First half of 2025 + Brazil Trip

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2025 Campus Outreach Resource Connect in Chattanooga, TN

The first half of 2025 has been full of projects with Campus Outreach SERVE. Below, I have listed some of the highlights over the past 5 months. Together with our partners, we celebrate the impact on so many teams and campuses around the world. And the finale is our first trip to Brazil since we moved in 2023.

Resource Connect (photo above): In February, I participated in the 2025 CO Resource Connect in Chattanooga. This annual conference brings together operations, financial, communications and administrative staff from Campus Outreach regions domestically, and we always have international staff join us virtually or personally. Our time in Chattanooga was helpful to network, collaborate, discuss best practices and gear up for the 2026 Campus Outreach National Conference that will be held at the Chattanooga Convention Center in January of 2026.

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2024 Annual Impact Report: Lots of hours were dedicated to the 2024 Annual Impact Report over the past 9 months. This was my first year to quarterback the Report. It is a much larger and broader print media piece than I have done in years, so collaboration and planning were key. We learned a lot, especially about printinglarge quantity products and mailing them out to individual donors. The digital version will be out soon, and everyone can take pleasure in knowing that YOU helped make that happen.

Website launch: Almost 2 years ago, a major revamp of the Campus Outreach and CO SERVE websites began. The culmination of years of work is currently launching, so stay tuned for the official re-launch. From conceptualization to implementation, it took a lot of work. I came in on the phase of building the content and populating the pages, and preparing video elements - so it is a project I am convinced will benefit so many staff, students, supporters and others for many years to come. 

Season 3 of the CO podcast: Due to the previous two projects (Annual Impact Report and Websites), our podcast schedule for the staff-focused StaffCast was pushed back. Currently, we are publishing every few weeks and will conclude Season 3 this summer. Each recorded interview of approximately 1 hour of content takes about 12-15 hours of editing and preparation to complete and publish. These podcast episodes have been such a blessing to me as I hear over and over the wisdom and God-glorifying truth shared by our guests. Feedback from staff in the USA and overseas has been very positive, and we have accumulated over 10,000 downloads in just 2.5 years of production. 

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Pre-Deployment Training session

Pre-Deployment Training Session: I recently had the privilege of pulling from my 20 years of experience in Brazil, and particularly as a member and elder of our local church in Belo Horizonte, to lead a session in our Pre-Deployment Training for 5 staff members about to deploy to their field assignments on 4 different continents. The session was “Engaging the Local Church,” and I enjoyed helping these new staff prepare for their relationship with their partner church in a healthy and humble manner.

Brazil Trip: And to close out the first half of 2025, our entire family will be taking our first trip back to Brazil since we moved in June of 2023. We hoped, prayed and desired to be able to reconnect with our family, friends and culture in Belo Horizonte, but were unsure it would happen. The Lord worked out so many details, and we were able to use a lot of frequent flier miles to make it happen. We will spend almost a month in BH and I will get the opportunity to work while on the ground in several projects with the CO team and local church while there. This time, our 16-year-old cat stays home - no more international travel for her. 

Leader's Training & Gazillions of Zooms

Leader's Training

On Saturday, September 26th, I had the privilege of leading the first of a series of video meetings via Zoom with our Campus Staff team and a group of student leaders to dig into a demanding subject - LEADERSHIP. I loved seeing these students excited to meet and talk about leadership on a Saturday morning. Remember, I work with college students, Saturday mornings are rarely the best option, but they themselves picked this time because they wanted to be sure there was no competition.

One student made it all worth it when she said, "I often think of a leader only as those who have a huge impact or someone far beyond my ability to influence, so I had all but given up on the idea of being a leader. But, seeing and hearing that God uses people differently, for larger or smaller impacts, and that a Christian's calling to follow Jesus is synonymous with influencing and leading others toward God has given me new hope in being a leader."

Gazillions of Zooms

Just like so many others in the world, COVID-19 has not stopped life from marching on, but it has increased video meetings a gazillion-fold. We are no different!

• In August, our team had a 10-session Training Course with our church pastor about a Christian Worldview.

• Each throughout the month, I have meetings with our Campus team, Leadership team, entire COBH team, bible-studies, workshops and church Elder Session.

• In September, our team met for a 4-session Evangelism Training workshop.

• Our team has begun a type of group discussion for students who are really asking great questions about Jesus and how He is relevant to their spiritual reality via Zoom.

• There is, also, the home dynamic of Isaac having school via Zoom 5 days a week!

• And, not necessarily Zoom, but part of our team is taking an online course at the School of Biblical Counseling of CCEF, "Dynamics of Biblical Change." It involved several hours of lecture and reading per week.

Our personal connections have begun to increase as the situation normalizes here in Belo Horizonte, therefore, please continue to pray for us as we venture out, face Zoom fatigue and walk by faith and share the hope and the good news of Jesus.

New Resource Teammates 2018

One objective our Resource (administrative) Team listed for 2017 was to recruit at least 1 more Resource staff during the year. We asked God to raise up people, we networked out and we had our eyes open. Before the end of 2017, we had 1 Brazilian intern on our team and 1 graduate from the US committed and preparing to join our team!

Luca Diorrane

The increasing work load for our growing team and ministry is one reason we wanted to focus our efforts on recruitment. Also, as a ministry committed to multiplication, we want to constantly renew our team and "work ourselves out of a job". God provided, and we are excited about the new faces around our Resource Team.

Luca Diorrane recently graduated from UFMG in Belo Horizonte, where he became a Christian late in his college career. He is a very talented guy with a desire to serve, administrative aptitude, a gifted musician, a member of a dance company, and a beast of a futsal player. After a short-term, overseas job opportunity fell through, we began to talk with him about an experience working with our Resource Team until the end of 2018. He accepted and we are glad to have him with us!

Marquise Piton

Marquise Piton is a South Florida native who graduated from Eastern Kentucky University where he played football and graduated in Network Security and Electronics. The CO Lexington Resource staff connected us to Marquise. After completing the application and interview process,  he decided to quit his job and fully commit to raising support and joining our team for a 2-year commitment. Marquise arrived in March, and is focusing on learning Portuguese, transitioning to a new culture and getting connected with students on campus. He will bring some much-needed technilogical specialization to our team.

I am leading a series of training sessions on the vision and practical side of being a Resource Staff (picture above). Both Luca and Marquise have embraced the vision, and each week they are engaging more and more in supporting the movement through our Resource Team. God provided and is raising others to "work ourselves out of job!" But don't worry, there is plenty to be done as we continue to be one of the only ministries focusing on college students in Brazil.