The Thomas Telegram

Dear Friends,

Welcome to 2010!  We hope that the New Year is already bringing God’s blessing to you and your family.  We have settled back into our regular schedule with the kids back to school and our lives getting back to normal.  Currently we are still working on our full time fund-raising efforts.  We are trusting God to bring in another $2000 of monthly support before we make our move to Pennsylvania this summer to begin our new job.

Shortly after Christmas we were part of producing a conference for college students from all over the Mid-Atlantic region called Radiate 09 “Radiate His Life”.  This conference is put on by all of the staff from the Mid-Atlantic.  We do all of the jobs from registration to audio-visual.  With over 1000 people at this conference, it is no small affair.  From December 27^th through Jan 1^st we worked hard to create an environment for students to hear from the Lord.  We often find that when you take a student out of their normal environment to a nice hotel in a great city like the inner harbor of Baltimore, they seem to be more receptive.

While most of the students who attended Radiate are believers already, there usually are a few unbelieving students who decide to come because they are still seeking. This year we had the privilege of seeing 30 students become believers at Radiate!  All of the students at Radiate are challenged to mature in their faith, to commit to give a year of their lives to missions after graduation and to serve the world through an onsite project that we did during the conference.  Here is how our students responded to those challenges:

Over 1000 Students and Staff at Radiate:

• 30 Students prayed to receive Christ
• Filled 500,000 seed packs for 50,000 African Families in 150 minutes
• 253 students committed to go on a summer project (Short term mission project)
• 140 committed to give a full year to serve God in missions after graduation.
• $101,178 was pledged and given for various projects from help in Botswana to our work in the 10/40 window.

Dave’s job at this conference is multifaceted.  He spends most of the time in the AV booth producing the video portion of the main meetings.   This involves setting up and tearing down all of the equipment, working with the other production staff on the program of the meetings and directing the camera work for the worship music and speakers during the meeting.  God has taught Dave a lot through his involvement with this part of the conference over the past 10 years.

Dave also had the opportunity to be a seminar speaker this year at Radiate.  Dave’s seminar entitled “Here we go again”-(dealing with the repetitive sin that so often comes up in our lives) was very well attended.  Dave almost fell over when close to 180(out of the 850) students showed up!  This seminar included much of what Dave has been teaching to the men that he has discipled over the past 12 years of our ministry with college students.  Many of the students from George Mason who came to the conference attended Dave’s seminar and it was encouraging to see them there.

Lauren is one of those students.   Lauren had this to say in an email to Dave after the conference:

“Hey Dave!  I was trying to find you all at Radiate but I couldn’t seem to find you! Bummer…
I just wanted to tell you that I really appreciate the talk you gave at the Seminar the first day. It changed my life. I keep thinking about it and how awesome it was! The topic of reoccurring sin was something that I had been frustrated with ALL semester and your talk was perfect! It was so inspiring to see God working in and through you to speak to us. It was such a blessing. It was my favorite thing at Radiate. No doubt. :]
Thank you so much for sharing your heart for the Lord,
Lauren”

To say the least Lauren is a real encouragement.  It was a great time teaching the material that I love to talk about.  Unfortunately the recording equipment did not work so I can’t put it up on our website.  Hopefully the Lord will provide other opportunities to speak and impact the hearts of students like Lauren.

Thanks so much for your generous and faithful giving and prayers.  What we do is possible because God uses you!

Serving Jesus together with you,

Dave, Debbi, Katie, Ben & Rachel

Dear friends,
Hope that you are doing well and enjoying the fall. Life and ministry have been interesting and exciting. This September as classes started up at George Mason a brand new and very large freshman class moved into the dorms here in Fairfax. We have seen God doing some amazing things as we have been interacting with students and shar-ing our faith. At our first meeting of the year we had over 260 students. While it is clear that God is at work at George Mason University it has also been clear that God is moving us in a different direction. Last spring some of the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ asked us to consider taking a new job as the regional director for Ethnic Stu-dent Ministries for the Mid-Atlantic Region. As we prayed and sought the Lord about our future direction, it eventually became clear to us that God was leading us to accept this position. The amazing thing is that we did not expect this to happen. We have been happy to be working here at George Mason. Without question God changed our hearts about this opportunity.
Late last spring God began showing us that He was calling us to take this job in leading the Mid-Atlantic region (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia) to reach the 700,000 ethnic minority students that live and learn here. In the new role Dave will be responsible for working with students and staff across these states to help them launch ministries to reach the ethnic minority students on their campuses. Dave will also be working with a team of other regional directors to lead all of the campus ministries in the Mid-Atlantic.
Why ethnic minority students? Some people have asked us this question. Honestly, we asked God this ques-tion. Initially it was not exactly clear to us why he would call us away from a thriving ministry at George Mason to an unknown, underdeveloped group of students that are completely different from us. We looked at ourselves and said “God we are not in any way ethnic minorities, why us?” The answer gradually became clearer as we prayed and sought him.
God began to put a burden in our hearts for this group of college students. He reminded us of his call on our lives to go and make disciples of all nations. He re-
minded Dave of the gift of being a peacemaker in many past experiences and showed us that he was calling us to help bring peace to this group of students. Why ethnic stu-dents? Currently 60% of 1st graders in our country come from an ethnic minority background. This statistic illus-trates the future trends of college students in America. De-veloping effective ministries that will reach these students now will impact the world in the future. They are and will be the leaders of future generations of our country and the world. Because of this new role we will have to move from Fairfax, Virginia to the Downingtown, Pennsylvania area to join our new team of Regional Directors. We expect to move sometime around June or July 2010.
This fall we have been working on campus at GMU for August and September and have now transitioned to raise funds full time to prepare for our next assignment. Our hope as we move to a less expensive area is to buy our first home. Because of some lost financial support, our hope to buy a house, and needing to keep up with the growth of our family, we are in need of raising additional monthly financial support. Over the next few months we are trusting God to bring in another $3500 of monthly sup-port so that we can be fully prepared to report to our next assignment. In this process of fund raising we will be travel-ing to Connecticut, Pennsylvania and in Virginia to connect with many of you. Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support of our ministry.
Finally we have put together a web site for our fam-ily and ministry. You can go to www.thethomastelegram.com and get more information about Dave’s new job, to see lots of family pictures, listen to some of Dave’s talks from the Bible, and learn more about our ministry.
Serving Jesus Together with you,
Dave, Debbi, Katie, Ben and Rachel Thomas

Dear Friends-

Hope that all is well where you are and that you are enjoying a slower pace of life over the summer.   For us life is quite a bit different when students leave campus.  We are thankful for that change of pace.  It is often a chance to reflect and refresh as well as a time to catch up on some things and prepare for the coming fall when students come back to campus.  This summer we are raising personal support for our family and ministry as well as preparing for the fall rush when students come back to campus.

Last week Ben and Katie had the opportunity to participate in day camps that are offered in our area.  Ben went to a baseball camp and Katie went to a drama camp put on at a local high school.  For both of our kids it was a week of new experiences that stretched them and helped them to grow.   Baseball camp was pretty amazing to watch.  The counselors that ran this camp were college students themselves and to watch them try to herd 25, five & six year olds was quite interesting.   Benjamin had never played baseball before and looking back at that week it has reminded me that growth is hard but very valuable.  Last week Ben was learning how to throw a baseball, how to catch, hit and run the bases.  He remarked to me one day after camp, “Dad I don’t like being sweaty…”  This launched us into an interesting conversation about the value of working hard and sweating in the process.

I don’t know about you but I understand what Ben is saying.  Discomfort in the process of the goal is often difficult.  Like my son I often want to avoid that discomfort.  Too often my desire is for life to just be easy so that I can avoid the discomfort.  It is amazing to me how God uses discomfort in our lives to accomplish his purposes.

This summer six of our recent graduates from George Mason are preparing for a one or two year internship with Campus Crusade at various ministry locations around the world.  Jenny is one of those students.  Jenny had been involved with our ministry at GMU for most of her college career and was a fantastic leader for our ministry.  As she approached graduation, Jenny felt God calling her to trust him and go to Australia for a year with Campus Crusade to do evangelism and discipleship with our ministry there.  Over the summer and fall Jenny will be developing a team of people who can prayerfully and financially support her ministry over this next year.  Like us, Jenny is raising money for her ministry and living needs.  This is a great opportunity but it can also be pretty uncomfortable at times.  Asking people to invest in ministry during a time of economic trouble requires us to believe in God’s provision and to boldly ask.  The amazing thing is that this prepares us for ministry.  Trusting in God’s provision and boldly asking is what daily ministry is often about.

As we pray for Jenny and her future ministry in Australia, we praise God for you.  Because of your prayers and support of this ministry, God has used us to help Jenny grow and now take part in bringing the Gospel to people around the world.  Is the goal worth it?  Absolutely!  Discomfort in the process of God’s work is always worth it, because bringing glory to Jesus is far greater than our momentary discomfort!  Thank you for your investment in the lives of college students.   It is worth it!

Serving Jesus together with you!

Dave, Debbi, Katie, Ben and Rachel Thomas

Spring is quickly coming to a close and SUMMER will be here before you know it. Ben has already finished a fantastic year of preschool and Katie has only about 3 weeks of school left in second grade. Our year on campus at George Mason was a continual surprise. We saw many students come to Christ and many more make life changing decisions to commit themselves fully to Him.

The other day I was talking about the value of the college years to a great guy that I randomly met at our local Wegmans. (Great place for groceries, a coffee shop etc…) He has a daughter who is graduating from high school and heading off to a school in southern Virginia. It reminded me of how crucial and formative that time in life really is. His daughter will be on her own for more than likely, the first time in her life. She will now need to decide “Will I live the way that my parents raised me or not?” This girl had the privilege of being raised in what sounds like a fantastic Christian home. As scary as the freshman year might be for lots of parents, it is so good for freshmen.

The great thing about striking out on your own as many freshmen do, is that now you get to make the decision to either live out your faith or not. You either surround yourself with people that want to help you walk with Jesus or you don’t. For many students this is the time when they find out what they really believe without any parental arm twisting. No one gets them out of bed on Sunday to go to church. No one is nudging them to go to youth group. They only go if they want to go.

I like to say that students in college have the opportunity to make their faith their own. A great example of this is a student named Brooks who has been involved with our ministry over this past year. Brooks came to GMU having already been a Christian. His parents raised him in a Christian home but he was really looking forward to the freedom that college had to offer him. Brooks had every intention of making the most out of the party scene at GMU. God had other plans.
Brooks showed up to one of our weekly meetings and immediately connected with some of the men in our movement.

Week after week he was challenged to walk with Jesus and give over his whole life to God. About midway through the fall semester Brooks would describe himself as a radically changed person. The gospel made a huge difference in his life so much that this summer Brooks is on a summer mission project with Campus Crusade in Snowridge, Colorado.

At Snowridge, college students from all over the country come to work at a youth camp in the Rocky Mountains. The college students get the opportunity to minister to inner city Denver kids and be discipled themselves by CCC staff. Snowridge is one of more than 100 different summer project opportunities that students could take advantage of .

This summer we have 18 students going on summer projects to many different locations. Please pray for Brooks and our other students as God is working in and through them this summer!!!
Serving Jesus Together with you,

Dave, Debbi, Katie, Ben & Rachel

Well I have started working on our first complete web site.  If you have found us by accident, that is great.  If you are a ministry partner and have found us, thank you for all that you do to make this ministry possible.  Look around.  It is definately a work in progress.