2011-07 Update - Campus Crusade for Christ's Name Change to Cru

We Just Returned from All Campus Crusade Staff Training

Every other summer, the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, of which Student Venture is a part, gathers in Ft. Collins, Colorado to be refreshed spiritually, have our vision renewed, and celebrate what God has done. Soaking up the God-centered teaching (You can watch some of the videos yourself at http://bit.ly/CCCStaffConfSpeakerVideos ) has revitalized our souls in the middle of this crazy season for our family.

Campus Crusade for Christ is BECOMING... CRU

This is a big year for our ministry. It is the 60th anniversary of Campus Crusade for Christ! What started out as an outreach to college students established by Bill and Vonette Bright in 1951, has now blossomed into a movement of over 25,000 staff with a presence in 191 countries and a scope that is far beyond students.



Another reason this is a big year for us is that after sixty years, Campus Crusade’s name is changing. This past week it was announced that in early 2012, Campus Crusade for Christ will change its name to ‘Cru.’ This change will be for the United States ministry only. Campus Crusade actually already operates under a variety of names around the world. For example, in Russia, it is called ‘New Life’ and in Canada, it is called ‘Power to Change.’


The name change has been in process for two years. Our leadership has prayed, fasted and sought the advice of proven experts who help organizations makes similar changes. In addition, there was extensive market research including in depth interviews and surveys of staff, donors, volunteers and potential volunteers, ministry partners, students, and non-Christians. The change is being made in order to more effectively communicate the message of Jesus with people and partner with organizations and churches who share our aims. To read more about the reasons why this name change is important, or if you have questions or concerns, please visit http://bit.ly/WhyCCCBecameCRU to get some answers to ‘FAQ’ and see some enlightening short videos. One video is an interview of our Vice President, Steve Sellers, on Fox News.


Very recent media reports have taken an unfavorable stance (imagine that...the media spreading misleading information) by questioning our commitment to Christ since the word ‘Christ’ was removed from our official name. Be assured though, Cru remains deeply committed to proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ, the centrality of the cross, the truth of God's Word, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the global scope of the Great Commission. As you know, many Christian organizations and many local churches do not have the name Jesus or Christ in their name and this does not lessen their devotion to Him or their effectiveness in their mission.


In actuality, the name change brings little impact to our work. Student Venture will keep its name and will continue to be the middle and high school ministry of Cru. The bottom line for us is that we will never stop talking to people about Jesus, His transforming grace and forgiveness that He offers through the cross. It's who we are. It's why we're here. Thank you for standing with us in this glorious mission, and for living it yourself.


Of course, if you have questions about our new name or want further clarification behind why the change was made, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. Please join us in praying for a smooth transition.


As always, we appreciate your partnership in ministry more than words can express. Be assured that the Lord is using you, through your prayer and financial support, to make an eternal impact in the hearts of people!

Complete Letter

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2011-03 Ministry Update

9 Student Winter Conferences

Descriptive texts of the conferences:

• Opportunity for significance
• Transformed lives
• Morning and evening main sessions with great worship
• Evangelism training and a day of outreach in a public setting

When students and leaders returned home, their actual Facebook statuses, which you can read here, reflected the things that happened in their hearts. Andrea and Jamal had a limited knowledge about Jesus before they went to FastBreak, but over the weekend, they placed their faith in Him for the first time! Not only did Jamal give his life to Christ, he also shared the Gospel with 4-5 others the next day. Right underneath was a post from Jamal’s dad saying “I am so proud of you!” Quincy became a believer after a SV staff member shared the gospel with him last fall, and God used Fastbreak to help him grow in his young faith.

Video Gospel Presentation

For several months, I’ve lead a project using creative video clips to illustrate and communicate the Gospel message. Our prayer is the video will go “viral” online when it’s released.

Family Pics

Complete Letter

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Changed Lives :: Plano, A Student Experiences God at Work

Part of our Student Conferences is giving the students an opportunity to share their faith in the community where the conference is held.  They are armed with a short 5-question inoffensive survey to open a conversation, a Connecting with God booklet that talks about Jesus and having a person relationship with Him, and the Holy Spirit!   We’ll take the students to a mall, on the beach or even to area neighborhoods.
 
This story is about an outreach at one of our conferences and a student’s experience in sharing Jesus.
 
This student’s life (and the lives of the girls at McDonalds) will never be the same because she experienced the Holy Spirit working through her to bring someone to Christ.  Thank you for making it possible for us to be on the field, hold these conferences, and give students opportunities to share.  Lives are changed because you are faithful.

 

A Student Experiences God at Work

by Nicole Matuska, staff serving in Plano, TX

 
Mackenzie is a senior at Plano HS and went to our FastBreak Winter Conference.  Here is her story about sharing Jesus...
 
"When the Student Venture bus dropped me and the other campers off at a McDonald's in South Dallas, I wasn’t super excited to share the Gospel with strangers. In fact, there was a spiritual battle raging in my heart and I felt very discouraged. It was my 6th outreach with Student Venture and I had never experienced a stranger accepting Christ.
 
I always have trouble initiating a conversation, so this year I decided to use the MLK- themed survey to start conversations. This particular outreach I felt very successful in the conversations that my bi-lingual partner, Vidi, and I had with shoppers and employees at the local Fiesta supermarket. Although all the people we talked to considered themselves Christians, none of them had ever heard about having a personal relationship with God. Vidi and I got to explain the gospel to them and they let us pray for them, but none of them were comfortable saying the prayer themselves at that moment. Already the outreach was going better than I had ever experienced before, and it was only going to get better from there!
 
As all of the Plano and Carrolton students were gathering in front of McDonalds waiting for the bus, my good friend Bola spotted two teenage girls that she wanted to talk to and asked me to go with her. We awkwardly began by asking them the first three survey questions and asked them if they knew that God wanted to have a personal relationship with them;one of the girls said no and the other said yes. So we continued sharing the gospel with them, making it clear that God wants them as they are, and that we can only depend on Jesus’ death on the cross for salvation. As the bus pulled up to the edge of the street, one of the girls accepted Christ and the other rededicated her life to Christ.
 
I felt very excited as I walked onto the bus because although I was physically there and technically I shared the Gospel with the two girls, it wasn’t me at all. God had done all the work by preparing the girls’ hearts beforehand and speaking to them through me and Bola. I realized that this outreach went so well because I was trusting God to speak through me instead of trying so hard to share the good news in my own strength."

Changed Lives :: Indianapolis, Students Reaching Their Friends

When our Executive Team discusses the different groups of people who can partner with us to reach out to students, we make sure our list includes “other students”. Students are most likely to listen to their fellow students when they share with them.  Students-reaching-students is a unique relationship because students share the same experiences and challenges and can easily relate.  When students share how God has rescued them from hopelessness and emptiness, students listen!
 
Often people don’t believe that students can lead other students to Christ or help them grow in their faith, but in Student Venture, we see every day that they can!
 
Thank you, dear friends, for supporting us and for caring about the hearts of students.  We consider it a joy to share this mission with you.

From High School to College

by Mark and Dawn Michal, staff in Indianapolis
 
Jacey (second from left) is a Sophomore at a different high school (Lawrence North) but has been coming to our meetings for a few years now.  She has had a heart to start a Student Venture ministry at her school and started this year with a Bible Study for her cross-country team.  The girls who have been coming to her study after practice range "from far from Christ" to "marginally Christian".
 
Jacey was able to bring four of her team members with her to the Student Venture Fastbreak Conference.  All of them grew spiritually and one of them, Abby, accepted Christ for the first time in her life!
 
Abby is so excited about her new relationship with Christ and Jacey is blown away by this change in her friend.  This is such a perfect example of how a teenager can make a difference.
 
Jacey could have easily just considered our Student Venture meetings a place for her to grow, but, instead, she saw it as a launching point to reach out to her friends.  She worked hard to get her friends to her small groups, stepped out and risked her relationships, and as a result, her friends are coming to Christ!

Changed Lives :: So. Idaho, From High School To College

Over the last couple of years, Student Venture and the Campus Ministry (Crusade’s ministry to college students, a.k.a. Cru) have focused a great deal on the partnership between us, which God is using to mightily increase our abilities and opportunities to reach high school students. It is a natural partnership and a win-win situation.

Another focus for Student Venture is connecting our graduated SV students with their college’s Cru to continue their spiritual growth, training and influence.

Today’s story represents both priorities:
• The O’Briens, who wrote this story, work with Boise State students and with high schools in that area;
• Jared, who is now in college and involved with Cru, was involved with SV in high school.
We look forward to what God will do through our partnership!

As Thanksgiving approaches, we remember you with sincere thanks to God for your partnership.  We pray that God will fill your heart with all He is and all He does for you, His cherished child.

From High School to College

by Matt and Kim O’Brien, Senior staff reaching HS and College students in So. Idaho


Jared first got involved with Student Venture before coming to Boise State.  Last month, Ryan, after wrestling through his objections to Christianity, placed his faith in Jesus after two years of being influenced by his friend, Jared.  
 
In September, Ryan (pictured at right) came to our fall retreat. One of the realities that kept him from surrendering to Jesus was the realization that the decision would result in significant life changes. A couple days after the retreat Ryan sat in his parked car and talked with God. After 45 minutes, he eventually surrendered his life to Jesus!
 
Since placing his trust in Jesus, Ryan has said: “It’s been awesome! I really needed this. I feel like I need to tell people about this. . . I believe my purpose is to talk with people that others won’t approach.
 
A few weeks ago Ryan stood in front of 50+ students at our weekly meeting and said, “If you just accepted Christ, you might not feel like you have the ability to spread the Word and share with people. I just want to urge you guys to do it.”

Changed Life Stories :: Dallas

Last week we shared with you a changed life story from our San Diego FastBreak Conference.  Below is another story, this time from Dallas. Both conferences were held over Martin Luther King weekend.

Our conferences are very special and strategic times for all of Student Venture.  It is an opportunity for our students to get away from their hectic lives to focus on God.  For those who are already Believers, our prayer is for them to deepen their walk with God.  For those who are lost, our prayer is that God would capture their hearts for all eternity.  As you will see in the story below, God did just that in the heart of Yesenia!

Thank you, thank you for your part in bringing Yesenia to Jesus.  May many more come!

Another Changed life
by Benton and Susie Hall, SV staff in Dallas, TX

Yesenia thought she came to FastBreak because it was an opportunity for her to spend time with her older brother, whom she admires. But God had a bigger, eternally significant purpose in mind. On the second night of the conference, as she heard the speaker describe the work of Christ on the cross, and the implications of His sacrifice, Yesenia was struck by a sudden, unprecedented awareness of God’s love for her. After the evening session was over, Jacquelynn, an adult volunteer, found Yesenia crying in the cabin. Jacquelynn found out that Yesenia had surrendered her life to Christ that evening.

“You know that feeling you get when you’re high [on drugs]?” Yesenia asked, desperately grasping for words to describe what was going on inside of her. “I feel that way right now! I can’t believe I’ve missed out on something so great for so long.”

As Jacquelynn celebrated with her, Yesenia disclosed that she had been making a lot of unhealthy choices in life, and she recognized a need to leave those things behind. Since she returned from FastBreak, Yesenia has asked her mother for forgiveness for wrongs done in the past, and their relationship has taken a turn for the better. Yesenia has also shared her testimony with her non-Christian friends. “They don’t understand. I really want them to experience what I’ve experienced.” Yesenia has joined a girls’ Bible study and has committed to praying for the salvation of her lost friends.