Our Website!!!

Well, we know it's been a while. So we'll be surprised if anybody even reads this post. We know you all might think that we have just forgotten about this blog but we haven't. We have actually been working on a website. Our website has a home page and a page that tells a little bit more about us and how we met, what we are doing, etc. But it also still has a blog!

And speaking of the blog...we have posted a new entry. It's about a radio broadcast we heard a few weeks back in which they talk to a pastor with an AMAZING STORY! Really...and it has some audio with it that you REALLY need to hear! It blessed us greatly! We purposefully did not post it here because we want to go to our website to hear read and hear this story. You will NOT be disappointed! Please go to:

http://web.me.com/dstokesnc

Once you are at the website, click on the link for "Blog" at the top of the page. The latest blog entry is entitled: "Bless the Lord, O My Soul". This is where you will need to go from here on out if you want to read our blog. Thanks!

Drew and Kelley

To live is CHRIST!!!

It has been a wonderufl first few days here at New Staff Training or in Crusade language, "NST". We arrived after a long road trip that had us leaving Greensboro at 5 AM. It was around 3:30 pm when we got there. We first filled out some necessary paperwork and then from there we grabbed all of our belongings and moved into our "home" for the next 5 weeks. I'll have to admit, it was a pretty strange feeling moving back into a dorm room and not really knowing anybody. It felt like we were freshmen in college all over again except for the fact that I have a MUCH better looking roomate this time around. ;-) We have no complaints thought....we have been able to push our beds together to actually make it into a king sized bed! So in a way we have moved up in the world a little bit. But I'd take our mattress over the plastic ones we have here. Oh well! :-) We are thankful for the reminder of what it feels like for a freshmen on campus the first week or two.

I could go on and give you more boring details of our schedule etc, but I don't want to do that. Instead I want to briefly share the very first talk we heard at NST. I'm so thankful that this is the way the conference/training started off. The message was entitled, "The Most Important Thing". Keith Davies gave the message and he spoke from Phillipians 1:12-26. In this passage Paul is writing to Timothy and his servants from a Roman prison and is encouraging them to advance the gospel. He had 3 main points and here they are:

1. That CHRIST is Preached. (Phillipians 1:18)
   
2. That CHRIST is Exalted. (Phillipians 1:20)
   
3. That CHRIST is Experienced. (Phillipians 1:21-26)
   

And the Keith gave us 3 challenges as we start our ministries on our different campuses etc:

1. That the gospel is preached NO MATTER WHAT. (He reminded us that Paul was writing this letter from a Roman prison.)
2. We should be careful not to always get caught up in "ministry-related things" but to REMEMBER & PROCLAIM CHRIST!
   
3. That our commincation with our ministry partners and friends thru newsletters, blogs, etc would not be so much about us - but about what CHRIST is doing! (Phillipians 1:18 - "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.")

I was so thankful for this message. I really didn't think there could be a better way to start of this training time. It wasn't about how great Campus Crusade is (even though I do think they are great) or about what Campus Crusade is going to do...it was about Jesus Christ, what He did for us on the cross and how we can glorify Him!

Moving Out

Hello everyone. Kelley and I are pretty
much all packed up and are heading down to Florida in the morning. We have packed up our entire house so when we get back we can move it our right away. Our landlord was very kind and has allowed us to keep our belongings there for a couple of extra days past our lease ending. So we needed to be ready to move out as soon as we get back.

We are leaving very bright and early tomorrow morning for our trip to Orlando. Kelley's old roommate, Cindy, is going to be riding down with us. Cindy has been an intern at NC State for the past two years and is now joining staff full time. So it will be so neat to be joining staff with her! It's crazy to think about this time a year ago. Kelley was in East Asia leading a summer project and we were in the midst of preparing for the wedding. We had no idea that we would ever be joining staff again. The Lord is good! :-)

We ask for your prayers as we travel and try to get settled in our dorm room for 5 weeks. We are a little nervous but also very excited! I have no doubts it will be a very special time for us. We will be taking two seminary courses while we are in Florida and we will be talking about all of the other necessary topics when joining staff. So we also ask for your prayers as we will in class everyday learning theology and how to study the bible.

Lastly...we just wanted to thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers the past couple months and for future prayers and words of encouragement. The Lord has been sooooo good to us these last couple of months and has answered EVERY ONE of our prayers and concerns!

"You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me (us) good judgment and knowledge, for I (we) believe in your commandments." - Psalm 119:65-66

Laminin

For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things HOLD TOGETHER." - Colossians 1:16-17

God's faithfulness.....AGAIN!!!

It never ceases to amaze me how loving and gracious God is towards me! And His timing is impeccable! :-) Just now after that first sentence I was looking for a verse but don't have my Bible in front of me so I went to Desiring God's Website. I wanted to find a verse that illustrates God's love for us (one of the many). The FIRST verse I saw on the opening screen was Lamentations 3:22-23, which says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." AMAZING!!! That is the perfect verse for Kelley and I. :-)

I share this with you because I tend to be a "doubting Thomas" far more often than having the "faith of Abraham". Yet, the Lord provides EVERY TIME!!! Granted it may not be in the way I envision Him answering my prayer or in "my time frame", but God is so FAITHFUL. You'd think I would be a little more trusting after all He has done in our lives these past two months. Sadly...I still doubt and I still worry.

Despite my doubts, fears, and worries the Lord has, is, and will always be faithful. Here's how God showed Himself faithful to us this week!

On Wednesday, Kelley and I were sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop scouring the internet for a place for us to live when we come back from NST (New Staff Training) on July 21st. Our lease ends on July 15th. We love the house we are renting, but we need to find something more affordable that is geared more towards our current job situation. We were looking online and not finding too much. The best we could find that looked like a halfway decent place to live and wasn't too expensive was a 1 bedroom/1 bath apartment. That would have been a little cramped, but would have been just fine. Literally as we were talking and stressing about where we were going to live, my dad called and said he talked to someone at their church that was looking for someone to rent their house out for a few months! This family lives in a 4 bedroom/2 1/2 bath house in Adams Farm (which ironically is where we had written the contract on the house we ended up not getting) with a 2 car garage. They are leaving in August and won't be back until December 30th. Perfect! Except I said, "Dad, that's great but there is no way we could afford the rent on that house." I called up the family anyways.....and to make a long story short...we are going to be paying less in rent than if we had rented the 1 br/1 ba apartment! And on top of that, they are going to let us store all of our belongings in their garage, so we won't have to pay for a storage unit. AMAZING!!!

That was an answer to our first prayer! The Lord answered prayer #2 earlier this week as well. Many of you know Kelley works at Westover and when we heard the news that we were accepted to join staff with Campus Crusade, we knew we would be leaving soon for Training. But, once we get back, we will both need to work while we raise support. We needed to let Westover know about our new adventures. Our prayer was that Kelley would still have a job at Westover when we returned, because we knew this was a hard place to put them in. The pastors thought and prayed about it and let Kelley know she had a job when we returned!! To all the pastors, staff and friends at Westover...words cannot express what a blessing you have been to Kelley and I. We love you guys!

Answer to prayer #3 happened today. There are, as you would expect, many "logistical issues" we are working through to be able to make it to Training this summer. One of the biggest, was finding a home for our precious dog Cooper, who is shown in the picture above. We will be in a dorm this summer at Training and won't be able take Cooper with us. Cooper will be a year old on July 4th! He is a GREAT dog and we love him to death. We had been praying that the Lord would provide a good home for him this summer, with people we knew and who loved Cooper. GUESS WHAT....some dear friends of ours that are in our church small group have offered to take care of Cooper while we are gone! That is a BIG commitment to make for 5 weeks during the summer. Needless to say...we are so thankful! Wow, the Lord is soooo good! Sooooo good!

"Father, thank you for your continued faithfulness to us despite our lack of faith, our worries and selfishness. Thank you for seeing us as righteous and precious in your eyes by your grace through faith! We are forever grateful for your steadfast love and endless mercies you pour out on us. How TRUE are the words, "GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS"!!! May we never forget...in the good times AND in the bad.

Joining a new "Cru"

Well...if you read Kelley and I's last post...you knew we were looking into full time ministry. I wanted badly to go ahead and share where the Lord was leading us but when I was first writing that post...we were not sure if we would be accepted. I'm glad to share with you now that Kelley and I have been officially accepted to join staff with Campus Crusade for Christ!!!

We are soooo excited about joining staff! As many of you probably know...this will be Kelley's second time on staff and I'll be joining her for my first time being on staff with Campus Crusade. "Cru" as we like to call it has been a HUGE part of Kelley and I's lives for a long time now. We both got involved in Campus Crusade early on in college and without a doubt helped us really grow in our relationships with Jesus Christ! I know for me personally...it wasn't until college and the relationships I formed with friends and staff members with Crusade that I really and truly started growing in my relationship with Christ. So we are both so thankful to now say we are a part of this ministry and a part of what God has, is and will continue to do on college campuses across the nation and the world!

I really, really, really wish I could fully explain to all of you how excited we are and how thankful we are to serve such a grace-filled, faithful, sovereign God! Everything I shared in the first post I know happened for a reason and now I can see why He allowed those things to happen! I mean who would have thought losing your job and your new house would be a good thing??? God did!!! :-) Our friend Sara shared a great verse with us in the comments of our last post:

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
- Psalm 37:3-4

Thanks Sara, for sharing that verse with us (Jem & Craig...thanks for the wonderful verse you shared too). I love that verse because that truly reflects Kelley and I's heart. We've had a desire to do something in ministry before we were even married.

Ok.....so if you are wondering what happens now.....here's a quick run down of what is going to happen. Campus Crusade has many different ministries (Campus Ministry, Athletes in Action, Family Life, The Jesus Film Project, just to name a few) but we have decided to join up with "Campus Ministry". What this ministry consists of in a nutshell is spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible on that particular college campus. We will join up with a staff team alread placed at that particular campus and we will get assigned an area of campus to plug into and have a group of guys/girls to disciple and help grow their faith. We will being doing different kinds of outreaches and events often as well. There is much more than that...but that's a start! Kelley and I leave in 3 1/2 weeks for New Staff Training down in Orlando, FL for 5 weeks. Yes, you read that correctly...we leave in 3 1/2 weeks! Crazy to say the least! But I'll talk more about that in our next post (I have to keep you coming back somehow). During our 3rd week of training down in FL we will find out what campus we will be placed at. We are open to wherever God leads us but we are hoping for something not too far from home. So we will see! When we come back from New Staff Training we will come back to Greensboro. We will be working here until we raise 100% of our support. Once we have raised 100%...it's off to the campus! :-) Kelly is going to be able to continue working at Westover Church which is a HUGE PRAISE but I am still looking for work. So if you know anybody willing to hire me for the short-term...please let us know!

"It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." - Deut. 31:8 (Thanks for sharing Jem & Craig)

Thoughts...

For some reason in the last post the verse I wanted to share at the end got cut off. I guess because our first post was sooo long. They won't all be like that! :-) So here it is again...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

- Isaiah 55:8-9

One FAITHFUL day...

I'll never forget that day as long as I live. It was a Wednesday, March 26, 2008 to be exact. It was a bright and sunny day as I was driving down the road on my way to drop off Kelley and I's mortgage papers for our new house! Oddly enough I wasn't very happy. No, I wasn't stressed about buying our house...it went much deeper than that.

But something happened on that Wednesday that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the Lord allowed to happen. You see...as I was on my way to drop off our mortgage papers I was really down. I was in the car literally in tears and prayed this prayer out loud, "Lord, something has GOT to give. Something has got to give..." It was my weak attempt of crying out to God for help. You see, for quite some time I had been unhappy. From the surface, one might question why I was unhappy...I'd been married 7 months now and still very much in love with my beautiful wife, Kelley. We were in the process of buying our first home and I had a good paying job with a great company whom I loved. But...the problem was that I didn't enjoy my job. I loved and still do love the people that I worked with I just didn't enjoy my specific job. Well, to be honest...I was miserable! I'd wake up every morning dreading going into work.

Meanwhile...poor Kelley was fully aware of my struggles and had listened to me for months talk about how I just felt like God was calling us to something different but I had NO IDEA what that was. Kelley would often talk about how cool it would be for the both of us to work in ministry together somehow someway. She had visions of us starting a college ministry at Westover Church where we attend. I'll admit...the idea of working with college students very much intrigued me...but I just didn't have a peace about starting a ministry like that. And if I'm being honest...it also scared me to death!

But...I've had a desire to go into full time ministry for a long, long time now. I remember very specifically the first time that thought popped into my head. It was at Kidd Brewer Stadium up in Boone, NC and I was at the Franklin Graham Crusade. Franklin had just finished giving a message that I really don't remember much about or don't remember it being a particularly impacting sermon to me. But what I DO remember was that he gave people the opportunity to hear the gospel and then he gave them an opportunity to come forward and commit their life to Jesus Christ! And they came down out of the stands in droves! I just sat there in tears and said to myself..."Lord, I want to do something like this someday." So that's the first time I remember specifically thinking that I wanted to go into full time ministry and that "thought" and "desire" has been with me ever since.

Now...let's fast forward again to 8 years later. I've been out in the working world since I graduated college in 2004. I've worked a couple of different jobs and made a really good income for just getting out of college. But for some reason it just hasn't been satisfying to me. I've tried to fill those voids with all kinds of "things" for the past couple of years but still....that desire to "do something more" and that void that the money just wasn't filling was still there. Soooo....on that FAITHFUL DAY on March 26th of this year I got back to my office from dropping off our mortgage papers and went back to work. I hadn't been back for more than an hour when my boss called me into his office. After a long talk we came to a realization that it was in our best interest for us to part ways. (Remember....only a couple hours before I had prayed to God that something had to give.) The business was really taking a beating because of unforeseen circumstances that happened in our industry. So I was going to have to go on an aggressive commission only salary which would not have been a good thing. I knew quickly that the Lord, in a much different way than I expected, had answered my prayer!

So...if you have been wondering why this post is entitled "One FAITHFUL Day" it's because I believe and trust in a God that loves us and has a wonderful plan for Kelley and I's lives. I believe the day I lost my job was a blessing and an answer to prayer from the Lord. That's not to say at all that I wasn't scared to death and wondering...what are we going to do etc, etc. Here is a brief run down of what has happened since I lost my job. After initially having no problems qualifying for a home loan and locking in a great rate and we had set a closing date for May 15th. However, after the job situation, we were unable to qualify for financing on our home we had just written a contract on. So we ended up losing the house. Which again...was a HUGE BLESSING! I believe with ALL MY HEART that we serve a God that is sovereign! "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plan for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope!" (Jeremiah 29:11) It's a verse we all know...and I've heard many a time...but I still LOVE that verse. You see...if we had bought that house we would not have had the same amount of freedom we have now to pursue full time ministry.

So Kelley and I now are looking into full time ministry. We are very excited about where the Lord is going to lead us and ask for your prayers as we go down that path. I'll let you know more in my next post about where the Lord is leading us.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9