Atlanta Christmas Conference 2004 was the highlight of my staff career thus far. I experienced the power of the Lord more at this four day event than at any other point in my life. Five minutes before the students were to enter the ballroom, the house lights in the ballroom went completely black, we were having issues with the electronics, and the intro video I had worked on for the first meeting had errored out. Typically, this would have sent me into a slight panic, but the Lord calmed my spirit. Engineers were brought in, and the meeting only started five minutes late with house lights working properly, all electronic systems up and running, and the video ran smoothly.

That is just one example of how the Lord orchestrated each day between December 28 and January 1. There were moments during the conference where I knew people had to be praying for me. Later I would find out, that people were praying for me and my team at that very instant! How encouraging it has been to see a major production, result in changed lives!

Some of my Atlanta supporters were able to experience the conference first hand, but for those of you who live far away, let me try to recap the week for you. As I was processing after the conference, I journaled about what I was thankful for during the conference. I think it is the best way to capture what God did last week!

Praise from Christmas Conference
1. Three dynamic speakers that clearly communicated how God chooses to use us everywhere.
2. A worship leader that led students into the presence of the Lord.

3. A production crew that created an environment where students could fully experience Christ.
4. An emcee that engaged the audience from meeting #1 through meeting #7.
5. A main meeting crew that died to self and worked endless hours without complaining.
6. Student testimonies that were so compelling.

7. Staff that sacrificed sleep, time with friends, etc. to serve for 18 hour days.
8. Seminars that flowed so well from heartfelt needs to evangelism.
9. A two hour workshop where each student made a plan to reach a people group back on campus.
10. Recruiting lunches for our overseas partnerships and summer projects were very well attended.
11. An ambiance team that created an environment with a direct connection to our theme.
12. I was placed in roles (technology, ambiance, graphics, and web) that I found to be my “niche”.
13. During our fundraising evening $45,000 was given by students. $10,000 will go to Thai students who are helping with relief efforts and the rest will be used for evangelism outreaches in the Southeast.
14. Team work produced something way bigger than ourselves causing dependence on the Lord.
15. Personally, drew me closer to the Lord as I daily had to depend on Him.
16. The Gospel was shared with multiple hotel employees including our sales manager.
17. The presence of the Lord was definitely experienced.
18. After a hard semester, the Southeast region is hopeful for the future.
19. Students lives were radically changed!!!!!

Life Change at ACC04I’ve been praying for African American students for the last couple of years. There were two girls that I really wanted to come, but it was almost impossible to get them here. Somehow the Lord worked, and these girls came. They got plugged into our group, grew in their faith, and now I have an open door through them to the African American community at Mississippi State.
-Suzanne Freshwater-staff at MSU

There was a guy who attended the conference from Florida State. After the first couple of meetings, I asked him how he was doing. He said that he didn’t get it. He didn’t experience anything at the main meeting. On the last day of the conference, he ran up to me, and said,”Last night something happened in that meeting and I got it.” I thought he may have been a Christian before, but I think he experienced the Lord for the first time in that ballroom.
-Kevin Shoemaker-staff at FSU

Prayer Requests for Spring '05I would greatly appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks. This next month I will be taking a few days each week to raise support. I will also be meeting with students at Southern Polytechnic State University as we trust that God will reach that campus.

Please pray that God will increase and stretch my faith as I trust Him to meet my every need.
Please pray that students would continue to have evangelism on their mind as they head back to campus. The real results of our Christmas Conference will begin in January and end in May!

Like I mentioned above, I will be working with students at Southern Polytechnic State. I led an outreach there in mid-November and God just blessed our efforts with a ton of students interested in Bible studies, meeting one on one to discuss their faith, and a small group of believing students desiring to impact their campus for Christ. Pray that God will lay the groundwork to have the students plan and lead an outreach sometime in the next few months and that He will bless the Women’s Small Group I’m starting there. Pray too that He will open up doors amongst the architecture students