April ’23 Ministry Update

by | Ministry Updates

Super short

Thanks for your prayers! The Gospel Advancing Summit was convicting and exciting! Over 200 youth leaders fully committed to building Gospel Advancing ministries. Watch the video for a little more info about Gospel Advancing. For even more info, check out Dare 2 Share.

It was fun to see a lot of my recent hard work on various marketing efforts come to life at the conference. We were able to give away student ministry lessons and start conversations with many youth leaders through the email campaign that I had been building over the past several weeks. Please pray for many youth pastors to continue partnering with us as we help them build deep and engaging youth ministry.

Please pray for the upcoming weeks. Much is happening. Training new ministry leaders, Gospel events, and of course still working hard at expanding our marketing efforts to spread the news about Word of Life and our resources to churches.

Thank you for praying for our family! We could not be doing this without your prayers and financial support.

Caleb teaching at National Staff Conference

Past weeks at a glance

  • Regional Team Meetings in Alabama
  • Helped Build A Resource Sharing Site for our Missionaries
  • We publicly dedicated Emma to the Lord with our Church family
  • Been serving as youth leaders and leading small group
  • We moved into temporary missions housing (our hosts are so great)
  • National Staff Conference with our entire team at Word of Life Florida
  • Working on Gospel Advancing email campaign
  • Dare 2 Share Gospel Advancing Summit in Colorado (watch the video)

Next weeks at a glance

  • Working on new landing page for our youth ministry curriculum
  • Working on Gospel Advancing email campaign
  • STORM Gospel event (May 5) – Please pray as I share the Gospel with teens
  • Teaching at special children’s ministry event (May 10)
  • Training children’s ministry leaders in TN (May 16-18)
  • Caleb and Steph 5 year anniversary (May 19)
  • 1st week of Summer Camp (June 4)
Easter Sunday @ FBT
Emma is excited to drive!
We love the warmer weather and family walks
some sight seeing in Colorado before the GA Summit
Our team designed an entire process to easily give away a free curriculum module
Our WOL team at the GA Summit
Emma is 5 months old!
Emma tagged along at a recent marriage retreat our church blessed us with

“How do I get one of those, you know, relationships with Jesus?” – Story of Life Change

I want to share a powerful story with you, about the importance of staying committed to ministry efforts.

Last year, a boy named Toby attended a basketball outreach program at Perth Bible Church in Amsterdam, NY. Over the course of six weeks in January and February 2022, he heard the Gospel but did not give his life to Jesus. However, in March 2022, Toby went to Word of Life’s Snow Camp with Perth Bible Church and placed his faith in Jesus!

After Snow Camp, Toby did not attend youth group very regularly, if at all. Fast forward to November 2022, Toby attended Word of Life’s Reverb in Glens Falls and brought his friends Niaz and Alexi with him.

During Reverb, the boys heard the Gospel but did not make a decision for Christ. After Reverb, none of them attended youth group at Perth Bible Church.

In January and February 2023, Toby came back to the basketball outreach program at Perth Bible Church and attended Snow Camp once again. This time, he brought his friends Niaz and Alexi.

While at Snow Camp, Toby committed to attending youth group at Perth Bible Church regularly and has attended two weeks in a row. Niaz also responded to the Gospel and gave his life to Jesus, but Alexi made no decision at that time.

However, Alexi’s journey to faith was just beginning. On March 19, 2023, Toby, Niaz, and Alexi showed up to youth group again. That night, the leadership of the youth group taught the students how to use Dare2Share’s “Life in Six Words” app to share the Gospel.

During small group time, Pastor Mark took any new or visiting students and formed a small group just for them. Before he could even get started, Toby, Niaz, and Alexi walked up to him, and Alexi asked, “How do I get one of those, you know, relationships with Jesus?” Pastor Mark was able to lead him to the Lord right there in the youth room!

How do I get one of those, you know, relationships with Jesus?

After he prayed to trust Christ, Pastor Mark gave Alexi his cell number so he could follow up with him. To his surprise, Alexi already had Pastor Mark’s number saved, but under the name “REVERB.”

At that moment, Pastor Mark realized how God had used so many programs, people, and presentations working together for the sake of the Gospel, and finally, it clicked for Alexi!

In short, Alexi’s path to salvation looked like this:

Perth Bible Church Basketball Outreach
Word of Life Snow Camp
Word of Life Glens Falls Reverb
Perth Bible Church Basketball Outreach
Word of Life Snow Camp
Perth Bible Church Youth Group
Dare2Share’s Life In Six Words App
Perth Bible Church Small Groups

I hope this story inspires you to keep pouring into the lives of young people and trusting that God is at work, even when we can’t see it.

Prayer Requests

  • Opportunities to share the Gospel – clarity and Holy Spirit leading
  • Balance and wise time management
  • Wisdom and favor with future housing plans
  • Creativity and direction with ministry marketing efforts
  • Possible missions trip to Iraq – pray for my fear (Caleb)

Fundraising for Ministry Computer

We are in need of a new ministry computer. If you would like to learn more and consider giving towards this project, click here. Thank you.

Thank You!

We could not do what we do without the faithful prayers and financial support of so many! Thank you for taking time to keep up with the Cody Clan and thank you for investing in eternity with us! God bless you and yours. Please send us your prayer requests.