money. God’s main purpose for me is to worship and glorify His name.

“I really want to give back to the community. I own a hotel and I employ 25 people, and champion athletes come and train here because of the altitude.

“I don’t distance myself from people who don’t go to church. We celebrate together. I don’t want division between the community and the church.”

As you think of us this month, please pray:

• That I will continue to learn the new editing skills for my changing job.
• For wise planning for Anne Marie in light of the different training opportunities.
• That Bethany’s health and strength will grow as she is treated for Lyme disease.
• For Michael to settle in Madison and find a great housing and roommate situation. Specifically, we are praying that he will find a Christian roommate.