“So why did you fill out our survey?” I (Cameron) asked. “For the Otter Pop!” responded Ava with a smile.

At the end of August, a couple thousand students moved into the residence halls at Sac State for the new school year. These dorms house mostly freshmen or junior transfers who are new to the area. While their primary reason for coming to Sac State is to learn academically, they are also looking for friends, community, and purpose in life.  

Each day during the first week of school as students passed by on their way to class, Cru staff, students, and volunteers gave out Otter Pops (popsicles) to students who took our spiritual interest survey. Some of the students we met were already Christians and are looking for a place to continue to grow in their faith while in college. Many students, like Ava, don’t yet know Jesus and are interested in exploring faith.  

After that first week, we got in touch with interested students and invited them to check out our weekly Bible studies (like Cam’s study above) at Sac State. We also do this at other colleges in the area, like Folsom Lake College, Consumes River College, and Sierra College. Praise God for Otter Pops and the opportunities that are opened up because of them!  

The culmination of our Fall Launch season is a weekend getaway where students can grow in their relationships with the Lord and community as they hear from a speaker, worship together, and meet students from other campuses. The first weekend of October, 75+ students from our Sacramento campuses (below), Chico, and San Fransisco gathered for Fall Retreat in Redding. 

During a reflection time, Ainslie, a Sac State freshman, shared with our group that she realized that God is always pursuing us, and she just needed to pursue Him back! Another Sac State student, Tyler, is excited to return to campus and share his faith with his friends and classmates! We are excited to come alongside these students as they walk with Jesus, and grow in living out their faith! Thank you for partnering with us and praying for students like Ava, Ainslie, and Tyler as they take the next step in their faith journeys with Jesus!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for a great start to fall! It’s been so encouraging and fun to meet lots of new and interested students! 
• Pray for students to want to learn how to read the Bible and follow Jesus with their whole lives. Pray for them to connect to a Bible study. 
• Pray for evangelism trainings starting this week. 
• Pray for our family as we steward our schedules and energy levels. Pray for our health as we get further into fall. 

successful evangelism noun

1. taking the initiative to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. 

Our family spent 3 beautiful days in Tahoe last month while I (Cameron) got to train 47 students from all over the U.S. in how to love your neighbor and live missionally after college. While attending the Lake Tahoe Summer Mission, students get jobs locally or take classes at the community college, and use their evenings and weekends to participate in trainings, outreaches, community, and discipleship geared towards growing them in their walks with Jesus during and after college. Essentially, students are given opportunities to see how God can use their everyday moments for His glory! This summer, students and staff in Tahoe were able to share the gospel with 328 people (co-workers, locals, tourists, etc), and saw 17 people place their faith in Jesus through their outreaches and the relationships students built with co-workers.

After finishing one of my trainings, Suzannah (left of Cameron above), who had just finished her freshman year at Boise State, asked me to get coffee. Suzannah shared how God had been working in her life this summer and showing her that He has been leading her, even through disappointments and struggles, to a place of knowing His love more deeply and trusting Him with her future. Being a part of a community of so many different types of people collectively desiring to know Jesus and make Him known has made her eager to keep growing when she returns to her campus. Also, participating in successful evangelism (see definition above) has grown her in her intentionally and authenticity in sharing Jesus with others. This summer has confirmed in her a desire to return to Idaho and eventually Germany (where she recently studied abroad), to share the grace, joy, and peace of the gospel with her friends.

Praise God for Suzannah and the other 46 students from all over the U.S. (Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Montana, California, etc.) who took the initiative to use their summers in this way! Pray that God would bless and use them to share His love as they return to their campuses. Thank you for praying for and investing in these students’ lives and partnering with us in this ministry! We’re grateful for you! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for the start of the school year!  All of our Sacramento campuses begin the week of August 26!  Pray for Cameron and the staff to have energy as they meet students and have spiritual conversations during fall launch.
• Pray for all of the students stepping on campus! Pray they would see their need for Jesus and experience the good news of hope and life in the gospel. 
• Pray for the start of Cameron’s dorm Bible Study. Pray that many students would come and learn to study God’s word and discover Jesus. 
• Please pray for energy, health, and grace for our family! Pray for each of us as we settle into rhythms of work, play, and rest Pray that we would point each other to Jesus daily! 

Kaitlyn (fourth from the left in front row, and shown with Cam below) didn’t expect to go back overseas with Cru. She had gone to Central Asia in 2022 for a summer mission, but the rest of her summers have been slotted for taking classes and nursing school applications. However, at Cru’s Winter Conference this January, Kaitlyn felt like God was calling her to go again this summer.

In May, Kaitlyn joined with 13 other college students from around the US to go to Kyoto, Japan for 5 weeks.  While there, Kaitlyn’s team went to Japanese Universities, built friendships with students, and had intentional spiritual conversations with them. Below is Kaitlyn’s description of one such conversation: 

“I had sukiyaki for dinner with another friend this week! Even though her English was not as advanced, we had a fun time getting to know each other through broken English and Google translate. We had a great conversation as to what the true meaning of Christmas and Easter is and I was able to share the gospel with her!! She became super curious to learn more and wanted to come visit Student Impact [Cru’s name in Japan], but she is scared to become a believer because of persecution here in Japan.”

Kaitlyn has returned already, but she is continuing to learn from her experience: 

“My trip to Japan has been such an amazing experience where I saw God work in the hearts of Japanese students along with transforming my heart to grow more compassionate for the unreached. I was reminded that He is a God of all nations and that He isn’t just working in the lives of people in America but also in the lives of people in Japan. Though there are few Christians in Japan He is still working to open their eyes to see who He is and I hope that He continues to send me out into the plentiful harvest. It has been so inspiring to see how Christians in Japan are ministering to students and it has encouraged me to be more bold and courageous to spread the gospel to people in America.”

I am so grateful for Kaitlyn and the privilege it is to walk alongside her during her college years.  She has helped lead Bible studies at Sac State, helped launch Epic (a Cru ministry to Asian-American students), gone on mission trips, and learned to share her faith.

Thank you for investing in students like her and the impact she will make for Christ at Sac State and beyond!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for Kaitlyn and the other students who went to Japan this summer. Pray God would continue to work in and through them as they return to their campuses!
• Pray for the students they met, that God would water the seeds planted!
• Pray for Jeff and his team as they do the hard work necessary to make Cru’s apps, websites, and platforms function well.  
• Pray for our family to savor the summer and the change in rhythms.  
• Pray for Cameron’s trainings at the Lake Tahoe Summer Mission. She will be training around 50 students July 18-19.

“ I enjoy making a difference in the lives of the students who will be the spiritual leaders of tomorrow, whether that be within their families, in the workplace, at their church, or perhaps even in ministries like Cru.” — Michael (third from the right above)

Preparing students to live life on mission wherever God leads them is one of our greatest joys as Cru staff. Michael got involved with Cru at UC Berkeley while studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. After graduating last year, he went on a summer mission with Cru before returning home to Folsom. During the summer, God put it on Michael’s heart to find ways to continue to minister to college students in his free time. 

Michael joined our team as a volunteer in the fall and jumped in to help lead students in our Epic Movement at Sac State (a ministry focused on reaching Asian-American students) and our newly re-started movement at Folsom Lake College.  

Last month, Michael took two students, Maclainey and Gabe, out on the FLC campus and modeled how to ask questions, listen, and walk someone through the gospel message.  When they finished, Maclainey and Gabe grabbed their friends, Emily, Judah, and Sarah, and showed them how to do what Michael had just taught them! This group ended up sharing the message of Jesus with 6 students that afternoon! 

After seeing these gospel conversations modeled and put into practice, the students came away confident that God could use them and excited to engage with more people! 

Thank you for partnering in this ministry of multiplying faith!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for working in Michael’s life while at UC Berkeley, and using him to reach this generation of college students with the gospel! 

Praise God for the students who are being equipped to have spiritual conversations wherever they are! Pray that God would use them!

Pray for students as they transition to their summers. Pray that God would use them in their homes and workplaces. Pray for students who are going on summer missions to be used mightily as they share the gospel. 

Pray for Cameron’s preparation as she gets to spend a couple of days training the 47 students at the Lake Tahoe Summer Mission.

Pray for our family to enjoy the change of pace over summer and to use our time well! 

Spring time on college campuses often means two things: nicer weather and more conversations about Jesus! Our students took advantage of this by giving away free cups of milk tea and inviting students to talk about Easter/Jesus.  

Epic Movement (our ministry to Asian-American students at Sac State) gave away gallons of tea during Easter week (pictured above). One of the cups went to a Filipino student named Zoilo, with a quick conversation before he headed off to his next commitment.

The following week, Zoilo ran into two of our staff who got to sit down with him and share the whole gospel message. After talking a while, Zoilo decided to pray to receive Christ!  

Praise God for how he pursues students like Zoilo! Pray for him as he connects with our students in Epic and learns how to walk in his new relationship with God. 

Our Cru movement at American River College hosted a similar table this month. One student we met, Nikhil, grew up with Hindu parents, but he now calls himself an atheist. While chatting over a cup of tea, he shared about his studies and the stress/anxiety he feels. 

Two of our students took the opportunity to share with him about why Jesus is such good news and how he can give peace. Nikhil wasn’t ready to trust in Jesus, but after talking, he gave us his number and was interested in talking more! 

Pray that God would help us to continue these gospel conversations with students like Zoilo and Nikhil! Pray that He would continue to draw them to himself. 

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for His continual work in students’ lives! 

Pray for Zoilo and Nikhil to get connected with other believers in our Cru and Epic Movements and to learn how Jesus can be their source of life and truth! 

Pray for our time with students to be fruitful as we wrap up the semester. Pray for God to use ours and our students summers for His glory! 

Pray for us to point our children daily to the Lord and pray for him to give them faith in Him! 

Joaquin grew up in a nominally Catholic home, but his family didn’t really go to church or talk about faith.  It wasn’t until college, through his science classes, that he saw how creation points to a Creator, and he began to wonder what God might be like. However, at this point, these were just unanswered questions in his mind. 

This fall, some of our Cru staff ran into Joaquin during our weekly evangelism hour. They shared with him about who this Creator God is, and even more importantly, how we can know him through Christ. Joaquin decided then and there that he wanted to follow Jesus and begin a new relationship with this God!

Since then, Joaquin has been participating in our Sac State small group on Tuesday nights, learning more about the amazing good news of Jesus through the book of Ephesians. He meets up regularly with our staff to learn how to grow in his new faith through prayer, reading the Word, confessing sin, and sharing his faith. 

Recently, Joaquin shared his faith for the first time, helping to pass on that same good new to others! Praise God for his work in Joaquin’s life, and this example of how God takes lost students and turns them in into multiplying disciples! Pray for more students in Davis and Sacramento to come to know God and be sent out into the harvest fields!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for Joaquin’s new faith and growth in Christ! 
• Pray for our students to draw closer to the Lord over Winter Break. 
• Pray for our Winter Conference in January. Pray that many students will come and encounter the love, truth, and power of the gospel for themselves and others around them! 
• Pray for our family to depend fully on Christ and seek him!  Please pray for our kids to grow up knowing the grace and truth of Jesus. 
• Please pray for Jeff and Cam both to be learners in their roles as they navigate new technology, strategies, generations, and cultures to see the gospel go forth. 

Lidiya (above left), a student at American River College (ARC) describes herself as a seeker.  She is a first-year engineering student, and has entered into her college life full of questions. She wants to learn what is true and what life is all about.  

Lidiya first learned about Cru during one of our days tabling on campus.  She came up and began asking Juan (above right), on of our student leaders, why he became a Christian in high school, how he knows that the gospel is true, and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.

After that initial conversation, and over the past month, Lidiya has joined Juan, Steven (Cameron’s co-leader) and several other students on Mondays to study the life of Jesus in the gospel of Luke.  

Some of the students attending the Monday lunch group are solid in their faith while others are just coming back to the Lord after a season of wandering in high school. But each, like Lidiya, is interested in who Jesus is, and it is evident that God is stirring in these students’ hearts.  

Thank you for helping create spaces and opportunities for students like Lidiya to ask questions and get answers! We are grateful for your prayers and investment in these students’ lives! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for Lidiya!  Pray that God would open her heart to trust Him with her life.  
• Praise God for the Monday small group at ARC and pray for them as they study the gospel of Luke and seek Jesus. 
• Pray for our movements at Sac State and Davis, that God would give our students boldness as they invite others to come and see who Jesus is. 
• Pray for Cameron’s on-going conversations with Kendra, a student at Sac State who also has big questions about faith and the Bible.  
• Pray for our family to abide in Jesus daily and walk with Him in all areas and seasons of our lives. 

A new school year is upon us, and with it, thousands of new students flooding campuses across the greater Sacramento area and at UC Davis. There is so much opportunity for the gospel to be heard, but how does it happen?

The start of every school year means hours and hours spent talking to hundreds of students across our five Sacramento campuses. We talk to as many freshmen and junior transfers as possible to welcome them to campus and to look for spiritually-open students. Jaden is one of those students. 

On the first day of class at Sac State, Jaden (above, right) walked by our Cru table near the dorms. He is a freshman whose family moved to the U.S. from overseas five years ago. He eagerly filled out a spiritual-interest survey and met up with my teammate, Conor, the next day! 

Jaden had attended a Christian high school and had a lot of head knowledge about Christianity, but it wasn’t until his meeting with Conor that his head knowledge became heart knowledge. Conor shared with Jaden the significance of our sin, our need for Jesus, and how Christ’s death and resurrection is actually an invitation into a reconciled relationship with God.  

For the first time, the meaning of the gospel clicked for Jaden and made sense. He decided right then and there to place his faith in Christ and prayed with Conor to start this new life with God!

We are praising God for Jaden’s new life in Christ, and for the many others who have taken steps of faith to learn more about Jesus! Your prayers and partnership are making a difference, and we are so grateful for the ways you come alongside us!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise the Lord for his work in Jaden’s life!  Pray that he would be aware of God’s presence and love daily! 
• Please pray for our Fall Retreat (Sept 22-24).  We are gathering with 80+ students from Chico, San Francisco, and our schools in Sac and Davis. Pray for students to connect deeply with each other and the Lord! 
• Pray for our Welcome Week at UC Davis (Sept 23-27). Our team is excited to meet new students and hoping that many would hear about Jesus.
• Please pray for energy, health, and grace for our family and staff teams as we get into our fall routines. Pray that we would love God and each other well! 

In May and June, campuses in Sacramento and Davis wrapped up their terms, and with the close of another school year, our team spent time reflecting on God’s work in our midst and celebrating together. Thank you for investing in these students and partnering with us in all that God did this year! Here are some highlights:

Aurora and Jade: Aurora, a freshman student at Sac State (pictured above in orange next to Cam), found us during a Welcome Week event in August when she and her boyfriend, Javin, were walking by. Both of them got involved in our Monday night small group and started learning how to share Christ with others. 

Beyond just getting into spiritual conversations with other students on campus, Aurora began initiating with her friend, Jade, to talk about Jesus. All year long, Aurora asked the Monday night group to pray for Jade and to pray for wisdom in how to answer Jade’s questions about Christianity. Talking with friends about the gospel is often more nerve-racking than with strangers at school! 

This spring, God’s work in Jade’s heart became evident, as she spiritually opened up more and more. She started asking deeper questions and wanting to understand why Jesus’ life and message are such good news. At the beginning of April, the week before Easter, she finally accepted Aurora’s invitation to come with her to church.  Through that service and her many talks with Aurora, Jade decided to place her faith in Christ!  

Since then, Jade has been regularly going to church with Aurora and learning about her new life in Jesus! Pray for Jade as she continues in her new relationship with the Lord, learning and growing in him. 

Students taking steps in evangelism. Most of our students learned how to share their faith and had opportunities to put it into practice. A dozen of them shared Christ for the first time this year!

5 new brothers and sisters in Christ! Aside from Jade, we saw other students indicate decisions for Christ through the evangelistic efforts of our students. Pray for these students to also grow in their new relationships with the Lord. 

2 new launched ministries. In our goals to reach every student on every campus, we try to launch multiple groups on campuses to focus on reaching different pockets of students. This year, the Lord brought together leaders to start Epic (a ministry to Asian-American students) at Sac State and Destino (a ministry to Latino students and faculty) at UC Davis. Pray that God would reach every student with the good news of Jesus and overcome cultural barriers! 

Students discipling students. As a result of rebuilding post-COVID, this year the Lord raised up student leaders who can disciple and lead other students, helping them walk with God and share their faith.  He is multiplying our impact! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for all that He did this year!
• Pray for our students to grow in their relationships with God over summer break.   
• Pray for God to be working in the hearts of students we will meet this year!
• Pray for our family to daily draw close to the Lord and be shaped by Him. Pray that we would be refreshed!

During the week prior to Easter, I (Cameron) got to take Kaitlyn, a Sac State student to UC Davis for an Easter outreach (pictured above). The Davis Cru staff and students hid Easter eggs with candy all over campus, and students who found the eggs could enter in a raffle. When the egg finders visited the table we asked about what Easter meant to them. The answers we heard varied: Easter is “a time to eat candy,”  “the Easter bunny,” “a time to be with family,” “go to church,” etc.  

When Jade approached the table and answered that she’s not religious, I wanted to know more. Jade’s parents are atheists and her only exposure to Christianity was when she went to a friend’s youth group without her parents knowing. Jade went on to explain that she believes in some sort of higher connection and power, but one that comes from within and is self-discovered.  

After sharing my own journey of spiritually seeking and encountering Jesus, I was able share how through belief in Jesus, I also believe in a power within me—the Holy Spirit. This common ground gave me the opportunity to share how an all powerful and good God that is far outside us could make His home in our hearts. 

Jade’s views of God didn’t change in that moment, but she shared that her view of Christians did. Having an honest, loving, open conversation about faith altered some of her previous negative views of Christians. It is a great joy to see someone place their trust in Christ, but we also celebrate each little step closer someone takes to being able to believe the good news.

Please pray for Jade and others like her, that God would put believers in their lives who will share the good news in grace and truth. Pray they would hear and respond!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for those who participated in the Easter outreach, that many students at Davis would hear the good news of Jesus and turn to Him.
• Pray for God to use our student leaders’ steps of faith, especially in sharing the gospel. 
• Pray that we finish the school year well and send students equipped for summer break!
• Please pray for our family to get and stay healthy! Pray for us and our kids to draw closer to Jesus every day!