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