Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Amy & I both hope that your 2009 Christmas was blessed!! It has been a treat to be able to see many of you over the Holidays. We are always reminded of how fortunate we are during this season when we are able to visit with you all!

We just wanted to send you a quick reminder that tomorrow we leave for Washington DC and the Paradox 2009 New Year's Conference. (Above is a picture of our staff members from our Charlotte, Lynchburg and Greenville regions that have been planning this conference at a Christmas Party that we had in Lynchburg, VA). We will leave bright and early tomorrow morning and make the seven hour drive to our Nation's Capitol. There is much to be excited for and much to be in prayer for. Would you take some time specifically to pray for this conference and the 500+ students attending (including the 34 students from our campus, UNCC)? Despite all of the planning and preparing that our team has done in the past four months, it is all in vain without God's power (Psalm 127:1). Pray for students who do not know Jesus Christ, to come to know Him and for students who are believers to become laborers (Matthew 9:38). Also, please pray for our health: Amy specifically has not been feeling well leading up to the conference. Pray that God would give her the necessary health to be able to minister well these next five days to students.

Thank you and have a Happy New Year!

Zach & Amy

Paradox 2009

As the Christmas season is upon us, Amy & I wanted to take a minute to wish you a Merry Christmas! This season always reminds us how blessed we are. Thank you for your support of us!

We wanted to give you an update our upcoming New Year's Conference (Dec 29th-Jan 2nd), "Paradox" (www.paradox2009.org). It has been amazing to see the Lord draw people to this conference. There are 34 students coming from UNCC! This is almost 3x as many students as last year. Praise God!! Over the past month, the UNCC staff has been helping students raise money by raking leaves at various people's homes. We were blessed to have raised almost $3000, which is going to be used to help these students pay for the conference! This past Monday, the students and staff gathered together at an informational meeting for the conference. Here is a quick youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jApY2OxP1yY of the students thanking everyone! Be sure to check it out!! We are so excited at the fruit this semester; this is the most students coming to a conference from UNCC since I have been working with Campus Outreach. God is building His house and growing us! There are going to be 500 students total from 12 campuses worshiping together, learning together and growing together! This conference is going to be a tremendous opportunity for the students to hear about the paradox of the gospel! We are so excited to have a pastor from Washington DC, Mark Dever, be our conference speaker. Please pray that God's Spirit would move into the hearts of many, many students. Pray for laborers to be raised up at this conference.

This is a truly exciting season of ministry! Your support and prayers make God's work on the college campus possible. Thank you.

Reaching the Next Generation

One of the blogs that I follow is Kevin DeYoung's blog. DeYoung is a pastor of a church in East Lansing. Back at the end of October, he had a great series on how to reach the next generation. Take a minute to look at these, I think they will be worth the read.

Reaching the Next Generation

On the Road Again...

Yes, that seems to be our lives this semester: on the road again. Tomorrow kicks off a four week tour of the Southeast for the Fulginitis. We will be out of town every weekend for four straight weeks traveling to Richmond, Chapel Hill, Charleston and Boone! This weekend we will be heading to Richmond, VA for a "Heart to Heart" Marriage Retreat that the Barnabus Center puts on. We are really excited to be able to invest in our marriage so early on. It will be a lot of traveling coming up, but much of it will be spent with friends and family. Pray for our retreat this weekend and safe travels coming up!

One of the major events of our ministry at Campus Outreach is our New Year’s Conference in Washington DC from Dec 29th – Jan 2nd. One of the major barriers for students to attending this conference is money. It costs $240 per student and another $80 to ride the bus up to DC. That is a lot of money for college students. In an effort to help the financial burden of this conference the UNCC staff are trying to help students raise money for this conference. The staff and students will be raking leaves for people and families who want their yards looking nice for Thanksgiving. If anyone from the Charlotte area wants to help a student get to this conference and have their yard looking good for Thanksgiving guests, let me know! We would love to come rake your leaves. We are planning to rake on November 21st. Would you considering praying specifically that God helps these students who desire to grow spiritually get to the New Years Conference in Washington DC despite how much money it costs them?

While Amy & I will be at a marriage retreat in Richmond, the guys at UNCC are going to be up in the mountains having a "Men's Weekend". The guys are planning all kinds of manly events and challenges that range from catching fish with their bare hands to wrestling in fire circles to sleepings outside of the cabin they are renting. I am really excited that some of the guys that I've been leading in a bible study have decided to go on this. It will be a great weekend for community building and Christian fellowship. Please pray for the 20 men going on the Men's Weekend tomorrow. Pray that God would give them godly fellowship with one another.

If you want to get a taste of our weekly event at UNCC, "The U", check out this video from a couple of weeks back that one of the leaders shot: "The U"

Interesting Story

Take the minute and a half to watch this video on a Planned Parenthood Director who resigned her post after watching an ultrasound of an abortion. She mentions a “spiritual conversion” and is now working with a pro-life group right next to her old abortion clinic.

Happy Halloween!

Hello from the Fulginitis! We hope that everyone is preparing for a fun Halloween this coming Saturday. This will be the first year that we will get to hand out candy to the trick or treaters in our neighborhood! Should be a lot of fun. This has been an interesting last couple of weeks at our house. We've had our hot water, dryer and heating/AC all break/stop working in the span of a week. It was certainly frustrating to have to take cold showers for a few days, but fortunately everything is fixed. Oh the joys of homeownership...

Ministry is going well! Recruitment for our the New Year's Conference is in full force. Please join with us in praying for many students to attend this year from UNCC. We would be thrilled if God brought 30 students to this conference. The Bible Study for guys on the baseball team that I am leading is going really well. This week we talked about the Lordship of Christ in our lives and what that means. Pray that the seeds that are sown in these men's hearts are falling onto good soil! I would love to see all four men in my Bible Study takes steps of faith and attend the New Year's Conference.

The month of November is already looking like a crazy month! In a couple of weeks all of the married couples on our staff team will be traveling to Richmond, VA for a "Heart to Heart" marriage conference put on by the Barnabus Center. We are really privileged to work for a ministry that values the health of its married couples. This will be a great chance for us to invest in our lives and our marriage, when so much of ministry is investing into the lives of others. Pray that God strengthens our marriage and works in us in such a way that our relationship would bring God much glory!

Rocktober!

Tuesday night was my first Bible study with some guys (mostly from the baseball team). Together we studied, "What is the Gospel?" We looked at a lot of difference aspects including how to received the gospel, reconciliation, who is the gospel for and what are some of the benefits of the gospel? I would ask you to pray for two things for these four guys: 1) that they would have an increased hunger & desire to know God and follow Him and 2) that God would bring them to our New Year's Conference. Check out our conference website: www.paradox2009.com.

This Friday we have having a big Fall festival type party called, Rocktober. This is going to be a great opportunity to get relational time with many of the students that have been coming around to Campus Outreach at UNCC. We are going to be having a pie eating, bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving, dance party, corn hole, pie throwing, and a Rock Band Competition! Should be a ton of fun!

Seperation of Church & Sports?

I highly recommend this article: Time to Seperate Church and Sport? A New Agenda Takes Shape.

"Halftime"

Each semester, the staff of Campus Outreach Charlotte are required to take a "halftime" from work and ministry. This is an opportunity to step away from the campus to rest/recharge, evaluate the first half of the semester and to plan for the second half of the semester. The nature of college ministry is such a grind that halftimes are really necessary. This semester is the first halftime that Amy & I will get to take together. We are excited to be able to use a friend's condo from our church in Hilton Head, SC. We feel very blessed to work for a ministry that requires us to do something like this and to have friends who graciously allow us to use beach houses! Please pray that this would be a restful time for us and that we would equipped and ready for the second half of the fall semester.

During our time at Hilton Head, we will be taking some extended time to pray for our lives, UNCC, ministry, etc. but we also are going to spend time praying for our friends, family and supporters. If there is something you would like us to pray for, please feel free to let us know: zfulginiti@campusoutreach.org or afulginiti@campusoutreach.org. It's our privilege to partner with you in prayer as you partner with us!

Thank you,
Zach & Amy

October Update

God has been moving in some exciting ways in these past couple of weeks and I wanted to rejoice in them with you. None of the ways that God is moving is possible without your prayers, encouragement and support of Amy & I.

1. Beach Getaway was a great time for building community for students from UNCC. Amy & I were not able to make it though, Amy was sick the entire week before and we thought it best to rest and recover. But there were about 70 students in total who had a blast and heard the gospel!

2. I was able to speak at UNC-Greensboro's weekly gathering, called "8:05". I spoke to about 130 students on what is the treasure of their lives and then challenged them to make Jesus their treasures. Here is the link for a video that I played that illustrated the challenge that I gave to the students:
During our time in Greensboro Amy was able to connect with about ten girls that she had been investing in during her time at Elon (see attached pictures of girls that Amy discipled at Elon). It is amazing to see how God works in the lives of people even when aren't the ones investing anymore, it's a reminder that God is committed to what He has started.

3. I have started a bible study with four men, three of which play on the baseball team. This is really exciting for me personally as I have a desire to reach the baseball team since so much of my life was spent playing growing up. Pray that these men have an increased desire for the Word of God and follow Jesus.

4. Last week, UNCC had our weekly gathering, called the "U". Honestly, it was the best "U" that we have had in the two school years that I have been at UNCC. God just seems to continue to bring more men and women every week to hear His Word. Last night, there was about 70 students who heard a call from one of our staff to "drop their nets and follow Jesus" (Matt 4).

There really is so much to share. I hope to be able to get together with each of you to be able to personally share more stories about God's faithfulness to His people and to His glory on our campuses here in NC. Thank you for your prayers!

-Zach & Amy