Intern Kickoff Weekend

Thank you for praying for the scores of college students who applied to serve as missionaries with Cru this coming academic year!  God answered!  Over 90 were accepted and showed up last Friday in Irvine, to attend a weekend packed full of training and preparation.  It was our team, the Leadership Development Team, that hosted this conference, as we lead out in training, care, and development of all our missionary staff in the region (CA, AZ, HI & Las Vegas).

90 New Cru Missionaries get trained at Kickoff Weekend

Britton, from USC, attended the weekend.  He shared with me on Friday, that he had attended the breakout time I (Scott) was co-leading at our Radiate Conference in January (See our January Prayer Letter).  It was there he began to consider an international opportunity to serve with Cru, and eventually decided to apply for an internship back at USC this coming year!  Britton’s now trained and ready to engage in support raising this summer and to begin his new role as a one-year Cru missionary in the Fall!

Moms Development Guild

Last month, Becky shared how she was just chosen this year to be the Moms’ Associate for our region.  Also, that she is a part of a Moms’ Development Guild consisting of Moms’ Associates from each of our 10 regions nationwide.  They lead in the care and development of all the moms on staff with Cru throughout the country.  The first weekend of April, the Moms’ Development Guild gathered in Salt Lake City, UT to connect, learn from each other, pray, and move forward in engaging our moms in the mission of Cru.

Team that leads the development of Cru staff moms nationwide

Prayer Requests!

• Praise God for over 90 men and women who are preparing to be new Cru Interns in our region and overseas, in the Fall!

• Pray for those new missionaries to receive all the financial support they need to report to their assignments in August or September.

• Praise God Sarah’s heart valve is not getting worse and possibly better!  Continue to pray with us for complete healing and no lasting effects.

Thank You!

We couldn’t do this without you!  We are so thankful for your heart to give, pray and invest in seeing students lives changed for eternity!

Last August, I (Becky) stepped into the role of being our region’s (CA, AZ & HI) Mom’s Associate.  I have the privilege and joy of connecting with a team of moms around the country in this same role. We care for, advocate for, and come alongside our missionary moms.  Daily, our PSW moms pour out their lives to build their families and invest in the lives of students to know Jesus.   These moms are pillars of influence in their homes, their communities and on their campuses.   Some minister in very isolated or difficult situations.  About a year ago, we made the decision to have our first Moms Conference to encourage and refresh these moms.  I have had the joy of leading a planning team of 6 of us (see pic below) to put together this conference.

Moms Conference Planning Team

March 7-9, 44 missionary moms gathered in San Diego. Diane Martinelli, from our National Executive Team, a very loved friend to many in our region, led us to the Word to refresh our hearts and challenge us to excel still more in building our hearts, homes and the mission.  It was a great time.  The Lord allowed for lots of connection with Himself and each other that encouraged all of our hearts to press on and enjoy Him and the full lives He has given us! Students desperately need Jesus and they desperately need to see families who follow Jesus.  Praise the Lord with us for an opportunity to spur each other on!

First Ever PSW Moms Conference

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” Proverbs 14:1   

Prayer Requests!

• Pray for us and our team as we continue until the end of March to lead in evaluating scores of graduating college students applying to work with Cru next year.

• Pray for the Cru students  who will invest their Spring Breaks  learning to share their faith, telling others about Jesus, and growing with the community of believers on their campuses.

• Please pray for Sarah’s continued healing of her heart valve, and that there would be no long term effects.

Thank You!

We couldn’t do this without you!  We are so thankful for your heart to give, pray and invest in seeing students lives changed for eternity!

Weaving my way through the dispersing crowd, I (Scott) came to the front of the sea of chairs.  The Christmas program had just ended on the lawn at Arrowhead Springs, and the keynote speaker and his wife were greeting a great many people at the front.

I knew that Bill Bright and his wife Vonette had founded Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru), of which I was involved at Cal Poly Pomona.  I wanted to let them know how grateful I was and how much I enjoyed it.  Little did I know the incredible ways God had used these two for His kingdom over the decades!  They both greeted me very warmly, and Vonette went the extra mile to ask a few questions.  She had a smile that welcomed and warmed anyone she met.

Becky and I, at separate times and together, had several opportunities to meet both Bill and Vonette Bright.  Whether it was through friends that worked directly with them, or at our New Staff Trainings, it was always a pleasure and a privilege.  They exuded a love for Jesus and a love for people that was infectious.  They were easy to join up with in God’s great mission of making disciples of all nations.  We’re grateful to continue to fulfill God’s Great Commission walking in their footsteps, on staff with Cru.

On December 23, 2015 Vonette went home to be with the Lord.  She ran a good race, and now joins her Savior and her husband in heaven.  We’ll miss her.

Below are a couple pictures that were taken at separate times, when Becky and I joined the staff of Cru.  Bill and Vonette made it a point to meet every new staff member that joined Cru, as long as they were able.

Scott with Bill & Vonette Bright, co-founders of Cru

Becky with Vonette Bright, co-founder of Cru

This article captures well Vonette’s voice, heart for prayer, and much of how God gave them the vision to launch Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951.  Enjoy!  (Click on the link below to read it)

Born in Prayer – Vonette Bright

As a new missionary with Cru, you are immediately enrolled in a 2-year  program for developing your “head, heart, and hands”.  It’s 18 modules that includes individual learning, meeting with a coach, and on-campus experience.

The Leadership Development team that Becky and I are a on, leads this program.  Every Winter we put on a “First Year Field Training” (FYFT) for 3 days, to accomplish one of the first year modules together.   This year it was the first week in February in Santa Barbara. 

Our “head” and “heart” training happened mainly at the hotel.  Scott led a time where our 34 first-year missionaries explored their “relationship with self”; their character and how they respond to life’s circumstances. 

FYFT Meeting Room

Our “hands” portion was on the campus of UC Santa Barbara.  We engaged  in multi-cultural learning, and used a new tool to share our faith.  We also took part in a cool new outreach idea by our faculty ministry.  It’s called “Thank a Prof”. 

It’s a really simple concept:  write a thank you note to your professor and give us her/his name and office location.   We drop them off.  It was amazing to see how many students wanted to thank their professors!  What a great way to bless professors and build relationships with students!

“Thank-a-Prof” outreach table

“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”   Ephesians 4:12

Prayer & Praise!

• Pray for us and our team as we lead in evaluating scores of graduating college students applying to work with Cru next year.
• Pray for Becky as she leads our region’s first ever “Moms  Conference” for Cru staff moms in March.
• Sickness has hit our home continually since before Christmas. Please pray for our  health.   Also, for Sarah’s continued healing of her heart valve, and that there would be no long term effects.

Thank You!  For all you invest to see Jesus change the lives of college students for eternity!  We are grateful to partner with you!

A hand from the third row, quickly shot up in the air.

“Yes.”  I(Scott) responded.

“Which summer mission should I go on?”  The young man asked eagerly.

With a little grin, I responded, “Well, that depends on what you’d like to get out of a summer mission.  Let’s talk after the meeting.”

I was co-leading an informational breakfast meeting, where students could learn and ask questions about stateside and international summer missions with Cru.

We talked for a while after the meeting ended.  Turns out Blair is freshman student at the University of Arizona.  This “Radiate LA” conference was the first Cru conference he’d ever been to! 

Like many freshmen college students, Blair grew up in a Christian home, attended youth group regularly (mostly for social reasons), and started to explore opportunities in college.  He tried the fraternities, even a Christian one, but God was working that weekend to move him to a place of total commitment to Christ in his college years!  And he was ready to spend his first summer on a Cru summer mission!

Over 900 students attended our first ever “Radiate LA” conference, over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend!  Students were exposed to Biblical teaching, resources for their growth in Christ, fantastic worship, community with students from tons of different colleges, and opportunities to serve the Lord while in college.

Main Session of Radiate LA

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  -Jesus 

Prayer & Praise!

• Praise God for leading the process to place all our missionary staff on their summer assignments!  85% are in place now!
• Praise God and pray for the 900 students who attend Radiate LA this month.  Pray for them as they live out God’ call on their lives in college.
• Pray for our daughter, Sarah, as she heals from an inflamed heart valve.

Thank You!  For all you invest to see Jesus change the lives of college students for eternity!  We are grateful to partner with you!

Downtown Denver, CO from the hotel

Denver is cold in January.  For a Southern Californian, I(Scott) was scraping together every piece of winter-like clothing I have just to make the trip.  But it’s the setting for some really great ministry preparation each year.

Becky and I have traveled to Denver each January for the past few years.  It’s where Cru does their training for Summer Mission leaders.  Since we led in Santa Monica the last three years, we attended these trainings.

As a central location in the US, it has also become the location of several other concurrent meetings and trainings.  Beginning last year, I attended the Summer Placement Coordinators “guild” as well.  It’s a meeting of the Cru staff from around the country who do summer placement for their region, like I do in the Pacific Southwest.  That’s why I was there again this year.  We had a fantastic time of sharing best practices, new ideas, and solving problems in areas that aren’t working.

Outside of the meetings though, I had the privilege of going to dinner with two Cru staff and one student, who will be leading a summer mission to East Asia this summer.  They asked if I would help them to connect and work together as a team.  This was the first time all three of them were together.  We had a great Thai dinner and I led them through a fun sharing time where they learned about each other personally, and a little bit of their work styles.  Pray with me that they work together and lead well this summer in East Asia!

Chris, Erin, and Laura will lead a team to East Asia this summer!

“Ever since becoming a follower of Jesus, I’ve been so worried  about  losing my faith as I pursue a career in medicine.”  Megan, from the University of Arizona, shared. 

“But this is exactly what I needed to hear!” 

She had just finished a seminar at our Crossroads Conference about how to live out your faith in the medical professions.  It was hosted by a practicing physician who has been very successful in integrating his faith with his career.

That’s what Cru’s Crossroads Conference is all about, helping junior and senior college students move into their careers with Christ as their  highest priority.  Just over 400 college students gathered again this year to hear from ministry and marketplace speakers on Christ-directed decision-making, and a variety of other topics. 

Crossroads Conference Main Session

As the lead foot in Cru’s recruiting efforts, our Leadership Development  Team hosted one of those seminars.  We shared about the different  opportunities available within Cru, and heard from a panel of staff, interns, and part-time staff about their experiences.  40 students attended with lots of questions as  they consider what God might have for their future. 

Students attending our team’s seminar on opportunities with Cru

Prayer requests this month

• Pray for these over 400 junior and senior college students to follow Christ’s lead into their careers and ministry.
• Continue to pray for God’s direction in placing all 230 missionary staff on their summer assignments.
• Pray for over 1,600 students to attend our new Radiate Conference in Anaheim in January.

At the beginning of November, Scott traveled to Tucson to help care for the Cru missionary staff team there.  Along with the personal care for individual staff members there, it was also a time to see God at work in a number of different ways.

Joe is a senior staff member who has worked on the Southern Arizona team for many years.  His focus has been primarily on the three community college campuses in the Tucson area, the Pima Community Colleges.

Joe has a super ministry there, and it was fun to come along with him on a few of his regular appointments.  We shared our faith together, and I got to sit in on a couple of his discipleship appointments.  The very next week, Joe shared via text, that one of the men he had shared with when I visited, received Christ!  Joe has already experienced a half of a dozen students receive Christ with him this Fall!

Pima Community College, West Campus

Joe (right) sharing the gospel with a student (left), joined by another student involved in the Cru ministry there.

Discipleship over dinner, with Gabriel (left) and Erick (right).

Attending Cru’s weekly meeting at the University of Arizona, was a surprising treat for Scott.  He didn’t realize just how many students from the U of A had been on the Santa Monica Summer Mission in the last three years.  About 20 students who had been with us in Santa Monica ran up to  Scott with shouts and hugs upon seeing him on their campus!  It was a wonderful reunion, and a great time to learn what God has been up to in their lives since summer mission.

Many of those students shared how much confidence in sharing their faith the summer mission experience had  given them.  Most are leading small group Bible studies on campus.  Several shared with Scott that they are planning to go on summer mission this coming summer, in East Asia!  And at least one is planning to join with us as a full-time intern with Cru, when they graduate!

Bench in the center of campus at the University of Arizona

Scott with Gabby (top), Izzy (center), and Michael, from Santa Monica Summer Mission 2014

Scott with Alec (center) and Michael from Santa Monica Summer Mission 2015

It was a blessing just to get some time with the Cru staff team there as a whole.  Scott led a short devotional time, from Matthew 11:28-30, to begin their staff team meeting.  Then they jumped into planning their Winter outreach in early January.

They have a super team of men and women who minister full-time on the campuses in Southern Arizona!  It’s one of our larger teams in the region, with staff of all ages, gifts, ethnicities, and experience.

Cru’s Southern Arizona staff team meeting

Pray with us for this super team, as they seek to make Jesus known to the students on campuses throughout the Tucson area.

Ever since we became parents, our ministry focus has expanded.  Our children have become our first and most significant ministry.  And college students are our vocational ministry.  In many ways, one often benefits the other.  And it’s a joy when that happens!

Just this month, such an opportunity came about.  Months ago, we offered to the high school and junior high pastors at our church, to do evangelism training with the youth.  They jumped right on that offer, and put us in the calendar for a Wednesday night in November.  So, on a Wednesday night this month, we had the privilege of teaching over 150 high school and junior high students, how to share their faith in Jesus!  One of those junior high schoolers, was our very own daughter, Sarah!

We walked them through what the Gospel is, why share the Gospel, and how to do it.  We gave them examples of questions to use to start conversations, lead the conversation to spiritual topics, and ask for an opportunity to present the Gospel to someone.  Then we shared a simple presentation of the Gospel called, “Connecting with God”.

First page of the “Connecting with God” booklet we shared with 150 high school and junior highers.

It was an awesome privilege, and one we pray bears much fruit in their lives in the years to come!

Although our specialist roles are with summer missions and moms, we  love the variety of other ways we get to care for the Cru staff in our region!

The Cru team at Santa Barbara (pictured below) invited us up to lead their development time this week.  Becky led the team of nine through a fantastic workshop highlighting four areas of growth and maturity; bonding, boundaries, good/bad split, and adulthood.  This team has seen incredible fruit already this Fall.  Nine students received Christ in the first four weeks of classes!

Santa Barbara Staff Team

Becky also took the opportunity to have lunch with the three moms on that team and get to know them more.   She accepted the role this Fall of leading the care and development of all the moms in our region.   

Scott invited Santa Barbara students from past Santa Monica summer missions to get together.  Six showed up from the past three summers!  He asked them, “How has being on the Santa Monica Summer Mission affected your life?”  (check out our last post for their answers!) 

Challenging Leaders

Scott’s spent the last several weeks preparing to challenge specific staff to summer mission leadership roles.  He’s also been preparing to collect summer assignment preferences from all of the Cru staff in our region.   

This week he begins to make those individual challenges and the process of collecting those summer preferences.  This will take up the majority of his time for the rest of the calendar year!  Please pray for God to guide the whole process.