Christmas Greetings!

Merry Christmas

In lieu of (or in addition to) a traditional Christmas Card, 

please accept this reasonable facsimile of a Christmas Greeting! 😆😆

We give thanks to God for you.

We hope that you and your family have a meaningful Christmas 

celebrating God's matchless love and grace to the world.

With love,

and all of us

Our Covid 2020 Christmas Update

(no, none of us have had it...yet.)

Barrett, Dayna, Aubrey, Macy, Luke, Catelin, Cara, Titus, Perry and Zeke

2020 has been a rough year in many ways. Barrett’s Dad suffered a traumatic injury from surgery that resulted in two months of hospitalization. Our family came together and loved Billy well, but we were all devastated by his death on March 15. We are so grateful for the time we had with him those last two months.  In many ways, we are all still recovering.

Macy is doing 11th grade online with her dual enrollment classes at Valencia College.  While the high school softball season was cut short last spring, she is looking forward to playing again this year.

 

Luke is about to start his last year of his Materials Science program at UVA.  He is researching corrosion on aluminum alloys in ocean water environments. He is helping lead the high school ministry at his church.

 

Aubrey really struggled this year. She found her team at Cru to be a great support to her.  The highlight of the year was being able to spend Thanksgiving with the whole family despite all odds. She enjoyed spending a month in Cali helping Cara and Perry move, teaching Zeke to somersault and helping Titus satisfy his thrill seeker nature on the big kids slide repeatedly. 

Cara & Perry Johnson Perry is now an Assistant Professor at UC Irvine and Cara still works remotely part time for EBA in Baltimore.  They recently moved to Orange County, CA and a new home.  Zeke (2) and Titus (1) are growing fast and looking forward to welcoming another brother in April!  

 

Catelin works in Talent Development at Orlando Health and her team quickly pivoted to offer classes exclusively online.  She visited Ohio and California this year, and found spending time with non-local family very comforting.   She had her gall bladder removed in November and now enjoys foods that were off limits for years!

 

Dayna was volunteering at Shepherd’s Hope clinic, but that ended with COVID. She is adjusting to all the new normals. She really enjoyed seeing everyone over Thanksgiving in California and is looking forward to Christmas.

Barrett spent 10 days in California during May helping with grandkids while Cara’s back was hurting. That was a very healing time. He spent another 10 days helping them move into their new home in November.  Among other things he is leading a challenging space transformation project for Cru’s World Headquarters.

 

Your kindness is felt around the world.

Chimanimami, Zimbabwe suffered significant impact from Typhoon Idai 1.5 years ago.  Our staff Alec and Itai worked hard to help in this area, and Unto partnered with them to provide a shipping container full of shoes, wheelchairs, and more.  Unto also provided the community 5 wells, 2,000 people received bucket water filters, and 1,000 children received school supplies.

“He takes the time to sit with us in our suffering.”

–said about Alec

Because of this partnership, 12 churches were planted, and 22 pastors completed church planting and discipleship training. You and I are helping provide clarity for Unto’s strategy and greater effectiveness to reach people, like in Chimanimani.

Unto is Cru’s compassion ministry. With your help, I’m able to come alongside Unto’s leadership team to clarify their strategy, which has led to greater effectiveness. They aim to demonstrate humanitarian kindness to help Cru staff and ministries gain access, build credibility, and increase effectiveness in ministry. Because Cru has a ministry presence in over 190 countries, this humanitarian aid is hand delivered by our caring staff.

As we heard this story, it helped put into perspective the many challenges we are facing here, as significant as they are. You and we get to have an incredibly significant impact on the lives of so many people for eternity.

This strange year has resulted in the loss of some of our ongoing support for our ministry with Cru. Next year we will need to take some time to develop additional support, but we want to invite you to consider a special gift at the end of this year to help us begin next year on a solid footing.

We are praying to receive an additional $5,000 in special gifts to replace lost support, and help us continue to focus on our ministry. We recognize this year has been challenging for many, but if you are able to provide an additional gift in December, it will allow us to continue to stay engaged full time.

The easiest way to give is to visit give.cru.org/0374749, and indicate how you would like to help. 

We are grateful to you for your faithfulness to the Lord, and your friendship with us we serve with Cru. It is an honor to partner with you.

With love and thanks,

The Importance of Orlando Regional Medical Center by Macy Brown

Our daughter Macy was assigned to write a paper about a place that had "dissonance." She chose to write about the hospital where my Dad spent the last weeks of his life. She gave me permission to share it here.

The Importance of Orlando Regional Medical Center

by Macy Brown

September 17, 2020

        This year I spent roughly 100 hours at ORMC. During my grandpa’s surgery to replace the aortic valve in his heart, the cords in the mitral valve were torn. This caused a severe leak in his heart and a minor stroke. A few days later doctors tried emergency surgery to patch the leak, but it wasn’t successful. After a few weeks, the doctors decided he had recovered enough to move to the rehab center at ORMC. The months we spent at ORMC were some of the most dramatic of my life. My emotions and outlook changed with the frequent shifts in my grandpa’s health, leaving me constantly scared of getting too hopeful. ORMC is a place filled with powerful emotions, and I will always have a strong connection to it.

        When he first got to ORMC, we were excited about the prospect of recovery. However, we soon came across more obstacles. When he got there, he was responsive and able to explain to the doctor exactly what he wanted to get out of rehab. However, the next morning his disposition had reversed. When the physical therapists came, Grandpa was uncommunicative and refused to even get out of bed. The doctors discovered significant internal bleeding. Grandpa was readmitted to the hospital.

        For the next three weeks, new problems arose as previous issues were solved. The doctors said this way of living was not sustainable the night before my grandpa’s birthday. We asked Grandpa what he wanted to do for his birthday he responded that he wanted something, “Elegant, handsome, and fun,” so we set out to do that. We got a top hat and decorated the hospital room with banners, gold streamers, balloons, and we had my grandpa’s favorite, Blue Belle. The day of his birthday celebration was bittersweet. It was one of his better days mentally. He seemed to enjoy it, and we all had fun. However, in the back of our minds was the thought that this would probably be his last birthday with us.

        The next day, a new doctor took a look at my grandpa’s case and believed he could do more.  He recommended a blood transfusion and afterward we saw a drastic improvement. The next day, he was back to his old self. My dad told him about my softball game, and my grandpa kept asking when I would be there to tell him more. Once I got there, he said, “Heyyyy!” to me in the way he always had and held my hand while I told him what happened. He listened intently and told me I did a good job. This was the grandpa I had been missing for so long and to get to talk to him again for the first time was incredibly special.

         Grandpa recovered well and was ready to move back to the rehab unit. This began a period of hope and excitement. When I got to ORMC the day my grandpa moved to rehab, he greeted us excitedly and gave us a tour of the floor and his room. This time at rehab, my grandpa performed extremely well in all his therapies. His mental state was almost completely restored, and he was enthusiastic about getting better. One night, when my dad was driving me home from a softball game, we decided to visit for a few minutes just before bed. Grandpa and I danced to George Jones, his favorite artist. In just two weeks, my grandpa made drastic improvements physically and mentally, and the rehab center cleared him to go home. We were incredibly inspired by his improvements, and hopeful for the future.

         Just before his discharge, he had severe swelling in his arm which began another period of despair. The doctors decided to keep him in rehab for a few more days. During this time my grandpa got a C. difficile infection and became very weak. The next morning, we came into his room to find the rapid response team preparing to move him to ICU. Overnight, his blood pressure had gotten dangerously low and his hands and feet were blue and cold to the touch. My whole family spent the day with him in ICU. He was responding well to the treatments. However, soon the nurse told us he had stopped improving and apologized to us for, “not being able to work her magic better.” Although that day was awful, there were still a few nice moments. One time my grandpa was groaning and when I asked him what I could do for him he told me to dance, so I did a Tik Tok dance and he said, “good job.” He also talked to my dad and said, “You’re a good man, Barrett. I love you.” That night, my dad called to say that my grandpa was declining rapidly and we rushed to ORMC. While we were driving he passed away. We walked into the room and my dad wrapped me in a hug and said he loved me. We sat in the room for an hour. We listened to his favorite song and talked about how much he meant to us. Then we went upstairs to talk to the rehab workers. We all stood in a circle crying and they talked to us about how he was the perfect patient.

         Although my experience at Orlando Regional Medical Center ended in heartbreak, I still think back on it fondly. When I picture the rehab unit the overwhelming feeling of hope and good memories come flooding back. When I think about the doctors and nurses who cared for my grandpa, I am incredibly thankful for all the time and effort they put into his case. When I think of his hospital room on the fifth floor, I remember sitting by my grandpa’s bed holding his hand talking about my day. ORMC is an incredibly meaningful and emotional place for me and I will always remember the time I spent there.

More changes

We are in this together

As you know, I am asked to do a variety of consulting projects to help with many different areas of Cru.  Usually these revolve around coaching leaders, strategic planning, or lately, succession planning.

In May I was asked to do something very different...a 2+ year project to transform our world headquarters to a Neighborhood Choice Environment.  This design aspires to provide the workspaces we need to foster a more collaborative and effective workplace.

What this means practically is that only about 20% of staff will have their own desk!  As you can imagine, this kind of change can trigger strong emotional responses!  It’s a high risk project that represents a significant cultural change for Cru in how we use the space together. 

I said yes because it is something that can make Cru more effective and communicate care to our staff.   Lake Hart will be a much more welcoming and inviting place that communicates, "there is a place for me here."  This decision also saves Cru tens of millions of dollars by not having to build a new building on the campus.

Over 1,200 staff work out of Lake Hart, our world headquarters, and we are beyond capacity with our current use of the space.  With all of the travel and meetings our staff do, an average desk is occupied only about 35% of the time (This is actually average for most workplaces). 

So, we have begun.  I'm leading a team that does the work of  designing, planning, managing and communicating about the project.  We have cleared out the first of four wings to begin the transformation. 

I know many have prayed for me and our family after the loss of my Dad in March.  We are all doing better, but are still grieving...it comes at unexpected times!  We have sold his house and almost all of his estate is settled. Macy wrote a very moving paper about her experience with my Dad through his hospital stay and with her permission I posted it here.  Get your tissues!  Thank you for the care many expressed to us, and for your prayers.

Thank you for investing in our ministry with Cru.  We are humbled and grateful by your faithfulness to our work.  We are praying for you!

With love and thanks,

P.S.  Our family is looking forward to being together for Thanksgiving in Irvine, CA at Cara and Perry's new house.  You can see why we are excited for that!  

Future Leaders

Moving Day!

First, the exciting news!  Cara and Perry, our California kids, moved to Irvine where Perry will work as an associate professor at UC Irvine.  And even more exciting, Cara told us that she is expecting her third child in April!  She will have three kids 3 and under!  We are excited for them and already planning our rotation for traveling out to help. 

A few years ago Cru’s Board of Directors required Cru to create a succession planning process for the Vice President level.  I was asked to help create the process to identify and develop future organizational leaders.  Since last December, I have worked with both Athletes in Action and The Jesus Film Project to improve and refine that process.  Something I almost always do with projects like this is involve someone as a developmental experience and exposure to other leaders, so I invited Chelsea with the JFP to learn with me.  

The recent work that we have done to develop the Leadership Pipeline connected to our executive level bench has provided rich learning for our Executive Team.  We have never discussed, debated, deferred or submitted with one and to one another over such an extended period of time as we did in this process.  Our team’s character and culture has grown!  We learned to trust one another as we needed to come to agreement on criteria and people.  I am thankful that Barrett and Chelsea provided outside advice and expertise.  We need them, and I would not do this process without them!  We have more to learn, but creating a bench of executive level leaders that will help produce a surplus of AIA leaders for the mission will be an ongoing priority for our Executive Team.  —Mark Householder, President, AIA.

Cru has just entered a series of leadership changes.  In September the Board named a new President, and this week we learned of our new US Director and Campus Ministry Director.  These transitions emphasize the importance of this kind of process.   The qualities we look for in emerging leaders include a healthy walk with the Lord, relational strength, a commitment to develop others, authenticity, learning agility, as well as other leadership competencies.  This process facilitates honest conversations about the kind of leaders we want to lead Cru in the future, and helps current leaders fulfill their responsibility to identify and develop them.

It seems unusual that this is missionary work, but when you think about how large Cru is, and all it takes to support the field work that happens around the world, how we develop leaders is crucial.  Thank you for investing in the future of Cru with us.

At home we continue to work and do school from home.  Macy is considering colleges and some are offering only “virtual visits!”   We hope you are managing this new world well.

With love and thanks,

The Year of the Unknown

What kind of challenges have you faced this year?

My second cousin Sam graduated high school with a drive-thru graduation, and now is starting college from home because his campus virtual this fall.  

Macy is taking her junior year high school classes all online and has to be with her parents almost ALL THE TIME.

And then there is Cru.  What does ministry look like...

• when campuses are closed or restricted?  
• when conferences and retreats are canceled? 
• when travel overseas is not permitted?  

The reality is, no one really knows exactly what to do in this situation.  But there is a lot of innovation occurring on campus and inside Cru.

Staff are using social media to make connections with students.   Campus ministries are meeting students through Instagram and Facebook groups and organized by colleges for incoming freshman.  This summer students connected with students in an eastern European campus this way to help launch a campus ministry.  And Cru is holding all of its New Staff Orientation conferences virtually, including an online course that I created in May.

One big change for Cru is that Steve Douglass is stepping down as President, and Steve Sellers will be Cru’s new President beginning in October.  Steve Sellers is a friend that I trust and respect for his walk with the Lord, his kindness, and wisdom.  You can read more about this transition at cru.org.

Thank you for your faithful partnership with us, 

P.S.  Figuring how how to work from home has led me to work more than normal.  There is a certain pace of life that is supported by driving to work and leaving work.  Yesterday I broke the routine and got up early to kayak on a nearby lake.  

Recovering

For the last two weeks in May, I was able to travel to California to be with Cara, Perry, and our two grandsons Zeke and Titus.  Cara had hurt her back and asked me to travel through the Covid-19 world to help them with lifting, doing housework, cooking, etc.  I was glad to go and help.

But it was a great time of healing for me as well.  It is great therapy to sit in the dirt and play with trucks, or have picnics outside, or give belly blowers to a 5 month old.  

After two intense months with my father in the hospital, his death on March 15, and the following weeks of dealing with his estate and the whole coronavirus deal, I found myself exhausted emotionally. 

I have had had a hard time wrestling through everything.  It has hit me harder than I could imagine.  I have been sad about all that has happened.  Part of it may be that we are not able to have a memorial service, or be with family much during this time  I'm grateful for the time with Dad and there are some wonderful memories I will carry with me the rest of my life.  I'm also grateful for how supportive Dayna and the kids were as well.

I'm coming out of this tough time of depression and things don't seem as overwhelming these days.

But I'm sorry I wasn't able to communicate well with you, our friends and partners, over the last several months.  Thank you for your graciousness to us with your faithfulness during a darker time.

One of the first verses I learned after I came to Christ was Hebrews 13:5, 

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

            "Never will I leave you;

    never will I forsake you.”

And Psalm 34:18 says

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

The Lord's nearness and presence are comforting.  I try to remember and acknowledge His presence every day.

No one is untouched by Covid-19.  Whether it has impacted your employment, or your ability to be with family, I'm sure you have been challenged, like we have.  Please let us know how we can pray for you.  I know I covet your prayers for me and our family.  

With thanks and love,

P.S. Despite the pandemic and everything that I just shared, ministry is still happening, and we have been able to contribute well virtually, so I'll try to catch you up on those things next time.  But I wanted you to know why you haven't heard from us for a while.  Thanks.

A Grandson Surprise!

Early on the morning of December 19, our daughter Cara called us from California saying that her water had broken and she was in the hospital ready to have her second baby 5 weeks early!  Aubrey was already at the airport ready to fly out for Christmas, and thanks to no change fees with Southwest, we got Dayna on a plane that left at 9:45 am!  They were both able to be there to help with everything, and Dayna stayed for two weeks.

While he was “late preterm,” he only spent 5 hours in the NICU.  Overall, Titus Matthew is doing well and gaining weight.  We sent Macy out to help for 10 days, and Catelin will fly out for a week this month also.  

Luke was home for Christmas, but he didn’t get to see Dayna because he had to leave before she returned. So, it was a very different Christmas for us, but exciting and happy, and tiring!  As you think of them, we appreciate your prayers for continued growth and health for baby Titus. 

Zeke meets his new brother Titus

Succession Strategies

A couple of years ago, Cru’s Board of Directors asked our Global VP’s for a succession plan,  and I helped create an assessment and process to identify potential leaders.  This fall, the JESUS Film Project director asked me to assist his team in creating a succession strategy, and last month, also because of a Board request, Athletes in Action asked me to help them in the same way.  Will you pray for me this month to prepare a process and tools that can be used by Cru globally? 

I’m also in Dallas this month to continue facilitate Global Aid Networks’ strategy development and team building.   Thank you for your prayers and support in helping us impact Cru and the work we do around the world.

With love and thanks,

P.S.  More baby info:  Cara and Perry have had lot of visitors and help over the last month.  Aubrey and Dayna were there the day he was born, then Perry's family joined for a week, Macy spent 10 days there, and now Catelin is there this week.  It's great to see how everyone has been able to meet Titus so soon!  Titus is now up to 7 pounds and growing!