I hope this newsletter finds you in God’s grace and peace! It’s been quite a while since my last update so there is quite a bit to cover! So I’ll get right to it! I was able to go to Brazil this summer and I have never been so blessed while there. We worked in the city of Boca da Mata (Mouth of the Jungle) our first week and God really has been moving in that city! He connected me quite closely with the young adults and teenagers in the city. We had awesome times of prayer and worship and studying of God’s Word together. They are all on such fire for God and truly believe that He is going to use them to reach the ends of the earth with the Gospel. This city is so poor and yet they understand their role in the Great Commission. It was so humbling to be a part of their group. Before leaving a friend from Boca da Mata told me, “Holli, you have gained great friends here during your stay, but the most valuable thing you have received is intercessors for your ministry.” Needless to say I was quite blessed by them! We had two prayer vigils while I was there and the Holy Spirit came in such power and used some of them to prophecy over me. God continues to confirm my calling to mobilize students to China! To Him be the glory! We stayed in Brazil for 15 days and saw many Brazilians come to know Jesus. Including one of the boys that has been working with us over the past 7 years! It’s always such a pleasure to partner with God in what He is doing!

Training camp this year was probably the most fantastic camp we’ve had in our six years of existence. Our 16 new missionaries arrived on August 9th and we hit the ground running! They came from all over New York, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Illinois. At the beginning of training camp as a whole our new ones needed to raise $86,000, by the end of it we had a surplus of $8,000. How good/faithful is our God?!? Not one person had to stay back, they were all able to board the plane! Three days before they left for Asia we as CT gathered around to have a night of prayer for the ones that still needed quite a bit of money to go. As we prayed, God began to do so many miracles! Then we took some time to pray and ask God what He would have us do, what He would have us give so that our friends could go to Asia. It’s kind of funny to think about because every single person, from top to bottom, is living by faith in CT. Not one of us has a “real world job”. We are all missionaries that are supported by awesome individuals and churches. As we were praying God put Acts 2:44-47 on my heart, “All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.” What excited me the most was the last part, “and the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.” I knew that as we gave and shared things in common that the Lord was going to bless the work in Asia. That the number of Asian brothers and sisters would increase! I say this not in a boastful way, but all for the glory of God. That night in a room of no more than 30 people $18,000 was given so that more laborers could go to Asia, so that more lost people could have the chance to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am continually humbled to work with CT. One night during one of night sessions I became incredibly overwhelmed that God has allowed me to be a part of CT for four years and now starting my fifth year. I also became overwhelmed by the fact the God used me to recruit these new amazing missionaries. Have you ever just stopped and thought about the different ways God has used you for His Kingdom? It’s so humbling. I do not deserve to be serving Him, but so grateful that I am. I am excited to say that this year I am taking on the position of the Director of Recruiting for CT. Last year I was co-laboring in the leadership position with my friend Jacob Milea. It was an awesome year of ministry. Him and his wife are moving back to Syracuse to be the young adult pastors at their church. I am so grateful for all that we were able to do together for God’s kingdom and am excited for them as they start their new jobs. Please pray for me as I step into this role. I am excited, but a little nervous. Please pray that we will go where the Lord is preparing laborers for us!

Thank y’all for your prayers!!

holli cherie

Mini Camp!

In less than 48 hours our new recruits will be running around Rochester, New York doing their very first activity together. I cannot believe that they will be here all so soon. This week and the previous one have been filled with a lot of prep work. I will be teaching the sessions on face to face support raising. I’m quite excited about this opportunity. I’m also co-teaching Biblical Foundation of support raising. While preparing for these teachings I have been so overwhelmed with thankfulness for those of you who have so faithfully sewed into my ministry financially and through prayers. Thank you so much for investing in the souls of China.

Please be in prayer for this event. We are asking that the Lord would give us clarity on who He is calling to go to China with us this August. I am so excited to get them all together. Yesterday as we wrote down the list of people coming to minicamp it was so exciting to think about how God is going to use each one of them to change the nation of China. Each person that is coming has the potential to reach so many Chinese students and bring them back to the Kingdom of God. God misses His children and is ready for them to come into His fold!

Specific prayer requests for this weekend:

-We would rely on God’s strength and not our own.

-During ministry times the Holy Spirit would show up in a powerful way.

-We would have discernment who God is calling to go to China

-For me as I teach my classes on support raising.

Thank y’all for praying. I love you all! On a personal note, I’m headed to Midland/Big Spring, Texas April 23-May 2^nd. Hope to see some of you there!

So that His Kingdom is furthered,

holli cherie cobb

Testimonies from Asia!

Hi! I'm headed out in a couple of hours to Campus Target's last recruiting event of the season! Please be in prayer that God will give us some more Godly men to join up with us! Things are coming together for mini-camp! In two more weeks they will all be here! I cannot wait!!

I wanted to send y'all some awesome testimonies of what are going on in China! These two are both from a school that I worked on a few years ago! Your prayers for China are making a difference!!! Keep it up (: 

        From Ben:

I first met Bruce at one of our Tea Bible Studies. Terry brought him. I didn’t see him much before our trip to Thailand but I knew he would come to Christ… When Bruce came back from Chinese New Year, I had lunch with him and he poured out to me. At first he kept talking about the great time, he had with his old child-hood friend. But I asked well, what about your family? Bruce said, “I don’t want to talk about that”. A little while later, he told me that his parents were separating and considering divorce. So I pra*ed for him. Next week after that, I had dinner with him and poured out my heart. I told him how my parents had been divorced as I came into China. He apologized because he prejudged me. Bruce thought I was just some rich American coming to visit China and make friends. I told him how hard it is everyday that I’m here to tell people of Dad and his grace. When the very person who introduced me to Chr*st has turned away from him. I told Bruce that even if he accepts Dad life will still be hard but Dad will help you through it. I told Bruce that during the time of my decision to come to China if Dad told me, I would go to China and not have any friends or people who liked me except for a man named Bruce that I would meet. I would still choose to come all the way to China just to tell Bruce that Dad loves him. Immediately he wanted to leave the restaurant and walk on campus. I knew he was ready to make the decision. I took him to campus and sat on what I now call the Bruce bench! He asked Jes*us into his heart, to forgive him of his sins and he closed the pray*r with “I pra* that you help B*n’s family”. Then he looked at me and said I will pra* for your parents when I pra* for mines.     

From Matt: 

       Let me tell you a story. It’s a True Story. A story about my friend named Vincent.

       About one month ago, we had our first guys’ night. My friend Kyle had asked if he could bring a friend, we were delighted that he wanted to bring a friend. Our guys’ night was rather cool; we chilled and played some games. We met Kyle’s friend Vincent. We proclaimed the good news, and talked about some other things too. After the party, Kyle asked me if Vincent could talk to Ben and I, after everyone left.  They all left, and Vincent helped us clean up.   

     I sat down with Vincent and we started to chat. He began to pour his heart out and my roommates sat down with us. He told us of his troubles and all we did was listen. He then asked if we could help him. I told him to read Psalm 91. He read and Atlas began to talk to him about the good news. Enoch then thank him for being so open. Then Vince told us that the whole reason that he came to our guys night was so we could talk.

     We then asked him if he wanted Jes*s to be his Sav*our. He told us that was the reason he came over. So, there we introduced him to Dad and gave him a B*ble.  He gave his heart to Dad that night.     Two weeks later, I was privileged to witness Vincent’s baptism. Kyle baptized his dear friend and was thrilled to do so. Vincent has since begun to learn more about Dad and how he works .  

Be encouraged!! God is bringing more men into His Kingdom!

Love you all!!

holli cherie 

On the Road Again

The month of February was quite a whirlwind for me. After arriving home from Thailand and getting four days of much needed rest, me, Jacob and Kim packed our bags and headed south. We were headed down to Liberty University’s Mission Emphasis Week. We had no idea what God had in store for us. As we left the snow behind we were able to get out our flip flops (which made my day) and even stop at Chick-fil-A. There is just something amazing about good sweet tea and a spicy chicken sandwich.

I was not sure what to expect at Liberty especially after reading The Unlikely Disciple (which I think any Christian should read…real eye opener). Our booth was placed on the third floor of DeMoss way back in the corner next to the study hall. God is so much bigger than a poor placement of the C@mpus T@rget booth. We had been praying that God would bring the right students to our table and that He did!! We were able to talk with quite a few students who want to come with us in August! While there we had the privilege of hearing Nick Saint bring a challenging  word as well as the president of Compassion and on Friday David Platt. It was an awesome week! Thank you so much for praying for God to give us more students! He heard and answered! Look at y’all…sewing more and more into Chin@! Thank you!

Friday after convocation at Liberty we headed farther south to Duke University. I got to meet up with my dear Ch!nese friend Fish and two of his workmates for about 45 minutes. It was so awesome, we got to talk more about the Gospel and I got to pray over them! Please continue to pray for Fish that he comes to grips with His Creator. He is so close!! It’s such a special treat every time I get to see him.

InterVarsity at Duke was quite incredible. First of all it consists of mostly Asian Americans. During my talk I actually threw some Ch!nese in there and the whole room erupted. They responded in Ch!nese to me. It was pretty cool. Afterwards we were able to stick around and pray with quite a few of the students. The Lord really knitted my heart with one of the seniors there, Colleen. She is praying seriously about coming with us in August. Please pray for clarity for her decision! We would be so blessed to have her! We rolled out of Duke at 11:45 pm and headed to one of my most favorite places in the world…Greenville, South Carolina. Can I just take a second to say that God has been so faithful in protecting us while we are on the road? He is so good! We arrived at 3:00 am and crashed!  The next day was filled with playing with my precious niece Jordan Cherie and spending some much needed quality time with my mom and friends. I was able to go to Rocky Creek Baptist Church on Sunday and it was so good to see my South Carolina family.

On Monday we interviewed two people for C@mpus T@rget from South Carolina! I love how God is bringing us people from outside the state of New York! On Tuesday I spoke at Furman University at FCA and we now have a couple applying from there!! I’m SO excited about what God is doing! One girl from Texas was really on my heart on Tuesday and I was praying for her and just asking the Lord if we could have her for C@mpus T@rget. When I got home that night I had an e-mail from her saying that she really felt like the Lord was calling her to come with us this August and she was sending in her application! God’s heart is so to send more and more laborers to Ch!na! Thank you for your prayers!!

holli cherie cobb

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Friends!

So much has been going on these past few months! I’ll give you a few updates:

* We’ve received 10 applications!

* Scheduled most of our engagements for next semester including: Virginia, South Carolina, Michigan and Delaware (:

* I’ve learned how to drive in the snow and use a snow brush. Yes, it has been difficult becoming a successful northerner, but it’s starting to work out. I LOVE the snow!

* I got to spend Thanksgiving in Texas with my family and precious sister Leah-Kaye. God is doing miracles in her life!

* I got to spend Christmas with my mom in South Carolina…first one in 11 years! It was pretty special.

* I’ll be helping teach at a Discipleship/Bible School in upstate New York Jan. 4-8. Pray for me!

* I head out for our annual Mission Meeting in Thailand on January 17. Please pray for me as I travel by myself and sleep in the Bangkok airport by myself (:

Hope y’all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Year! Love you all!

holli cherie cobb

You Are Worthy of All

This morning at the EF Staff Devotional I had a God revelation. At the end of the devotional we sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" and it became so heavy on my heart, "whether or not Jesus came for a group or for the whole world, (which i'm still convinced He did) He came. He...God in Person came down from His heavenly home and made Himself like us and lived and died so that we, the fallen world could be reconciled to Him. He deserves ALL adoration, ALL worship, ALL of my heart." Thank You Spirit for reminding me of Your great love for me, for us today. 

My Civil War with God

My brother sent me a sermon from John Piper and I listened to it. I have avoided Piper for a number of years now because I don't not like his Calvinistic views. But in recent years I cannot get away from the words that seem to pop off the pages throughout the New Testament: chosen, elected, predestined. So this is my battle and the reason I am even posting this is because I'm guessing I'm not the only one that struggles with this idea: some are chosen and others are not. I am in no way looking to start a debate with anyone. I am just reading the Word and trying desperately to understand it. If I don't understand the Words of my Father, how can I call myself His daughter? I would like to say too though, this is me in pursuit of knowing God. Christians are not perfect and i most certainly am merely a sinner saved by grace. Im just seeing that my theology is not lining up with Scripture and that is not okay. So here is the email I sent to one of my most favorite people in the world that I am honored to know. 

Jordan,

So I listened to the sermon and have pretty much cried my eyes out. It very much causes me to want to walk away from this Gospel if this is the way it is, and yet something keeps me wanting to love Him even though I don't understand Him. Even as I write this email I am crying. How do I love a God who chose me and not somebody else that I might have compassion for, but they have rejected the Gospel? And why do I have compassion on them anyways? Do I presume that that compassion comes from my own flesh? No, I believe any compassion I would ever have would come from His heart and not my own. It's quite clear in Romans 9 and 10 that there is a chosen people, an elect if you will, but chapter 11 is down right confusing. And yet hopeful. But I bet it's not what I'm thinking. I can't live with the crack theology that all people will be forgiven in the end without first having proclaimed Jesus as Lord with their own mouth and yet in 11:32 it says they will all be forgiven. I don't get it, I don't understand it and I absolutely do not like it. But as a follower of Christ, this dormant civil war has now been awoken and I can ignore no longer. If I say I believe the Word of God is true, then I have to believe the words of Paul and not think of them as his opinion, but God's words written down through his servant, the words of the One whom I call Father. This is going to be a long battle between me and the Lord. I'm angry at Him right now. I want Him to call all peoples to Him, I want there to be a chance for all to choose His name, His glory. But it looks like there is just a remnant of those who will. I'm guessing I'm a part of that remnant, but is that even okay to presume? My heart literally hurts as faces run across my mind. Real, human faces with a lost soul within. Friends that have said, "no, your God is not real. He is a fairy tale." it pained my heart at the time to hear that, but it pains it even more now. What if those in whom my heart cries out to the Father for their salvation, His ears don't hear because their names are not written on the palms of His hands? There is such an epic battle in my heart right now. But I have to say to the Lord that my heart is open to Him AND His Word. My only hope is that through this the Holy Spirit will cause me to fall more and more in love with my Savior Jesus. Right now, I don't want to, that is, my flesh, my desire for justice does not want to love Him more. But my spirit-man, well, that's a different story. I do still, in my spirit long to know the power of the resurrected Christ and to know Him well. So those are my thoughts after listening to the sermon and immediately reading Romans 9, 10 and 11. Below are the angered questions I had as I was reading through chapter 11. Jordan, you don't have to answer any of these questions really, you don't have to convert me over to "your side" which I know you won't try and do. I just wanted you to know honestly where I am at. I know, because of the Holy Spirit that lives within, who is said to be my seal, that He will lead and guide me into all Truth, for that is why He was given. Love you brother.

My rantings of Romans 11. Possibly not at all logical, but nonetheless, my honest thoughts while reading through. 

So was I given grace for the jealousy of a country? And what is this talk about their full reconciliation? I thought Paul was saying we had to be chosen. And that they weren't. That there are essentially two Israel's. One of the elect and one of the ethnicity. That only a remnant receives grace. Paul you are contradicting yourself. V 23 is throwing me for a loop. So even though they have rejected the Lord they can still be grafted in? And how is it grace if the only reason I was grafted in was because God rejected those whom disobeyed? It seems like a pity gift. Oh these people didn't believe so I'll give you a spot in the tree, but really it's only to cause them to be jealous. V 32 what do you do with that? He just said "all" in regards to mercy. So if there are two Israel's and in v 32 he is saying that they will all receive mercy then in the end all people will be forgiven and grafted in? That thought also scares the crap out of me. I guess v 25 is talking about the literal countrymen of Israel. But he does go on to say that He consigned them to disobedience SO THAT He may show mercy to ALL. I don't understand.