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.

This is a list of the books we have recommended in our prayer letters. This list is partially because I keep forgetting what we have written about and so I wanted a place to reference. Enjoy:

1.Living the Cross Centered Life by CJ Mahaney
2.Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
3.The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington
4.God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts
5.How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Fee and Stuart
6.The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall
7.Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
8.What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert
9.Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
10.Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll
11.The ESV Study Bible
12.The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

The book recommendations will continue, so please enjoy the Triune Living God through these resources!


In Christ alone,

Josh Holowell

Day of outreach stats for all the campuses with over 2000 students and staff:

2605 Conversations
1219 Gospel Presentations
587 Church Connections
107 Decisions to make Jesus Christ Lord & Savior

Praise Jesus and pray that this day would have a ripple effect in the lives of our students and these people we shared with to continue to share the gospel that the nations would come to know and worship Jesus!


In Christ alone,

Josh Holowell