Weekly Update

It has been a while since I have made a post to let all y'all know how things are going. God has been on the move a lot on campus, especially in the lives of some football players. It has been awesome to be able to labor with Tommie from the football team. Last night at their FCA meeting, we shared the bridge diagram with several of the players from the team. It was great to be able to explain the gospel to them and afterwards, three of the guys stuck around and we talked for like 40 minutes with them about the gospel and Christ being their worth and satisfaction. It was really encouraging. Tonight, I have been able to talk with Rich about being encouraged by what God has been doing in his life. I also think that God gave me some insight into the biggest hindrance to him understanding the gospel fully in faith. It is evident that the biggest issue of his own heart has to do with works and performance. He mentioned something to me tonight that opened my eyes to the reality that he has not fully grasped the reality of Christ's righteousness being sufficient for him and his need to acknowledge and own up to his own failure to honor God and live for Him. However, he is continuing to study the word and pray that God does a lot in his heart this semester and that he would come to faith in Jesus. The other guy that I am hoping to get up with soon is Darnell. He has been going through the book of John as well and has had a really difficult year this year. He has been sidelined because of injuries that he has had this year and it has brought about a lot of frustration in his life; however, I believe that God can use this in huge ways to bring him to faith in Jesus. I feel like his frustration with it has/will reveal some of the idols in his life that he has sought to bring him satisfaction and joy in place of Jesus. I am hoping for some great conversations with these guys here soon. Be praying they go well! Love y'all and thank you for the support and prayers of you all!

Praying for Laborers

Lee Chappel

                                                                      Marcus Dowtin

Richie Mataafa

LaDrake "Drake" Roy

Mo Miliam

Nick Williams

Darnell Jackson

Since the semester started and one of my new brothers in Christ, Tommie Westbrook, got back at UNA to start the football season, God has been opening doors for us to get involved on the football team. It has been an incredible experience so far and Tommie has been able to share the gospel with many of his teammates. In addition, he has been having a great season on the field. He is second on the team in tackles and has started every game of the season at Outside linebacker. Just last night, him and I were hanging out and praying for these guys and hoping that God would be at work in their lives, revealing their sin to them and showing them their need for Christ. It has been awesome so far as we have seen the Lord work. Currently, Lee Chappel is working through the book of John with Chad Walker and investigating the claims of Christ. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago he asked Chad to teach him how to understand the Bible. Darnell has been going through the book of John with me and has told me that he wants people to begin to associate Christ with him. As we were going through the first book he came to the realization that Jesus was God for the first time in his life. In fact, he had never even heard that before, which was incredible to be apart of and tell him about. God is doing a lot in his life right now although he has not yet surrendered his life to Christ. Richie has gotten lunch with me a couple of times now and today was incredible. We talked through the gospel for like thirty minutes and he basically asked me, "What are we supposed to do to get right with God if we can't do enough good things or be a good enough person for God to accept us?" I was able to explain the gospel to him and how Jesus has done everything for him in order for him to be right with God. It was really encouraging and believe that God is working in huge ways in his life as well. Some of the other guys I have put on this post are guys that we have talked with and guys that we want to be able to share the gospel with this semester. Please pray that God would begin to open the doors for us to do this and invest in the lives of these men. We really want to impact Richie, Mo, Nick, and LaDrake because of their influence on the team and the fact that they are returning next year to play. If God could get a hold of these guys lives, there is not telling the impact that they could have on the next group to come in. What I ask y'all to pray in the same thing that Tommie prayed last night: "Let this be the most saved football team in the country and reach the nations through what you do here, Lord!" What an awesome request! Pray this with me and Tommie. Thanks team.

Reason for the Blog

So, our culture is evolving in ways that we never expected due to social media and technology. Over the past year, I have come across this new wave of getting info out to mass groups of individuals. It is called blogging. Haha not that new but I am catching up. The reason that I am making this blog is because it is one way that I hope to keep those individuals who are supporting me financially, prayerfully, and relationally in the ministry God is calling me can consistently follow what is going on in the ministry and in my life. I know that newsletters are going to be apart of the way that we communicate and hopefully we will be building strong relationships as a team as well, so having said that I want to get this blog started up so that y’all can follow some of the more day to day activities of my life and ministry. I cannot promise that there will be a new post everyday, but I do want to make this one of the ways I am able to keep y’all informed with what is going on in the ministry that I am going on staff with. Currently, a lot of the info will be about the support raising process because that is my primary focus at the moment. I started a couple of weeks ago and have been hitting the ground running hard. My goal is to be fully funded by June 1st, 2012. So as I progress to that date and goal, it is my hope that you will find encouragement along the way in seeing how the Lord provides and in the joy of participating in building His Kingdom together. Thanks Team!!

In Christ,

Jeff Bolger