Brent & Nobility

Brent Coody is one of the three of us who while in Pretoria will be pining for the wives we left home.

Brent says about himself, "I have been married to my beautiful wife Julie for about 2 years. After growing up in Illinois with four brothers and graduating with a civil engineering degree from Purdue University, I moved out to Boulder, CO to work for a company that designs and builds indoor rock climbing walls. Feeling that the Lord was leading me to use the strengths He gave me to further His kingdom, I decided to re-enter academia studying water resource development and groundwater hydrology. Hopefully I will be able use this knowledge as a means to share our Lord’s grace and the peace that He provides."

I am not sure if the picture of Brent & Julie shows one of the life-like climbing walls he built or one of his water resource development projects but either way we are glad to have Brent on board. I am sure the experience growing up with 4 brothers will help him adjust to us living all together this summer.

In Isaiah 32 verse 8, Isaiah writes, "the noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands." Which is interesting because we use the term nobility to speak of rank or title and the first part of this chapter is about the coming King of Righteousness. But Isaiah is talking about more than just someones rank by birth and more about their character.

He actually contrasts the noble person with the scoundrel or the fool in the verses that proceed these.. "For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water. The scoundrel's methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. "

Noble Plans. So noble plans are in contrast to evil schemes that destroy the poor. A noble person would think of ways to help the poor and needy. While a foolish person makes busy their mind with evil, a noble person's mind would be busy with good.

Noble Deeds. A foolish person speaks folly and spreads error concerning the LORD. A noble person speaks words of understanding and spreads truth concerning our LORD. (And maybe as much if not more by how they act than just by what they say.) A fool practices ungodliness where a noble person practices things that are at the heart of God. Which we can see from this passage would include feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty. (Matt 25 says when He returns, Jesus will say, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.") A scoundrel's deeds involve ignoring the just pleas of the needy but a noble person's deeds involve responding to their cries.

A Noble Future. The full understanding of this passage is the promise at the start of the chapter of the Noble King who reigns in righteousness & justice. In other words in His reign, things will be made right and things will be just and fair.

"See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected...."

Jeff Clay and updated schedule

Jeff Clay is 25 and lives in Costa Mesa, CA. Jeff graduated from UCLA in 2005 and is on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ as the Financial Coordinator for the Pacific Southwest Region. Here's what Jeff says about himself, "I like sports, watching UCLA football and basketball, the beach, movies, books, Mexican food, Dr. Pepper, and watching The Office."


I had a great phone call with Erika today. We touched base on a few things. One thing she let me know is that she prints off these pics and profiles, laminates it and puts it all on the wall for the Beam staff to see and get excited about. So those of you who haven't sent in a pic and profile (you know who you are) make sure you send me one.



Here's kind of a breakdown of our time (Of course things can change)
Sat 19 - Leave US
Sun 20 - London airport & On the plane
Mon 21 - Arrive in South Africa
Tues 22- Fri 25 - Mornings - Business Classes & Young Mothers Class
Afternoons - Sports & Crafts
Sat 26 - Possibly visit AIDS orphans & braai with Louis & Erika
Sun 27 - Visit Lion Park
Mon 28 - Same as previous week
Tues 29 - Health & Hygiene
Wed 30 - Leave SA
Thurs 31 - Arrive in US

Stacey and Shoes

We will highlight Stacey today. But first before I do I wanted to let you know there is a chance that Crocs may donate some shoes for us to bring over and give away through their SolesUnited campaign. I need to apply so be praying for favor with them.

I ran the idea by Erika and she said, "We have been praying about this issue, it breaks my heart to see the children folding the back part of the shoe to enable them to keep going with the whole heel hanging out, and personally I think Crocs will be the best as they go everywhere (yes, we know Crocs)... I have already started a list for the sizes of my kids as we have given school shoes during August."


Stacey Garner grew up in an Army family with her parents and three siblings, "who I am VERY close with", she says. Stacey does not claim to be from any particular location, but her parents recently retired and moved to Pinehurst, NC where she will be living for the next several months. Stacey recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in Sociology and minor in Social and Economic Justice. She is currently raising support for her STINT in South Africa. (STINT is a one-year International Internship with Campus Crusade.) She will start her STINT in January and plans to do some substituting in the fall.

Stacey says about herself, "I enjoy running, UNC basketball, backpacking, reading, baking/cooking, crafts, serving others, talking about anything and everything and spending time with close friends and my family (including my niece and another is on the way:)). I am so excited about this summer and my upcoming STINT. I have had a heart for South Africa since my sophomore year of HS and I am so excited to see the Lord continue to reveal His plan and work through me."

Jessica and a Perspective

Jessica Bigler is a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Jessica, who turned 21 last week, studies Integrated Physiology and hopes to go into medicine, either as a Physician's Assistant or as a Doctor. "God only knows where I will end up", she says. "I have a brother: Chris, father: Mark and my mom: Sue will be coming on this trip. I enjoy the outdoors, creative arts, manual labor, serving others and laughing... a lot. I play the guitar and like to sing, although I may not be the best at it. Right now, I play with three year olds at Cornerstone church, and love to be apart of the lives of those little people."

I would add too that from the picture, she likes hot sauce.

Maybe you have seen some of the recent news of Xenophobia flare-up in South Africa. You might be thinking, 'xenophobia - fear of strangers/foreigners - does that mean me?'

Here's the story. As the socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate, more and more people from that country, just north of South Africa, are fleeing to the relative safety in South Africa. It's been estimated that there are approximately 3.5 million Zimbabweans in South Africa illegally - men, women and children. Parenthetically these people cannot be considered refugees, and thus receive refugee support from international aide agencies, because the UN is dragging their feet on declaring Zimbabwe a crisis zone. (That's my political soapbox.)

What you have is very poor people who are losing jobs and housing to even poorer people. Then you thrown in tribal rivalries and you have powder keg.

Will that affect us? Well in no way will you would be mistaken as Zimbabwean. So that's one thing in our favor. We just need to be aware of the situation and will take precautions like not being in the township after dark or being out alone. The Development Centre where we will be serving has a secure fence around it and so will the hostel where we will stay in town.

Maybe, while you are there, you will meet a person from Zimbabwe that has been affected by the xenophobia of local people. Maybe he or she will share his or her story with you, and though you will likely not be able to provide any immediate or long-term solutions, coming all that way to help shoulder the difficult experiences by listening to people as they work through them will, indeed, make all the difference though.

Here's a perspective a friend who serves in South africa shared with me. "We do not dare to serve the people of Africa in the absence of such problems, or even in spite of them, but rather because such problems plague God's children across the continent. "

The Rathbun's

Katie Rathbun has been married to Chad (below - who will also be going on the trip) for almost a year. Katie currently works as a preschool teacher, and will be starting graduate school at CU-Boulder in the fall. Here's what she said about herself: "I love to run, hike, camp, backpack, snowshoe, do yoga, go to concerts, be spontaneous, work with children, and read. I have had a heart for Africa for literally as long as I can remember. I have been praying for about eight years that God would send me sometime. After a few other trips fell through, I realized that my prayers might have been in part selfish. Last September, I decided to give my desire to go to Africa completely over to God. Rather than praying for God to send me, I just simply prayed for God's glory there, however that can best be achieved. Through a bunch of answered prayers, God opened the door for Chad and me to come on this trip. My prayer continues to simply be for God's glory on the trip."


Chad Rathbun just graduated from CU-Boulder with a history degree, and has also been working as an athletic director at Peak to Peak High School outside of Boulder. Here's what Chad said about himself: "Eventually, I would like to be involved in politics somehow. I like to read, play sports, go to concerts, and hike. I started praying about Africa years ago, when I started dating my wife, who has always been passionate about Africa. After hearing about this trip at church, going to a few meetings, and praying a lot, God made it pretty clear that this was a trip for us to be on.

So glad to have Chad & Katie going with us. In June, they will help when our church has a kids camp using SportsReach. The Int'l rep for SportsReach is going to give them a little more training too on how to best use this in South Africa. With that, Chad's experience in coaching basketball & Katie's playing volleyball, they are going to be a huge assest to our time.

I sent an email with SOS insurance information. If you can fill that out, save it and return to me as soon as you can that would be appreciated.

Donations, Deadlines and other Stuff

1. To whom should donations/checks be made out to?
a. If you are staff of Campus Crusade (that would be me, Cayla and Jeff) or a STINTer raising support (Stacey), you can have your donors make gifts payable to 'Campus Crusade for Christ'. You send them in to your CCC account and we run a internal transfer for what you owe. Make sure you take into account the 12% that will come out of gifts when calculating what you need to raise.

b. Jessica Rolf – I think SportsReach is paying for yours out of what you are raising to be a summer Intern. Right? Just have them cut a check to “Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley”

c. Everyone else. You can have them made out to “Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley”. Don’t put your name in the memo, just put all in one envelope with a sticky note attached saying “For Beam Africa Missions Trip – your name”. By having them made out to Cornerstone, your donors can get a tax deductible receipt and there is no administrative processing fee. Cornerstone will send one huge check to Campus Crusade as misc income because I have or will pay for most things with a regional CCC account.

2. What if people want to give my credit card? They can. I think. Contact jan@gocornerstone.org and explain that you have people who want to give this way. Do let me know the amount given by cc because I am the one keeping a running total of what has been given. Everyone has different totals because our flights are so different so it’s hard to keep up with unless you let me know. The deposit you sent counts toward your overall total too.

3. What if for some reason, I need to back out of the trip? Call me know as soon as possible. We each will owe $400 for any changes or cancellations for the flights. For both Andrew and Stacey, I had to also purchase domestic tickets which we may be out the whole total if you cancel. So basically as long as you cover that ($400 + any domestic ticket), so far we are okay. I am going on the good name of everyone that you will pay for these if you have to cancel. We may have to put a deposit down on housing but so far we haven’t had to.

4. When do we need all of the money in? July 1st is a “deadline”. It doesn’t mean that you can’t go if its not all in by then. But mail what you have by that date. This will enable me to have Cornerstone cut a check to Campus Crusade and be sent in time to process before our trip. I will also have a clear idea what you each still owe. I actually will be out of CO from June 15th to July 4th so if mail it on the 1st, you are fine.

5. What if it’s not all in by July 1st? Bring the rest of your donations with you on July 19th along with a personal check for the remaining amount. Give it to me at the Denver airport. We could even hold that check for the remaining amount if you think you will get more donations later.

6. Where do I mail checks? Mail it to my office…
Campus Crusade for Christ
c/o Andy McCullough
5485 Conestoga Ct, Ste 230
Boulder, CO 80301

Jessica Rolf, Letter & Passport Reminder

We have two Jessica's on our trip. Jessica Rolf is a farm girl from northwest Missouri who loves sports and the outdoors. Jessica will be starting her final year of college at Northwest Missouri State University in the fall and will graduate with a major in Biology/Psychology. Her plan is to attend physical therapy school for a couple of years after that and then return to the rural area where she grew up to practice PT.

Jessica who is interning this summer with SportsReach will have served at several clinics in the US before she goes us for the Beam trip. About her summer as a whole, she says, "I really hope to connect with the kids during the sport outreach. Through relationships formed with them, I hope to talk to them about Jesus and the hope and trust they can have in Him when maybe everything else in their life seems bleak. I just wish for some light and truth to be shed into their lives from a source much powerful than their situation in life."

If you want to get an idea of a support letter you can use, I just sent out one to my friends and donors. You can read a version on-line or download a pdf. If you want I can send you a version in publisher that you can just cut and paste.

Note too that if you don't have a passport yet you will want to get on that ASAP.

David Grochowski & "Required" Things

We will promote another California person this week. Dave Grochowski is the President & CEO of Gratitude Enterprises, Inc in Newport Beach, CA. Dave, who quit his job in corporate America to become a real estate investor, will help teach the small business skills while we are there. (Erika is inviting the guys of a nearby "carwash" and some of the ladies whom they have trained before and have their own sewing business now and some spaza shop owners. ) Dave wrote, "I want to help serve those that are less fortunate than me."

There is a passage I have been mulling over lately. Many of you might know it well and most of what I write will be 'preaching to the choir' since you are coming on this trip. (You can click the links embedded for extra credit.)

The passage is Micah 6:8. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Let's look a little closer. I am actually going to take these three action points last to first, because the progression I think goes from humility to mercy to just acts.

To walk humbly with our God - In the New Testament, James, the brother of Jesus, writes that those of us who are rich should take pride in our low position because we will fade like a flower. I used the inclusive language of 'us' because we are so rich in comparison to most of the world. Humility says I have nothing except what has come from God above. If it all comes from Him and we can fade like a flower, what can we really take pride in? We should choose to humble ourselves before Him. It's not about us. God dwells with a man who is humble. God delights in a humble woman. Humility is the first step toward God. it says "I need Him and I can do nothing apart from Him".

For us, this July, I believe we should all choose to say, "Apart from the grace of God, I could be in the same situation as the people I serve." We need to choose to not be 'ugly-Americans' but humbly choose to serve, to humbly walk with our God.

To love mercy - Mercy looks on people with compassion the way Jesus did and moves with acts of compassion that Jesus did. It's a heart like Dave's that says, "I just want to serve those less fortunate than me". Mercy is always interpersonal. Mercy is forgiving 70 times 7. Mercy is like the Good Samaritan who when he saw the man in need put himself in harm's way to minister to him. It is the fruit of a wisdom that comes from heaven. Mercy does not show favoritism. As pride is the opposite of humility, judgment is the opposite of mercy. Mercy triumphs judgment. And when you show mercy to the least of these, you show it to Jesus. (Matt 25:31-40)

A love of mercy should be the heart that drives us. We should remember that God is merciful to us. We all need mercy and received mercy, so we all should love mercy and give mercy. As we show love this July, it should be out of a merciful heart.

To act Justly - Isaiah 42 tells us that Messiah Jesus would come to bring justice to the nations. Justice is crying out 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven'. Justice is seeing the oppression of people and taking what is wrong and trying to make it right. Most often Justice in scripture speaks to the most vulnerable... the widows, orphans and strangers... those who are rarely experience justice. James says that what God our Father accepts as pure and faultless religion is: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The LORD himself goes one step further speaking about David: "He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" (Jer. 22:15-16) . Justice is at the very heart of someone who knows God and follows Him.

Justice sometimes is harder. Mercy can take a few minutes but Justice may take a long time. Perhaps we can do major 'righting of wrongs' in a week. But we can go with a heart that chooses to act justly. Maybe for us just looking after orphans and widows in their distress is the acts of justice we can do.

Ashlie & History Link

In our first of Team Introduction Posts, we will highlight Ashlie Watts.

Here's what Ashlie says about herself: I'm originally from Kansas City, Missouri but has lived all over. Currently, I'm living back, (yes back :), in Los Angeles. My full-time job now is doing budget consulting for associations as well as timeshares and resorts so I travel quite frequently. I also dip into some other jobs such as teaching yoga and dance. I love being active and can be seen frequently dancing, hiking, running, cooking, at the beach, etc. I'm involved in my church, Mosaic, in Los Angeles and use dance as my ministry platform. A few words that describe me would be adventurous, altruistic, audacious, spicy, disciplined, tenacious, thrill seeker, wild/fun, random, silly. If you know what Strength Finders is mine are Woo, Communication, Discipline, Belief, & Input.

I have a huge heart for the Aids cause especially with Aids kids in South Africa. So I currently contribute, volunteer, or support things that help this cause now anyway that I can. I have actually been praying to go to this specific area of South Africa doing what we're doing for 5 years, and finally the Lord said "Yes!" My life goal is to radically impact someones life positively to cause a spark to positively change the world. I hope in my short time there that I can plant some seeds and help foster them in the future to see the world changed one person at a time.

Another cool fact is that Ashlie played Volleyball and taught it to inner-city youth in college. So she brings that expertise to our Kid's Sports time.


As we prepare one thing it might be good to do is brush up on our history of South Africa. History gives us good insight in the understanding the people we will be ministering to. There are a lot of good movies you can watch or good books to read out there. I am currently reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography. One of my favorite memories is watching Cry Freedom in a crowded theatre in Kisumu Kenya 20 years ago. I was very aware of my whiteness.

You can read a short history on-line.