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A New Chapter

I will be contacting you later this week to discuss our partnership in the coming school year! I would love a chance to catch up with you this summer, and I would also like to invite you at this time to prayerfully consider staying on my support team for this coming school year.  I look forward to calling you soon and hearing about what God is doing in your life! I pray that you are doing well!

I hope that you find my update this month to be encouraging!

In Christ,
Austin Gage


The first thing that I want to write about is our SICM trip. For those of you who don't already know SICM stands for Student Institute of Campus Ministry, 5 years ago I had the honor of being invited to attend SICM as a student and this year I had the pleasure of returning as a staff member. SICM is a time and place in which the students within our body who have demonstrated a real heart for God and for people over the school year can attend. It is a week long training seminar in which those students earn a plethora of wisdom and skills on how to be better ministers on their campus, in their friendships, and in their lives with one another. I remember attending SICM and having my mindset on ministry transformed, before I had been a passive receiver of all the benefits on ministry but during SICM God taught me that I should be an active participator in spreading the good news, and building His kingdom. Living as an ambassador of Christ. That is a decision that I made 5 years ago and in many ways I believe it was God using SICM to convince me of that truth that has led me to where I am today.
So, It was incredibly encouraging for me to return as a staff member and not only get a refresher on so many of the valuable truths and skillsets that are taught in those classes, but also to see 120 students from our student body there and present, eagerly seeking to learn more about God's call for their life. To go and make disciples. I was transformed all those years ago by the week I got to spend at SICM and I was praying that entire week that God would build up leaders for His kingdom during that retreat. I would love for you to join me in praying for that. We as a staff will be selecting our student leaders at some point in the following month and we could use all the wisdom that we can get. So pray for that for us so that the ones that God would have leading our ministry would be the ones that we select. I know many of you already are, and I thank you for your prayers so sincerely. They really are having an impact.
Myself and the three other interns who will be transitioning on to first year staff with Focus!


Beyond SICM probably the biggest news from the month of may is that the internship has come to a close! I have already transitioned on to staff, for which I am in the process of support raising! I hope to call all of you soon but if you ever have any questions about that you are always welcome to call, text, visit, or email me! I would love to answer anything that I can!
Thank you all so sincerely for the support that you have given me in the past. The internship was a truly incredible experience that left me changed and shaped to look more like Christ then I ever imagined was possible for me a year ago. I would love to share more with each of you how God has used the internship to help me grow. So below I am going to attach a sermon I gave recently on my experience. I pray that as you read it you really and honestly believe how thankful I am for your prayers and support. There is no amount of words that I could type or speak that would truly do it justice. My love for you will hopefully suffice. However because I forgot to record my sermon on audio I will have to attach the written form here! I pray that you read it and are encouraged by what it says. It is not only my life that has been changed because of your support but the lives of every student that I have been blessed enough to come in contact with. Thank you for everything! I hope to talk to you soon!

In Christ,
Austin Gage
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RgpvliEhMiVGZFOrMyzjSk8eD7DW4GfOOtqtEajhU4Y/edit?usp=sharing

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