THE SLAMERS

Spring is in the Air

Around our People and Culture team, Spring means applications!  Soon-to-be-graduates are responding to God’s call to invest their first, or second, year in vocational ministry, as Cru interns. 

“Working for Cru, sharing the Gospel and furthering God’s Kingdom through helping others grow in their faith has been immensely fulfilling and I want to continue being a resource for the students…” – second year intern applicant.

This year we’ve had 120 first and second year intern and Stint (international internship) applicants to evaluate!  Scott has been coaching two of our staff evaluators who have two applicants each, and he’s been evaluating an intern applicant himself.  Our goal is to be able to give a decision to an applicant within two weeks of beginning our evaluation, which is much like an intensive discipleship relationship.

Help!  My Child’s Going to College

About this time of year, friends often ask us about helping their new college student get connected to Cru on campus.  We LOVE to help do this!  So, please let us know if we can help you in that way.  If we don’t know someone personally we can point you in the right direction.

If you or your child/grandchild would like to explore what Cru is like on campus on their own, and even get in contact with a Cru staff member at their new campus, you point them to Cru’s Undergraduate page at:  https://www.cru.org/us/en/communities/campus/undergrad.html.

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Pray for the 120 intern applicants who will be preparing for an internship with Cru this summer.
• Pray for high school seniors preparing to enter the spiritual battleground of college campuses this Fall.
• Praise God for the new national role Scott accepted this week!   (More on this next month)

Family Requests:

• Pray for Becky, Sarah, and Ethan to finish the school year strong these final two months.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ”

2 Corinthians 5:21

I(Scott) received this text message from Jasen last week,

“Hey Scott, I know it has been a while, but I have made my final decision to go on a summer missions trip this Summer.”

Jasen is a Sophomore at the University of Washington.  He is first-generation Chinese American.  I got his name at Winter Conference, as someone interested in learning ways to get involved with Cru.  We had breakfast together one morning and he shared his story of coming to faith late in high school and growing tons in the Lord recently.  I shared with him ways to get involved with Cru, and suggested a Summer Mission might be the next best step.  His text continued,

“I took a step of faith by telling my parents, who are both non-believers, about my decision to go on a missions trip, and telling them that it’s something God wants me to do. By God’s grace, the both of them are 100% supportive of me now.”

“So I just want to thank you for everything. I felt lost and at a crossroads when I came to talk to you. Now that everything has been made clear to me, I know exactly what I must do. So thank you.”

I’m so grateful to have been used by God to encourage and help guide Jasen as he seeks to grow in the Lord, and God’s will for his life.  Thanks for being a part of his journey with us!

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Praise God for speaking to Jasen and guiding him to take steps of faith!
• Pray for Jasen, and other students making decisions about life, and seeking direction.  That they would seek it and find it in Jesus.

Family Requests:

• Please pray for healing as we all caught various illnesses in the last couple weeks of February.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

Summer Mission Leader Training

January 11-14 Scott attended Summer Mission Team Leaders Training.  We’ve attended before, Scott led the training last year, and this year he was there to figure out ways to make it even better.

Scott interviewing new East Asia team leaders, to find out how the conference benefitted them and what we might do differently.

Winter Conference San Francisco

860 students from 80 campuses descended upon San Francisco January 18-21, for teaching, outreach, and community.

Day of Outreach statistics:

Spiritual conversations: 723

Gospel presentations: 89

Decisions for Christ: 15

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Continue to pray for a smooth and effective transition to Cru’s new Summer Mission Trip structure.
• Pray for students making decisions about their summers.  That they would invest them wisely.

• Family Requests:  Praise God for a great start to Ethan’s Spring soccer season!
• Praise God for providing a generous donor to get braces on Ethan this month!  But pray for his adjustment to them:)

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”

Psalm 24:1

This month we want to give you a little look into the fruit of Scott’s seminary studies.  If you’ll remember back to last year, Scott began part-time (one day per week) study toward a MA in Theological Studies.  What follows is a brief exposition he did on one of Jesus’ parables.  We hope it’s helpful and encouraging!

The parable of the mustard seed is found in Matthew 13:31-32, during Jesus’ Galilean ministry.  It is the third in a rapid succession of seven parables describing the “kingdom of heaven.”  As with all of Jesus’ parables, they give us a fuller understanding of the kingdom of God².  Jesus’ audience in this parable is “the crowds” (Matt. 13:2, 36).  This parable was taught for everyone to hear, as he was teaching from a boat on the Sea of Galilee.

The tiny mustard seed, and the large plant that results from it, was a well-known contrast in first century, Jewish culture¹.  The mustard plant grows from a tiny seed, to a “tree”, or large plant, that can reach as much as 12 feet in height¹!  This is key to understanding the “reversal of expectations” Jesus is communicating about the kingdom of heaven².  Jews at that time were expecting a powerful Messiah to come, overthrow their enemies, and establish God’s kingdom on earth.  But Jesus was teaching that the kingdom of heaven would actually start very small and insignificant and grow over time to become “large and prosperous”³.  This is not what the Jewish crowds were expecting, and would have come as a surprise¹!

So, the simple point of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed, was to communicate that the kingdom of God would not begin with a massive overthrow of earthly kingdoms, but would have a small and seemingly insignificant start, that would one day grow to a large and prosperous kingdom.

Thanks for trusting Jesus with us to begin small movements of his followers on college campuses, that will grow into the massive Kingdom of God!

As a small excursus, I will mention that living in California has added to my understanding of the mustard plant.  About two years ago, I discovered that we have tons of wild mustard growing in undeveloped parts of the land.  The bright yellow “carpet” that decorates our local hills every spring, is a variety of the mustard plant!  Attached is a picture I took two years ago on a hike with my son, in our local hills.  I took it for the birds, but didn’t realize until later, that they are resting in a mustard plant!  The second is just a snapshot from the car of what the hills look like covered with mustard in March.

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 

Matthew 13:31-32

¹ESV Study Bible.  2008.  Wheaton: Crossway. pp. 1849, 1985.

²Harris, Dana M.  2018.  “Introduction to the New Testament Lectures”.  Illinois:  Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  Lecture 4.

³Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary.  Radmacher, Earl D., Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House, eds.  1999.  Nashville:  Thomas Nelson.

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Continue to pray for a smooth transition to Cru’s new Summer Mission Trip structure.
• Pray for the many Fall Retreats happening this time of year.  They are a key time for those involved with Cru to establish lasting Christian friendships.

• Family Requests:  Praise God that Scott was chosen again to coach a Spring soccer team with AYSO!  Our prayer is always to be good witnesses to Jesus in our community.  Coaching and playing soccer has provided great opportunities.

“Yes, yes, and yes!” was the response of Cru’s Campus Ministry Executive Director.  He had just heard Scott and his team present their proposal for the restructuring of Cru’s mission trip program, and was responding to their requests to begin implementation.

If you’ll remember back to our April prayer letter, Scott shared how he was asked to be on a small team (4 people) to redesign our mission trip program for Cru.  For almost 8 months they’ve been working on this proposal.  They’ve enlisted the help of staff from every corner of the Campus Ministry (thousands of Cru staff), gone through several iterations with various leaders, and finally have the ‘green light’ to implement it.  Thank you so much for your prayers for this process!

Cru’s mission trips are one of the best things we do.  Just this last summer, Cru’s Campus Ministry sent 2,882 college students on 216 teams around the world.  The gospel was shared 63,733 times, and 5,373 people made decisions to receive Christ!  Summers double the number of decisions for Christ in the Campus Ministry each year!  With this new mission trip program in place, Cru will be positioned to send even more students, to more locations, to reach more people as a part of Jesus’ Great Commission.

The job’s not done yet.  In a sense, it’s just begun.  Job descriptions need to be made, roles need to be filled, and the entire Campus Ministry needs to be informed and aligned to the new mission trips model.  Early responses have been very positive.  But pray with us that God would continue to lead us as we implement this new mission trip structure for Cru.

Praise & Prayer Requests

• Praise God for his guidance in Cru’s new mission trip model!  Pray for a smooth roll out and implementation this year.
• Homeschool has begun in the Slamer home.  Pray for a successful, unhurried year.
• Soccer season has begun for Ethan, and Scott as he coaches.  Pray we’d be a great witness as we connect with many new families in our community.
• Pray for our community here in Chino Hills.  Our community has been shaken by a local pastor taking his life.

“Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”           

John 20:21

Each year, Cru’s Campus Ministry publishes a report with the results of our Summer Missions sending across the nation.  This year’s report is 33 pages long, and has a lot of in-house lingo.  But we will just post a quick snapshot here to give you a picture of what God is doing through Cru Summer Missions around the world.

A couple of notes on how this relates to our ministry:  Our family co-led one of those Global Missions trips to East Asia this summer.  Also, the person who compiles this report is on the team of 4 Scott has been working with for the past 8 months, to restructure/upgrade our Summer Missions program.

2018 Sending :: Cru trained and sent out 2882 students around the US and the world with the light of Christ, as part of 216 missional teams, and another 2500 involved through Summer Connect (see below).

There were 63,733 gospel exposures with 5373 decisions for Christ!

• Of 140 Global Missions teams and 1325 students,

o 34,172 gospel exposures and 4326 decisions for Christ

o 2,168 of these decisions were from the Tanzania high school and college mission!

o Highlights: Cote d’Ivoire saw 1500 hear the gospel and 200 decisions! 5 teams had over 10 personal gospel conversations per student per week in country – SOON Thailand (28.3), Ecuador High School (19.6), Cote d’Ivoire (15), Cyprus (14.3), and London PSW (10).

• Of 52 US teams and 1393 students,

o 27,310 gospel exposures and 967 decisions. (52,024 and 1300 respectively in 2017)

o We had a handful less teams and 200 less students, and half the gospel exposures.

o Highlights: North Myrtle Beach led with 2,408 personal gospel exposures, while Ocean City led with 5000 media exposures! 11 teams reported over 7 spiritual conversations initiated per student per week, leading to 2 to 4 gospel exposures per person per week.

It’s not too often that we get to hear a status update on the global Christian Church.  But this one from Cru’s President, Steve Douglass, left my (Scott) jaw hanging open!  He gave this short message in June, to Cru’s global leaders.

We live in unprecedented times with regard to the movement of the gospel, growth of Jesus’ church, and opposition to this advancement.  We hope this motivates you as much as it has us!

Click on this link to watch now:  Steve Douglass GLC – June 2018

One of the things God impressed upon us again in Asia, is that he wants us to trust him for supernatural things; to take “kingdom” risks. We were blessed to co-lead a mature team of college students from Arizona universities. They were a highlight of the summer, as we took steps of faith together!

About halfway through our 6-week mission trip, Scott felt a strong sense that he needed to follow-up with one of the Asian students he met the first week.  His name was “Riley”. He graduated from university this summer and had just begun a job in a nearby city. Even though Riley was no longer in our city, God orchestrated it so that Riley was coming back to pick up his diploma the day after Scott messaged him!  Scott knew this was an “open door” to ask Riley if he wanted to learn about God. When Scott and Ethan (our 11-year-old son) went to meet Riley, he was willing and interested to learn about God. Scott shared the gospel using an app in his language.  Riley understood and put his trust in Jesus that day!

God continued to blow our socks off.  We had the opportunity to meet several Asian Cru staff and interns.  One young woman named “Abby” was preparing to go on Stint (short-term international internship) from her country, to Central Asia.  When Becky learned this, her ears perked up. “Which country?” she wondered. Turns out Abby was going to the same country and city Becky Stinted in 23 years ago!  When Becky was in that city, her team prayed for God to raise up and send people there from Asia!  We were in that country, standing face-to-face, with an answer to her prayers 23 years earlier!!
Our God is big!  He is so worthy of our trust and obedience.  We are grateful to have been able to serve him in Asia this summer!  Thanks for partnering with us!

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Praise God for the 100 Asian students we met with this summer, 32 spiritual conversations, 17 gospel presentations, and Riley, who received Christ!!!
  
• Pray for Riley to put down deep roots in his relationship with Jesus, and get connected to solid, Christian community.
  
• Pray for Abby and her team as they bring the gospel to Muslim students in Central Asia.
  
• Pray for us and our team to grow and live out all God showed us this summer.
  

“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”  John 4:35b

We can’t leave out the team we led when talking about our Summer Mission.  Our team was one of our favorite parts!  It was comprised of 6 students from Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of Arizona (U of A).  They were a mature, fun, faith-filled bunch.  We led with another single Cru staff woman from ASU named Brittany.  Brittany was on our staff team on the Santa Monica Summer Mission in 2015!  She is a lot of fun, wise, and easy to work with.  To round out the team, was another single Cru staff woman named Jessey.  She works at ASU as well, but with a Cru ministry to international students called “Bridges.”

Being overseas, with the same mission, for six weeks, really bonded us like a family.  We lived in a hotel on the same floor, took language classes together, rode bikes to minister on local campuses, took steps of faith together, ate a lot of food, and had tons of fun.

Scott discipled our two students men, both from ASU.  He had weekly discipleship meetings with them, a couple of men’s times, and met students on campus together.

Jordan (bearded man in pic) will be a senior in the Fall.  He will be in leadership in Cru at ASU next year, leading their weekly meeting team.  He came to that country a year-and-a-half ago on a week-long vision trip. This summer he was coming to see if God might be calling him there long-term, after graduation.

• At the end of the summer, Jordan said God is showing him, “God doesn’t need us, but in his grace, chooses to use us to do wonderful things!”
• Sharing his faith has reminded him of how much God loves him!  He needs the gospel too.
• Jordan realized, “I don’t need certain circumstances or missions trips to be close to God.  I can experience that anywhere, anytime with the Holy Spirit. The airplane example in the Satisfied? booklet was huge for me.”
• “Nothing was as bad as I thought it would be.”

Jacob will also be a senior in the Fall.  He will lead all the Freshmen Bible Studies in his movement next year.  This was the last summer he’d be able to go on a summer mission. He chose that country as a “faith challenge,” a place where he would need to depend on God.

• At the end of the summer, Jacob said, “I realized that I don’t do enough trusting of Him at home.  This summer will make me think more about Him.  My Freshmen Bible studies will be a lot better when I’m trusting Him.”
• “I want to reach out to more people.  I had to do it here and want to do it at home.  I’ve seen God work here through me.”
• “This experience showed me a new way to do ministry.  How to start a conversation, by being friendly. How to transition to a spiritual conversation, and present the gospel.”

We miss them already, but we’re confident God will continue to grow and use them for his kingdom!

     You’ve probably noticed over the years, how much we talk about “Summer Missions” in our prayer letters. It may seem like much of what we do is all about “Summer Missions.” Well, that’s actually true! For 10 years, Scott has given leadership to the summer ministries of all the Cru staff in the southwest, and our Stateside Summer Missions in general. We’re also big fans of how God works in and through the lives of college students on a summer mission. There’s nothing else like it in all of ministry! We’ve been on Summer Missions many times, and led a few over the years ourselves. Because of this, the Lord has opened up a unique opportunity for Scott this Spring.

     Last Spring, Cru’s campus ministry, as a whole, restructured our field ministries toward greater effectiveness. It’s something we do about every 10 years, just to keep us innovative and relevant. In January, Scott was asked to work nationally to help restructure Cru’s Summer Mission program. Just over 200 Summer Missions go out from the US, to every corner of the globe, each year. It’s a major redesign of our summer sending strategy, and it involves just about every department within our campus ministry.

     Working with three other national leaders, Scott has been pulling in representatives from Cru’s different departments around the nation, to give input toward the redesign. They’re shooting for a proposal to be ready within the next two weeks. We’re certain the proposal will go through a number of revisions before it’s finally rolled out, but our hope is to have the new system in place by the beginning of this summer. Then we’ll be poised to send even more students, more effectively, around the globe, to bring the gospel! We covet your prayers during this important season.

Praise & Prayer Requests!

• Praise God for his provision of summer leaders for all the venues Scott coordinates!

• Pray for God to provide full financial support for us and our team for our Summer Mission.

• Pray for us and our co-leader Brittany, to accomplish all the planning and preparation necessary for our Summer Mission.

• Pray for God to begin work in our hearts and the hearts of the students we will meet this summer!

• Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance as Scott works to restructure Cru’s Summer Missions program.

Thank you for partnering with us to train leaders to

reach every college student for Christ!