Orlando Move

Scouting Trip to Orlando

Posted on

To visit our new abode of work and calling, we recently ventured to Campus Crusade’s International Headquarters in Orlando for a 3-day scouting trip. Our vision was deepened, our hearts encouraged and our bodies warmed by the nice Florida sunshine!

We met many of the staff we’ll be working with, including Keith & Kay Seabourn (pictured here with us) who have served with Campus Crusade for 30 years! Keith is CCC’s Chief Technology Officer. David will be a project manager on his team.

We spent half a day with a realtor in Orlando doing some early “recon” of neighborhoods. Everyone we know in Florida has warned us: “You are moving to a VERY expensive area!” Somehow, we were hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Yet, as we drove around many varied neighborhoods – new, old, far or near – all of the prices were quite high. Most houses of equivalent size to ours here were from $300K to $350K. Basically double what our home in Mableton is worth! Next time we’ll take the pills for “sticker shock” before we travel down there!

One highlight of our trip was touring the JESUS Film facilities at Campus Crusade Headquarters. This film was produced by Campus Crusade in 1978 and has been used to introduce young and old to Christ around the world. It is the most translated movie in history – over 700 languages to date! Incredible stories of the Lord using the film in dramatic ways were shared. This is one tour well worth the trip if you’re ever in Orlando! Also, fyi, you can now download the audio/video of JESUS to your ipod or other handheld device. (click here to learn more)

The photo below shows where the hundreds of translations of the movie are touching the world.

General

1 Billion Milestone Opens 10/40 Window

Posted on

According to this very interesting article by noted Web Researcher Jakob Nielsen, 2005 silently heralded a huge milestone in Internet history: the one-billionth user went online. That means that about 15% of the world’s population (more than 1 out of every 7 people) are regular Internet users. By 2015, it’s expected to grow to 25%. Particularly interesting is the fact that 360 Million of current Internet users reside in Asian countries! (Compared to 230 Million in North America). It’s predicted that in less than 4 years, Chinese speakers will outnumber English speakers on the web!

See the opportunity here? As more and more users quickly come online in places like China, India, Korea, etc., we have an open window to connect with these people – many of whom are hungry for Christ – via the Internet. A decent percentage of people in these countries already search for spiritual content online, and the Lord could swell this number even more if we as technology-and-resource-rich Christians create the right content online to bring them in. Pray with us towards this goal!

For more info see a similar article on the Web Evangelism Bulletin

Family

Happy New Year from the Hands

Posted on

The Christmas Season (and the whole year) has come to a close;
Only time left to share with you a few quick photos.

Advent candles, apple cakes, gingerbread and presents. . . hooray!
All helped us celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

Time with the grandparents made it just right;
Even accented by snowfall which made things so bright.

This year in ministry has been very good, yet not without struggle;
And you, through prayer, have played a vital role for which we are grateful!

>

General

Campus Crusade featured on ABC News

Posted on

Ashley Parrish is just one of thousands of students in the Southeast who went off to college and struggled with her faith. Through Campus Crusade and your partnership with us, the Lord renewed her heart for Jesus and now she’s growing alongside other Christians on her campus at the University of Georgia.

ABC’s Good Morning America recently did a profile story on “Faith on Campus” and chose Ashley to show how “Many Young People Turn Away from God in College, But It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way”

You can read the ABC news article and watch the video from Good Morning America in its entirety (just over 5 minutes) on the ABC site.

Although we don’t completely agree with ABC’s commentary for parents of students away at college (at the end of the video), the video and article are overall, quite positive towards Christianity and Campus Crusade’s activities on campus.

Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership which made it possible for literally thousands of Ashleys to experience life change through the gospel in 2005!!