Greetings, friends and ministry partners!
We know that 2023 has just begun, but this new year has already been packed with God’s favor and blessings. Jill and I genuinely sense a season of spiritual advance and revival coming to Utah, and we are humbled to serve here “for such a time as this!”
After strategic ministry events in December with Dr. Jerry Root, a C.S. Lewis scholar from Wheaton College, and our annual “Christmas Gift Honor Luncheon” for ministry partners and pastors, we entered 2023 with great enthusiasm. Isaiah 43:19 seems to be a word for Utah today. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” So many prayers have been prayed for years that God would transform Utah into a place of spiritual unity and divine impact. There is new evidence that God seems to be answering those prayers and petitions.
Your gifts and prayers for over 22 years have made it possible for Jill and me to serve the cause of biblical unity and spiritual transformation here in Utah. We cannot adequately express our gratitude for God’s provision for us and our ministry through so many partners like you, old and new, over the years. After 22 years, some who helped launch our ministry are now in heaven. Some have given to our ministry here and there, or for a season, others have supported us for years with stable monthly gifts, and occasionally God blesses us with large gifts that seem to come right when most needed. We say to all of you, past, present, and future, “Thank you!” On behalf of all God is doing in Utah right now, we say from the bottom of our hearts, “Thank you so very much!”
Currently, a team of pastors is working together to possibly host a significant evangelistic event with a national ministry in 2024. We have already met with their ministry leadership and believe an invitation letter will soon be extended by a larger group of pastors to host this historic Christian outreach in Salt Lake City. Please join us in prayer for this amazing opportunity! So much work will lie ahead for us, but we see God’s leading in this effort and are trusting Him by faith to follow His lead and trust Him for the results.
Recently, six different evangelical churches sponsored a prescreening of The Jesus Revolution in a local theater where nearly 200 prayer warriors from local congregations attended. Before the movie, we worshiped together in the theater and afterward had a powerful time of prayer for how God might use The Jesus Revolution to change hearts and inspire the Body of Christ to open up their doors to all that need Jesus.
Additionally, we just finished two solid weeks of LDS/Evangelical Student Dialogues with the largest number of students and schools we have ever hosted. 36 students from four universities came in the first week, and an additional 44 students from four schools came in the second week. These 80 evangelical students dialogued with a corresponding number of LDS students at five LDS Institutes of Religion and BYU. God has blessed this discussion-based interaction for twenty-one years now, and 2023 was our most amazing spring break season yet. Student responses were overwhelmingly positive and they felt that their prayers for compassionate hearts, divine appointments, and closeness to God were answered.
The Lord keeps opening doors to us that only He could make possible. We have been asked to host a significant visit to Utah by the President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE - a board I serve on) to have meetings here in Utah in late May. I pray President Kim’s visit will lead to a second NAE Board meeting in Utah in the next year or two. This month, we met with the First Lady of Utah, Abby Cox, to share with her the work of Royal Family Kids Camp for Utah’s foster kids. We are humbled and grateful to be involved in what God seems to be doing in Utah.
Please continue to stand with us in your prayers and through your financial support. Unfortunately, our year-end giving was down from the previous year, and we have lost several regular givers over the last year. However, God has always met our needs, and we have learned to trust Him for His provisions. With inflation and prices climbing, we know that all our family budgets are being stretched, so we will continue to rest in God for His provision!
We love you all and thank God for you!
-Greg, Jill, and the ST Team
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