The Chilean Miners

We joined the world in excitement as the Chilean miners were rescued this week. You may have noticed a few of them wearing t-shirts with the logo of the Jesus film. Follow this link to read the story behind the t-shirts and see how God has used our Campus Crusade staff in Chile.

The Story Behind the Chilean Miners' Jesus T-Shirts

The Prize

We are excited to share with you The Prize, AIA's newest evangelistic film - this one focusing on the World Cup and featuring the testimonies of world class soccer stars. Check out www.theprize.com for information. Starting in July, this website will change to include a lot of new features that will be helpful in reaching out to the athletes in your world!

Celebrations

It's been a season of celebrating in our family. First was our nine year wedding anniversary. We praise God for a marriage that still thrills us! The next day, Simon graduated from the Penguin class at school. We are so proud of him. Then, Talya turned two and Charlie turned one.

Needless to say, we've had our share of cake, and we can count on June always being busy!

Global Leadership Council

This week, April 7-13, we are hosting AIA’s Global Leadership Council in Xenia, OH. This group is responsible for AIA’s strategic direction and future around the world. These are the men and women that Susie and I have the privilege of leading. They represent our 90+ countries worldwide.

Please keep us in your prayers as we tackle some foundational issues with our team. This is the first time this group is together since Susie and I have stepped into the role of leadership. We’ll be talking through some change processes that need to take place.

At the end of the day, our hope and desire is to see more people come to Christ, be built in their faith and multiply their lives for the Lord. Please pray that we would sense the Lord, work hard and move forward in leading AIA’s ministries worldwide.

Appreciate you, your partnership and your prayers.

Final Four - The Road to Indianapolis

Yesterday I had the privilege of being with some friends in Indianapolis, this year's home to the Men's Basketball Final 4. Three of the friends I was with were graduates of Butler University. This is a unique situation as it has been decades since the host city had a team in the Final Four.
Congrats to our friends from Butler, West Virginia, Michigan State and Duke on making it this far. This weekend should be a lot of fun.

During these next few days, Athletes in Action, in partnership with several other ministries do an incredible job of ministering to the coaches that are at the Final Four. The National Association of Basketball Coaches, holds it annual convention at the Final Four, so just about every coach in the country is there. Our Basketball Department is hard at work providing avenues for spiritual refreshment for these coaches, their wives and their families.

Please keep each of these coaches and our staff in your prayers over the next few days. We will be involved with the:

• Coaches Convention - a ministry booth that all the coaches are welcome to come to
• Coaches Forum - which highlights 2 successful coaches, as they talk with other coaches about balancing the pressures, failures and success of a coaches year
• Legends of the Hardwood Breakfast - an evangelistic breakfast on Saturday morning that features the John Wooden, Keys to Life Award
• Worship service - a great time to gather and worship together on Sunday morning
• Individual times with coaches to connect as well

Many of these coaches come tired after a long season. So many have commented that they look forward to the spiritual input they receive throughout this weekend. Please pray with us for each of the coaches that will be attending, our staff and others who will be serving the coaches, and for God's Spirit to be at work throughout the weekend.

If you would like any information on the ministry events that are taking place at this year's Final Four, please let us know.

Our new website!

We're excited about our new website, which is a lot easier for us to update and hopefully a lot easier for you to easily see new information. You'll also notice the new address: www.benadsusiethomas.com. Please bookmark this page, or subscribe via email or rss feed, and we'll try to do a much better job of keeping you in the loop of what's going on in our life and ministry.

Also, this blog will provide our email updates. So, if you'd like to receive those, just use the form on the left to provide your email address. Obviously, we won't share those, because that's just creepy.

We are so thankful for all who pray for us, support us and care about what we do.

AIA Spring Meetings

We are exhausted yet refreshed after a week of meeting with our staff family at the AIA headquarters. The worship was led by Keynote, and was an incredible time of seeking to rest in God's presence. Together, we were reminded of our distinctives, goals, and values as a ministry, and the challenges that we are trusting God to help us overcome.

Now that the Spring Meetings are over, please join us in praying for the upcoming Global Leadership Council meetings, where we will welcome our staff from around the world to Xenia for a time of planning together. Pray for us as this will be our first time together with this group since Ben assumed his leadership position. We are humbled to serve them!