Mission Indy had the privilege of working with five (5) students from Covenant Christian High School for a modified internship in early January. The students were as follows:

Amy Hills - Grade 12
Andrea Ter Horst - Grade 12
Levi Douglass - Grade 11
Ryan Deal - Grade 12
Sarah Tobias - Grade 11

These students were interested in learning about inner city ministry and also being involved in some volunteer project work to benefit others. The picture below captures four of them after some dirty work of minor interior demolition on a house that will be rehabbed by Englewood Christian Church for a family in the neighborhood.

We put together a training program very similar to what we do with our college summer staff for these Covenant students. Each cold morning for the first two weeks of January, we picked the students up at Covenant and drove into the city for a combination of ministry visits, deep conversation about the church and the issues we saw in the city, and then project work.

One day, after working all morning with Mano de Amistad, a Hispanic ministry operating out of Wheeler Mission's East Michigan Street Community Center, we went to eat authentic Mexican food at El Sol on East Washington Street.

As you can tell, the students had some fun during their time in addition to what they learned and experienced.

We are so blessed by and encouraged by the relationships the Lord allows us to build. Covenant is even considering putting a team together to serve with Mission Indy this summer!

February 18^th was our winter quarter work day. We worked with three church groups that day. East 91^st Street CC sent a group of about 10 young adults from a singles class. The Church at Mt. Gilead in Mooresville had about 6 participants, and then another church came from Ohio. Neal Stewart from Whitewater Christian Service Camp drove three hours in the blowing snow that morning to help lead one of the work sites, so we thank him so much!

The group from East 91st Street worked with Bill Briley at a house being renovated by Rick Hall & City Light Ministries.

This group was really exposed to a cold Indiana winter day, since there was no heat in the house, and some of their work was outside. The sun did come out, though, and City Light was appreciative of the work that was completed.

There was decking laid for the upstairs flooring, some Pro Wrap put on the south side of the house, some exterior walls re-framed and windows installed.

Mission Indy is in need of a dependable car or van. If you know of anyone who could make something available, please contact us at

423-3505

or

Email Ron at Missionindy

Ron Greiner & Rob Dininger (Treasurer) were able to visit Emmanuel School of Religion and take a week-long intensive course on Urban Ministry by Dr. Gordon Moyes from Australia. It was a real learning experience, and it was great when Eric Himelick from Victory Inner City Ministries (Indianapolis) came down on Wednesday. Dr. Moyes is an interesting guy with four decades of work with Wesley Mission in Sydney.

Ron & Marsha went to the college ministry "One Accord" at Mt. Pleasant Christian Church on January 29th to present the Mission Indy internship opportunity. Then on Thursday February 2nd, Niccole and Ron went to the IU Campus House and were able to talk with several interested students. Niccole & Ron were able to visit Lincoln Christian College again, this time for their Mission Emphasis time, February 7th. In addition to our display, Ron presented a workshop called "Incorporating Missions into Youth Ministry". Several students commented they received good information. Mike Bowling (Board Chair) went along on this trip, since he and Ron had the opportunity to meet with Paul Boatman and Robert Douglas from the seminary about urban training in Indianapolis.

The Urban Ministry Institute idea came into being as a result of the expressed desire of Emmanuel School of Religion and Lincoln Christian Seminary to more effectively train students for ministry in an ever-increasing urban world. The vision for this institute is to prepare and train students from three different perspectives or tiers; namely, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, and students from local church leadership and laity (Non-Credit). This institute fits right in with Mission Indy's goal of equipping local churches, so Mission Indy and Englewood CC have collaborated to form and initiate the U.M.I. Mission Indy will serve as the lead agency and Englewood as the lead church. U.M.I. will forge partnerships with churches, seminaries, colleges and ministries to form a broad and more holistic approach to theological education in and for urban areas. A credentialed teaching staff will be assembled from the various partner schools and those professors will come and teach courses here in Indianapolis on an intensive basis. The Mission: To prepare students as resources to churches bearing witness of God's wisdom in Christ in an urbanized world.

More to come later!

Mission Indy has yet to reach the level of income that we need to meet our budget and do the things we need to for the future. The simple chart below will show how our income compares to the budget we set.

First Quarter 2006
	Budget	Actual
Charitable Gifts:	$ 25,625	$ 25,118
Designated Gifts:	$  1,625	$       0
Other Gifts:	$    575	$    107
Program Revenue:	$ 10,000	$  6,541
Total:	$ 37,825	$ 31,766
Shortfall:		$  6,059

Please know that we are grateful to God and to all of you for what has been provided. Please pray that more churches will come to partner with the work of "Equipping Christians to Serve Others."