Let's start a new year

"If 2025 were a drink, it would be a colonoscopy prep." 

Last year had its challenges, for sure, so we are glad to be onto a new year!

Our own candlelight Christmas Eve service!

As a quick update, Catelin's recovery is going as expected.  Today she is 4 weeks into her recovery and yesterday at her PT appointment all her concerns were answered with, "That's normal."

This Friday night Cara's family from California will join us and I've counted...we will have 13 people in our house! We are really looking forward to having everyone together.

As we step into a new year, we want to pause and reflect on some of the ways God was at work in 2025.  We have a couple of fun stories, and some graphs that illustrate how God is working through Cru's campus ministry.

Disney World, Orlando, FL

Did you know that Cru has a ministry team dedicated to reaching the thousands of college-aged young adults who work at Disney World? It’s a unique mission field—and God is at work there. Here’s one story from that team.

Jia* (name changed) moved from East Asia to the West Coast of the United States. After arriving, she connected with a Cru staff member who faithfully met with her for two years—planting and watering seeds of faith. When Jia later shared that she would be moving to Orlando to work at Disney, that same staff member connected her with Cru’s Disney ministry team.

Although Jia was open to exploring Jesus, her spiritual conversations had never gone very deep. Then one evening at a hot pot restaurant, she shared honestly, “I don’t know how to connect with God. I’m trying, but I can’t.” One of the Cru staff members present asked, “Can we share with you how?”

For two hours, crowded together on one restaurant bench, they shared how only Jesus can restore our honor and relationship with God. Jia read the prayer from Honor Restored (a version of the Four Spiritual Laws) first in her own language, and then again out loud in English. When asked if she meant it, she replied, “Yes!”—and everyone broke into tears of joy.

“I’m so emotional,” Jia said, “and I think it’s because I’m feeling God’s love.” Praise God for bringing Jia on this long journey—from Asia, to the western United States, to Orlando—where she began her relationship with Jesus.

The Gambia

The Gambia is a nation that is 97% Muslim. Last year, Cru celebrated 35 years of ministry in The Gambia. Here’s one powerful story from that work.

One day, a woman named Aisha* (name changed) walked wearily home to her village when she came across a rare public showing of the JESUS film. She stopped in surprise—the film was being shown in Jola, her mother tongue. Hearing her own language, Aisha sat down to watch and listen.

The message was revolutionary: God loved her. Jesus is the Son of God. He died for her, offering forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Aisha went home, prayed, and received Christ—becoming a new creation.

Now she faced a difficult step: telling her husband, Omar. In her culture, becoming a Christian is considered a betrayal. Omar listened quietly, then responded unexpectedly: “If you choose to be a Christian, I want to listen to what you heard.”

They found one of the Cru team members, who showed the JESUS film to Omar in private. He too was deeply moved by the truth of the gospel and placed his faith in Christ.

Aisha soon began traveling from house to house, showing the JESUS film on a video tablet she had been given. In this highly resistant context, she has planted 15 churches and continues to grow in faith and influence.

U.S. Campus Ministry

Finally, you may have heard reports that young people in the United States are more spiritually open than they have been in recent history—and those reports are true! Here are three graphs that illustrate this growing spiritual hunger.

The yellow line in the graph above shows the exponential growth in students who hear the gospel through personal evangelism and then indicate a decision to follow Jesus.

This chart shows that the percentage of students who hear the gospel and respond by choosing to follow Jesus has steadily increased over the past five years.

Another indicator of spiritual interest is retreat attendance. This fall’s weekend retreats saw the highest attendance in recent history. Registrations for our Winter Conferences—some happening right now—are also up. 

These numbers reflect lives changed and impacted by the gospel.  This four minute video highlights the long term impact that Cru has had on students' lives well after they leave college.

Thank you for your faithful partnership. We can't be here without you.  We are deeply grateful for you, and we pray the Lord’s blessing on you as we begin 2026!

Merry Christmas 2025

 
Merry Christmas!  While this has been a difficult year in many ways, we still want to give an update like we usually do.

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

As you know, Catelin began 2025 in the middle of chemo for breast cancer.  

It was a beautiful time when she rang the finishing bell surrounded by friends and family.  She then had radiation treatments.  October 1 she marked 1 year cancer free!  She made a trip to California for Trick or Treating with the boys.  She is taking medication to prevent cancer return and she had a DIEP reconstruction on December 5.  It has gone very well, but recovering is very challenging.  She'll be living with us into January.

Cara and Perry had a stillborn daughter, Lumina Hope, in July. Obviously this has been an incredibly difficult time for them.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Zeke is in 2nd grade being homeschooled.  Titus started kindergarten at a local school.  Bowen is in his last year of preschool.

Aubrey continues to work in compensation for Ochsner Health and received a great promotion recently.  She lives with Catelin down the street from us and stays very busy.  

Luke continues to live in Melbourne, FL and works in aerospace.  He drove over to be with Catelin for most of her chemo treatments.  His baseball team won the championship this year.  And he visited the Johnsons this fall also.

Macy is in her last year at the University of Florida.  This summer she became a Registered Behavior Tech and began working at a day program for children with autism.  She is hoping to become a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst and continue working in this field.  She also was a lab assistant the research was on taking students scuba diving!

Barrett has had a couple of quick trips with friends this year: one to Nashville and another to the Pawley Island, SC area.  He continues with Cru doing a lot of change management work.  In October he was hit by a car while riding his bike and broke his arm, just because there wasn't enough going on this year.

Dayna has taken quite a bit of time off as Catelin's primary support person. She also stayed with Cara and Perry for a few weeks after Lumina died.  She continues as a nurse consultant with Cru and at Shepherd's Hope.

Another difficult blow this year:  we lost our beloved dog Brexit suddenly in May at only 8 years old.  He was such a loving dog and we miss him a lot!

Even in the midst of a difficult year, we are convinced of God's love for us.  We wish you a great Christmas!

Thanksgiving Week 2025

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are grateful this year for God's grace.  In the midst of a year of loss and difficulty, He has been near to us, provided for and cared for us.

Catelin has been cancer free for more than one year!  Her last hurdle is reconstruction surgery on December 5, and she will recover living with us for the next month.

We are also grateful for the privilege of serving with Cru, and partnering with you.  Kaylan, Cru staff at Radford University shared this story from this fall.

"I'm giving out Cru surveys wiuth my guy Reagan and I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Go to Muse (the freshman dorm hall).  When we go there, there was absolutely nobody there.  In my head I definitely said, 'Bruhhh, I'm tripping.'  As we were about to leave, this guy came out of Muse on a skateboard.

I complimented his skateboard, introduce myself, and go on to give him a Cru survey.  Long story short, this Cru survey turns into a spiritual conversation and then into a gospel presentation.  Right in front of Muse, all of Heaven rejoiced as David prayed to receive Christ."

We love supporting our staff as they step out in faith like this every day.

As we continue to invest in our work with Cru, we are trusting the Lord for the financial resources to support our calling.  Over the last two years quite a few of our partners have had to end their support, and we are asking the Lord for an additional $20,000 in year end giving.

Would you prayerfully consider giving a year end gift of $1,000, $500, $200 or some other amount?

If you prefer to give by check, you can make out the check to Cru and mail it to our address at 4126 Stonewall Drive, Orlando, FL 32812.  The easiest way is to visit give.cru.org/0374749 and make a gift there.  

With love and thanks,

P.S.  We have noticed that several of our partners have discovered simple, tax-wise ways to maximize their impact, especially at years end.  Scan the QR code or click here to read more.