THE SLAMERS

The Summer Mission Team Leader Conference (SMTLC) is the apex of a summer mission team leader’s preparation for their summer mission. It is the only in person venue through which we prepare our trip leaders. In the fall they receive online resourcing and guided orientation. Throughout the winter and spring we send emails to coach them through next steps and provide updates. But the SMTLC is concentrated preparation and training packed into one long weekend in January. This year, just under 300 summer mission team leaders attended our conference in the Dallas area.

At SMTLC our leaders sit across the table from those who have lead similar trips for 10, 20, or even 30 years and gain invaluable practical wisdom. In the main sessions they receive the vision, heart, and spiritual formation necessary to lead, from our ministry’s executive leadership. They attend seminars on a multitude of topics like “Evangelism in Different Cultures”, “Taking Summer Mission Back to Campus and Beyond”, and practical topics like planning their schedule, debriefing their team, or tracking the budget. Their teams have time to meet and plan together and ask questions of our national leaders real time in person.

This was Becky’s second year as the conference director. She was the person who brought all the elements of the conference together. From leading our Design Team and Program teams who plan and execute the schedule, content, to all the communication with the summer mission team leaders, speakers, emcee, to directing our operations and production teams. She was at the strategic helm of it all, and she did a fantastic job! Beside being a part of the design team again which means all hands on deck for the whole conference, Scott lead our crisis preparation component, a seminar coaching leaders how to review applications, and a US summer mission breakout time.

It’s an incredible conference that always leaves us in awe of what God accomplishes! One first time leader commented afterward, “I loved this conference so much! The entire theme of God’s faithfulness was so evident and I really left empowered and equipped to do my job this spring as well as feel more confident leading a summer mission.”

Thank you for partnering with us to prepare these leaders who will lead over 100 trips with nearly 2,000 college students this coming summer! 

PRAISE & PRAYER REQUESTS!

Praise God that He provided all of our year end financial needs!

Please continue to pray for our summer mission team leaders as they review applications, amidst their ongoing campus ministry responsibilities.

Pray for students as they take steps of faith to apply for a summer mission trip.

Pray for us as we learn some new rhythms in this season of life and with our roles and responsibilities that are involving a lot of travel. Pray for stamina and rest at the right moments! 

“For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.” Psalm 57:10 

Click on the above image to watch now, or see the previous post for the print version.

Seeing all the fruits of Summer Missions 2025 was even sweeter for us, as Ethan went on Cru’s Anchorage, Alaska Summer Mission 2025! He had a great time sharing the gospel and exploring the outdoors with intentional learning and leadership opportunities. Thank you for your partnership in sending students like Ethan,  Anna, & Taylor to proclaim Jesus and set the pace for a lifetime of growing in Christlikeness!

“And he said the them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.””
Mark 16:15

Click on the image above to watch now, or see the previous post to read the print version.

If you keep up with college sports, you’ve probably heard of the Florida International University Panthers. They’ve got 17 NCAA teams, and their Miami campus is home to a huge student body of 56,000, representing 142 different countries! What’s pretty cool is that FIU breaks with tradition by letting freshmen start college in the summer, right after high school.

So, who better to welcome this massive group of 18-year-olds than a Cru summer mission, right?!

That’s exactly why NYC-based staff members Thomas and Erin Rodrigues, headed south earlier this summer. They, along with a few other staff members and 22 Cru students from all over the U.S., set up opportunities to connect with these new freshmen.

“Together we had 700 spiritual conversations, shared the gospel 379 times and saw 32 students place their faith in Christ,” Thomas reports, “breaking every one of our goals.”

What was especially exciting was seeing the growth in the Cru summer mission students themselves. These young adults not only picked up ministry skills (like new evangelism tools, asking great questions, Bible knowledge, and a basic understanding of world religions…), but also some valuable life skills: living in community, sexual wholeness, working through conflict, and managing their time. And yes, they managed to have lots of fun throughout!

This fall, the local Miami Cru staff will take over shepherding these new believers at FIU. As for the Cru student disciples, they’re heading back to their own campuses much better equipped to win, build, and send their fellow students. Their FIU summer has really helped spark in them a vision for the cause of Christ, inspiring them to promote His love in their communities, jobs, and churches, both at home and abroad, for years to come.

Thank you for your partnership in reaching students and trusting the Lord to raising up leaders that will proclaim His name to every tribe, every tongue, and every nation! He is worthy! 

Highlight from the Other Side of the World

In His kindness, the Lord gave us a glimpse of how He has been working over the last 3 decades. While at our Cru National Staff Conference in Milwaukee this July, Becky had the amazing joy of reconnecting with some friends from Central Asia! One she had not seen in 30 years. Becky met her as a new believer student in Kyrgyzstan in 1995. She is now the director of global student-led ministry for all of Cru in North Africa, the Middle East, and “stan” countries!

AND the other is a couple she met in Kazakhstan in 2000 on summer mission, again in 2002, & 2004 with Scott. They are now leading the ministry in a closed country in the Middle East and giving leadership to that whole part of the world. We wish we could share pictures with you, but because of where they labor, we will not post it here, but feel free to ask us!:) 

Prayer Requests & Family Update

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in raising up global national leaders!

Pray for students applying for summer missions 2026! We opened applications 9/3!

Pray for placement of staff leadership for summer 2026. Summer Missions 2025 outcomes coming next month!

Ethan has started his 2nd year at Biola and Sarah is continuing her grad studies, as she works at our church. 

In late September 2024, over 30 inches of rain fell on Western North Carolina in just a few days, causing floods, destroying buildings, and displacing many from their homes. Cru staff in the area quickly shifted their ministry focus and have been able to lead their community in restoration efforts and living the gospel out to their community. Students from surrounding areas have come to help rebuild and had opportunities to be the hands of Jesus and to proclaim the gospel. There has been a lot of work already done in Western North Carolina but years’ worth of work remain. Hundreds of students from around the country will be spending their spring break with Cru in Asheville, NC as we seek to follow Christ and help those in need in very tangible ways. Pray for these communities that are having to rebuild their entire lives, much like in Southern California with the fires. Pray for the students as they take steps of faith and encounter the Lord. Pray that this opportunity will open their eyes to opportunities the Lord has for them back on their campuses to be His hands and feet!

Team Time in Tulsa

Thank you for your prayers for our time in Tulsa with our Mission Trip Team! We had a great week together of learning, team building, planning, praying, and enjoying being together! As Cru’s Campus Ministry, we are trusting the Lord for the whole campus to the whole world to fulfill the Great Commission in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our part as the Mission Trip Team is to join what God is already doing in students lives by guiding & supporting mission trips to every people group. This includes our short term trips like the spring break trips mentioned above, as well as our summer missions that you often hear us share about! We are so thankful to be a part of this team!

Thank you for your investment in seeing the Lord transform students lives and send them to the world!

Praises and Prayer Requests!

• Praise the Lord for the 1,020 students who have applied so far to invest their summer in a Cru summer mission! 

• Pray for the Lord to fill all our teams and give our team leaders wisdom and guidance.

• Pray for fruitful ministry on spring break trips all over the world right now. And that students would grow in Jesus and connection with others.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”- Isaiah 52:7

Our team (Cru’s Mission Trip Team) plans and hosts this conference each January to equip over 300 summer mission team leaders to lead hundreds of students around the globe each summer!

This includes planning and praying for the content, emcee, speakers, schedule, ambiance, working with our conference production and operations teams who create these spaces and work with the hotel, and then bringing it all together during the conference. The conference is an all play for our whole team, but we each had specific roles as well.

Scott spoke at one of the main sessions on how to lead with and to this generation. He led multiple other times with leaders to help them plan for their summer, how to handle difficult situations with mental health, risk, crisis, and evaluating student applications.

Becky was the conference program director and point person for our team. She handled logistics, documents, and communication for the schedule, the program, and connected with all the speakers, and led the main sessions from the back tech booth.

Our Mission Trip Team spans from coast to coast, so it is a joy to be able to work together in person for this conference. This is our team with one of our International Mission Directors, who helped us plan the conference.

The students who take a step of faith to go this summer and those who hear will be changed for eternity. Thank you for being a part of equipping these summer mission team leaders who will take students with them to proclaim Jesus all over the U.S. and around the world! 

Praise & Prayer Requests

Please pray for the Lord to fill these summer mission trips with students who want to be His ambassadors & for the team leaders, as they prepare for the summer amidst also working to reach students on campuses during the school year. 

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” – Romans 10:15