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!