Category Archives: Monthly Updates

“Is That You?”

“Hey, we’re looking for people who love Jesus and want to share their faith with people on campus. Is that you?”

As we seek to build spiritual movements on every campus is the Sacramento area and beyond, we trust that the Lord is already working and raising up students who want to reach their campus with the gospel. Though it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack, the Lord has been faithful to help us find these students.

One day in March, our team was searching for students at Sacramento City College. One of our staff members, Lucas, stopped a student walking by and asked him the question above. Slightly stunned, the student said, “Yeah, that’s me. I’ve actually been praying that God would give me more opportunities to share my faith. My name is Slavik.”

Slavik moved from Ukraine to Sacramento when he was a young kid. He got involved in a church when he was in high school that encouraged him to share his faith. With this in mind, he decided that he would go to college with the purpose of reaching the lost.

Lucas taught Slavik to share his faith using the Knowing God Personally booklet through an app on his phone called GodTools. “This is so easy,” Slavik said. “It’s all laid out for you.” Now that he was equipped and encouraged, he took is friend out to Old Town Sacramento to share the gospel with people. Slavik was already passing on what he had learned.

Slavik hopes to train people in his church’s college ministry to share their faith using the GodTools app. Many of those students attend Sac City, Sierra College, and Sacramento State. “This is why we’re here: to share the gospel with people. I want to see more and more people sharing their faith on campus.”

Pray with us and Slavik that God would use him to fulfill his vision.

Thank you so much for being part of mobilizing students to share the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus on college campuses and beyond!

Prayer Requests

Thank the Lord for raising up Slavik at Sac City College.

Praise the Lord! This school year we’ve seen 13 students indicate decisions to trust the Lord!

Pray that the Lord would raise up exponentially more students to share the gospel at every campus in Sacramento and beyond.

Pray for students to walk with Jesus deeply over the summer and to continue sharing their faith.

Pray for the Lord to work in the lives of incoming freshmen and give them a burden to reach their campus.

Pray that the Lord would raise up student leaders at schools where we don’t currently have anyone sharing the gospel. Specifically, pray for University of Nevada – Reno, Sierra College, Woodland Community College and Yuba College.

The Campus & Beyond

Above: Hunter (middle right) and Katherine (right) with other Cru Folsom Lake College students

What happens on campus doesn’t stay on campus.

Hunter and Katherine, students at Folsom Lake College (FLC), are living examples of this.

Hunter (pictured on the right in the middle) was trained how to share the gospel last year by one of our staff members, Jill. This school year, he has shared the gospel with 9 of his friends, some from his campus and some from work. As a next step, he invited them to an investigative bible study he planned to lead. Since then, he has been regularly leading five of them through the book of John as a group. He’s loving sharing the gospel on a weekly basis with them!

Katherine (above: right) was trained by Jill and Hunter on how to have spiritual conversations and share the gospel with friends. She has taken her training to her church, where she helps leads middle-school students. She shared the gospel with eight of those middle-school students, and three of them decided to trust Jesus for the first time! 

We want to mobilize students all over the Sacramento area and beyond to reach the campus and beyond. How amazing would it be to see hundreds of Hunters and Katherines sharing the gospel clearly with their classmates, coworkers, and friends?!

Please pray that the Lord would raise up more leaders like Hunter and Katherine all over the Sacramento area!

Thanks for being part of this vast and worthy mission to students and the people they influence!  We are grateful for you! 

Prayer Requests

  • Praise the Lord for his work through Hunter and Katherine!
  • Pray that the Lord would raise up student leaders all over Sacramento, NorCal, and Nevada to share the gospel on their campuses.
  • Please pray for our family to fully recover from sickness and have strengthened immune systems. 
  • Pray for Jeff’s trip to Manila.  Pray for safety, for easy eating solutions with his gluten allergies, and blessing for both those going and those who are receiving our group.
  • Please pray for Cameron’s grandma who has been in the hospital for the last week with major pain.  Pray for a clear diagnosis and treatment plan. 

Mobilizing Christian Colleges

Brendan met Clayton at the William Jessup University dining commons. “What do you think we as Christians need to do better in order to fulfill the Great Commission?” Clayton asked.

Brendan answered, “I think we don’t share the gospel enough. It’s too easy to become a Christian bubble.”

“I think you’re right,” Clayton said. “I’m meeting a guy who’s gonna teach me how to share the gospel better. Want to come with me?”

Our staff team had met Clayton through some a friend. Clayton had a passion to share the gospel, so one of our team members met with him and asked him if he’d like to start a movement of evangelism at his Christian college, William Jessup University. “Absolutely!” Clayton answered. 

The following week, Clayton brought Brendan, and told our staff member about their dinner conversation and their vision to grow a movement of students at Jessup who would be equipped to share the gospel with their friends, classmates, neighbors, and even strangers.

Clayton and Brendan learned about some of the tools Cru uses to help start spiritual conversations and share the gospel, such as the Knowing God Personally booklet, which explains the gospel in four simple points. They left feeling equipped to share their vision with others and passion for reaching the lost.

The group at Jessup has grown, and they have begun to bring other Jessup students to Sierra College, a public university just down the road from them, to gain experience in sharing the gospel with non-believers.

One of the students who has come is named Christian. Christian attended a Christian high school back home, and now attends a Christian university, but had never shared the gospel with anybody. I (Jeff) was able to take Christian out at Sierra to start a spiritual conversation with Landon, an agnostic who had very little spiritual background and had never heard the gospel. Though he didn’t entrust his life to Jesus that day, Landon did leave saying that if there was a personal God that existed, he would want to have a relationship with that God.

Every Jessup student who has come to Sierra to share their faith has had a great experience. On top of wanting to share the gospel at non-Christian colleges, they’ve left thinking about how they can share the gospel with students on their Christian campus who don’t know Jesus.

Pray that the group at Jessup would grow and be further mobilized to share the life-changing message of the gospel.

Thanks for partnering with us to mobilize students to share the gospel with those who have never heard!

Prayer Requests

Pray for the William Jessup group. Pray that they would get lots of experience in sharing the gospel and that they would see lots of fruit.

Praise the Lord that we have student leaders at 7 out of the 8 college campuses in the greater Sacramento area!

Pray for our team as we seek a student leader to start a movement of evangelism and discipleship at Sac City College.

Please pray for our family’s health.  We have had several colds and flu bugs.  Pray for health, quick healing, and encouragement.  

The Harvest is Plentiful

4 of 5 of this year’s leaders at American River College, from L to R: Bobby, Tammy, Abigail, and Regan.

Then [Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”   — Matthew 9:37-38

A new school year is upon us, and with it, thousands of new students flooding campuses across the greater Sacramento area. There are about 165,000 college students on the 11 campuses in the region that our team has been entrusted with. A large portion cycles through each year, with a new batch entering college just after a departing batch enters the workforce after graduation. There is so much opportunity for the gospel to spread to these thousands of students and the people they will come across. How do we go about so grand of a task, however?

The Cru movement at American River College is a great example of what we want to see happen all over the Sacramento area.

Designed from the very beginning to be student-led and staff-coached, 3 student leaders (Jeshua, Brielle, Leo) were commissioned two years ago. They found 5 leaders (Leo, Carissa, Regan, Johnny, David) to succeed them the following year. These leaders led weekly meetings, bible studies, mentored younger students in basics of the faith, and trained them in evangelism to the campus. This year, ARC has 5 more student leaders (Bobby, Regan, Haley, Tammy, Abby) ready to lead the movement to reach the campus. We foresee the Lord using them to raise up more leaders and transform the lives of those who don’t know him on their campus of 31,000 students. Praise the Lord for his provision and his work at ARC, and pray for the fruitfulness of the Cru movement there.

Along with two campuses that already have Cru movements (American River College and Sac State), there are 6 campuses on which our staff team is seeking to surface key student leaders who will lead movements this year.

They are:  Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College, Sac City College, Sierra College, William Jessup University, Yuba College

We will be visiting these campuses throughout the year to see if the Lord would allow us to start student-led movements of evangelism and discipleship. Would you pray that God would raise up 2-3 student leaders at each campus who are ready to lead new movements of evangelism and discipleship? We cannot find these leaders unless he provides and leads us to them!

Thanks for being part of raising up leaders who can impact their generation on the college campus!

Prayer Requests

  • Praise the Lord for his work at American River College the past few years.
  • Pray that the Lord would raise up 2-3 student leaders at each college in our area this year, and even at ones beyond the Sacramento area. Pray that the Lord would allow us to find them.
  • Pray that the Lord would use these student leaders to share the gospel with hundreds of those who don’t know Jesus and bring many to know Him.
  • 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! 

Surfacing Leaders on Every Campus

Cru students from Salt Lake City engage with a student at Sacramento City College

God is on the move, and our job is to join him in the work that he is already doing. Our belief is that he has raised up or is raising up the people and resources within a five mile radius of each campus to reach that campus with the gospel.

With that vision in mind, our Sacramento staff team, a few UC Davis Cru students and staff, and ten Salt Lake City Cru students on spring break recently blitzed five campuses in our area (Sac State, Sac City College, Cosumnes River College, Lake Tahoe Community College, and Yuba College) over a two-week period seeking to find people whom the Lord has raised up. We personally initiated with 1,649 people individually on those campuses in order to share with them this vision:

“We’re with an international student missions organization called Cru. We’re seeking to start the group here today. We’re looking for people who love God and want to share Christ with their classmates. Is that you, or do you know someone who fits that description?”

Honestly, this is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Once you find the needle, however, or the leader that the Lord has raised up, a gospel movement of evangelism and discipleship can really take off quickly.

One person that was surfaced at Yuba College was Joseph. Joseph is one of about a dozen students we found during our one-day visit to the campus who wanted to help start a spiritual movement at Yuba.

“I want there to be a space for people to come and ask questions and talk about God,” Joseph said.

Lucas, one of our staff members, shared with Joseph about the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20, and the principle of spiritual multiplication found in 2 Timothy 2:2. They talked about how God might start a movement at Yuba College through Joseph. Joseph wrote down five Christians he could involve in his vision, and five non-Christians he could begin to share the gospel with.

Pray for Joseph and students like him at Yuba College and around the Sacramento area. Our vision of student-led movements everywhere is dependent on them! Pray that God would ignite a passion in them to reach their fellow students with the gospel. And also pray that God would graciously give them what they need, whether that’s training, resources, or simply encouragement.

Thanks for being part of reaching every campus in the Sacramento area and beyond with the gospel!

Prayer Requests

Pray that the Lord would raise up students and volunteers to reach local college and high school campuses with the gospel.

Pray that our established student leaders would walk closely with Jesus and boldly share the gospel with those around them.

Pray for our upcoming staff planning in August. Pray that our staff team would have wisdom, renewed vision, and love each other well.

Entrust to Faithful Men

Lucas (right), with his wife, Katy, and 1 year old daughter, Elise.

“And the things you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” — 2 Timothy 2:2

I (Jeff) first met Lucas (left) in May of 2011 when he was a freshman at UC Davis in 2011. He had grown up in a Christian home, but never really understood the gospel and what it meant to give his whole life to Jesus. In the prior few months, the message of the gospel clicked and he decided to seek to live his whole life in submission to Jesus, which included ending an unhealthy dating relationship.

When I met Lucas that May, in just a few short weeks, he would be leaving for a 10-week summer mission with Cru to Ocean City, New Jersey. I was excited to know that in his upcoming sophomore year I would get to disciple him and lead a bible study with him to reach out to freshmen in the dorms.

Lucas came back from Ocean City having experienced a life-changing summer through training and experience in evangelism and discipleship. He eagerly desired to give his whole life to the type of spiritual multiplication we see in 2 Timothy 2:2. While the freshman bible study that year had its ups and downs with attendance, it was a joy to lead with Lucas and another student-leader, and we saw three freshmen men decide to give their lives to Jesus!

Lucas decided to go to Port Elizabeth, South Africa that summer on another Cru summer mission with a purpose of helping to launch student-led gospel movements on college campuses in the city. It was yet another transformative summer, this time in helping spread the gospel cross-culturally.

After graduating with a degree in philosophy from UC Davis in three short years, Lucas interned full-time with Cru at UC Davis for a year, and then joined staff with Cru for the long-term. I was so grateful to find out that his first staff assignment would be on my staff team in Sacramento!

It has been such a blessing to have Lucas on our team! He is faithful, steady, and brings an innovative spirit and mind in reaching college students. This year, he is active in helping launch and coach Cru movements at Sac State University, American River College, William Jessup University, and Yuba College. As a team leader, I know that whatever tasks I entrust to Lucas will be done well and faithfully.

Thank you for being part of raising up spiritual multipliers like Lucas!

Prayer Requests

Thank the Lord for Lucas. Pray for him and his wife, Katy, to continue to walk deeply with Jesus in the midst of adjusting to life with a young child and some family health issues. Pray also for the Lord to continue to use him in Sacramento and in San Diego this summer, where he’ll help lead a Cru Summer Mission that starts in a few short weeks.

Pray students heading out on summer mission this summer (San Diego and East Asia). Pray that they would experience a similar transformation that Lucas and many others have experienced while on mission, and also see much fruit.

Pray for a bonding and refreshing summer for our family.

Fall Transitions

Fall semester is filled with transitions:   new students leaving home and looking for a place to belong; students returning from summers and trying to bridge the gap between school years; students preparing to transition out of college and soaking in their lasts.

Cru Sac Metro (Cru’s ministry to 5+ campuses in the greater Sacramento area) has spent the last 6 weeks reaching out to these new students, following up with our returning students, seeking to reach new campuses, and providing opportunities for students for students to engage with the Lord personally.

One such opportunity was our annual Fall Retreat (top right).  About 40 students joined us for a fun weekend in the Sierras and to hear about being entrusted with the gospel. Students, especially those new to Cru, found community and learned more about how to make the Christian faith their own.  One theme talked about at retreat and this semester is daily dependence on the Holy Spirit to help us in our walks with Christ.  Our hope is that students will see that no matter the season or transition, their walks with Jesus can be deep and fruitful.

Summer Update

Brielle

In our last update, we asked a few students, including Brielle and Kirsten, about why they wanted to go on a summer mission and what they were excited about.  When they got back, we asked them, “What did God do in you this summer?” Here are their responses.

What did God do in you this summer?

Brielle: “[On mission] in Santa Monica, God taught me a lot about surrender. I learned that I often put my value in people or my accomplishments rather than in God alone. I learned that I have to surrender this and other things to God daily to live for Him. Surrendering is not just a one time decision.

God used our mission this summer to help bring 11 people to Christ, plant seeds to start a movement at the local community college, and share love and joy with our coworker’s.

I also learned what a God-centered community looks like and how important fellowship is. We  learned what it looks like to serve, lead, and be     vulnerable with 60 strangers that became family. “

Kirsten

Kirsten:    I struggle with insecurities, depression, and anxiety on a daily basis.  God chose to use the darkest points of my life as experience that can help others.  So many of my struggles were shared struggles that other women were going through.  God used my desire to love people and to listen to work in their lives.

God also gave me the opportunity to have a car on summer mission, which allowed me to [serve] by driving [fellow students] work, stores, events, anywhere.

God worked through me by me a heart for the lost and a burning passion to seek them out.

Prayer Requests

Pray for us and for students to walk in the Spirit every day and that students would be bold to share their faith.

Pray for Cameron and baby GIRL’s (!!) health with this pregnancy.  Cam has some joint pain but overall healthy.

Pray for Cameron’s spiritual formation group on evangelism at William Jessup (a Christian university).  It turns out that many in the group don’t have a personal relationship with Christ.  Pray that they would respond to the gospel.

Fresh Perspective

TiffaniTiffani’s experience of church growing up reflected the world around her— broken.  She grew up in a family that honored her great-grandmother in attending church together.  But Tiffani’s desire to learn about God was clouded by seeing some of her family members act very differently at church than she witnessed at home.  And after her great-grandmother’s death, Tiffani’s church attendance and involvement lessened and her view of church became more associated with hypocrisy and religion.

Last November, Tiffani was preparing to attend Sacramento State and was working at an after school center in Bakersfield alongside a coworker named Jasmine.  Jasmine’s life looked different and she made choices that intrigued Tiffani.  After initiating a spiritual conversation with Tiffani, Jasmine began to explain that she was a Christian and before trusting God, she had been unsatisfied with life.  But, when she turned to God, she found satisfaction and because of her faith, she stopped doing things that the world and culture expected her to do.

Jasmine invited Tiffani to attend church with her.  There, Tiffani was given a greater understanding of Jasmine’s faith and was able to learn about God and faith in a church that did not carry the same baggage that her own had for so many years.  After her experiences with Jasmine, Tiffani decided that when she got to Sacramento she would investigate this Christianity and God thing more.

Tiffani arrived at Sac State two months ago and was invited to check out Cru.  She attended most of our welcome week events, began making friends, and attended our weekly meeting.  After a few weeks, one of our staff members, Carrie, met with Tiffani to go through a gospel presentation called Knowing God Personally and to get a better understanding of where Tiffani was at with God.  Tiffani felt like she had learned a lot and wanted to trust Christ but needed more time.  She took the booklet home and thought about it more.  The next week, Tiffani and Carrie met up again.  Tiffani had felt the need to confess some things and bring her self fully before the Lord. They prayed together and Tiffani placed her trust in Christ.  She is now learning what it means to walk with Jesus daily, what it looks like to read the Bible and pray and live in Christian community.

We rejoice with the angels that Tiffani has become a follower of Christ!  And we are so grateful for your prayers and investment in seeing students like Tiffani take steps of faith in their spiritual journeys.  We give thanks to God for your faithful and sacrificial partnership!

Prayer Requests

Thank God for the work he has done in Tiffani’s life!  Praise him for the people he used to help bring her to himself! Pray for her to grow in faith and in her walk with Christ.

Pray for Jeff as he leads the Cru movement in Sacramento.  Pray for God to lead through him and for energy to do the work.

Pray for our team to finish the semester well.  Pray for unity, grace, joy, diligence, and love among our staff and students.

Pray for Cameron as she continues to figure out a new normal with being a mom and working on campus.

Meet Abigail Joy Clay

BirthWe usually use our updates to you to mostly give you an update on how ministry is going.  For this update, however, we wanted to introduce you to our new baby girl!

Abigail Joy Clay was born on March 18 at 3:39pm.  She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and measured 20 inches.  We’re so excited to welcome Abby!

Cameron had a long labor of 60 hours.  She was quite the trooper!

We’re loving getting to know our baby girl more and more and seeing new things every day.

See below for more pictures (click thumbnails for larger versions).  Enjoy!

Prayer Requests

Praise the Lord for a healthy baby girl!

Pray for Cameron to continue to recover.

Pray for our little girl to come to know Jesus.

Pray for rest, energy, and wisdom for us as we adjust to life as new parents.

“My Mom Signed Me Up for This Conference”

Over 900 students attended Radiate!

Over 900 students attended Radiate!

Jordan entered the registration room alone.  He had just arrived at Radiate, Cru’s regional winter conference over MLK weekend, and he looked a little out of his element.  As I (Jeff) helped register him for the conference, I noticed that he went to school at UC Irvine.  Wanting to find out more about him, I asked how he was involved in Cru at UCI.

“Umm, I’m not.  My mom signed me up for this conference.”

This could be interesting, I thought to myself.  As campus missionaries, it’s fairly common to receive emails from concerned parents asking us to reach out to their children.  We empathize with these parents who want the children they love so much to follow Jesus in college.  Unless their child has first indicated that they want to be contacted, however, reaching out on behalf of their parent without the student’s permission sometimes turns them off to Jesus or makes them more resistant.  I had these thoughts in mind when Jordan mentioned that he was at the conference because his mom signed him up.

Two days later, I saw Jordan in an elevator and made a point to say hi to him.  I asked how he was enjoying the conference.

“It was just what I needed,” he said.  Jordan had grown up as a pastor’s kid.  He said that while he had a lot of spiritual knowledge, he had decided to pursue other things; he had never made his faith his own.  The content of the conference, however, had adjusted his perspective.  He had decided to make his faith his own and pursue the Lord.

Praise God that Jordan encountered Jesus at Radiate, along with over 900 students from California, Arizona, and Hawaii.  We’re grateful that the Lord uses conferences like these to draw students closer to himself.  Pray that the fruit of the conference would be long lasting, making an eternal impact, and that it wouldn’t be a mountaintop experience that quickly gets forgotten once school gets busy.  Also, pray specifically that Jordan would be deeply rooted in the gospel and Jesus’ grace.

Thank you SO MUCH for being part of Jesus’ rescuing of students like Jordan!!

Prayer Requests

  • Praise God for the 900+ students who attended Radiate (50+ from Davis). Pray that God would help them integrate the things they learned into daily life.
  • Please pray for the upcoming outreach that our students are putting  on in the next few weeks.  Pray that God would use it!
  • Please pray for continued health and development  of Baby Girl and for Cameron’s health as we get closer to her due date. Also pray that God would prepare us to be parents.