Dear family and friends:

Merry Christmas! Time flies by so rapidly, doesn't it? 2010 is just around the corner! Before long, we’ll be saying goodbye to the first decade of the 21st Century!

It's hard to believe it was over six years ago that we were commissioned by Campus Crusade for Christ. A friend soon challenged us to choose a date by faith to report to headquarters in Florida. We picked August of 2004, just over one year later.

By God's grace, that's exactly when we arrived in Florida and began working here at headquarters! We still had to raise the rest of our support later in South Carolina; but God made the report date happen anyway, in a way we couldn’t anticipate! It was a big lesson to us about our sovereign, miracle-working God.

So as of August, we’ve been “Senior Staff” with Campus Crusade for five years. Does that seem possible? When we look back at photos of Emily and Luke (see photos on back) from those days, it does!

We’ve seen more miracles, and more challenges since then. We’ve also been able to meet some of God’s most amazing people—and seen incredible growth in the scope of the ministry to which we’ve been called.

I remember that in 2003, I had been introducing new ministry partners to our work by explaining that as many as fifty people every day were making decisions to follow Christ. We ended 2004 with fifty thousand people having indicated decisions for Christ.

But this year… this year has far surpassed them all. We have registered over 9 million indicated decisions for Christ so far! 3.2 million of them came from 4StepsToGod.mobi, our site for web-connected mobile devices (cell phones). That’s more than the total number of people from all of our sites in 2008. How could we have foreseen something like that in 2003?

We just know the future will hold even more surprises, and that God will continue to perform miracles to ensure the spread of His gospel. We still have to wait for him to work before we can do anything of value. (John 15:5, Exodus 33:15)

We’re actually in need of some miracles today, if you would join us in prayer for them.

First of all, for the first time since we’ve been on staff, GMO’s funding at the central level has stalled, and we’ve had to pull back on spending for the advertising that brings seekers to our websites.
My co-worker Nick Runyon, 27 years old, who joined our ministry this year to help us target this advertising, is facing a life-threatening illness called “Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.” There’s no cure, so he needs a liver transplant. Please pray for Nick, his wife Debbie, and their three small children.
Many staff members have lost ministry partners—and we’re no exception—which means spending time away to raise new support. Please pray for us, and for those who support us. My recent California visit confirmed that some of our ministry partners are also experiencing serious financial challenges. (See 2 Corinthians 8:1-5) The past six years have been a walk of faith for us and our supporters, and we can’t say thank you enough for your part in the progress! I think 1 Samuel 30 is a good analogy—a portion of David’s men went on to the battle, and others stayed with the provisions, but all shared alike in the victory. We’ll all meet each other one day around God’s throne—along with millions who are there because of our shared ministry!

It may be that you have been receiving our prayer letter for some time but have been unable to be a part of our ministry support team in the past but are in a better financial situation today. Or it may be that God has blessed you especially in the past year compared to others. I wonder if you would prayerfully consider giving a special gift to help us with the shortfall in our ministry support?

If you are able to help, please send a check payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ” with “0543730,” our staff account number, in the “memo” section, mailed to us at Campus Crusade for Christ, 100 Lake Hart Drive, #1800, Orlando, FL 32832. If you would prefer to give a gift online, go to http://give.ccci.org/give/0543730 and follow the simple instructions there.

May God greatly bless your Christmas celebration! Thank you, so much, for your prayers, your support, and your friendship!

Love, the Skinner Family

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P.S. Please see our latest photos!

Mike and Cindy Skinner
"One day closer!" (Romans 13:11)