A New Year is out of the gate!
RUF International Welcome Table
Point of Contact
Last week RUF International got to welcome 90 out of the 250 or so new students who arrived on our shores...more likely touched down in our airports...from places like Columbia and Kazakhstan, Spain and South Korea, Italy and Iran, Bangladesh and Brazil, and...of course...China! It was our first point of contact...the first of what we pray will be many special encounters. So, what's next? The RUFI Welcome Party this Saturday night (8/26) and then our first International Dinner & Discovery event next Thursday (8/31)...and LOTS of individual messages and meetings (and attempted meetings) before and after. We'll be gladly opening our hearts and homes in hopes that foreigners might even come to regard us as family.
Downtown Dinner After Bowling
Total Eclipse
Exciting stuff...scary stuff...unknown stuff. The ancient myths are fascinating about gods, demons, and dragons prowling through the sky to devour the sun or moon...or to reunite the two! The biblical truth about both ancient and modern people of all cultures is that our knowledge of the Creator has been eclipsed, and has left us in spiritual darkness. But the Gospel revealed from heaven - the message we prayerfully and winsomely seek to share with our friends from all kinds of cultures - is that through the life and death and rising again of the Son, the God of grace has removed all barriers to knowing and being known by Him again. In all we do this year, our aim is to help international friends see more of Jesus the Son in all of his brightness and beauty. For we know that only by his light will their lives and ours, now and forever, find the fullness of meaning they were destined to have.
To Remember & Celebrate
▪ Pray for Drew and Jenny (incoming RUF interns) to raise the remainder of their support so they can join our RUFI team here at UT (Drew as soon as possible and Jenny by our September Fall Retreat)
▪ Praise for the fruitful (and now long distance) investment we've been able to continue making in the lives of the 4 ladies who have returned home to China, Russia, Scotland, and N. Africa
▪ Pray for great relationships and conversations to form at, and as a result of, our RUFI Welcome Party (8/26) and first International Dinner & Discovery (8/31)
▪ Pray for wisdom as we prepare to launch a new semester of small groups and social events. Pray students and scholars will be drawn to come.
▪ Praise for a more-than-usual restful summer for my family and me! Pray for our 4 kids as they begin a new school year (Daniel - 11th, Phillip - 10th, Annie - 4th & Neissa - 2nd). Daniel especially needing grace his senior year with college applications, ACT tests, football, friends, future dreams and his walk with Jesus
▪Pray for Drew and Jenny (incoming RUF interns) to raise the remainder of their support so they can join our RUFI team here at UT (Drew as soon as possible and Jenny by our September Fall Retreat)
▪Praise for the fruitful (and now long distance) investment we've been able to continue making in the lives of the 4 ladies who have returned home to China, Russia, Scotland, and N. Africa
▪Pray for great relationships and conversations to form at, and as a result of, our RUFI Welcome Party (8/26) and first International Dinner & Discovery (8/31)
▪Pray for wisdom as we prepare to launch a new semester of small groups and social events. Pray students and scholars will be drawn to come.
▪Praise for a more-than-usual restful summer for my family and me! Pray for our 4 kids as they begin a new school year (Daniel - 11th, Phillip - 10th, Annie - 4th & Neissa - 2nd). Daniel especially needing grace his senior year with college applications, ACT tests, football, friends, future dreams and his walk with Jesus.
The Leadbetters - Lee, Annie, Phillip, Neissa, Daniel and Jen