Glimpsing Your Impact

     I read an article this month about a Cru staff guy named Ralph.  You can read it too at Worldwide Challenge.   I know Ralph, but didn’t know he has been working at the University of Idaho with Cru for 36 years.  How cool is that?

     

     I thought, “What a great job he has!”   I thought “I wonder how many conversations he’s had with students and professors over that time?”  I thought about how his supporters and the body of Christ realize how important it is to have someone in place full time on college campuses to engage students and professors to introduce them to Jesus.

     It is amazing to me, as I think about it today, that our job exists.  We are only able to do this work because of you.  I wish we could all see the impact of our work.  We’ll never hear all the stories we are a part of helping write.

     This summer I assessed the risk of our activity in the country of South Sudan so one of our staff could go help and do some training.  I read the following story today.  It's very cool that this happened less than two months ago!

In September a small team of staff members and students traveled from Ethiopia to the brand new nation of South Sudan to train eight staff members and 39 volunteers in basic campus ministry and leadership. 

Each afternoon we did outreach and in the five days of the training we saw 276 students give their lives to Jesus. By God’s grace the team and trainees established six universities and developed a student leadership team for the city. 

     I’m hoping you read this before Thanksgiving because we want you to know that when we give thanks, we thank God for you.  We can never express the full extent of the gratitude we feel when we consider your faithful and generous partnership with us.  If we could write it bigger we would: 

Thank you!

“How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?”                                                                                             Thessalonians 3:9

     With gratitude,

                                                                                                   Barrett and Dayna

How can you be a missionary?

      One of our new staff is raising her support to serve with our Financial Services team.  She recently asked this question on a web forum for staff:

I’m getting some questions from current and potential ministry partners about how am I a missionary when I’m raising support to work in operations...Do you have any advice/experience on how you would answer this question? 

      How would you answer her question?  Here’s one answer she received:

“I use a military analogy. In order to have soldiers on the front lines in healthy fighting capacity, you MUST have a strong supply line and a corp of engineers. Ops can be seen as both. All those in the army are the missionaries serving full-time. A supporter is like the taxpayer that isn’t there full-time but is both contributing to and receiving the benefit of those serving full-time.            -Bryan       

     When I read her question I thought about Chris Hayes.  I met Chris 15 years ago; he had joined Cru after an engineering career with the US Government.

   Twenty years ago the Jesus Film Project had studios in three locations around the world and recorded 8 new languages each year for the film.  Chris developed a portable recording system that fit inside a suitcase.  There was nothing like it in the world.  Our teams were able to take it to remote villages and set up studios on site.

   The result was that we were able to record 40 or more languages each year.  Today the Jesus film is viewable in 1,188 languages.  Check them out at jesusfilmmedia.org.  Chris is a missionary and a hero in my book!

   We love having a role that supports every gospel presentation that happens through Cru around the world.  We are proud to work alongside hundreds of missionaries here at our headquarters who are making an eternal impact.

Thank you for partnering with us!

Luke's Ankle

Some have asked how Luke is doing recovering from his broken ankle.  It has all gone very well, but it has been a long road.

     He had a second surgery in mid-August to remove the hardware that had been holding his ankle together. The medical care has been great.

     Luke is now at college with Aubrey.  Luke started school with a limp,  but with physical therapy he’s made great progress.  He's living at home and making the drive each day (the school is only 10 miles away), so we've been able to see his recovery first hand.

   Luke is on the JV baseball team at college was happy to report a couple of weeks ago that he is cleared to practice!  He has really missed being able to play baseball!  He's also doing fine adjusting to his classes, and has already pulled several all nighters!

  Thank you for your prayers!

Summer is almost gone...

     Wow, summer officially ends in 3 days, but if your like me, it already seems like a while ago because the fall schedule is in full swing!

Macy and I spent part of the summer in Colorado at Cru@CSU, our national staff conference in Ft. Collins.  We had a lot of fun together.  Dayna and Luke stayed in Orlando so Luke could begin physical therapy on his broken ankle.

     Macy attended the Kids Camp and made lots of friends.  One special friend was Amanda, whose parents work for FamilyLife in Little Rock, Arkansas.  They are already writing to each other and planning to see each other again in 2015!

Amanda (left), Macy, and Rachel

     I'm attaching a letter HERE that I'd love for you to read.  It's all about the conference. It was great to hear our leaders remind us to walk in the Spirit and keep our First Love.

     I'll post a few other pictures of what Macy and I got to do this summer below.




   We visited Cara and Perry in their new apartment in Baltimore as he begins his PhD work at Johns Hopkins.  Cara is looking for a job in Civil Engineering.

We also saw our good long time friends Mike and Ann Kumpf and some of their kids in Baltimore.  They were some of our first ministry partners...we met them just after we joined Cru over 27 years ago, and before either of us had kids.  They took us on a short visit to the Baltimore waterfront...and they've already had Cara and Perry over to their house.

Some of the Kumpfs and Browns together again!

     I know it's a late summer update, but we did want to thank you for helping us go to Cru@CSU, and being a big part of our lives, family and ministry.  It is a privilege to serve the Lord with you.

In His love,

More Pictures!!

What is Colorado without some horseback riding?

And bike riding...

The CSU Ram!

Misson Hub

Mission Hub is one of the technological tools that is helping local ministries.  It is an app you can download to your smart phone or tablet or search “mission hub” to learn more about it.  On the mission hub website you can watch videos of how it is being used.

    This tool helps campus ministries or churches track and stay in contact with those they meet and minister to.  It can be used for communication to a whole group, or to be sure you don’t lose track of that student that asked for more information about who Jesus is.

  You can watch some videos of how Mission Hub works here.

    We'd also love for you to check out some of the stories of God working at www.cru.org.

Difficult, but worth it.

    “I didn’t sign up for this.” 

  
   Have you ever said that about your job, your life, your family?  I said this in the last few months, maybe more than I’d like to admit. 

    As you know, Cru changed it’s name over a year ago.  However, the name change is just one facet of how we want to live out our values of Faith, Growth, and Fruitfulness.  We are also looking at our strategies, our internal systems, structures and how we work together with the body of Christ to reach the world with the gospel.

    While I’m excited about the direction we are headed and our willingness to look at how we do everything, change doesn’t happen without some pain.

    One area we recently began addressing is the whole area of digital strategies and technology.  In April we reorganized four of the teams working in these areas under one team.  Part of that process required that we let go 14 of our salaried staff.  I was responsible for carrying that out and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.  I vote on not doing it again! 

    On the positive side, I am able to be a part of the transition team to establish this new team and set our priorities to serve and resource the field staff and volunteers.  There is a building excitement about this change and a hope we’ll be more effective at involving others in the mission.

    Technology supports everything that makes a ministry like Cru function:  donations, email, websites, financial services...it is integral to reaching the world for Christ today.  The fact that we are making significant efforts to be as effective as possible with that technology is encouraging. 

    Thank you for being a part of our team so we can be a part of changes like this.

    With love and thanks,

Adversity and Celebration

There is a lot to catch up on.  This has been a spring season for the ages in terms of eventfulness!  Let me tell you about last week, and that will be a start.

Last Monday at baseball practice Luke slid into a base rolled his ankle and dislocated it and broke his leg!  He had surgery on Wednesday morning to set the joint, but will be in a cast/boot for 3 months!  It was especially hard for him because his team is entering the Regional Tournament this week and have strong hopes of playing in the state tournament.

Adversity reveals a lot about character, and Luke’s heart has been revealed in some neat ways.  As we drove home from the clinic the first night, he told me he had been thinking about Romans 8:28 and how he could trust God with the injury.

As he was coming out of anesthesia, another patient was panicking as she woke up from her surgery.  Luke made sure to ask the nurse tell her that he was praying for her.

Life is not easy.  We have friends out of work, friends who have lost loved ones, friends facing terminal cancer.  The Lord promises to be near to those who call upon Him.  

On the other hand, life is full of things to celebrate.  Cara and Perry graduated from the University of Central Florida last week.  Cara’s degree is in Civil Engineering (structures and geotechnical) and Perry’s is in Mechanical Engineering (thermo-fluids).  

They walked one after the other across the stage while Macy and I watched with Perry’s parents and brother (Dayna was home with Luke because it was the day after surgery).

Cara and Perry will move to Baltimore this summer where Perry will begin his PhD work at Johns Hopkins.  We’ll miss them being so close, but are proud of both of them.

And now we get to visit Baltimore!

Thank you for your faithfulness to Him and your partnership in our ministry with Cru.  You make such a big difference to our family and to those we serve.  I promise I'll do better at keeping you updated...look for more updates this month!

Around Me

    As an example of the many methods to share the Gospel involves using the AroundMe app on their mobile phones.  This app literally locates people nearby they can interact with and find out if they are interested in spiritual matters. 

    One student, Travis, sitting in a coffee shop sent a question to those who were nearby with the same app on their phone. Five people responded.  He invited them to come to the coffee shop. 

    Then, meeting together over the next few weeks one of them began a new relationship with  Christ.  Amazing how the Lord can use something like this to draw people to Himself!

The Road North

    Six members of our team recently returned from Thailand where they were with our American expats and nationals at the staff conference for a large country in Asia.  While they were there, they witnessed a mission’s milestone--the transition of ministry leadership to an indigenous leader.  It was an incredibly moving time!

   
     With a theme of “The Road North,” these passionate co-laborers are aiming for a "north star" of mobilizing 10 million lifetime laborers within and sending 100,000 cross-cultural missionaries to the world by 2020.  What an incredible, God-sized goal!

  

On the night of celebration 1500 staff members and representatives from more than seven countries who had sent missionaries honored the man who has led this effort for the past fifteen years.  Beginning with a handful of nationals serving full-time, there are now more than 450!   And their vision?  It is to become the largest sending nation of missionaries to the world by 2020!

    As the new leader was commissioned, he took the stage with a challenge to his audience of foreign missionaries and national compatriots. To the nationals he asked  “Will you take up the responsibility to lead this ministry and mission?  Each one stood solemnly as a commitment.

    Then, to the foreigners, "will you stay and help reach this huge country for Christ if the nationals will pick up the torch and lead?”   It was touching and humbling as both groups rose to their feet in acceptance of the challenge.  It is obvious that the Spirit of the Lord has worked to knit their hearts together.

    Dayna and I visited this country in the summer of 1982 right when it was just opening to the outside and that was the first year Cru had a presence there.  It is awesome to see what God has done and is doing in East Asia.  Thank you for being a part of His plans!

  
With love,