Category Archives: Monthly Updates

“Were You Sharing the Gospel with Those Students?”

Malik, a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, shares his vision for reaching his campus.

Carla, an intern with Cru in Central Florida, and her team walked onto campus at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach with a purpose. They hoped to find students who desired to tell their fellow students about Jesus and would actually take action to do so.

They asked student after student, “We’re here looking for students who love Jesus and would say that they’re passionate about telling others about him in a way that makes people want to listen. Does that describe you?”

Her first day on campus, Carla eventually approached a student named Malik (see picture above) with this question. Malik said that described him, and invited Carla and her teammate, Chris, into his dorm.

Carla and Chris shared more about their vision of finding a student who would share the gospel and make disciples through spiritual multiplication (Matthew 28:18-20 and 2 Timothy 2:2). In turn, Malik shared his vision graphically (see picture). To help him accomplish his vision, they guided Malik through a tool that explains the gospel called Knowing God Personally, which he could share with others.

Soon afterward, Carla was meeting with another student in the student union. She looked in the distance and saw Malik approaching a group of students. It looked like he was sharing the gospel.

“Were you sharing the gospel with those students?” Carla asked Malik afterward.

He was. In fact, Malik said he had gone from table to table of students in the student union with the hopes of sharing the gospel using the Knowing God Personally tool, a tool that he had just learned!

“I was blown away by his faithfulness and willingness to go and interact with strangers on campus to share the good news with them.”

Praise God that he has already raised up students like Malik who will be bold and share the gospel with anyone and everyone, friend and stranger alike!

Thank you for your partnership in raising up spiritual multipliers!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God that he has raised up Malik to share the gospel with fellow students at his university!

Pray that God would raise up many students like Malik in Northern California and Nevada and that our team would be to find them, even when campuses are all virtual.

Continue to pray for our digital missions to Central Asia and for the Lord to raise up a team to go in person this summer.

Please pray for our family and our team to remain healthy, to battle against COVID (and zoom) weariness, and stay connected with our respective communities.  

Please pray for continued joy as our family learns and grows together.  We are loving being a family of 5.  The house is rarely quiet!

Faith Meets Vocation

What if professors could be part of sharing the gospel to the whole campus?

This month, we wanted you to hear from Professor Laurie Kubicek (pictured above) at Sac State, who shares this vision, wanting students and faculty to know Jesus. What is below is in her own words.

I will never forget “Susan” poking her head into my office with a huge smile on her face. She said, “I wanted to tell you that I love Jesus too!” This caught me a little off-guard.

In fact, in over twenty years teaching, I don’t think I’ve ever had a student lead with that. I asked her to come in and tell me a little more – thankfully, she had time and stepped in. Susan had an incredible story. She had struggled with drug addiction, and as a result had a criminal record. Remarkably, she was in my department – Criminal Justice. I was intrigued. I asked her how she had overcome her addiction. She shared about her encounter with Jesus, His love for her had changed her life. She had completed a 12-step program and enrolled in Project Rebound, a program designed to help formerly incarcerated people earn a college degree. What a story! 

We shared this moment because I had changed. 

If I had encountered Susan just a semester earlier, I would have missed it. For years, I thought I had a professorial obligation to complete neutrality. I blame my background as an attorney at least in part. The law places great value on objectivity, and in teaching the law, I never revealed ‘my hand’ to my students. When pressed in class about the outcome of a difficult legal case I didn’t want to sway their opinions. I took great pride in making sure I was as neutral and objective as possible in everything I shared with them.

I didn’t ever share my own personal story, and I carefully stepped around sharing about my faith with colleagues or students unless there was a very explicit and welcome opportunity to do so. This very careful approach to sharing my faith on campus was challenged just before I met Susan.

God brought together a community of Christian faculty and staff here at Sacramento State University. Our group began meeting for prayer monthly and then decided to plan a Northern California conference for Christian Faculty & Staff to encourage others to live out the gospel with boldness on their campuses. Our first conference focused on the integration of faith and vocation. It was a game-changer for me! Immediately after hearing the speaker, Dr. Charles Lee from Stanford, I changed my “welcome” lecture. I added information about my family, our church, and my children’s local Christian school. It was that easy! By simply changing what I shared when I introduced myself to my students that semester, God had opened the door to Susan. I am so grateful! 

I am continuing to learn what it looks like to live out my faith at work. I want more than anything for people to see God’s love lived out in me – and the first step was being brave enough to tell my students a little more about myself.

We’re grateful for professors like Laurie who want to see Jesus glorified on the campus. Thanks for being a part of this grand vision!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for Laurie! Pray that the Lord would use professors to bring students and other faculty to know him.

Pray for our digital missions to Central Asia. The Lord has provided a way to reach out to countries digitally, when it typically has been hard to get the gospel there in person. We’ll share more in an upcoming letter.

12 of the 13 campuses we’ve been working on have gone virtual this semester. Pray for the Lord to work despite the unusual circumstances. Also pray for the endurance of students and professors.

God is Still At Work

“Thank you so much. I feel like a newborn child. It’s like something very heavy was removed from my shoulders already. Now I even feel the love of Jesus that I never experienced before. I just want to know everything about him.” – Patricia

How has COVID-19 affected overall interest spiritual matters? Short answer: it’s increased!

Just in May 2020 alone, 6.7 million people worldwide visited EveryStudent.com, a Cru website designed to virtually present the gospel to people seeking answers about life and God. When they visit the website, they can read articles and virtually correspond with a Christian. Over one million of the people who visited in May happened to be from Muslim or Communist countries, and of the 6.7 million people total, more than 106,000 people indicated that they made decisions to follow Jesus after visiting the site!

Here are some more quotes from people who have visited the website:

“I prayed and prayed and prayed…but was not able to get out of this addiction. I have read many other popular books. Thank you for your emails. I got my eyes open and power from our Heavenly Father. Now I can control everything with the Holy Spirit’s power.”– Anselm

“I’ve been receiving your spiritual starter kit messages and I just would like to say I really, really appreciate them. As a stressed out student, they are encouraging. I’m learning so much and I really feel like they are helping me develop my relationship with God. I cannot thank you enough for this.” – Dee

“I’m beginning to know about God and Jesus in a way I’d not known before. I am enjoying so much your pouring out the words of God with some very good examples. I always grin whenever I open the mail. Thanks.” – Charles

Thanks so much for your partnership that helps bring the gospel to so many people globally!

Prayer Requests

  • The school year will start up this month, but it will look very different than normal. Pray for wisdom and for the Lord to move mightily, even if it looks different than if might have been in previous years.
  • Pray for our students as they take classes virtually. Pray that the Lord would sustain them and also use them to share the gospel with others.
  • Pray that we would be able to connect with many churches to help them grow in evangelism so that their church (and students) would be more equipped to reach the people around them.
  • Please pray for energy, health, and grace for our family and staff team as we get into our fall routines.  Pray that we would love God and each other well! 

Connecting Halfway Across the World Through Instagram

“Hello, I have a question for you,” wrote Anil to our Cru Sacramento Instagram account.

In early May, our Cru staff team received a message from Anil (name changed for security purposes), who had some questions about Jesus and Christianity. It turns out that he is from a Muslim family in a predominantly Hindu country, but started reading the bible when he was 15 years old. When his family found out, they scolded him, and he stopped reading the bible.

Two years ago, however, he started searching again and now is a follower of Jesus. He is still living with his Muslim family, but they don’t know that he is a Christian. In lockdown during this pandemic, and without Christian community in general, by God’s grace Anil connected with us through Instagram from halfway across the world. Ben, one of our staff members, has been answering questions and acting somewhat like a long-distance mentor to him. They’ve even been able to connect over video.

“You should see his expression and excitement when we talk about the Bible and Jesus!” says Ben. “It’s like something life-changing is happening inside of him.” Ben and Anil have even begun to talk about Jesus’ calling to his followers to share the gospel with others and make disciples.

That very same day that Anil first messaged us over Instagram, someone else named Kareena (name also changed for security purposes) responded to one of our Instagram posts. Providentially, Kareena just happened to be from the same country as Anil. Though Anil and Ben are still connecting, Ben was able to connect Anil with a Cru staff member in his city through Kareena. Praise the Lord!

Thank you for helping to enable our ministry to connect with and mobilize people from across the world to follow Jesus and share the gospel with others that don’t know him!

Prayer Requests

Thank the Lord that he is working in Anil’s life! Pray that he would continue to grow, and that the Lord would give him wisdom and boldness with his family.

Thank the Lord that he is still reaching the nations through this pandemic that has affected so many people.

Pray that our students in the Sacramento Metro area would develop a greater heart to reach the nations!

Please pray for our family to love the Lord and each other well as we continue to shelter-in-place with 3 kiddos! 

Arif’s Story

As “Arif” (name changed for security reasons) was returning home one day, a man approached him and put his hand on his shoulder, saying, “Trust in Jesus and surrender yourself to him.”

“Who are you?” Arif asked. “Wait while I put my things on the doorstep and come back to you. I want to talk with you.” Arif set his things down and came back, but the man had vanished. That night, Arif went online and searched for information about Jesus. But after a while, he gave up. 

Over the next few years, Arif’s marriage fell apart. He felt hopeless and began seeking Jesus again. This time, he found one of our websites that explains the gospel. Through that website, he got in touch with a Cru staff member, and after several months of conversation, Arif gave his life to Christ. He is now involved with a church, reading the Bible, and forgiving those who have hurt him in the past.

Arif lives in a country in the Middle East that is 99% unreached. Praise the Lord that he is bringing the unreached to himself!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray that the Lord would grow Arif in his new faith and help him share with others.

Pray that the Lord would continue to work to bring many to himself in unreached countries.

Praise the Lord for his work in the Sacramento area. In the past year, 19 students have indicated that they have begun relationships with Jesus.

We’re grateful for our staff team in Sacramento. Praise the Lord that he has provided good coworkers to labor with.

Praise the Lord for our growing baby boy, Jack, two months old.

(Modified) Ministry Goes On

A church’s young adults group learns how to have spiritual conversations and share the gospel with their friends every Sunday night, and then puts into practice what they’ve learned with their friends over text and FaceTime!

Nearly everyone is feeling the effects of COVID-19. One of the lifestyle changes has been the cancellation of events. Ministry to college students and young adults, however, hasn’t stopped. Just as classes have moved online, so has our ministry.

In February, a church in a Sacramento suburb (Elk Grove) asked us to train their young adults in evangelism. When the governor mandated that California shelter-in-place, it was clear that we would have to modify our training to be “Zoom friendly”.

Each Sunday night, our team teaches these young adults a new skill to point people to Jesus. During the week, each of these 16 students put what they’ve learned into practice primarily through texts and FaceTime with their friends. Ministry is happening through students and young adults who don’t have to leave their homes!

This pandemic has surfaced major fears and anxiety about life and death, and the quarantine has provided space to address the questions students have. Our involved students and young adults are enjoying meaningful conversations with others who happen to be all along the spiritual spectrum.

We’re excited to see the fruit that God brings that may not have happened without the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you so much for being part of bringing people hope and peace in the midst of such unprecedented times!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray for fruitfulness for students and young adults as they reach out virtually to their non-believing friends. Pray that believing students would lean into the peace that the Lord brings in the midst of uncertainty, and that non-believers would place their hope in Jesus.

Pray for us as we continue to adjust to being a family of five. The kids are doing well overall, but life is currently so far from normal for them. It’s hard for 4-year olds and 2-year olds to understand why they can’t see their friends or even do the normal things they do throughout the week. Abby, while persistently joyful even the midst of lots of recent changes, has felt the loss emotionally.

All of us (you as well) are experiencing loss in some ways. Pray that the Lord would use this time to refine our character and deepen our dependence on him.

Igniting the Church in Evangelism

Scott, a student at University of Nevada Reno, has trained his college group at church to share the gospel at UNR.

“You should talk to Scott,” said Pastor Jason said to Lucas. Little did Pastor Jason know that Scott would soon be training 12 other students from his church’s college group on how to share their faith.

Our Cru staff team traveled to Reno at the beginning of the fall semester to find students at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR) who had a heart to reach their campus. One of our staff members, Lucas, met with Pastor Jason at his church, who connected him with Scott.

Scott had previously been involved with Cru at San Jose State before transferring to UNR. He had been frustrated by the lack of evangelism happening on campus and was excited that Cru was seeking to reach UNR with the gospel. The same day they met up, Lucas trained Scott to have meaningful conversations about faith with his friends and classmates.

Scott’s vision is to work with his already-existing college group at church in order to mobilize them to reach students at UNR who don’t know Jesus. A few months after meeting Lucas, Scott had gotten the green light from his pastor to share his vision for campus evangelism at an upcoming college group meeting. 

“It would be great to have you come up and do a training,” Scott told Lucas.

“What if you did the training?” Lucas suggested.

“Well, I guess, yeah I could do it,” responded Scott.

Immediately, Lucas took some time to walk Scott through training curriculum that Scott could use to teach his college group on how to have evangelistic conversations on campus. Within a few weeks, Scott had trained his college group. The students are now pairing up to practice sharing their faith on campus with other students.

Please pray that the Lord would use Scott and his college group to bring the gospel to many at UNR!

Thank you so much for partnering with us to train students to share the gospel who will then train others to share the gospel!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray that UNR would be reached with the gospel through many more students like Scott.

Pray that churches all over California and Nevada would be equipped to reach out to high school and college students around them.

Pray that our team would be able to train 10 churches this semester on how to have personal ministries of evangelism.

Pray for our family as we soon welcome our son into our family. Please pray for a healthy delivery, sweet time together, and a smooth transition. 

Hunter’s Way of Life

Hunter (middle left) with 4 of the guys in his Gospel of Mark bible study

“Hey, what do you think about Jesus?”

Hunter, a student at FLC, has had his life changed by Jesus. He grew up in church, but started living the party lifestyle, and realized he needed to get out of it by the grace of God. He went to church and met with the pastor, and eventually started walking with Jesus.

“Jesus has totally changed the trajectory of my life.” Hunter isn’t complacent with Jesus only changing his life though. “I want to make Jesus available to everyone.”

Hunter is great at making friends. Whether it’s at school, at work, or with the high school basketball team that he trains, Hunter wants to give everyone the opportunity to know Jesus. With such a huge desire to make Jesus known, all Hunter really needed was someone to model what it looked like to share his faith and then some coaching. This happened through one of our Cru staff members, Jill.

“I never knew how easy it is to share my faith until I saw Jill do it.”

Hunter is constantly starting spiritual conversations with his friends using the training that he received from Jill. After finishing a pick-up game of basketball that he invited his friends to, he asked them, “Hey, you guys know that I go to church. What’s your spiritual background?” He listened to their responses, and then asked, “What do you guys think about Jesus?” After listening some more, he asked if he could share what the Bible says about Jesus, sharing the gospel with them.

In response, his friends began asking questions about Jesus, so Hunter started an investigative Bible study through the book of Mark. 11 guys started coming and 6 of them ended up sticking around. All 6 of them have decided to follow Jesus.

Elsewhere, while with the local high school basketball team, he started talking to individual people on the team. Adam and Erick had similar stories as Hunter, growing up somewhat in church and getting lost in the party scene. After Hunter shared the gospel with them, they soon decided to rededicate their lives to Jesus. Hunter is mentoring them in the foundations of the faith, and they are sharing the gospel with their coworkers. Adam has even started a small group bible study with them going through the book of Mark.

Hunter has made sharing about Jesus a way of life, and God is using him in mighty ways!

Thank you so much for helping students like Hunter share the gospel wherever they go.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank God for the work he has done in and through Hunter’s life!  Pray that God would continue to use Hunter and bless him in sharing the gospel. 

Pray that God would grow others to take the gospel to their campuses, friends, and communities .

Pray for our team to be refreshed and fruitful in ministry and life!

Please pray for our family (and team) to stay healthy during this cold and flu season.

Finding Spiritual Multipliers

Our family at University of Nevada-Reno at the beginning of the fall semester.

“We’re looking for students who love God and want to share Jesus with classmates. Do you know anyone like that at Yuba College?”

“Yes, me!” Mason replied.

Lucas met Mason on a Tuesday while our staff team was spending the week at Yuba College and asking students the above question. Lucas sat down with Mason the next day to talk about what it means to be an ambassador for Christ at Yuba College. Little did he know that he’d become a spiritual multiplier that very same day.

After they brainstormed some ways to reach the campus, Lucas asked, “What if we go share the gospel with someone right now?” Mason enthusiastically agreed.

Lucas and Mason walked up to the first two students they saw on campus and asked if they would be interested in talking about life and spirituality. Daniel and Devon were open, so Lucas and Mason sat down to listen to some of their story using a short spiritual interest survey. Daniel and Devon indicated at the end of the survey that they had a high desire to know God personally.

Lucas and Mason began to share the gospel using the “Knowing God Personally” gospel presentation through the GodTools app. It was pretty evident that they had never heard the gospel before, but they were intrigued and drawn to the message of grace and love through Jesus. At the end of the conversation, Lucas asked, “Do you guys want to put your trust in Jesus to bring you into a relationship with God?”

“Yes!” they both responded.

Mason is already planning to regularly meet up with Daniel and Devon to equip them in their new faith. Our staff team is excited to be able to coach Mason as he continues to take steps of faith, both with mentoring Daniel and Devon and also seeking to reach the rest of his campus alongside others.

Pray that God would lead us to more spiritual multipliers all over the Sacramento area and beyond who want to reach their campuses.

Thank you for your generous partnership and investment in the spiritual lives of students on college campuses in Sacramento and beyond!  We are so grateful for you!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Our team is busy at the start of the fall semester searching for students who want to multiply their lives so that every student on every campus can hear the gospel. In the fall semester, we’re hoping to visit 13 campuses to surface leaders. Would you please pray that God would lead us to these students on every campus?

Pray that God would greatly use students on campuses to be part of proclaiming his message of redemption.

Pray for more partnerships with churches in our area so that we can work together to reach every student.

Please pray for our team and family’s health as we enter the fall and start new routines.

What Would it Take?

From left: Jeff, Andrew, Wil, Sam, Micah, Rica, and Jen.

Our faith is meant to be entrusted to others and multiplied. What would it take to see rapid multiplication of the gospel through students?

In March, I (Jeff) was able to visit and participate in the ministry that Cru has in Manila, Philippines. I was amazed at what the Lord is doing there! I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. From June 2018 until April 2019, Cru in Metro Manila saw:

  • 10,125 individual gospel conversations
  • 6,755 students indicated decisions to trust Christ
  • 771 students being holistically discipled
  • 80 campuses with a ministry presence
  • 11 partnerships with churches

What’s even more amazing is that the work isn’t happening through tons of full-time Christian workers; Cru in Metro Manila only has six full-time staff! Rather, the work is happening through students.

Students like Sam, Micah, and Rica (Filapina women pictured above) have been changed by the gospel, and are now sharing the gospel with their classmates, discipling those who have come to faith, training them to share the gospel and disciple others, and also searching for other like-minded students at different campuses without a gospel presence.

At times, they’ve even seen four generations of spiritual multiplication within eight weeks, all through new believers. That is absolutely rapid multiplication!

Praise the Lord for what he is doing in Manila!

We’re praying and working hard to see the Lord bring about this type of impact in Sacramento and beyond. Would you pray with us that the Lord would bring incredible fruitfulness in evangelism, discipleship, and sending through students in Sacramento, much like is happening in Manila?

We are so grateful for your partnership to help fulfill the Great Commission through students!

Prayer Requests

  • Praise the Lord for what he’s doing in Manila, and pray for continued fruitfulness.
  • Pray that the Lord would raise up students on every college and high school campus in Sacramento and beyond who would have a passion to reach their campus.
  • Praise the Lord for students that the Lord has already raised up in Sacramento who are taking steps to reach their campus.