October Update Over the past several months, Madi and I have stepped into a new role within Circuit Riders. As our ministry has continued to grow (now with over 300 full-time staff!) we’ve been building more intentional structure. We’ve implemented a new operating system to organize our entire ministry, which has been so helpful in managing the many moving parts of Circuit Riders (from college and high school evangelism to international missions, music, media, local outreach and discipleship). Within this new structure, Madi and I are now part of the executive leadership team for Circuit Riders. I’m serving as Director of Operations for our training department. This means ensuring that the vision of Circuit Riders is executed effectively throughout our training department and in each of our discipleship schools. Our department in CR consists of about 60 staff that are fully devoted to running our Circuit Rider Experience. Our CR Experience is now a year-round project with a school starting in the fall, winter and spring of each year. I am excited to serve the team in this new role and to grow in my abilities as a leader. For me it is still always about investing into young people and empowering them to do all that God has created them for. We kicked off our Fall DTS quarter in September with about 150 students here in Huntington Beach! God is already moving powerfully in their lives, and it’s such a joy to see this new generation being equipped to carry the love of Jesus to campuses and nations. We did a Baptism Day at the beach during their gospel week in the school. There were some powerful moments as two students in this school have older siblings currently on staff who had the privilege of baptizing them that day. We are currently in week 4 of the school and there is so much life transformation taking place already. Madi and I have also had the chance to serve our married couples, spending the past few months being trained to offer pre-marital counseling to couples as they get engaged. We’re excited to open our home to the many engaged couples that come from CR! The kids started school last month, with Azariah in second grade attending Beachcities Classical co-op and the twins completing one more year of preschool. They’re doing well adjusting to the rhythm of school again! Madi also has an exciting update. Some of you know that she’s been working on a novel over the past few years. It was a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest in September and is currently with agents being considered for publication! So, stay tuned for more updates about her book! Thank you for standing with us and for all your prayers and support. We’re truly expectant for what’s ahead!
Madi and I are headed to Kenya on May 31st to visit two Circuit Rider teams that are finishing their outreach in East Africa. The teams have been working in Burundi, Rwanda, and Malawi. They have put on festivals and events in several cities, preaching the gospel and ministering to hundreds of people. They have also run 2 CR training schools focused on empowering young Christians in the area to live a missional life. The outreaches have been overwhelmingly fruitful. The teams have witnessed miracles and seen many come to faith in Jesus. We will have updated details and numbers from those events once we visit the teams and their outreach is complete. Currently, we have 6 other teams that are also finishing outreach in the Philippines, Australia, Europe, and South Africa. Other members of our CR leadership team are heading to visit those teams as well. I can’t wait to update everyone on the final numbers from these Spring outreaches! If you missed our previous update from January through March, here is the report: We had 21 teams on the road from January - March gathering students on campuses, preaching the gospel, and partnering with students for long-term impact. This year, one of our main goals for tours is to establish ongoing student-led groups on each campus. Students can sign up to start an evangelism group on their campus and/or a prayer group. We provide free ongoing training for any students who sign up to equip and empower them to lead out these initiatives in their schools! Our aim is that a generation of Christians would be empowered to live out their missional calling and reach their peers with the love of JESUS! Tour Stats from this year: TOTAL STUDENTS GATHERED - 39,795 TOTAL # SALVATIONS/REDEDICATIONS - 4,873 TOTAL # of HEALINGS - 276 TOTAL # of Baptisms - 57 **This is not including KENYAN teams which surges Gatherings to 47,532 and salvations to 6,948! Plans for the summer: When we return from Africa we will be starting our June staff training as a community. This year we have accepted about 85 new staff members who have applied to come back and become full time missionaries with our ministry. These windows of staff training are crucial times to establish culture and begin preparing people to lead. July - August will be focused on holding our summer training camps for college and highschool students! Then in September we will be kicking off the next 6 month fall discipleship school! So far we have about 155 students accepted to the upcoming fall school. Thank you for all the support and prayer! - The Unruh’s