Middle East STINT team video:
Click here
https://docs.google.com/a/cru.org/file/d/0B0D9DweR61PZSlhMWDZyYUk4SEk/edit

Going Out from Among Us

What kind of challenge can you provide for a guy who sets his cell alarm for 10:40 as a (twice) daily reminder to pray for the 10/40 Window* . . . who committed 40 days to pray for the world’s 40 largest unreached people groups . . . whose conversation seamlessly references God’s Word, over and over and over again?

All this and more exudes from the heart of 23 year old Josh F, a 2012 UNH graduate and leader of the 2013-14 Cru Northeast Stint Team to the Middle East.  Josh agreed to meet me at a NH Starbucks, where he’d previously held a part-time position. Right from the “get-go” Josh impressed me as a rather exceptional young man.  Standing in line for our latte and sandwich, the barista and shift manager recognized Josh, asking about his impending mission, their voices animated with respect and admiration.  For the next hour or so, Josh and I delved into his story.  It was hard to miss this guy’s passion, giftedness, and readiness to bring Gospel life to students in a culture quite different from his own.  In just a few short weeks Josh and his team will be situated on the other side of the world, and he can hardly wait to get there.

Josh’s journey to the Middle East begins with a childhood faith that withstood the onslaught of High School pressures- thrived, in fact - so that by his freshman year at UNH this 18-year-old was ready to take on ministry responsibilities with Cru.  From there God began to burden Josh’s heart beyond his campus to the world . . . then even more specifically, to unreached people groups.

Somewhere along the way, Josh found out about Stint, Cru’s strategy for developing ministries on campuses around the world where none currently exist.  His senior year, Josh determined to Stint immediately following graduation.  Other forces intervened, however.

“I had to do a summer internship for my Exercise Science major, so after that I ended up working at Starbucks and as a part-time Cru intern at UNH.”   Being part of the UNH Cru staff team impressed Josh deeply.  He feels he now has a better foundation for how a team should work.  

So what do you do with a guy like Josh?  What would we do were it not for Stint?  Thankfully, Cru’s strategy encompasses not only WINNING and BUILDING students, but also SENDING them to befriend, engage and share Christ on campuses worldwide where there is no visible Gospel presence - as yet.   With recent grads like Josh going, giving themselves to be shaped, filled, and used by God over this next year, the potential for impact is very real and very exciting.

* The 10/40 window represents the largest concentration of unreached people groups - they are located between latitudes 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north of the equator.

-Susie Richardson

A Tale of Two Citizens

A Tale of Two Citizens  or ...

Cru, Terrorism and the Mafia

This past April much of the world was riveted by the fatal bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  The subsequent manhunt in and lockdown of the nation’s 5th largest metropolitan area was like a reality crime movie.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was apprehended, bleeding, hiding inside a boat on the north side of the city.  

We learned that Dzhokhar was a student at UMass Dartmouth, where there is a growing Cru movement.  The college had been evacuated as federal agents searched Dzhokhar’s dorm room for clues, weapons et al.  We were reminded of another UMD student ...

Two years ago, a sophomore named “Goose” began hanging out with Cru students at UMD after a few of them had an initial spiritual conversation with him in the dining hall.  Goose eventually came along with them to the Epicenter Winter Conference in Jan. 2012.  During Epicenter, with the encouragement of his friends, Goose put his trust in Christ.  Through a session in the conference where he learned to tell the story of his personal faith journey, this young believer came to grips with abuse he’d experienced all his life from his father.  Goose began the process of forgiving his dad.  

Goose began to grow in Christ, continuing to take steps of obedience as he experienced more forgiveness and grace.  Last winter Matt L, a staff member at UMD, was surprised to find Goose knocking at his door early one morning, at a time much earlier than college students are ever up and about.  Goose told Matt he wanted to get out of the Mafia.  What?!  Cru has specialized in training over the years.  We have manuals and booklets teaching How to Share Your Faith, How to Pray, How to Study the Bible.  But we didn’t seem to have a copy of How to Get Out of the Mafia.  

Goose had been born into the Providence Mafia.  Now that he was learning about the Gospel, he wanted to get out, but didn’t know how.  The Mafia is like the Hotel California - you can check in any time you want, but you can never leave.  Many, many of us were praying for Goose and for the Christian students rallying around him.  A couple of months later, Goose knocked on Matt’s door for a second early morning wake-up.  This time, Goose was bruised and beaten up, but had a slight smile on his face.  He told Matt, “They let me go!”  Goose had to meet with the bosses, was questioned intensely, given a thrashing ... and then released!

Two students on the same college campus started out the same in many ways.  Both needed a place to belong and needed that community to offer them not only relationships but also a purpose greater than themselves.  Because of the community they found and the mission they were invited into, one is now trapped in bondage, violence and death.  The other has been liberated into real life and hope.  Through Christ and His loving followers, Goose found the courage to do what’s right.  Through the misguided messages of a false community, Dzhokhar sank deeper into fear and evil.  

The earthly circumstances and events of most college students don’t end up on CNN.

But the choices made are real and lasting. 

Thank you for your role in helping to move students closer to life in Christ and away from the kingdom of darkness.

The Rest of the Story

In a few short months these six recent New England graduates will embark on the adventure of a lifetime.  For a year, they will plant themselves in a university city in the Middle East, begin to learn the culture and some language, and look for ways to acquaint students there with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  What can we expect from such an undertaking?  Well, if recent history is any indication, we just might find one of those currently unsuspecting, Middle Eastern  students joining Cru staff in a few years.  Unbelievable?  Sit back and let me tell you a story . . .

Once upon a time in a faraway land lived a girl named Ming.  The only child of her mother, a professional business woman and father, an electrician, Ming typified the youth of her culture.  By 8th grade she’d set a course for admission to her city’s top university.

Unfortunately Ming’s long hours and intense regimen of study failed to garner her the necessary score on her college entrance exam, a one-shot chance to achieve your university of choice.  This sparked an identity crisis in the disciplined, high-aiming teenager.  For quite some time Ming had pictured herself succeeding at this particular institution, catapulted from there into the world of high finance.  Now that her dreams were abruptly rearranged,  Ming did her best to accept the fact that her credentials would be associated with a “second-tiered university.” 

 Disoriented, Ming also was feeling afraid, plagued by those looming, overarching questions of life.  Brought up Buddhist, Ming sincerely worshipped in the Temple with her mother until she was 16:  “We went to Thailand on a special pilgrimage.  When I saw all those necklaces of jade, supposedly prayed over by monks, bought and sold to the thousands of tourists there, I knew it just had to be fake.”  

For four years, Ming didn’t believe in anything.  Then in English class, her sophomore year, Ming heard the name of Jesus for the first time.  Soon afterward, she watched a documentary on the history of Jerusalem and its religions:  “When they mentioned Jesus, something about Him struck me - that He was real, that He had really lived, and that He loved us.  Still, I wondered, ‘How does this man become God?’ “  It was about a week later that Ming met Kaye.

Kaye and her team of six, all recent graduates, all having prepped for a year-long Stint with Cru in East Asia, had just gotten situated at this “second-tiered university.”  Ming says, “My roommate and I were leaving our dorm for dinner when Kaye introduced herself and her teammate, saying, ‘We’re new here and we want to make friends and learn the language.’  This was the first time I had ever met a foreigner.  I wrote my info in character form, not thinking that Kaye wouldn’t be able to understand it.  So when I didn’t hear back from Kaye, I called her and the four of us met.”

It only took a few meetings for Ming to find what she’d been searching for in Jesus.  “To know that God would guide my future was such a relief to me.  I realized that fulfillment didn’t come from the ‘right school or job’ but rather in Jesus, who came to give us an abundant, meaningful life.”  Once her faith was firmly established, Kaye brought Ming to a campus fellowship.  “I was so excited, nervous, wondering ‘what will it look like?’ “  What it looked like was 6 Stinters and 6 students, singing, praying, Bible lessons . . . such new experiences for Ming.  The group  grew to 30 students by the end of Ming’s senior year, and she estimates involvement now to be over 100 (though they meet separately as smaller groups all over campus), with some students even traveling to far-flung provinces on short-term missions!

In 2008, this 23-year old who’d met her first foreigner at age 18,  traveled to the USA to begin a 2-year finance program at Brandeis University in Boston, a component of her graduate studies.    Meanwhile, Kaye, having finished her Stint, was joining Cru staff.  Kaye met Ming at Logan airport, helped her settle in a bit, then took Ming home with her to Philadelphia for a few days.  The trip held a couple of surprises for Ming: “Kaye told me she hadn’t been “just a student” when I met her - that she came as a missionary!  I had never heard of people doing this.  I remember how hard it was for Kaye in my country and now I saw the comfortable life she had here.  I thought, ‘Wow, she came so far just to share the Gospel.  Because of Kaye, I heard the Gospel.'"  

Then at the Philadelphia church, Kaye let Ming in on another secret.  Due to potential government backlash, students’ actual names are not used in communications.  “Ming, people here know you and have prayed for you - but to them you’re not Ming.  You’re Jenny!”

Kaye’s example helped create within Ming a drive to evangelize, to bring the Gospel to others.  Joining Cru’s ministry at Brandeis, Ming’s discipler helped her leverage her enthusiasm.  Ming began a campus Bible Study there with others from her country.  She brought others to Christ, helped them grow and saw lives change.  She participated in Boston’s Summer Project.  She even returned to her home country, with two Cru staff women, for a 10-day evangelism infusion at a university there.

So what did Ming’s parents think about all of this?  “My mother said, ‘Two religions in one house is bad luck.’  They thought I was being deceived and warned me not to go to church, but still I went.  Still, I read my Bible.  During the 10 day trip, I had an assignment to tell my parents more specifically about my life in Christ.  The Cru women were praying for me and I stood firm and eventually my parents relented.  Now my mother has become a Christian and is part of a house church!”

After finishing at Brandeis, somehow the world of high finance paled in comparison to what Ming had experienced as God’s ambassador.  Ming decided to intern with Cru, which meant raising her financial support, only knowing 20 people here in America.  By her due date she only had 40% raised; but God spoke to Ming through Psalm 84, that the Valley of Baca would bring forth springs of blessing.  Within 3 weeks the remaining 60% came in through contacts and references of a single couple at her church.   

Ming finished her 2-year internship and decided to join Cru’s full-time staff, specifically our Bridges ministry which reaches out to international students.  Amazingly her support is now raised, and she is going full speed ahead, leaving our interview to meet with students at Boston University.  

Cru holds a commissioning service at our Orlando HQ for each wave of new staff and Kaye was able to be present for Ming’s commissioning.  Before the ceremony, Kaye confided to Ming, “You know, before I left to come to your country, I asked God to use me to bring forth a missionary from this place where I was going, one from whom the Gospel would go forth to the ends of the Earth.  Now I am witnessing the fulfillment of that prayer.”  Stunned by still another revelation from Kaye, Ming whispered back, “Kaye, maybe you should just tell me right now if you are holding any other secrets about me!”

Can anything be more compelling than this prayer of faith, lifted up by Kaye in the midst of her reckless pursuit of God to this country whose millions He loves and this immediate, observable, undeniable answer to that prayer in Ming . . . 

This is the story of one Stinter on one Team and the way God met her there on the other side of the world.  Dozens more teams from all over the U.S., are now fully focusing on the task at hand - gathering their support team, their ministry partners who will share in the mission with them, enabling them to take the Gospel to the far reaches of the world.  

Tapping into Harvard's Historic Roots

link to the article:

http://www.cru.org/ministries-and-locations/ministries/campus-ministry/the-vision-of-harvard.htm