Questions about our name change?

As you may have heard, on July 19^th, Campus Crusade for Christ announced that they are changing their name to Cru. This has been met with much attention from the media, some of it good, some of it bad. Caleb and I wanted to clarify the reason for this name change.

First, let me assure you, this name-change process, which began two years ago, has been bathed in prayer and careful research. Secondly, we are not removing Christ from our name in an attempt to be politically correct.

There were two problematic words in Campus Crusade for Christ: campus, and crusade. Although we started as a college ministry, our scope has expanded far beyond the college campus. Having the term “Campus” in our name was confusing, and many adults looked at the name and thought, “Oh, this ministry doesn’t really apply to me.” Crusade is a dated term and actually hindered us from spreading our ministry overseas. It became clear that these 2 words were confusing people and actually creating barriers to them hearing more about Christ. For this reason, CCC decided to choose a new name that would better engage people in our mission to take the gospel to the world.

Cru is not a new term to our ministry. Since the 90’s, many of our college ministries have called themselves Cru. When the name was tested during the research process, people absolutely loved it. We are so excited by this name change! We think it will communicate in a more relevant way, and will encourage more people to partner with us to reach the world for Christ. Many are asking, “What does Cru stand for?” In the same way that Google and Starbucks don’t stand for anything, Cru doesn’t stand for anything. When you hear Starbucks you think coffee because the company has poured meaning into the name. Our hope is that a similar thing will happen with Cru: that when people hear it they will think of an organization of loving people committed to telling others about Christ.

Our mission is the same.

Our commitment to reaching college students is the same.

Our passion and our desire to tell everyone everywhere about Christ is the same.

Campus Crusade for Christ Changes It's Name!

Hello from CSU 2011!

On early Sunday morning we packed up our car and headed out to Ft. Collins, Colorado to attend the 2011 Campus Crusade for Christ National Staff Conference at Colorado State University. CSU is one of my favorite things...ever. 5,000 CCC Staff from around the nation descend on Ft. Collins for 10 days to experience a time of refreshment and training.

The BIG announcement this year is that Campus Crusade for Christ is changing it's name. As of 2012 we will officially be known as Cru! They made the announcement tonight at one of our evening sessions. In typical Crusade fashion people normally stroll into these meetings a good 5-10 minutes late...but NOT tonight. The place was packed because, as you can imagine, we were super anxious to hear the new name! Many Campus ministries have actually been going by "CRU" for a while, but this will be an official change of the nation wide ministry. Personally...I am really, really excited about it. This link is great if you want to learn more about why we changed our name AND SEE THE NEW LOGO. I'm a fan.

http://www.ccci.org/about-us/donor-relations/our-new-name/index.htm 

U.S. Staff Conference...coming soon!

Caleb and I are leaving Lafayette, (and after a quick stop in Chicago for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premier :) ) and are headed to Ft. Collins, Colorado! The Campus Crusade for Christ U.S. Staff Conference takes place this July 18-26 on the campus of Colorado State University. CSU is one of my favorite things! I love getting to hang out with a bunch of other staff people and be refreshed by my time with them. We spend LOTS of time in meetings, but I actually enjoy that as well. It's so encouraging to hear how God is powerfully working through CCC across the world, and it's an incredible time to gain vision and excitement for  where we are headed.

An added bonus this year is that two of the students I work with (KC and Stacy) have been down in Ft. Collins on summer project all summer. I am really looking forward to being able to connect with them!

Summer Projects = "Spiritual Greenhouse"

I (Jenny) started ISU as a believer, but I was still very much a "baby christian." And oh my goodness did God transform me during that first year of college. He used the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ powerfully in my life. I built deep relationships with other Christian college students who were really fun but also knew the Lord and walked with Him in a way I didn't even know was possible. Cru provided a ton of weekly activities that were also incredible opportunities for me to grow in my faith. (Weekly bible study, evangelism training, being met with one on one, ect.)

Cru created an environment where I could learn more about Jesus and how to live a life that glorified him. Summer Project is a similar environment...only intensified.It's like a spiritual greenhouse. The setting is this: Something like 40-120 students from around the US gather together for an entire summer. Cru has summer projects in places like Ocean City, Virginia Beach, San Diego, Ft. Collins, Grand Traverse Bay, and other locations that are hot spots for the summer. (Or for our more internationally minded students, they could go on a summer project in Berlin, East Asia, or Rome....to name a few.) These students spend their summers in community with other believers and are built into like crazy. Each student is in a small group, each is mentored by a Cru staff or intern, and all our students receive training in studying the bible and sharing their faith. Students also get a summer job (like McDonald's or a local ice cream parlor) and learn how to build relationships with their co-workers and share the love of Christ with them. Half way through the U.S. projects, staff leave! The students step up and lead the project, and it's an incredible opportunity to trust God, take steps of faith, and grow spiritually BIG TIME. Our prayer is that as students make it a point to really focus on God for that summer, He will meet them there in exciting and unexpected ways.

Purdue has 22 students on summer projects this summer! 2 of them are Windsor girls who I had the privilege to work with this past year: KC and Stacy. Pray for them! They are headed to Ft. Collins, Colorado for 7 weeks! :)

Summertime

Now that summer is here, most of our students are back at home. 22 Purdue Cru students are heading to Summer Projects with Cru. (More about that to come!) We are spending our summer in our cozy apartment in Lafayette! I posted a few pictures of our apartment below, just for fun. :)  Our full-time job is continuing to build our support team! This year we were part-time staff at Purdue, and we are hoping, praying, wishing, dreaming, working hard to report to Purdue in the fall as full-time staff!!!

Berlin, Berlin, Berlin!

Campus Crusade for Christ is at work in 191 countries worldwide! We are praying that through our efforts, everyone will know someone who truly follows Jesus. To help see this vision accomplished, campus movements here in the U.S. partner with universities overseas. In the Great Lakes region we partner with Venezuela, Rome, the Gateway city, East Asia, Fiji, and Berlin. Purdue partners with 3 universities in Berlin: Technische, Freie, and Humboldt. This spring break Caleb and I had the opportunity to take 8 Purdue students to Berlin to share the gospel with students at these universities. We spent our mornings in prayer for the students, our afternoons at the universities, and our evenings sightseeing. Berlin is incredible. The people are kind and welcoming. They genuinely enjoy building relationships and talking with people, and the students take school very seriously. Spiritually Berlin was very "cold." Even though the students enjoyed hearing us talk about our faith in Jesus, they weren't interested in knowing more about Him for themselves. But CCC is committed to sending laborers there, and we are trusting that God is going to work in this city! Enjoy some pictures of our trip!

Our group in front of the Berliner Dome.

The girls hanging out at a CCC staffers apartment.

All on the U-Bahn.

Crazy Americans at the U-Bahn stop. :)

Windsor Hall

I (Jenny) was very blessed to work with the women of Windsor Hall! Windsor is actually an area of campus made up of five different buildings: Vawter, Shealy, Duhme, Wood, and Warren. About 800 girls live there, with the vast majority of them being upperclassmen. I remember my first day in Windsor. I stood in the parking lot and thought, "Really, God? You think I can do this?" But God had some great things in store for me! I spent my first few weeks meeting the girls who had been involved in CRU the previous year and who were interested in leading this year. They were so welcoming and excited to grow in their faith. We met with other girls in Windsor and passed out postcards advertising our Wednesday night Bible Study. For our first bible study I baked 24 chocolate cookies, and I imagined I'd have a bunch left over. When I walked into the Wood basement my jaw dropped. 31 girls came to that first Bible Study. My first thought was, "Hmm. I should've made more cookies...." Through small group and discipleship the women of Windsor grew in their faith and their relationships with one another. I have a sweet group of junior girls who are returning to Windsor ministry next year as Seniors, and I am so excited to see what God has in store for them during their last year of Purdue. There will also be a core group of sophomores and juniors returning as well! I'm already excited for the fall...

Me with some of the Windsor girls! This was taken during the first week-ish of school.

Tarkington Hall

It's hard to believe our first year serving at Purdue is already over! When people ask us how it's been, our answer is always the same: even better than we could have imagined. Caleb worked with the men at Tarkington Hall, or Tark, as it's more commonly known. He started the year with a small group of committed upperclassman Tark guys who had a heart to reach their dorm. Right off the bat a fantastic group of freshmen guys started attending small group. The guys clicked and formed some amazing friendships. Caleb got to spend the year pouring into them, teaching them how to study the Word inductively and how to share their faith. The result is that Caleb has a group of 15 committed students who are excited to come back in the Fall and reach Tark with the Gospel!

Caleb surrounded by his Tark guys at the Cru Ugly Sweater Christmas Party.