Venturing To Uncharted Waters

What's Happening on the Home Front

It’s hard to believe May has arrived and the end of another school year is in sight. This spring has been full of Cub Scout activities, piano lessons, beach trips, and baseball games. Somewhere in there the boys have gone to school as well. I (Scott) even had a rare opportunity to go sailing with Mason on a friend’s sailboat on the Indian River near Melbourne where I first learned how to sail with my dad in the late 1960s. 

                  

The boys are excited to be heading out to Colorado again for the Urban Summit Adventures project. It should be a great opportunity for our family to serve together in ministry. Appreciate your prayers as we wrap up the school year and prepare for another summer of ministry.  Pray that the boys will grow spiritually through our involvement in the summer project, and grasp how blessed they are, compared to the lives some of the urban youth live, that we will interact with.

A couple pics from our Lake Hart (Cru HQ) Easter Egg Hunt!

   

 

 

I Am Second

Hi friends and ministry partners around the world. I'm in Dallas for the next few days at the offices of I Am Second to attend a training conference with them. Appreciate your prayers as we look at ways to work together to more effectively launch ministries on campuses around the nation, and across the globe.

Appreciate you also keeping Brenda in your prayers, as she is home alone with the boys for the next few days.
Scott

Christmas Update from the Bartelts

Hi friends and family! Well, as you can tell I have failed miserably at keeping this blog updated regularly. But nevertheless I am managing to get our family highlight video posted for 2011. Hope you enjoy seeing a bunch of pics of the Bartelt boys and just a few of Scott & Brenda. Still, it is only 3 minutes long, so would love for you to catch a glimpse of our year, and maybe some of the pics will make you smile!  

Merry Christmas from all of us here in Orlando, and please leave a comment if you actually do make it through all 3 minutes of this video!

Scott

p.s. - apologies for the scratchy music, not an expert at these things :( 

 

Some really encouraging news

Hi friends, well so far I am not doing well on keeping this updated on a weekly basis, but I am just finishing up our October prayerletter and if you are reading this then there is a good chance you just read our e-prayerletter we sent out. So, you are also probably sitting on pins and needles to find out what the good news is that left you hanging in the e-letter. 

As you know if you did read that e-letter, we switched Jordan & Logan to a private Christian school this fall on account of some learning challenges Logan had been having the last few years. It was a huge decision (and HUGE expense), and quite frankly a big gamble on our part. But 8 weeks into the switch it seems to be working out very well. BOTH Jordan & Logan made the Principal's Honor Roll with all A's and B's!!! This was the first time EVER Logan has done this. Plus, he doesn’t seem phased at all by still being in 2nd grade. All of the learning issues have not been conquered, but we are thrilled that he is finally having some success!  

 

It's Time Houston

Hi friends! Wrapping up another full week here in Orlando.  One of this week's highlights was taking a day out of our normal work with Student Venture for a semi-annual Worldwide Day of Prayer. The entire ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) takes two days each year to stop what we are doing and spend most of the day hearing reports of what God is doing around the world and then taking time to pray for those things. In our next prayerletter I might try to highlight one or two of the stories I heard. On the heels of that I am getting on a plane tomorrow bound for Houston, TX to gather with hundreds of teenagers and Student Venture staff from across the nation for a fast-paced, life-changing prayer experience. It is called...

..."It's Time!" 

Speakers, Greg Speck, Darryl Smith, Nancy Wilson, Barbara Francis, Sammy Tippit and Justin Christopher will teach from God's Word. Worship will be led by Altar, CAM, Aaron Ivey, Anthony Evans and Sarah Reeves. The speakers and musicians view this gathering as so unique and necessary for this time that they are appearing at their own expense.  

Teens will discover a variety of ways to deepen their communication with God so that they can have a greater impact for Christ on their campus through prayer and mission. 

The prayer conference will be streamed over the web. Anyone can join any or all sessions by going to  http://www.ustream.tv/user/svhouston. 

If you know high school or college students or others who work with and have a heart to reach students, please encourage them to connect. 

 The main sessions are (Central Daylight Savings Time):

• Sat. 2:15pm    It's Time! For Relationship.
• Sat. 6:30pm    It's Time! To Get Real.
• Sat. 8:40pm    It's Time! For Joy!
• Sun. 9:30am   It's Time! To Get Practical.
• Sun. 2:00pm   It's Time! For Unity.
• Sun. 6:30pm   It's Time! For Impact.
• Sun. 8:45pm   It's Time! To Advance The Kingdom.

Please join us in asking God to use "It's Time!" to inflame students around the country with the love and message of Jesus Christ. 

If you are in the Houston area please give me a call, I'd love for you to stop by the event or grab a cup of coffee with you early in the week. You can rech me at 407-375-2465.

Scott

Re-starting my blog - "See You at The Pole" update

Hi friends. Well, this blog has been dormant for awhile, but feeling the urge to start communicating a bit more and about life and ministry. I know that only a certain percentage of you will feel compelled to take the time to read most of this but my hope and prayer is there will be things of value that different ones of you will gain something from.

Well, today is a big day for many Christian students across the country and around the world. See You at the Pole (SYATP) is taking place at thousands of school campuses! Most of you are probably familiar with this event that began in 1990 and now involves millions of young people around the world. It's so encouraging to see students taking the lead to help see hearts changed on their campuses. But even more encouraging for me is to see some students take things a step farther by "adopting" their school and committing to see a movement begun that will change hearts, and even the whole spiritual climate of a school. There is a great site that helps facilitate this at www.everyschool.com. I encourage you to take a quick look, especially if you have a desire to see a campus near you reached for Christ or know a young person who who might. Part of my role in the Coaching Center is to follow-up with those students who do respond and help equip them to reach their campus. So in the coming days I hope to be busy connecting lots of students with our tools that will help them reach their school.

So, could I ask you to consider doing two quick things about all this? One, please share this post with one other person that you think would be interested in reaching a school near them or went to See You At The Pole today. Two, please stop and pray for a moment for a campus near you. Ask God to call Christian students to build a movement for Christ on their campus!

 

Family News

On a completely different subject, here is a fun family pic for you... so Logan & Mason decided to be hair stylists the other day and I was able to grab this quick pose... suffice it to say life is never dull in the Bartelt house!

 

From Instant Upload

Well, thanks for taking the time to read this far. If you are not getting our prayerletter by e-mail please take a second to sign-up on the left side bar!

We would love a comment with your thoughts on all this or a prayer request.

Have a blessed day!

Scott

Easter Thoughts from Logan

To Easter Bunny:

Easter is NOT all about candy, it is about Jesus dying for our sins OK? But, that is OK to give children candy. I just want you to know that Easter Bunny :) is that understood Easter Bunny?

Logan B 

Well, what can you say about that... I am so glad our kids have their priorities straight ;) 

Scott

St. Petersburg English Camp Highlights

Hi all, sorry it has been awhile since I have updated this blog. Most of our communication has been by e-mail and on Facebook lately. We have our April prayerletter going out by e-mail today and hopefully by snail mail early next week. But in the meantime here is a great video that one of our American team members put together of highlights from our English Camp in St. Petersburg, Russia last month. As we reflect on our Savior's death and resurrection this weekend and the new life it has given us I pray that this video is an encouragement to you. A number of Russian young people can now experience the joy and hope of the Resurrection in a totally new way because of your partnership with us! 

By the way, if you do not receive our prayerletter and would like to please sign up through the link on the left side of this page, thanks!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!!

 

 

What's Coming in 2011

Hi friends, don't know about you but I can't believe this is the last day of January!  We're going to have a crazy 2011 but we're anticipating God moving in some significant ways. Our latest prayerletter can be downloaded through the link below. It's a short one this month but we trust you will be encouraged by reading through some of what we are trusting God for!  Would love to hear what YOU are trusting God for this year too, just leave a short comment below or send us an e-mail!

Download Bartelt Branch 2.11 (Bartelt Desktop)

Thanks for your partnership,

Scott, for all the Bartelt gang

Our Year in Pictures

Hi friends and partners in ministry. Hoping and praying you have a very blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our savior. We've put together a short (3 minute) video of some of our special memories from the past year. Some of you might even see yourselves! Thank you friends for being part of our lives this past year!!

Merry Christmas!