Tangle in the Triangle -- Part II (Bowe's story)

Bowe also coached a team for the tournament, "The Bowe-Berry Biscuits." The Bowe-Berries won their first game against another UNC team, but got out in the second round against State. They all still seemed to have a great time!

Tangle in the Triangle - Powderpuff Tournament!

Again, we're sorry it's been so long since we last updated our blog. We feel we are just starting to learn how to function as "marrieds" and divide up our work
tasks in a better way! So ... I'll be taking over the blog updates (Ashley) --- you can blame me next time there's a 3 month lapse :) I'm excited to share about our 1st annual Powderpuff Football Tournament that was held last Thursday night at NC State. We partnered with the Campus Outreach ministry going on at NC State in hopes of furthering the relationships we currently have and building momentum and interest towards the New Year's Conference we hold every year in Atlanta, GA over Christmas Break. We at UNC were amazed at the turnout and excitement level we got from the girls we've been building relationships with all semester. 67 women came out to play from UNC forming 4 teams (3 more than we expected) to go up against State. My team, "the Jimski's" (named after our coach and UNC staff guy Jim Stephens), unfortunately got out in the first round. However, we had the best time sticking around to cheer on the other UNC teams that went up against NC State. It also helped the momentum that the REAL rivalry UNC v. NC State game would be held two days later on Saturday November 22nd. After the games were over, we headed back over to the staff house at NC State for a spaghetti dinner and the presenting of t-shirts! The girls seemed to have a great time and it served to get everyone excited about the possibility of joining us for New Year's in Atlanta!

Thailand Part 1

Thailand is amazing!!! The people here are so friendly and welcoming. Just being an American gives us immediate favor with them. We have been here for about 3 weeks now. We spent the first 2 days in Bangkok and then flew to Khon Kaen.
Since arriving in Khon Kaen, we have been working on the NEU college campus here. Each day we go on campus trying to meet and build relationships with as many Thai students as possible. Our goal is to broaden the contact base, build deep relationships, and connect these students with the permanent Thai Campus Outreach staff.
God has really been giving us favor and we have been able to meet and build relationships with lots of students already. Everyday my heart breaks more and more for the people here. They kneel before idols and pray to them to pay for the short comings in their life and hope that their end will be better than their beginning. We are praying that in our brief 2 months here that God would do something in us that would last a lifetime in our development, relationship with God, and heart and vision for missions over seas. Also, we are praying that God would allow us to be apart of meeting students on the campus that he would bring to salvation and that the staff here would be able to train them to go back onto their campus and reach their peers with the Gospel.
Well, this is one of the few updates we will send this summer. Here are a few pictures that we have taken so far!

Leaving For Thailand

Hey guys,
Sorry its been soo long. Its been a crazy couple of months. As most of you know Ashley and I are going to Thailand this summer for 2 months. We have been asked to lead a team 0f 14 staff and students to work on the college campus of NEU in Khon Kaen, Thailand. This is another one of the training opportunities that we give our students in addition to the Summer Orlando Project. The one that we will be leading is called Cross Cultural Project and is designed to help develop and prepare older college students(juniors and seniors) to walk with the Lord and do ministry as they move into the secular work force. Also, it is designed to help build a vision for the lost all over the world. Our hope is that this summer God will deepen our walks with him, deepen our dependence on him, and shake our paradigms of what it means to live for Christ. Lord willing maybe one of our team will give themselves to full-time overseas work and that all of us would come home seeing the need to pray and support financially missions overseas.
I will be updating our blog about once a week all summer with pictures and stories about what God is doing over there. Please keep us in your prayers and write comments on the blog to communicate with us.
Here is a picture of the CCP team we will be leading. We fly out on June 2nd and will fly back to the U.S. on July 26th. Please remember to keep us in your prayers. We need it!!!

Multiplication Begins

Through the Bible study that we had in the Conner Dorm God has raised up a man. Matt Williams is a freshman from the Raleigh, NC area. Matt is to my left in the picture and his roomate DJ is to my right. Matt was one of the first guys that I met in the dorms at UNC. Over the course of this school year God has been blessing our relationship. Matt's is one of about 10 guys that I am heavily invested with on the 2nd floor of Conner dorm. All of these guys are either freshman or sophomores. As far as I can see right now, all of the guys on this floor are unbelievers and haven't had the transforming grace that comes from a relationship with Christ. Matt is the only one on this entire hall full of at least 75 guys that is a professing Christian and has a life that represents Christ.
Since the beginning of this semester my relationship with Matt has really blossomed. Matt has begun to recognize his need for discipleship and training in his life. I have spent some time getting in the word with Matt exposing him to passages like 2 Timothy 2:2, Matthew 4:19, Matthew 16, and Matthew 28:18-20. Through this process Matt has begun to see his need to be trained and developed personally. He sees his need to have practical skills to implement what he has been taught in church growing up and how to continue to grow.
He also, through looking at Mark 2:1-12 together, Matt saw his need to take his lost friends on the hall and even his roommate to Jesus like the people did in this passage. The best part about all of these things is that Matt is wanting me to be that man in his life that would help him learn how to grow personally and how to minister to his friends and roommate who don't know Christ.
How faithful God is!!! This is what we do! Who better to reach the 75 lost guys in a freshman dorm than a freshman in that dorm! I am now meeting with Matt on a daily basis and taking him with me to build relationships, share the Gospel, and love on the guys on his hall; so that he can begin to learn how to minister to his friends. We also get in the word together and Matt is learning how to study that word on his own now!
Please pray for Matt and his decision to come to our Summer Orlando Project, where he would receive more training and personal development.
Bowe

To See The Lost Saved!

Last time I talked to you I talked about how we were beginning a four week evangelistic Bible Study. Well, that Bible study has been over for about 3 weeks now and we have been continuing to go deeper with the guys that were attending that Bible study. We averaged about 11 guys each week. Each week we took them a little bit deeper into the reality of who Jesus is and what the Gospel means for them.
It is important to note that these guys that were attending the Bible study did not come from heavily churched backgrounds. Some in fact, had never heard of the Gospel before. So, in light of that it has been a slow process with them. But, it has become more obvious over the past 2 months that God is very much at work in these guys but he has not yet opened their eyes completely.
One of the most surprising things about this group of guys is their desire to want to hang out and enjoy friendship with me. That might not sound like much to you guys but, when you think about a 25 year old married guy walking up into a freshman dorm and hanging out with them it can come across as a little weird to them. But, despite that, the Holy Spirit has been testifying of the difference of my life to theirs. So much so, that these guys last week asked me to come over and eat dinner with Ashley and I and spend the night in our apartment!
So, God is doing big things here with the unchurched college students in exposing them to his word and their need for a savior. Continue to pray for these guys! There names are Kameron, Tyler, DJ, Nick, Zac, Austin, Jeremiah, Andrew, and Jared.

Big News at Retreat Weekend!

Over the weekend, we took 9 UNC girls to Asheville for a Ski-Retreat! On Saturday night during a Praise and Worship service, one of the girls who I've been hanging out with this year started crying and left the room. I followed her down the hall and she asked if we could talk. She started to explain how she felt doubtful about her salvation and wanted to know how she could be sure she was Christian! I shared Romans 6:23 with her and the more I shared, the more she cried! Soon her suite-mate came down the hall looking for her. We filled Natalie in on what was happening and she started to cry as well saying that she knew that she had become a Christian when she was very young, but had just realized that she hadn't really sought to grow with Christ since then! We prayed together and Nicole gave her life to Christ right then and there and Natalie committed seek out opportunities to grow in her walk! It was an awesome conversation as I got to watch God capture two hearts for Himself and His Kingdom! Ever since that conversation, Nicole has been proclaiming her new life in Christ to her friends both on retreat at back at school and Natalie has been sharing with her friends about her eye-opening experience and new commitment to growth with the Lord! Next week we will be starting a committed 8-week Bible study along with two other girls, Mollie and Andrea! Please pray for these young hearts as they begin to dive into His Word together!

Evangelistic Bible Study

This past Wednesday Erik McKee(another staff guy at UNC) and I started an evangelistic Bible Study in one of the dorms that we have been spending time in. 10 freshman and sophmores attended the Bible study. We have building relationships with most of these guys for the past 3 months and sharing little bits of truth and the Gospel with them as God opened doors. But, it wasn't until this semester that we felt like the Lord was confirming that the students were ready for a Bible study and would respond to an invitation, until this semester.

This Bible study is a 4 week study that will walk them through understanding their position before God outside of Christ and his atoning work on the cross that he offers them through a relationship. All of the guys that attended this week were guys that when we first met them would never have been interested in coming to something like this, but God has begun to soften all of their hearts and has begun to make them more spiritually interested. We are praying that God would raise up some future laborers that would multiply their life out to their fellow student, from this Bibles study. I invite you to pray with us and I will update you as things progress.

By His Grace,
Bowe

New Support News!!!

Hey everybody,
I just wanted to update you on our support situation. We need to raise about $300 more a month in commitments. However, over the past 2 days God has brought in about $75 a month in new support through a current supporter bumping his goal up and the Lord giving us a new supporter. Praise the Lord!!! Please continue to pray for our support and the students at UNC. We have been back on the campus the past 2 days and God is already doing things. We are praying about starting some evangelistic Bible studies soon with some of the non-Christian students that we have relationships with from last semester and a few that we pray to meet in the next couple of weeks. We are praying that through the exposing them to scripture that the Spirit will move and we will see some students make decisions to give their lives to Christ!!! Thank you for laboring with us!

P.S. If any of you are interested in bumping up your goals please contact us at brobowe@hotmail.com or call at 843-324-8573 to let us know how much.
By His Grace,
Bowe and Ashley

Back In Chapel Hill

Finally, we are back in Chapel Hill. As we have talked about in the past posts, we have been on the road living out of a suitcase for the past month. We have spent the majority of that month meeting with supporters, raising new support, preparing for our ATL 07 conference, and putting on the ATL 07 conference for the 800 + students that attended. We had about 30 students from UNC and NC State attend the conference and a few of them made professions of faith at the conference stating that they made a decision to give their life to Christ and begin a relationship with him.

So, now we are back in Chapel Hill preparing to start another semester. The students go back to class tomorrow Wednesday the 9th. We will have a staff meeting tomorrow morning to pray through and discuss the direction and strategy we feel the Lord leading us to go in trying to reach the campus of UNC for Christ. I ask for your prayers on this matter, that God would open our eyes to what he is doing on the campus and where and how he would like us to go. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We prayerfully look forward to being able to update you on students making decisions for Christ and the kingdom expanding.

By His Grace,
Bowe and Ashley