Hitting the Books

This month I was able to finish a seminary class on the doctrine of God, the Bible, and Holy Spirit.   This is part of a requirement for Cru, and I’m glad I finally got it on my schedule.

I loved it.  I really recommend the book Systematic Theology by Gruden.  It is written to describe orthodox doctrine, but in a way that touches your heart.  There are wonderful questions for reflection at the end of each chapter.  

I was really struck with how beautiful the relationship of the Trinity is presented in Scripture.  For example, in Luke 10:21,  after the 72 returned after he had sent them out, “Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…”  Isn't that cool?

I’m looking forward to the Christian Worldview class at the end of January.  

And yes, I got an A!

And yes, we loved seeing Ohio State beat Michigan State last weekend!  Glad to have fellow Cru Staff, fellow Buckeye, and family friend Stephen Blackwell join us for the game!

Thankful for the Threads

There is a scene in the Prince of Egypt movie when Jethro explains to Moses “a single thread in the tapestry… can never see it’s purpose, in the pattern of the grand design.”  He sings that Moses needs to “look at your life through heaven’s eyes.”  You can watch it here.

As Thanksgiving approaches, and as we finish our 28^th year with Cru, it’s encouraging to look back and see that God has directed our paths for His purposes.  And we’re thankful for your part in that journey.

Our first years on staff with Cru High School in Minnesota still bring warm memories of the friendships we made and we still feel a strong connection.  We’ve served in many different roles with Cru since then, and each one, it seems, helped prepare us for the next.

Basically, we help those who are called to serve with Cru follow that calling.  We help them join staff,  provide training and leadership development, and care well for them in difficult situations.   We lead a great team of people who send, equip, and care for staff serving in the U.S. and around the world.  We've done these things through about 6 or 7 different jobs on staff with Cru.

We could not have planned our path.  During all of those assignments and over the years, there has been many confusing, humbling, frustrating, and even ugly times when it wasn’t fun, or didn’t make sense. Yet He has been good to us.  

And He has blessed us with you, and we are very thankful to the Lord for you. You are woven into our lives and ministry through your partnership with us.  We are truly honored by and grateful for your sacrificial gifts for our ministry.  Thank you for being a part of God’s work in our lives.

May you see His hand in your lives and be encouraged by the tapestry He is weaving in and through you. We hope your have a meaningful day of Thanksgiving!

With love and thanks,

Aubrey in Boston

Aubrey's first semester at Brandeis for grad school as been challenging and educational.

In her program there are no grades and no exams.  They do a lot of reading, discussing and presenting, but it is a strange new way of learning!

Park Street Church on Boston Commons

She’s involved with Cru at Brandeis, and every other Friday night heads downtown to an all city Cru meeting at Park Street Church (where Paul Revere is buried).  

She has a fascinating landlady named Phyllis who has taken a liking to her, and we hear lots of great stories of their conversations.

The New England Autumn is another new experience for Aubrey and we've enjoyed her pictures.

Thanks for the part you've played in investing in our family.  Please pray for Aubrey as she continues to adjust to her time in Boston.

Digital Strategies

“I was an atheist until about last night when I chose to take a shot at connecting with Jesus. The life of an atheist is devoid of any real hope and that just wasn’t the life for me. I am ready to have a relationship with him. I look forward to more emails.” 

– Kristopher, a student who visited everystudent.com this year.

One of the teams I serve with is our Digital Strategies team.  We have 102 Cru Staff who work with technology.  As an HR director, much of it is beyond me!

I do, however, know how to surf the web.  We recently upgraded our web platform to one that can serve us both globally and locally. 

You can see the work begun at www.cru.org.  You can locate a Cru ministry on a college, high school campus, or in a city. One project the team is working on now is to present all of our ministry tools and resources in one place. 

Please click on this link to see “Highlights from the last year on campus.”  The graphic above is from that page, along with other stories like this one:

An English professor at a Big Ten university works hard each semester to personally get to know each of her students. On the final day of class last spring, the students asked her, “What gives you life?” She used this opportunity to share her faith with them and told them about the life-giving love of Christ.

Thanks for allowing us to serve with this team to help introduce so many to God’s power and love,

Macy is "Home Alone"

This is an exciting time for Macy. She attends 5th grade at Smith Prep, a 2-day-a-week school, and studies at home the other days of the week.
She is also playing volleyball for the first time on the 5th & 6th grade team at the Geneva School. She’s had a lot of fun and is learning fast!

The biggest change for Macy this year is that she is the only Brown kid living at home! Usually we have only three of us at dinner!
Pray for Macy as she adjusts to this new life as the “only child.” We all knew itwas coming, but it’s a big change! 

September 2014: Praying for the World

     I don’t like watching the news lately. Ebola...ISIS...Israel and Palestine. It can be overwhelming and I can feel like there is nothing I can do.

     You may have seen this symbol on social media. It is the letter N in Arabic, and stands for Nazarenes, or follower of Jesus. This symbol was marked on Christians homes in Iraq to target them. Many put this symbol as their Facebook profile picture to express solidarity with those persecuted believers.
     But as you know, the most powerful act we can do is to pray. God is aware of the suffering of those in Iraq, those in Palestine and Israel, those who are suffering with the Ebola virus.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
1 Timothy 2:1-6

     His purpose is for all to know Him. I know each of these three current crisis is currently hindering Cru’s ability to minister in different locations: we have asked some staff to return to the states, some to delay going, and in some places normal ministry cannot continue. Remember to pray for those called to minister the gospel in these areas when you read of these events. Pray for us as we wrestle with

difficult decisions regarding our staff impacted by these events.
     God’s purposes are not thwarted. He will be glorified. My prayers are that His mercy and compassion will be displayed for the world to see. 

                                                                  Thank you for standing with us,

Still breathing...

We appreciate you.  Your faithful friendship and giving to our family and ministry is humbling and encouraging.  We could not serve here at Cru without you.  We can’t express what you mean to us enough.

At my “end of the year” review with my director, there was an overriding theme that came out:  lack of margin.  As you may know, over the last year and a half, on top of my regular job of directing our HR team for our headquarters and Americans serving internationally, I’ve served as the “interim” LDHR director for our new Digital Strategies team.  I  also serve as the U.S. Crisis Manager, and am leading the development of a new feedback process for Cru staff.

The problem is, I like all of this.  When I see a new problem, I want to solve it.  Every time I meet with someone on my team, I think “I’d like to do that.” 

There is a price to pay for saying yes to too many things.  The pace is too fast for too long, and I neglect important things.  One of them is keeping in touch with you, and I apologize for that.  I want to ask your forgiveness for not communicating about our ministry like I want to do.  Thank you for your faithfulness through this time.

I will say that I’m very encouraged about Cru and the part you and we play in the ministry.  This summer, for example, 1,200 student participated in summer projects in the states and overseas.  We had 17 students serve internships at our World Headquarters this summer in roles using their skills in finance, computers, and film making.

If you ask any missionary organization, they will tell you that while we always want to send laborers to the field, operational needs are among the highest.  This project is to help students see they can use their skills in the ministry.  Several are considering joining us after graduation.

I'd love for you to read the story of one outreach they had at the University of Central Florida HERE at Cru.org

In late July most of us went to West Tennessee for a reunion of my Dad's family.  He is the youngest of 11 kids, and we had a lot of fun there, and traveling back and forth...but the car seems a bit more crowded with adult kids!

The next few weeks are significant for our family.  Aubrey is moving to Boston to begin grad school at Brandeis (Musicology); Luke will begin his second year at Rollins (this year living on campus); Macy will get braces next week!  Please pray for us and for me to live with more margin!

We love and appreciate you!

Summer Projects!

Right now, thousands of college students are on a life changing summer experience. Take a minute, if you will, to check out our Summer Project website to see where students are going and what they are doing right now!

"Imagine a summer that could change cities, countries, and continents around the globe while also forever transforming your life.  A summer that propels you into a deeper walk with God and gives you greater confidence in making Him known, a summer that develops your leadership skills and begins friendships you'll take with you throughout your life.

For over 40 years, hundreds of thousands of students have taken advantge of summer mission projects--a life chaning, world rocking ministry opportunity through Cru."

Summer Mission Projects are going on now for Cru staff and students.  As a ministry, this is a signficant part of developing our students and staff.  Projects are often described as spiritual greenhouses.  Students might say it is "like drinking from a fire hose," but when they return to campus in the fall, it is with increased motivation and vision and being better equipped to introduce others to Christ and help them grow in their faith.

We are very close to two of these projects.  The Orlando Summer Project will once again bring students to intern at our World Headquarters and to grow in their faith.  The MK2MK (missionary kid to missionary kid) project, which is launched from my team, will be in Chiang Mai Thailand this year.  Seventy nine high school students will be participating.

Please pray with us for God to use the Summer Projects in the lives of these students, and for many to come to know Christ through their ministry.  Also, pray that God will lead many of the Orlando Project students to use their skills (accounting, programming, HR, etc) skills full time in our ministry.

Thanks for your part in changing lives and reaching the world.  It is an honor to serve with you!

What's new with all of us

We have had an eventful spring this year and as we enter summer, here's some pictures for an update.

Here we are at Easter with one addition.  We have loved hosting Emily Atkins, a Cru staff kid from England for three months this spring.  She has been interning in our Cru Digital Strategies team doing analytics before she begins at her university this fall.  She's been a delight

Aubrey performed her last piece at Rollins this spring, so we showered her with flowers.    She performed her own composition that you can listen to here.  

Macy took a volleyball class, and then attended a soccer camp this spring.  She has also taken up biking the neighborhood on her "loop" several times a day.  She's getting big and we're enjoying her new athletic endeavors.  She's ready to attend a slew of Vacation Bible Schools this summer.

Luke pitched during his freshman year at Rollins College on the JV team.  He did very well, and gave up only 1.4 earned runs per game.  He's recovered fully from his broken leg last summer and is looking forward to a year of healthiness this fall.

Aubrey graduated from Rollins and is headed to Brandeis University in Boston this fall to study Musicology!

We stopped in Baltimore to visit Cara and Perry and spent some time at the waterfront.  Perry is in this picture, he just made sure he was squarely behind Catelin.  But you can still see his left leg!

Crisis Conference in Turkey

Seventeen of our staff from the Middle East, Africa, East & Southeast Asia, and Western & Eastern Europe, (and a few from the U.S) spent 4 days together in Izmir, Turkey last month.  We serve Cru as Crisis Managers for different parts of the world. 

Quite the global group.

We discussed the crises that have impacted our ministry around the world over the last 18 months.  About 60% of the crises were politically related, but also included religious persecution, natural disasters and unexpected deaths.  We learned from how these crises were handled, but one of the key focuses of our time together was on taking care of ourselves as people who enter into other’s traumatic experiences.  

For example, our crisis manager for Francophone Africa shared how difficult it was for her when our staff in South Sudan were displaced and unable to receive adequate food for months, with no safe place to go to.  She was moved to tears as she recounted how difficult it was to be unable to help.  But as they were able, they helped our staff get back on their feet and able to continue to serve.

I’ve served as our global and U.S. Crisis Manager since 2003, and I know being able to turn off emotions to be able to handle challenging emergencies is crucial, but it I has impacted me longer term and in other areas of my life.  We talked about how important it is for us to debrief and deal with  the vicarious trauma that can impact us over time.

Thank you for the investment you make in our lives, our ministry, and in our worldwide staff with your partnership.  Please pray for us.

A Day in Ephesus

During the conference we took one day to drive to the ancient city of Ephesus.  The city is being excavated and it is one of the best reconstructed Roman ruins in the world.

This was the first time I have been in a location written about in the Bible.  Acts 19 describes Paul’s time in Ephesus.  Reading the scene where the crowd was in an uproar because Paul was leading so many to Christ, that it was impacting the Artemis idol business.  

It is also said that the apostle John spent time there with Mary, Jesus’ mother.  John died and was buried in Ephesus.

In the picture above I’m in the amphitheater described in Acts 19 where the crowd was in an uproar because people were converting and not buying the idols of Artemis.  

An iconic image of Ephesus

Some mosaics that were in the homes on the hills from about 500 AD.

Friendly toilet situation in the bath house.

In front of the Library of Ephesus

The Library of Ephesus is one of the most well reconstructed Roman ruins from that time.

This is the road where all the commotion happened in Acts 19, on the way to the amphitheater.

I know some of you may have visited Jerusalem or other sites mentioned in the Bible.  It was amazing to be looking at the same amphitheater that Paul was in, and walk the same streets.

A New Year and New Challenges

NEW YEAR

For all of our friends up north, let us say with all sincerity, we feel for you regarding the intense cold!  I won’t complain a bit, but even in Florida we’ve had a cooler winter. The picture on the left is a cold windy day at the beach!

After a great Christmas and New Year season, kids are back to school, and things are Cru are in full swing.  Luke's baseball season begins this weekend, so we are looking forward to seeing him play again.  Aubrey has begun her last semester of college and is working on her senior thesis.

NEW CHALLENGES

Along with the HR team we lead, I’ve been serving for the past  10 months on the leadership team of Digital Strategies, the part of Cru that designs and delivers all of our web and technological solutions.  Bringing for different teams together to serve as one presents all kind of challenges, but I’ve got some good help.

One of the people I’m working with this year is Craig, who is serving at Lake Hart for one year after serving with his family overseas.  He and the team are doing a great job despite a steep learning curve.  It’s an honor to work with people like Craig who’s heart for the Lord and desire to serve make huge impact. 

We are so grateful for your partnership and investment in our lives and ministry with Cru.  Thank you for your faithfulness to us and to the Lord.

With love and thanks,

At a Charlie Brown Christmas at our Lake Hart HQ.