Thank you to all for your prayers and gifts for the Cru staff conference, Cru25! What an outstanding time we had!
During our first 3 days in Milwaukee we enjoyed the Legacy conference. This is a special opportunity for those of us who are over the age of 60 (670 people attended!) to spend time together, reminisce about our college days and early and present ministry adventures, sing our old worship songs and hear inspirational messages. We also got to join seminars on topics like retirement, Medicare, and how to keep on living for Jesus in our senior years! We can’t believe we are at that stage of life now!
One speaker reminded us to “Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so!” She told us the story of Rahab, the prostitute at the Battle of Jericho, and how she came to faith in God, saving herself and her family. As you know the story, Rehab gave birth to Boaz, who had Obed, who had Jesse, who had David who became the King of Israel. Each generation passed on the story of faith to the next generation. The speaker encouraged us to be intentional to share our stories of God’s faithfulness to our kids and grandkids, that Jesus may be glorified, and that they would have a strong foundation for their own lives. We want to encourage you, our dear partners in ministry, to never stop sharing your stories!
Then the next day the rest of the 4000 staff arrived with their families. For 2 days each ministry met in their separate places. It was exciting for us to attend the Campus Ministry meetings. The vision God gave to Dr. Bright in 1951 is still true of us today: “Reach the campus today; reach the world tomorrow.” By God’s grace, it is happening. A constant phrase we heard over and over was “God is on the move!” He is at work among this generation of college students who are hungry for the love and forgiveness of Christ. As students grow in their love for Jesus, they grow in their desire to care for their classmates who need the Lord.
The US Campus Ministry sends out laborers to many countries, especially into those areas of the world that have few chances to hear the Gospel. 3 years ago we were trusting the Lord to help us send several new teams to cities in the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia. God brought that about and now He is opening up opportunities to trust him for many more teams in more cities! Praise God! I encourage you to listen to Karly’s story https://bit.ly/karlytells as she shares about her call to go to the Middle East.
God continued to encourage us as we were led by the worship team and various speakers into the presence of God. David Robbins, our new Cru President, reminded us to keep our first love for Jesus, to help fulfill the Great Commission, and to be on the frontline of missions, going and sending to the least reached places.
It was amazing to hear how God is at work with building churches through both the Jesus Film and our Church Movements ministries. Take a listen here about a church in Miami. https://bit.ly/shawnschurch
Another highlight for us was our visit with Joel Lau, a new staff member heading back to Kyoto, Japan, after serving there for 2 years as an intern. We introduced him to other staff who had served in Japan when we were there. It is encouraging to see God still sending workers to Japan!
We enjoyed celebrating our 45 and 42 years on staff with Cru at the Heritage Night reception. Many great memories of what God has done were shared. It reminds us none of this would be accomplished without your partnership. Thank you so much for all your support and prayers and love for our whole family over the years! You have helped bring the gospel to students and people around the world with us through Cru! We so appreciate you all!