{"id":1886,"date":"2021-08-19T14:15:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T18:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/?p=1886"},"modified":"2021-08-19T14:15:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T18:15:20","slug":"breakthrough-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/?p=1886","title":{"rendered":"Breakthrough in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fresh from four weeks of intensive evangelism and discipleship at North Myrtle Beach Summer Mission, Zach (St. Cloud, \u201822) is excited to help fellow students come to know Christ \u2014 an amazing shift from the Zach of a few months ago: crying himself to sleep at night … wondering what to do, where to start, and how to fix things. What happened? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week-end party-er since high school, Zach\u2019s drinking had started to become more of a \u201cMonday through Sunday\u201d thing. COVID restrictions hijacked the end of his sophomore year, leaving the same 30 or 40 students showing up at the same bars each night, all flush with stimulus cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Segueing into summer 2020, underage Zach ended up in police custody, having blacked out on someone\u2019s front lawn. Considering his major in Law Enforcement, the irony of the arrest sent Zach into deep depression. What had happened to that competitive, athletic, \u201cdecent grades\u201d guy he used to be? Sobbing in his bed, feeling unfulfilled and without a future, Zach texted Trevor, his older brother, \u201cI\u2019m so sick of this lifestyle.\u201d Trevor\u2019s reply? \u201cGo to Cru.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trevor, also in Law Enforcement, had encountered God through Cru a few years earlier. At the time, 16-year old Zach couldn\u2019t understand how Trevor had been able to change from the angry brother he\u2019d known his whole life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m jealous of your breakthrough. I don\u2019t think it will work for me … but I\u2019ll try,\u201d Zach texted back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, on that unseasonably warm Minnesota night, Zach walked into a church where students had gathered to experience Cru\u2019s virtual Winter Conference. He felt emotionally drained and doubtful \u2014 conspicuous \u2026 until he heard the band playing a song tailored just for him: Breakthrough. Amazed, Zach felt relief, the weight lifting off of him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike a toddler in a new world,\u201d is how Zach sums up his spring semester experience of salvation, discipleship, Bible study, church \u2026 \u201cups with a few downs,\u201d the downs dwindling when he moved out and away from his party friends mid-May, opting instead for gym workouts and basketball. \u201cYou can\u2019t have one foot in and the other out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early on, Zach committed to the summer mission, where God\u2019s loving truth continued to penetrate:. \u201cMy faults and mistakes no longer define me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now back at St. Cloud, Zach met up with some of his old buddies, enduring their taunts of \u201cPreacher Boy,\u201d and agreeing with them, \u201cYou\u2019re right. I\u2019m not better than you. We all need help.\u201d Zach\u2019s been asked to leverage some of his newly discovered gifting, helping Cru reach out to other students, initiating Christian community in the dorms, and emceeing Cru\u2019s weekly meeting. \u201cGod has given me a big heart for others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pray for Zach to grow steadily from \u201cspiritual toddlerhood\u201d to a leader, firm in his faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fresh from four weeks of intensive evangelism and discipleship at North Myrtle Beach Summer Mission, Zach (St. Cloud, \u201822) is excited to help fellow students come to know Christ \u2014 an amazing shift from the Zach of a few months<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-from-the-clarks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions\/1888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steveclark.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}