This is my Platform

I am so excited to tell you about an opportunity that God has opened for me!  As many of you know, I began studying at Word of Life Bible Institute in September of this year.  While it is a lot of work and I miss home and my family and the kids, I am loving it.  The classes have made me think deeper than I am used to and I am loving learning more about God and growing deeper in Him.

One of my favorite things about Word of Life is how ministry minded everyone is.   Each student is given a ministry which they participate in about once a week.  On top of this, students are given other opportunities to reach out or find their own opportunities to reach out.  The student body has been challenged to take every opportunity to use whatever we can do as our platform.
I'm used to my platform looking like Sunday mornings with puppets and crayons and Bible stories and sixty kids and six teenagers and trying to not get super dirty.  I'm used to it looking like giving toddlers hugs and going for walks with them and taking pictures and working with special needs kids and giving high fives to preschoolers until my hands hurt.
My platform definitely looks different this year, but in many ways my biggest platform still looks a lot the same.  It still involves kids and crayons and Bible stories.  It doesn't however have so much dirt and translation.  Every Thursday I get in a van with the six other people on my ministry team and go to a school to do a Good News Club with fifty kids in kindergarten-5th grade.  My responsibility is to help K-2nd and teach the kids their memory verse for the week.  It is definitely not always easy, but something feels strangely familiar and comfortable about it.  I am loving getting to know these kids and working with some of my fellow students here.
This spring I will get to have a different platform.  I have been given the amazing opportunity to go on a missions trip to Honduras over Spring Break.  I am so excited for this opportunity and would love for you to be able to join me!  Would you please commit to praying for this journey and also pray about whether God would have you join me financially.  The total financial support needed for the trip is $1,627 and covers all of my expenses. I need to reach 50% by January 8, 2016 and 100% by February 8, 2016.
If you would like to give a donation you can find the support slip here or if you would like to give online, please go to https://give.wol.org/cgwartney.  If you would like to join my prayer team please contact me with your email address and I will add you to my email list.