Eastern Europe and Russia

In January 14 staff from our HR team went to Turkey to attend the Eastern Europe and Russia staff conference.  While they were there to meet with our U.S. Staff and their families, there were some very encouraging stories of God working.  It’s not an easy part of the world for ministry.  A common theme was perseverance.  Another theme was trying something new.

Expedition Teams are composed of young (and energetic!) staff and interns who move into a city for one month, looking for believers who can be equipped to start of movement.  This region has 20 countries and even more languages and cultures.  An estimated 71% of the people in this region do not know anybody who truly follows Jesus-so how are they going to get to know Jesus for themselves?  the region has a goal of having a presence on 300 campuses, but are only on 100 of those.   Expedition Teams are working to change that! 

Volgograd Russia:  A student said, “I want to be a part of something bigger, I had been praying for revival.”  An expedition team was surprised and encouraged to learn that God had prepared this student and 3 others to form a team.  Now they are having weekly team meetings and doing weekly evangelism.  They have already exceeded their first year goal of sharing the gospel with 300 people.

Poland:  A pastor said he had been praying for a long time for somebody to come to help reach the campus in his city.  After a month of working with an Expedition Team of Polish staff, they have a partnership between that church and believing students to work together to reach the campus.

Ukraine:  Matthew, a student from a team from San Luis Obispo, CA explained that it is challenging to find English speaking students in Ukraine.  But they found that many believes in an African Ukranian church did speak English.  And so Calvin, a Nigerian living in the Ukraine is now a key volunteer after being trained by a team from CA.  Calving said, “Evangelism is the clothes that I wear, the air that I breathe.”

Thank you for investing in our family, and in the ministries in Eastern Europe and Russia!

With much love,

Challenges of 2015

Our apologies for the lack of communication from us in 2015.  This has been a rather difficult start of the year for multiple reasons.  First, let's tell you about the easier challenge we are facing...

Changes at Home

This challenge began with a simple gesture on my part.  I was hoping to replace a bathroom cabinet in our master bathroom with a cabinet Dayna and I had purchased 5 years ago at an 80% discount.  It has sat in our garage for all that time, and I was determined to bless her by putting it in.

The new cabinet required new floor tile to be put in because the old cabinet didn't have tile under it.  As I pulled up the old tile, I discovered that our shower was leaking and rotting the wooden frame of the walls.  Then we discovered our drain is unique and the shower base we wanted had to be custom made.  On and on it went.  We are 2 1/2 months into the process and just now have the tile finished. The $69 cabinet is not yet installed.   Here are the before and in process pictures:

The tile is finished!  Notice the discount cabinet is not yet installed.

Changes at Cru

This challenge has been more difficult, but believe me, the bathroom has added to the stress!

A 2 1/2 year change process with Cru’s HR structure is finally coming to a resolution.  Our team has been been in favor of and anticipated the change, but honestly, the landing hasn’t been easy for us.  We determined 3 years ago that what was ultimately needed would result in our team of 60 being reorganized out of existence.  All of the work needed to continue to be done, but the structure didn't make sense in the big picture.

Now that the long change process is coming to a close, the realization that our working relationships are changing is difficult...we've loved working together.  We've led this team for over eight years!  All of the work our team has done will continue to be done.  Most will continue to do the same jobs including helping people join Cru, training our staff, the sending and staff care of our expat staff.  However, now the team will report to three new leaders.  

We are now in the transition to the new structure and new leaders, and we're being very intentional to assist everyone making the transition well.  But with every change, there is a sense of loss with what we are leaving behind and what we know.  

Honestly, the change process over the last few years has been difficult at times, and the communication process for the changes hasn't been the best. Implementing change in an organization is a lot harder than it looks, and most of the time, organizations underestimate what it takes to do it well.

At times, this has been a very difficult process for Dayna and I.  As I write this, we're doing OK, and I'm anticipating the end of much of the anxiety and stress.

Can we ask you to pray for us to have God’s perspective on this process and his blessing on Cru.  It’s been emotionally and at times relationally challenging personally and as a team as we walk through the changes.  

We are grateful for your partnership and prayers!