Thankful

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 

- Colossians 3:15-17

This time of year, there is much to be thankful for. As God is using me in astonishing ways for His Kingdom, I continue to be thankful. 

Thankful that He called me out of the dominion of darkness and into His marvelous light. 

Thankful that I get to talk and impact students lives daily for His gospel. 

Thankful for a loving family and supports me in whatever my life adventures are. 

Thankful that I have a band of brothers that surround me and show me love through their words, actions and prayers. 

Thankful that I have a host family that loves me and brings me so much joy. Oh, and they feed me!

Thankful that I have ministry partners that spend time to pray for me, ask me what I'm learning, how I'm doing, and they read my blog! 

Thankful that I work on a team of great people who toil and struggle in their labors but do it with great joy. 

Thankful that I have a girlfriend who is open to me and has a teachable heart.

Thankful that my girlfriend likes mustaches.

Thankful for a best friend who is about to marry the girl of his dreams. 

Thankful for the wise leaders in my life who are humble and desire to pass on the truths of scripture.

Thankful that you are still reading this post and care enough about me to share your lives with me.

A couple of weeks ago, some friends from CSU got together in Steamboat Springs for a bible study reunion.

These guys have been walking through life together for years and did it around a weekly meeting of studying God's word. Now that's pretty awesome. I was fortunate enough to come in at the end of our college careers and be apart of this band of brothers.

As we were up in Steamboat, we shared stories of what God has been doing in our lives since we left Fort Collins. We also had healthy discussions about our futures and accountability in our (future) marriages and how we can continue to sharpen one another. Overall our time was great as we ate lots of meat, played poker, played tackle football in a foot of snow, ate meat, watched football and ate more meat. 

As I think of our bible study leader, Adam Sperling, and the impact he has on our lives; I am again just thankful to God as he put Adam in our lives and used his gifts to bring us closer to Christ. Adam is the handsome, ruddy and red-headed stud in the blue in the photos above. Adam has since left Colorado State and is still serving with the Navigators just an hour north at University of Wyoming.  Will you join me in prayer for Adam as he is continuing to share his life and the gospel with students in Wyoming. Students who will turn into men walking with God that are out in the world shinning the Light of the world.

As I write this post at Panera Bread, we have 2 short weeks left in the semester. Would you please pray that I can be diligent in these last 2 weeks in closing the semester and preparing for the next?

because He reigns.....

The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! -Psalm 97:1

...but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

As I have been driving through the streets of Fort Collins during the past couple of weeks, the yellow, orange, red and gold colors of the trees just points me to the majesty of our God. The fall colors are comparable to the Colorado sunsets that are simply incredible. As I was driving with my sister I kept exclaiming, "Look at those trees! Check those out over there! They're awesome!" The complexity of our planet and the universe for that matter just helps to reaffirm my faith and that Jesus died for us to give us new life. New life like these trees will experience in 6 months.

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life, loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. -John 12:24-25

As my first newsletter is arriving to a mail box near you, I'm just so thankful for each one of you! The love and support that I have received since I began this adventure called EDGE Corps (sounds like Core) has been beyond encouraging and a reminder of how faithful our God really is. It wasn't anything that I did but the glory goes to God who moved in your hearts to pray for me and to give sacrificially. From the top, bottom, sides deepest of my heart - THANK YOU.

Our Fall conference was such a success this past weekend! We had over 600 students from the Rocky Mountain Region attend the Estes Park party! We had students from Wyoming, CSU, Northern Colorado, CU-Boulder, Colorado Christian, Air Force, UCCS, New Mexico and many more! It was so much fun to see friends from across the region and to share stories about what God is doing in each of our lives. The weekend was filled with worship, messages on the Word; Prayer; & Evangelism, workshops that students got to hand pick which ones to attend, fellowship, games, serving, elk, and just seeing what the gospel does to change people's lives. It's amazing to witness first hand the Truth working in students lives and seeing them in community with one another touches the heart. (I call statements like that "chesseball")

Tina, my sister, was able to take 2 days off of work and fly out on Thursday to attend the conference and spend time with me on my birthday. She recently surrendered her life to Jesus and accepted Him as the Lord of her life. The impact God has had on her life has spurred me on so much and given me a passion to share Christ with more and more people. Tina described the weekend as "just what I needed." My sister is going through a separation with her husband right now and one might think she her life is in shambles. However, the gospel of God's grace and the love she feels from our King is what not only holds her up but gives her purpose for living each day. Will you pray for Tina? Please join me in praying for her continued desire & passion for the Lord as well as that Jesus will bring her marriage back together.

Tina and I hanging with the elk in Estes!

Many of you might be curious to how my support is coming along. Being a full time missionary to CSU's campus I must trust God to bring in the funds to stay on campus. As of Tuesday, October 26th I'm at 96%! Praise the Lord. Will you pray with me as I try to finish this up and get to 100% during the next week?

Thank you for reading, praying, and sharing life with me.

-Daniel

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. - 1 Thessalonians 2:8

I will give you rest...

So Eagle Lake was amazing. God grew relationships with many of the freshmen in our ministry this year. We had about 90 students (freshmen and leaders) attend the retreat and it was awesome! Saturday morning about 40 of us awoke from our slumbers for a frosty sunrise hike. It was a little cold but once we got started up the hill we began to warm up. At the top I got some good time with a freshman in my bible study, Bryah. We talked about his family what he's looking forward to this year. Bryah is a humble young man with a strong background in the faith. He gave God some of his summers in high school to serve at a Christian camp for children with life threatening illnesses and disabilities. I'm excited that Bryah was led to the Navigators and that God put him in my bible study this year. Will you pray for Bryah that he will enjoy his college experience with Jesus as the center on his life?

Bryah, myself, Eric and Corey during the sunrise hike!

Saturday morning after breakfast I got to share my testimony with the students. I really felt led by God during this time. I shared with them my past life of growing up in Texas, playing hockey, falling into the party scene, and being redeemed in Christ. I told them about the joys of being a new creation how True fellowship changed my life. I also shared that spending time with Jesus in the Word everyday is one of the greatest disciplines I have ever developed. Right after my message, the students got to go spend time alone with God for over an hour! I usually get nervous during public speaking but not with His Spirit guiding me. ptL! (praise the Lord!)

Saturday afternoon we got an abundance of free time! I spent some time with students on kayaks, playing volleyball and on the BLOB!

Here is a picture of a freshman, Kaylin, blobbing in good form. Notice the joker in the kayak

The retreat was a great time for these students to fellowship with one another, spend time with God and to take hold of their faith. Many are desiring an abundant relationship with Jesus while they are at CSU and we're praying that this will set a foundation for the rest of their lives. Will you join us in prayer?

Another sweet God story is that a student, David, in my freshmen study gave his life to Christ last night (Thursday, 9/23). I had some conversations with him before about his relationship with God and could tell he never accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. I shared the gospel with him at Chipotle after a burrito and he wanted Jesus in his life. Please pray for David that he can grow as a young Christian and God will continue to use me in David's life.  

The start of the semester has been absolutely amazing and I'm so grateful to be on this staff and laboring for the Kingdom. It has been very event oriented to start the semester and now things are settling to a more routine schedule. I'm getting into more of the ministering to these students and it's challenging. Please pray for my time alone with the Lord; that it will be refreshing, intimate and that I can learn from Jesus.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light." - Matthew 11:28-30

Off to Eagle Lake!

Just wanted to give a quick update! I'm about to head down to Eagle Lake (outside CO. Springs) with about 80 freshman and leaders for our Freshman Retreat. I'm very excited to meet more of these freshmen, get closer to the guys in my study and share God's story in my life. I'll share my testimony and why I find so much joy in meeting with Jesus everyday. Thank you all for your prayers. I'm excited to share stories with you all about this weekend. 

On another note, I led my first bible study of the semester last night. I'm leading a freshman study as well as a sophomore study. Last night, these sophomore men came over and we grilled up some burgers and brats. The 7 men are still getting to know each other but God's hand was on the night and it was sweet. We are studying The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. I love this book because Jerry brings to life the truths of scripture unlike any other author I've read. Right off the bat he tackles the sin issue and that we are responsible for the sin in our lives. He also touched on the Holiness of God and that we are called to that same Holiness. I'm excited to see the balance of grace and truth in this book and in these student's lives this semester.  Please be praying for these guys and that I will be led by Jesus to lead this study. 

I love you all! Romans 13:8

First weeks!

The first 2 weeks of students been on CSU's campus have been very good. Whether it's $100 to Chipotle, volleyball, pounds of spaghetti, numerous trips to Office Max for printing, throwing the firsbee on the IM fields, 14 tubs of ice cream, 200 burgers and dogs, or even just having casual conversations on campus, the Lord has used it all to attract many students to our ministry this year. My teammate, Dan Boryla (sounds like Gorilla), was praying for over 100 freshmen to join the Navigators this year and that prayer was answered! It's very exciting to see these lost sheep come to this new phase of life called college and to see them step out and say "Yeah, I want to study the bible." It's also great to see them worship our Creator. 

This coming weekend (Sep. 10-12) we have our freshmen retreat. We will be going 3 hours away from Fort Collins to a summer camp (Eagle Lake) where we can spend time with the Lord and have these freshmen grow with God as well as cultivate new friendships that will last for the rest of their lives. I will be speaking at this retreat on the importance of walking with God in college as I share my testimony. Please be in prayer for the retreat, the freshmen, preparation for my talk and that God will be exalted.

Welcome to Campus!

Freshman arrive today! We had our Leadership Retreat over the past 2 days and over 70 student leaders came to campus early! We are gearing up for the freshman outreach. Here is the schedule over the next week: 

Thursday: Survey Table in the Student Center to invite freshmen to fill out surveys about their spirituality and enter to win $100 Chipotle gift card! We'll Also be playing Ultimate Frisbee on campus this afternoon. I remember the first day I was in Fort Collins I played this game that was like football but with a frisbee. Incredible outreach tool!

Friday: We'll continue with the survey table and frisbee outreach. In the evening we'll have our 10th Annual Spaghetti Dinner where we feed over 250 students! We'll also have our drawing for the Chipotle giftcard.

Saturday: This is our big sports outreach day. We'll have plenty of frisbee going on w/ basketball, sand volleyball and football! This is very attractive to freshmen and is how we get lots of students to join on ministry. In the evening we'll bike to downtown Fort Collins from campus to enjoy ice-cream with some new students. 

Sunday: In the evening we'll do our survey follow up. Many of our student leaders will be calling students who filled out our surveys and meeting them in the dorms. We have Navigators draw string bags filled with New Testaments, info cards and lots of goodies. This is great to meet freshmen and have them feel welcomed by upperclassmen. 

Monday: We continue our Frisbee outreach and follow up on student's that we didn't reach the night before. 

Tuesday: We kick off our freshmen ministry night: NavBasic. We will have an Ice Cream Social that is for freshmen. We give them free ice cream sundaes and get to know them better and invite them to sign up for a bible study. Last year I remember playing frisbee in the afternoon and walking over to the ice cream social with 30+ students.

Wednesday: We will have our first Nav Night of the semester. They are typically on Friday nights but CSU scheduling conflicts forced us to have it on Wednesday for the first 2 weeks. Nav Night is the front door of the Navigators because this is where many students interact with us for the first time. We have all of our students come together for worship, fellowship, and speaker and time in the Word.  I'm the Nav Night "Director" this year and very excited to be creative with the evening. We will have pizza before the event and expect to have around 500 students for the first Nav Night of the semester. 

Wow, big week ahead and I'm excited to see God move and bring in the students who want to grow in their faith. Please be praying for this week and the incoming freshmen. 

This is it...

Well folks, it's been an hard, joyful, sanctifying, trusting, encouraging, and amazing summer. It started with EDGE Summit #1 in Colorado Springs at The Glen. I met 40+ new friends who I am excited to see God move in their lives and develop friendships over the next few years. Since the summit I've had to trust God for $31,000. Yeah I said it, 31K and you know what? He's provided. In God's economy, 31 grand is chump change; just consider Psalm 24:1. I traveled to Texas shortly after the Summit and I was quickly discouraged. I continued to look at my percentage raised, the number of people I had on my contact list, who I had met with, who I had planned on sending letters to and the pile gets higher and higher. I opened my sheath and I was pierced soon after. I have this small piece of leather that I use as a bookmark. I got it last summer at STP and have kept it in Proverbs and Psalms since I acquired it. I found it one day in my car and I threw it in the first page I opened to. Weeks later when I felt this FUNding discouragement I opened to it and there was my strength for the rest of the summer. As my friend David Weber (on EDGE at Purdue) commented, Psalm 20 is a battle Psalm. 

20:1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2  May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
3  May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

4 May he grant you your heart's desire
and fulfill all your plans!
5  May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
7  Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8  They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

9 O Lord, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.

This Psalm spoke volumes to me. Verse 7 cut me deep. How often do we put our trust circumstances? For me, my trust was in chariots and horses. I was relying on a ridiculously small percentage, a list of people who many I didn't contact this summer and in the brokenness of leaning on my own understanding. I honestly was freaking out and debating if God would get me on campus this fall. My mind wandered and I started thinking of what I would do for income if I didn't raise this support. God knew exactly what I needed to hear. He knew exactly what I was doing when I found my leather bookmark and "randomly" opened to Psalm 20 to throw it in there and slam it shut. God knew I was going to have this little freak out session and he knew I was going to trust in His name. It's the only thing to trust in. Anything else will disappoint us and not fulfill us. 

That's enough about that. I perservered on in Texas; I met with many people, ministered to my sister and other friends, prayed with and for countless amounts of friends and family, and overall I left encouraged. I asked some people to pray for me and I saw an increase in the financial support. When I got back to Colorado, I hit the ground running. By this time I was confortable with meeting with people and sharing what God called me to. I got more people on board praying and things were going well. I talked with other EDGErs about where their funding was in relation to mine and we were about the same. I kept meeting with people and sent out over 100 letters and just continued to be patient. I did follow up calls and many people joined my team. Others didn't financially but that didn't matter. What mattered is they said they would pray for me. 

I was hanging around 25% with about 2 weeks to go. I was coming back to Psalm 20:7 and prayed through 1 Cor. 15:58. "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

So I mini vanned up to STP, which made such an impact in my life last summer, and I got to hang out with some great friends. I got to talk with some CSU students that I'll get to minister to. I hung out with my good buddy Derrik Dewitt from UCCS and talked FUNding encouragement with him. It was a short yet impactful evening in the mountains that kept me focused on Him. From there I went to visit my parents in Steamboat. Pops and I went mountain biking and we only fell off a couple of times. It was great to get some good M2M (man to man) time w/ my Dad. 

When I returned to Fort Collins my support was still at 25% but I kept focusing on God. I talked with more friends but what really made a difference was the e-mails I sent out. I had a list of people who I specifically asked to be praying for me over the summer and I gave them their first update on July 26th. I asked if they would pray for a few specifics and my funding. Immediately after I sent that email, gifts starting coming in and my percentage jumped to 40%. I continued to pray and be led by Jesus to contact certain people and He continued to provide. On August 8th I sent out another update praising God. At this time I was up to 56% and just pumped. This was becoming a reality. Gifts came from people I hardly know and those who I have had great relationships with over the past 1, 2, 5, 10, & 24 years! Shortly after I sent that email I got the green light to process my verbal pledges (Around 14%). This whole summer I have been asking folks to pray for August 13th and well here we are. I just got off the phone with a friend who doesn't know Jesus but he's reading The Shack and he asked that I pray for direction for his life. His name is Kyle, please pray that Kyle will come to Jesus. Oh, and Kyle said he would support me monthly this year! 

Today is August 13th. I have been praying since mid May that God would provide me with 100% of my funds on August 13th. As I postage stamp this update, I'm at 82%. I feel encouraged and it's been such an awesome ride. I know God has provided these funds already and I will be patient for them to come and will continue to do His work. 

I want to say thank you to all of my friends and family who have supported in prayer and finances this summer. It have been a blessing to pray for each of you as well as share this experience with you. I also want to thank Jesus. You died for me, you died for us and it's because of You that I will be giving my life away. 

Not to us O Lord not to us but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. -Psalm 115:1

EDGE Corps guidelines state that in order for us to report to campus in the fall, we must be at 75%. Well, training starts tomorrow at 9AM. 

This is it...