August 2010

the roes go blue.com

The continued story of how God is transforming lives at the University of Michigan Psalm 90:17

Summertime
Part of any new job is understanding the ebbs and flows of how things work. This summer has definitely been a learning experience for us as we have had a more difficult time making appointments with people to share our story. Although it has been a bit slower this summer, God has still increased our percentage and we are now at 45%! We continue to believe for God to provide the rest. God has continued to take care of us and keep us healthy and safe. In fact, someone helped us repair the windshield of our car that cracked earlier this year. We cant say enough how much we love the people at New Life Church. There is such a wonderful sense of openness and honesty among the people and staff. We have really enjoyed hosting different events and groups at our house this summer. We feel blessed to be part of such a loving community of believers. It is so wonderful to know that we are exactly where God wants us to be! Your partnership makes what we do possible- thank you for your faithfulness!

@ New Life Church

95 students (including 12 student interns) just completed LTX: Leadership Training (LT) 2010. LT is an intensive summer program designed to help students grow in doctrine (what do I believe and why?) character (what are the outward expressions of my inner convictions?) and ministry skills (how can I live out my faith and come alongside others as a lifestyle?) LT allows students to stay in Ann Arbor, work part time or take classes and live, eat and do life together like the early church did. (Acts 2:42-47) LT events take place several evenings a week and include different events including: large group teachings, small group Bible studies, apologetics sessions, and outreach events. Several attributes of God have been studied by LT studentsSovereignty, Holiness, Loving-Kindness, Forgiveness and Goodness. One of the focuses this year was also identifying lies and replacing them with Gods Biblical truth. The theme for this summers LT was A Life Changing Faith: Believing in a God you can Trust. Much of the teaching was based on Davids life, both the highs and the lows, and focused intensely on Psalm 34. This psalm was written by David when he was in the cave of Adulum (1 Samuel 22) running from Saul, I prayed to the Lord and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces (vs. 4-5). This is a wonderful encouragement to remind students (and us) that God is always with us, even in the darkest times.

Jon & Andrea

Andrea with the ladies from her New Life Discipleship group

Free tour we took of the expansion of the Big House football stadium

The awesome group of students who just completed LT 2010

Karas Story
Kara has been living in Ann Arbor after graduating from Grand Valley State University. She is moving to Virginia in the fall to attend James Madison University as a Physician Assistant candidate. This story is in Karas own words
This part of my journey began when my dad lost his job during my middle school years. During this economic downturn, the only place of work he could find was as a cashier at Meijer (a grocery store) during midnight shifts. I could not see it as a point of humility for him nor did I see it as him contending for our familys survival. Instead I viewed it as his expression of giving up on us. As a result, I was filled with feelings of anger and embarrassment. I started lying to my friends, which then became a struggle to overcome for my future. During the LT Kickoff retreat I uncovered and stood face-to-face with a deep- rooted lie that Satan had embedded in me since my freshman year of college. He had continually told me and, had succeeded in making me believe, that I was not smart enough to do anything worthwhile during my time on this earth to further God's kingdom. This lie extensively played out when I started to apply to Physician Assistant schools this past year. For the first time I fell short in my academic endeavors. I started receiving acceptance letters into programs, which was a major accomplishment but, sadly, what elicited more of an emotional response were the rejections. I strived to focus and delight on my acceptances, but Satan instantly overwhelmed me when I got an email from the University of Philadelphia. I felt so defeated by this rejection because I knew some of my old friends had already interviewed and were accepted into this program. I believed that I must not be smart if I didn't even get an offer for an interview while these two people were already accepted. So, falling back on old habits, I started sharing with others that I had been offered an interview at Philadelphia, but blew off any further questions. It scared me to realize how seamlessly I could formulate new lies to cover up old ones. During this time, a very close friend here in Ann Arbor expressed a strong discernment from God that I was lying about getting an interview. I instantly went into defense mode and strongly denied it. I became relentless in preventing him from seeking the truth and asking questions. As I sat in the auditorium reflecting on one of the talks during the LT retreat, a rush of nausea overwhelmed me. An unbearable amount of conviction came to rest on me and I knew that I had a choice to make. I could either humble myself completely surrendering everything to God or I could put up a wall and portray an inauthentic identity while coasting through LT -I decided to surrender. I spent the rest of that day battling the lies by exposing every detail of my sin to my small group, to the leaders of the church, and to friends. Each time, I was received with an unimaginable amount of grace and complete forgiveness. I truly could not wrap my mind around the fact that people in this community showed genuine love and excitement for my life. After confessing my lies and sin to all of these people, it was time to call my friend to Spring Arbor. A daunting half an hour later, he walked into the classroom to find me waiting to tell him everything. At the end of my extensive explanation and request for forgiveness, he simply opened his arms and said I've missed you. Talk about meeting God's grace face to face...it was beautiful! This part of my journey has taught me how much freedom He fills us with when we confront our sins and live a life striving for no less than His character.

Please pray for:

Our monthly budget- for God to continue to raise monthly support- we would love for our budget to be at 50% and be able to opt into health insurance ASAP. Fall Semester 2011- for new students to be connected with New Life Church and a life changing relationship with Jesus! For us to be connected with new people who share our passion for reaching college students and are able to partner with us in financial ways. Safety and health as we continue to travel.

Jon & Andrea Roe 524 N. 5 Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 J: 989-928-9493, jeroe77@gmail.com A: 989-780-1992, roeandrea@gmail.com

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Please make recurring & special gifts payable to Great Commission Ministries P.O. Box 7101 Winter Park, FL 32793 Account #7228 or visit www.mygcm.net

We are campus missionaries at the University of Michigan with Great Commission Ministries. We serve at New Life Church located at 1541 Washtenaw Ave in Ann Arbor. Visit www.nlcweb.org for more info.