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Seasons Greetings & BIG News from Baton Rouge

Dear support team & family,

I’m writing an end-of-year update to let you know about exciting changes on the horizon. Thank you so much for your support – the work I do in Baton Rouge is only possible because of the support God has provided through your generosity. Hang in there with me, as this is a long letter with some important information! For those who can't hang, the BOLD and UNDERLINED TEXT is most important!

Because I know it’s hard to read long letters for lots of us, I’ll start with the BIG news. In January 2020, I will transition from working under the umbrella of SportQuest Ministries to serving as the resident missionary at Renew Church. This change is coming after several months of prayer and discernment, and a desire to follow God’s call on my life by expanding local ministry and working more closely with a local team.

Some of the Renew team at a recent church planting conference in Dallas
WHY RENEW?

In September 2018, I joined Renew Church, a multiethnic church plant in Baton Rouge. Almost immediately, 10+ youth from Gardere, the neighborhood I serve, began coming to church. Four of these youth were baptized in 2019! In May, God opened the door for me to move to an apartment that is five minutes from Renew. 

The Renew family is God’s answer to prayers I've been praying for many years: an inviting and safe community for unchurched youth from Gardere to experience Christ-centered life and be discipled in their spiritual journeys; brothers and sisters eager to be the hands and feet of Jesus with a heart for the lost people and places in Baton Rouge; leaders and friends who encourage and hold me accountable in my walk with Jesus. Renew has supported my work with SportQuest financially, helped me host spring break and summer sport ministry teams, and developed a Sunday morning bus service to pick up kids from Gardere for church. As the Lord has gradually woven my life and ministry into the Renew community, He has also been refining and, dare I say, renewing His call on my life. 

Raven and I baptizing Jamaya at Renew in 2019
THE JOURNEY

God called me to be a missionary when I just 16 years old, and He has used a combination of academic work (a PhD in sociology) and ministry opportunities (13 years of travel with SportQuest, including 7 years serving in Gardere) to equip me for each new step into this calling. Too many incredible teachers, mentors, leaders, and teammates have been a part of this journey for me to name each one, but THANK YOU to each of you who has faithfully walked ahead of and alongside me.

The 2017-2019 season of working full-time for SportQuest has been fruitful but also fraught with spiritual warfare. I have been present to kids and families through some extremely difficult trials in life – incarceration, mental illness, attempted suicide, and shootings in the neighborhood, to name a few of the battles. In just the past four months, I was in two accidents (a gas explosion and a car accident) that could have been fatal. Praise God for all the ways He chooses to intervene and protect His sheep! His abundant, Fatherly love is so clear to me. The deeper I go in mission, the more dependent I become on the lifeline of His power and provision. God’s call on my life to serve youth in Baton Rouge has been amplified, not diminished, in the struggle of the past two years, but so too has my need for a local team who I can share the burdens and joys of ministry with. 

Me and Shae, a youth I mentor from Gardere, at Renew Sunday service
THE NEW SEASON

Over the years serving in Baton Rouge, the Lord has laid a vision on my heart to use a combination of the spiritual and academic gifts He has given me to pioneer ministries in Baton Rouge that connect young people to the resources and community of support they need to thrive spiritually and relationally and reach their potential. This is a God-sized vision that moves beyond sports to incorporate the expansion of the church into unreached neighborhoods in the city, family-centered activities, education and work programs, and one-to-one mentorship of middle and high school students as they grow from adolescence to young adulthood. It is a vision God has prepared me for as He has crafted my identity as a missionary-PhD whose ministry of reconciliation moves between research, the classroom, the soccer sideline, and the dinner table. I enjoy and am trained for strategic problem-solving and community development, but my heart beats for Jesus and I know that true transformation comes from the power of the Gospel at work in people and places.

Since launching in March 2018, Renew has grown from a congregation of fewer than 10 to nearly 200, and with the recent acquisition of an incredible property in North Baton Rouge – an area of the city that has spent many years watching churches, businesses, and community programs close – Renew is eager to discover how we can best love our neighbors and live out the Gospel in their midst. Renew’s ministry model is wholistic – the church boldly proclaims the Gospel (meeting spiritual needs) and also embodies it by engaging and bringing renewed life (social, financial, etc.) to the neighborhoods around us. This ministry model is a great fit for my gifts and passions, and I am excited to join Renew’s team in implementing it. Many roles and responsibilities of my current ministry will continue – coaching, Bible studies, summer programs, etc. – but my work will expand outside of one neighborhood as I use my research skills and ministry experience to help Renew develop mission-outreach programs in other areas of the city. Renew will also encourage me to continue working part-time teaching college courses, which increases my financial stability; helps me serve as a bridge between youth in my ministry and university campuses that may be their next step in life; and allows me to mentor college students and connect them to community service opportunities. This expansion of my role/responsibility aligns with the larger vision the Lord has been challenging me to pursue.

The #Sisters, a girls soccer team I have coached for the past two years (and will continue to coach)
TIME-SENSITIVE TASKS OF THE TRANSITION

The SportQuest team is excited about my new ministry season and is sending me off with love and blessings. However, there are a few practical things needed as I make this transition. At Renew, I will still rely on your monthly financial support to be able to be a full-time missionary in Baton Rouge. 

Some of you reading this blog post are already on my support team, but others haven't joined yet. Would you pray about transitioning with me OR joining me for the first time as I make this this transition? Below, I explain how to cancel giving to SportQuest, and how to set up one-time or monthly gifts at Renew.
  • SportQuest will receive missions support for me until December 20. Before December 20, each of you will need to transfer your monthly giving to Renew Church. 
  • You can set up automatic donations to Renew online at http://www.fellowshiponegiving.com/renewbr - there is a fund under my name. You can also communicate with your bank to send a monthly check made out to Renew Church with my name in the memo line to PO Box 45850, Baton Rouge, LA, 70895. 
  • If you currently have online monthly giving set up with SportQuest  - through a credit or debit card or an ACH debit - you must cancel this transaction by December 20 by sending an email to michelle@sportquest.org.
I will also be recruiting a small team of prayer warriors I can share more intimate details of life and ministry with each week and who will commit to stepping into the spiritual battles and encircling the ministry and me with prayer-fortified walls. Please let me know if the Lord lays this on your heart.

Thank you for joining me in Kingdom work and being a part of raising up the next generation of Christian leaders in Baton Rouge. As I reflect on the work, this verse comes to mind: 

We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about His power and His mighty wonders. (Psalm 78:4)

I am overwhelmed with gratitude that God has given me the chance to introduce the kids I work with to Jesus and I love imagining the fruit of the future as they tell their kids, who tell their kids, who tell their kids…glory to God for what He has already done and for what is yet to come!

(New) Seasons Blessings,

Danielle

Oscar, a SportQuest staff member from Venezuela, and two of our soccer players in Baton Rouge at an LSU basketball game this month


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