Thursday, May 16, 2013

April 2013

In April, Joel and Ryan had 39 speaking engagements!  Of those 39, 25 were school assemblies and 10 were concerts!

A Key Partnership
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Dan Allison
For two years Stand For Truth been developing a wonderful partnership with the new FCA staff member in the Lima, OH area. Dan Allison joined staff with FCA last year and has been doing an incredible job. The Lima area was without a local FCA staff person for years, but now under Dan's leadership, ministry within the schools is growing rapidly. One method Dan is employing to launch and strengthen FCA groups in his area is our ministry.  Dan has brought us into more than a dozen of his schools over the past two years and we already have two on the calendar for next this Fall!  We were so blessed to see some of the fruit of Dan's hard work and our partnership at his annual banquet.  Joel spoke and Ryan provided music at the banquet but the highlight for us was hearing all the wonderful student testimonials about how their lives and schools have been changed by Christ. Please join us in praying for Dan and the FCA ministry in the Lima area. 


A First For Everything
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One of the things that Joel says he loves most about being a full-time traveling speaker is that every engagement is a new experience.  The April assembly at El Paso Gridley High School in El Paso, IL was no exception. Joel was told before the students entered that he needed to make sure his speech did not run too long because of a special presentation at the end of the assembly. After Joel's remarks, it was announced that the El Paso Gridley fishing team was named the number one fishing team in the state!  What's that? You didn't know there was any such thing and a high school fishing team?  Neither did we.  Luckily, Ryan was quick to snap the above photo of Joel with the award-winning team for proof.