The last 3 years have been full of major transitions for us. From single students, to married students, to married ministers of the gospel full-time, to now: married parents and ministers of the gospel full-time. It has not been without its challenges, joys, and sorrows, but the Lord has sustained us through all of these and let us maintain the joy of our salvation. We wanted to let all of you into our lives in this new reality for us of parenthood and what it has looked like for each of us.

Whitney: Motherhood is a full-time job. And transitioning from being on campus most of the day every day to being at home most of the day every day has been harder than I thought it would be. I had some naive notions before Tyko was born that I could just bring him along to everything and that it would be sort of normal. That has not been true. But, it has been great. I still get to spend several hours each day doing ministry in various forms, whether that is discipling girls, bible study, training, or staff functions, it is great to stay involved in the ministry here at Ball State. We have also developed through this a vision for our family that we want our children (yes, we want more) to be involved and grow up in this ministry learning from us and our students that life is about knowing Jesus and making Him known. So, Tyko comes on campus with me and to staff functions (which is not to bad- he is kind of a stud- so he is pretty well liked). It has been a good but hard transition full of great joy. I truly love my new role and where God has placed me.

Josh: So, this year has been a lot harder and a lot more joyful than I thought it would be. Being a dad is awesome. Being a dad is hard. Being a full-time minister of the gospel is awesome. Being a full-time minister of the gospel is hard. I have learned that to glorify God with my life and my time is going to take a great deal of discipline and grace. I need to spend time with Jesus, serve my wife and son, lead and disciple the greek men, and fulfill my staff duties. In that I have been tempted to pity myself and my workload, but by God’s grace alone, I have joyfully accepted it and pursued it fully. I am most excited to disciple my son (and future kids) to know Jesus and make Him known. Its a cool thought. So, what does my day look like. Well, I do staff/planning things in the morning, ministry on campus during the day, dinner time with Whitney and Tyko, and some nights with bible studies or meetings on campus. It looks like a day full of duties, diapers, and delights, Jesus, his glory, and his grace. Its different each day, crazy most days, and tons of fun. I can truly say that I am excited for where God has us and where He is taking us. We love our job, and our family. Thank you so much for making all of this possible through your prayers and support- it truly makes our lives possible! We thank God for you often!

This book is awesome! Every Christian should own this book to learn how to pray for the world. This book lists every country of the world, identifying specific prayer requests, unreached people groups and prayers that God has answered. It has helped us so much in learning how to pray that we would “Declare his glory among all the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:3). Would you take up the banner of prayer for the nations and intercede with us that all people groups would come to know Jesus and worship Him rightly?

Is Christian unity possible or just a dream? Can different denominations and organizations that claim to follow Christ get along and work together? Can we have an effective witness to the campus and to the world without it?

These are the questions that we will seek to sort through this year at the unity service at Ball State. Every year all the Christian organizations on campus get together to plan a worship service for Ball State christians to come together as one body to worship the Lord. I (Josh) get the humbling privilege to speak this year at the Unity service. My message is going to really focus on one thing- unity is a means to an end. By that I mean that unity is not the end goal and that unity for the sake of unity is nothing, because it is ultimately about us and our glory showing the world what we can do. We have seen that before (Gen. 11) in the tower of Babel and that didn’t go so well. God judged that unity. But, unity is a good thing when it is a means for something greater: God’s glory displayed in the person and work of Jesus. When unity is about worshiping Jesus, then we have something. When its about showing our campus that we have something that is worth laying aside our differences for, that is worth worshiping, that is worth sacrifices, that is worth our unity, then we have something that will cause someone to take notice. (I’m still working on my message- so I might be slipping into writing my sermon manuscript right here!) When we get this right, that unity is ultimately not about unity but about Jesus, then God can use that for incredible things. Please pray with us that God would use this service and my message to challenge the Christians (and draw non-christians to Himself) to not pursue unity to make themselves look great, but to display how great Jesus truly is in Himself!

33 men in the woods together is either a recipe for disaster or intense community and fellowship. This spring break I (Josh) got the opportunity to spend the week with two other staff guys and 30 students from our movement at a small Christian camp in Coker Creek, Tennessee. It was an awesome trip that accomplished everything we were praying for it to accomplish. We were able to spend quality time together discussing what biblical manhood is and how to love Jesus as men. We studied the word and read theology together and individually, we did manly things outside together, and we came back as a unified community ready to know Jesus and make Him known here at Ball State. There were several men on the trip that were involved with CRU but didn’t really feel a part of the community until this trip. I was able to witness guys love on them well and pursue them with Jesus and see real community develop. It is hard to tangibly measure the fruit of a trip like this, but I pray that it will create at least 33 men who love Jesus for a lifetime and become godly men, husbands, and fathers.