"I believe this e-learning program will be a great gift to the Body of Christ." 

Those encouraging words came from Dr. Brenda Salter-McNeil a few days ago as we were working with her on an e-learning session.  Dr. Salter-McNeil has spoken to thousands of Christian leaders across the country on multi-ethnic topics and has been working passionately to unify the church for several decades.  Encouraging words from her are especially encouraging!

Over the last few months we have been working with experts like Dr. Salter-McNeil, Dr. David Anderson, Dr. Michael Emerson, and Dr. Bob Kellemen to create the first sessions for our New Culture E-learning Program.  As the experts have seen how the design process works and what the finished product will look like, it has been fun to watch them get really excited about the program and to hear them express how  they believe it will have a big impact on the Body of Christ.

The Lord knew we needed those encouraging words because the last few months have not been easy. As I expressed in our last update, we have been hit with a variety of personal and ministry challenges lately.  Its tough to sort out which are due to...
- spiritual opposition
- regular challenges of leading a new, small Christian ministry
- regular challenges of raising a young family (including a six month old who's struggling with sleeping at night)
- the financial challenges of the recession (that many are facing)
- the realities of getting a little older (nobody warned me that our bodies start to act a little different after 35)

Fortunately, the frequency and severity of the challenges seems to have died down a little since I wrote last.  Thank you for your prayers and notes of encouragement!  However many of the challenges remain unresolved including our Health Savings Account which was seized/stolen about three months ago.   Please pray that the bankruptcy/criminal case will get resolved by the FBI soon.  I've also been facing some unusual health issues related to my vision over the last few months--we think it may be due to "optical migraines" (I never even knew there was such a thing until recently).   So, we really appreciate your on-going prayer at this time.

On a lighter note... we continue to enjoy every day with Milena.  She is such a fun baby.  She reached her 1/2 birthday a few days ago and is itching to start crawling any day now.  She is very expressive, loves people, and can even carry on a pretty good conversation with the four syllables that she knows (we would love to know what she's saying).  She's also quite a singer -- she has a little humming song that she usually sings to herself right before she goes to sleep.  We call it the "Milena Sleepy Song".

Well, I'd better get back to the many pressing tasks that are waiting to be done.  Its always refreshing to take these few minutes to write to "our team" and think about the fact that we are not alone in this ministry.  You are a blessing!

Chad (for Laurie, Aliya, Anya, and Milena)