July 2018

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As I am writing you, it is a beautiful summer day here in Princeton. As you might expect, our ministry schedule looks somewhat different during the summer months. As a ministry staff, we take this opportunity to continue building relationships with students and also to prepare and recharge for next year. In this letter, I want to specifically highlight several of our summer initiatives and ask for your prayers for those initiatives which are still ongoing.

The first initiative I’d like to highlight was a trip to Israel with a group of Christian Union graduate students, led in part by two of our Ministry Fellows—Kevin Antlitz and Christopher Heslep. Kevin and Christopher have both shared that this was an impactful time in which these students were able to grow in their faith through seeing firsthand where many of the events of Scripture took place. Ministry has also continued to happen at the Melrose Center here in Princeton. As was mentioned in my last prayer letter, students who are in the area for the summer have been gathering together for barbecues at the Melrose. At the last one of these barbecues we had around twenty students in attendance, including a number who have not previously attended any Christian Union at Princeton events. We were thrilled to see this, and we continue to pray and work for more students to join us at these summer events.

In addition to day-to-day ministry responsibilities, we as a ministry staff, have also been preparing for the ministry year ahead. These preparations are critical to the health of our ministry. Our preparations include planning Bible Courses and events in the upcoming school year such as Pre-Retreat. As a staff, we are also each encouraged to develop a personal development plan and each of us have been completing aspects of these plans. Many one our staff are taking a leadership course led by executives in our ministry, Michael Lee and Dan Knapke. Other ministry staff have been completing coursework at different seminaries. As a part of this, Kevin Antlitz and myself have been working to complete our PhDs. Several staff have also attended conferences such as the Gospel Coalition Conference and the Dr. E. K. Bailey Preaching Conference. Finally, as you might expect, our staff has also been taking summer holidays, giving us a chance to rest and reenergize for the ministry year ahead.

As you pray for us, please continue to pray for these ongoing initiatives within our ministry. Specifically, please pray for the following:

Summer Barbecues
Pray that God will continue to bring students to these barbecues, especially those who have not been involved with our ministry previously and those who are not yet Christians.

Summer Preparations
As mentioned above, the summer is a critical time of preparation for the upcoming academic year. We would ask for your prayers that our preparations, our professional development, and our vacations would prepare us to serve the Lord more effectively this Fall.

Pre-Retreat
Please also continue to pray for Pre-Retreat. We would like at least 70 students to come to this event. Also, please pray God will work in the lives of our students during this time.

Grace and peace,

Ryan Reed
Christian Union Teaching Fellow
Princeton Faith and Action

Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Princeton, please email prayer@christianunion.org.