Hey everyone. So, at some point all of my past photos got deleted from my page so all of the pictures from my past posts are gone. Because of this I am going to consolidate all of them into this post. If you missed any of the past updates, please feel free to scroll through this one and read what has happened in the past. The posts won’t have the pictures, but you can still read about what has happened. Thank you for understanding.
April 6, 2023
God Provides
Guys support raising is hard! Every day is a new challenge of emotions and obstacles. While this is true God Provides!
Currently in my journey of initial support raising, God has gotten me to 67%. Praise God! I would have not been able to get this far without God. Through this season so far God has shown me the beauty of support raising. Support raising is important because of you guys. Having you guys in my corner praying for me, for my team, for our movement, and for our campuses. We need you guys. You are the backbone of our ministries. So thank you for listening to the calling God has put on your heart to support me and pray for us.
While I am at 67% there is still a while to go. I know God is going to provide for me and get me fully funded so that I can get on campus as share the good news of Jesus to students who so badly need to hear it. 33% left. That is 28 people giving at $100 monthly. It may sound like a lot, but we started at needing 84 people giving at $100 monthly. We have come so far!
I need your help! If you have already been financially and prayerfully supporting me, thank you. But I am asking all of you who are reading this to sit down and pray. Ask God how you can help! If He puts on your heart to give financially and not just pray, then I ask that you follow what God is putting on your heart. If He puts on your heart to increase, then please follow what God wants you to do. If God puts on your heart to get me connected to people in your life that want to hear about my ministry, then please do that. All I ask is that you follow what God wants you to do.
God is providing and we will get there in His timing. Thank you!
Prayer Request:
Pray that God will continue to provide and get me on campus as soon as possible.
Pray and see if God is putting anything about my ministry on your heart and ask how you can help.
Pray for our students in Long Beach and San Diego that they grow in their faith and trust God to share their faith to others.
San Diego News Through The Eyes Of Jordan
Dear Friends,
Welcome back to the newest installment of Cru ministries in San Diego! God has been on the MOVE y'all! Seriously the last couple months have been a blast, let's dive in!
Winter Conference! Winter Con is a stellar weekend where Cru movements from several campuses all over the west coast come together and hear from great speakers, worship together, and go out and share their faith! This year we were in Anaheim, CA and we had over 400 students attend from all over the West Coast ! It was a joy to worship alongside students from San Diego and see old friends as well as build new friendships with other Cru staff and interns!
This weekend was also a great time for students to learn, process, and bring things before the Lord and be in community, taking time to recognize our own brokenness, bring it to God, and know that He has done and is doing a powerful work through the cross. It was incredibly powerful to see students experience
Jesus with fresh perspectives and be empowered to share the good news with
others! Some of the ways we saw this play out this quarter were in some outreaches we did on campus! Namely, Text a Cookie and Soularium sharing.
Text a Cookie is an original Cru event where we posted flyers on campus days in advance, asking students to text a spiritual question to an automated number, and in exchange could come claim a free cookie and discuss their question if they wanted! I was a little afraid at first because trying new things scares me, but this event was a HIT. We did it 3 times this quarter, and had over 50 people each time ask questions, and many stayed to discuss, asking GREAT questions like:
"Who is Jesus?" "Is God real?" "How do I speak to God?"
And so many more that sparked incredible (and at times challenging) conversations! It was awesome to get to talk to people about Jesus and see our student leaders work hard to reach others! Sharing our faith and having spiritual conversations on campus has been another great way we have been able to connect with other students this quarter! Every other Thursday, a group of us have met on campus, walked around and asked people if they would be interested in chatting about life, spirituality, and God, and we have gotten the pleasure of talking to tons of new people! Above is one of the conversations that I had with Nick, a third year at UCSD who I have been meeting with regularly for discipleship. Nick had never gone sharing before this year, but has been super faithful and open to trying it and initiating conversations! He's a natural! Per my last letter, I will be attending a week-long mission trip to Costa Rica in partnership with Filter of Hope, an organization that works to share the gifts of the gospel and clean water to families and communities in need of both. Thanks to your giving and support, members of my team and I get to once again travel internationally to share the gospel with others, and I am incredibly grateful for your prayers and support as we go!
AND as an added bonus, my mom is coming with us! After hearing about last year's mission trip, she was determined to attend the next one and I am super excited that I'll get to experience this trip with her. I mean how often does one get to team up with their mom to go share the gospel?! So cool!
My next letter will contain all the pictures and stories from this trip, but until then please pray for our travels and for people to be open to hearing about and accepting Jesus. Only by the moving of the Holy Spirit can we expect others to know Christ, so please pray for God to move! Thank you always for your support and encouragement. God has been doing amazing things and I'm so happy I can share them with you! Praise Him!
In Christ,
Jordan
SO much is happening here in San Diego that I couldn't contain it in a single letter. In the next issue...
Men's Retreat!!
Spring Break Trips!!!
Looking ahead to Spring and Summer!
Stay tuned!
Prayer Requests:
1. Safe travels for Spring Break trips! Praise God that the other team sent to Lebanon has arrived safely!
2. Conversations and gospel presentations during Spring Break. Praying for the Holy Spirit to move and for students to grow in their trust and faith in the Lord. For many of them, it's their first time on a trip like this so pray that they can have peace of mind and that we can lead well!
Praise Reports:
1. Full funding for everyone attending Spring Break trips! Each and every student hit their funding goal, praise the Lord!
February 1, 2023
Winter Conference
For the first time in 2 years, we had a normal Winter Conference. What that means is CRU movements from all over the country meet at 5 different locations for a big conference. This year the California one was held in Anaheim, CA. Students who went got to hear from amazing speakers, participate in different outreach events, learn how to share their faith, hear about special opportunities to go on different summer missions, and worship with other Christians from 5 different state totaling to around 600 students.
This Winter Conference was such a good experience for students when it came to understanding their faith and sharing it to others. One thing I wanted to focus on was one of the outreach events. Students were given the opportunity to go to a Mosque and observe their worship and some even got to have conversations with Muslim people getting to share about what they believe when it comes to their faith. This was such an amazing opportunity because students so often become fearful to share their faith to their friends who are Muslim because they do not understand what Muslims believe in. Being able to expose students to people of Muslim background is so key because it helps take away the fear for them and also gives our students an a better understanding of what they Muslim people believe in. It also helps students understand the key differences between Christianity and Islam, helping our students grow in a better understanding of their own faith.
Prayer:
For the students who went to Winter Conference that they feel poured into and that they continue to experience the Gospel in their lives.
that all the students who came to Winter Conference would be bold about sharing their faith no matter what religion the other person practices. Pray that they are bold and loving.
For future opportunities for our students to share their faith and grow in their understanding of their faith.
December Blessings and Hardships
December is a month of mixed feelings. Students in both Long Beach and San Diego were finishing class and celebrating with their friends that they made over these last few months. Both had amazing Christmas parties that celebrated the year. I personally went to the Long Beach one and got to play fun games with everyone around, dive into deep conversations with a professor, and play white elephant gift exchange, where I won a Starbucks gift card. That night was so nice and peaceful and such a good send off for the students as they went into break. What a blessing.
Fast forward a week, I was feeling extreme pain in my side after taking a fall while playing basketball. I had this pain for about two days until it became unbearable. That is when Maya, my girlfriend, decided it would be best that I go to the ER. So, we did, and I was displaying signs of appendicitis. We waited hours in this ER 2 days before Christmas Eve, waiting for my results. Finally, 2 doctors come out and inform me that my pain is not appendicitis, but in fact a genetic disease called Polycystic Kidney Disease. What that means is that I have noncancerous cysts growing all over my kidneys and the pain I was feeling was from me rupturing a cyst.
This news was heartbreaking because my grandma and mom have this disease, so I knew there was always a chance, but I hoped I would never have it. What this disease means is that my kidneys are failing at a faster rate than the average person. It is not curable, but it is treatable through healthy diet and exercise to help slow down the rate that my kidneys fail. I will not be dying anytime soon. Praise God! They caught it at stage 2 of 5. I am still processing the realities of this, and I would appreciate prayer for healing. While it is not curable, nothing is impossible when it comes to God if it is in His will for my life. Pray for my brothers as they get screened for this disease too. While this was a hardship, God used the bad things to bless me through making me aware of my disease at an earlier stage so I can change and so that my brothers can get screened.
Prayer:
Students come back from break motivated to share their faith and grow in their Spiritual maturity.
For my health and processing
For my brothers as they get screened
That God continues to use me as a light in others' lives.
November 23, 2022
Refresh Retreat
At the beginning of the month, I was able to go to Colorado Springs for Cru's Refresh Retreat. This is a retreat for new staff who are raising a team of prayer and financial partners. It is here that we get to connect with friends that we made over the summer, get poured into by staff who have gone through what we have already gone through, get time to really focus on the Lord, and get sent out feeling better about minister partner development than we did before.
What was different about this retreat is the amount of time we got to connect with other staff going through ministry partner development. This was amazing for me because the reality is that during this season of ministry, community feels like the thing that is needed the most, but one of the areas that is lacking. During this period God has been teaching me the importance of community. Community can lift you up if you fall. Community can remind you of how God sees you. Community can empathize with your reality. Community is there for each other. God gifted us with community. If as you are reading this, and you do not have a good Christian community I encourage you to take that step of faith and reach out to your brothers and sisters. Allow them to be there for you. If you feel like you have no one to talk to then I would love to be one of those people in your life that can pour into you.
Time with the Lord is key when going through our day to day. Refocusing our lives and our day on God. During this retreat we got so much time to spend with the Lord every day. The picture of the deer was on one of my prayer walks. It was beautiful just getting to be in awe of God's creation as 11 deer surrounded me.
My times with the Lord consisted of lots of just listening and praising God. I feel like all too often when we are in prayer, we have an agenda. We come to God looking for answers on our everyday life. But how often do we just sit and thank God for who He is. How often do we praise God for all he has done in our past. God is teaching me how to slow down my hummingbird speed brain and just to empty it out and focus on Him. It is hard. Super hard. If any of you struggle with the practice of silence and solitude I would really suggest going online and look up "Practicing the Way." It is a John Mark Comer project that teaches people how to slow down, be present with God, and remember the different practices God wants us to have. I highly recommend.
On our last night of the retreat, we were given a piece of paper and told to write as a group our lies that we tell ourselves during this time of ministry partner development. It was honestly so good to see that I was not alone in how I felt. I think the one that stuck out to me that a lot of people struggled with was "that I am not worth investing into." We all have our past that God brought us out of. God has worked so much in my life, but it is easy to look at my past and think, why? Why would people want to invest in me? These are lies we tell ourselves and it is easy to tell ourselves.
Our students tell themselves these lies. They look around them at this competitive world we live in and think what makes them worth being invested in by an employer or a professor, or friends. It is easy to tell yourself this lie, but what is different between us, and nonbelievers is we have Jesus. We have a God who loves us for our past and instead of hiding it he puts it on display. He makes something that is way more beautiful than before. This love is the reason that we can overcome these lies and that we share our faith to nonbelievers.
So why the fire pit? What does this have to do with lies? Well, we got to burn our lies in the pit and focus on the truth of how God see us. If you are believing the insecurities in your life, the lies, I challenge you to sit down and be honest with God. Appreciate who He is and ask for Him to reveal who He says we are in His word.
Prayer: Pray that I continue to embrace who God says I am on a daily basis. Prayer for support because God is bringing me along. I am currently at 46.95%.
Challenge: Be with God and just sit and listen. Appreciate who He is and ask for Him to show you who you are in His eyes.
Or take a step of faith and jump into a Christian community.
Or why not both?
October 18,2022
Fall Retreat in Long Beach
Fall Retreat. My first one with Long Beach. We got to host Fall Retreat in Idyllwild, CA and it was a blast. We came alongside Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, and many other small schools for the weekend. The retreats theme was Called to Freedom and about how God gives us freedom, a freedom that we cannot attain on our own, but only through Jesus. The first night was heavy and very convicting because our speaker talked about freedom from sin and how the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and frees us from living under its control. That we can only do this through the strength of God and not on our own strength. That was hard for me because I love in my own life as most likely most of you do too. The talk made me think about were am I not letting God in and how can I start surrender my life over to God more everyday. Overall the talks were amazing that weekend and gave me a a refreshed perspective of true freedom.
During the weekend I got to work alongside one of the other Cru Long Beach staff and do sound. It was so awesome because I never did it before and I found a new appreciation for the tech guys in our churches. Guys, sound and slides are hard and a lot of people are counting on you to get it right the first time. It was super fun though because I like I said I got to work alongside one of the other staff team members and his name is Frank. Through the weekend I got to know Frank so much more than I did before. Frank is such a kind and caring being who wants to help those around him and does such an amazing job at lifting up those around him who are having a hard time. After the retreat Frank and my friendship has continued to blossom as we continued to talk and even go play disc golf together. He is so passionate about sharing the gospel to college students and I am so excited to continue to learn from him as the future months and years go by.
Also Frank and I got to preform in a lip-sync battle alongside other students and we ended up taking home the gold. Watch the video above if you want to see our awesome dance moves.
Prayer: Prayer as students come out of fall retreat that they are able to feel better equipped at sharing their faith and that they step out in boldness and curiosity. Prayer that more students are able to experience true freedom through Jesus.
Prayer also about support raising for me. I am at 35% so praise the Lord, but also I still have a long way to go. Prayer that I am able to continue keeping this time centered on God and that I am able to be a faithful servant.
Fall Launch in Long Beach
Long Beach is starting strong. Last year they were making it along and trying to remain with what they have. This year they have been able to double in size and have more freshmen/new transfer students involved.
Something that I loved about seeing a lot of the Long Beach students for the first time is that there did not seem to be cliques, but everyone seemed to be getting along with each other and genuinely wanting to know the people around them. To me this is beautiful because that is something that I am passionate about. I a passionate about helping build up a community of Christ followers who are open and welcoming to each other and new students.
The picture to the left is a photo from one of their events called Friday Park days. At this event I saw so many leaders getting to know new students and welcoming them with open arms. I also saw that a lot of people in this movement is for some reason super good at volleyball. One of the most intense games I have been a part of. People were gathering around cheering on the different teams. The team I was on was called the Starshine and they were all amazing cheering each other on and communicating so well. When one person would miss a shot one my team, the whole team would rally behind them and encourage them for putting in a solid effort. Overall such a fun game to be apart of and we ended up beating the other team 25-23.
Have you ever played throw throw burrito? Well this is its sibling throw throw avocado. Some of the ladies came together and had amazing deep conversations while at the same time tried to dodge a flying foam avocado. I did not get to play, but from what I was hearing it got pretty intense and had them all laughing.
By the end of the night no one wanted to go home, so we eventually all started playing a game called Signs. I found out lately that this is the go-to game that this movement does and it is so fun. I do not have time to explain it so if you want to learn it then google it, but it gets super intense. Overall though God was moving and creating amazing relationships through silly little game. He was creating a caring and loving community through laughter. God is good!!
Prayer: Prayer that as we continue to see more students come to Cru events that they get connected into the community within Cru, learn how to share their faith and grow in it, and finally get plugged into churches.
Ministry in San Diego through Keegan's Eyes
Keegan is one of the allied circle mates. He is a part time field staff in San Diego and he works at SDSU and UCSD. He helps with the campus ministry that exists there and has also been ministering to people in the LGBTQ+. Here are his words of what ministry has been like this year so far.
“This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” –1 John 3:19-20
Ministry is so weird. Being a leader in a ministry is so weird. You might be wondering why I think that. Consider this juxtaposition: last week, I spent a lot of time writing and rehearsing a talk I gave for SDSU’s Big Thursday on the verses above. This week, I worked on a Where’s-Waldo-esque Fall Retreat promo where I hid a stuffed animal goat on campus, snapped a photo, and waited (in the shade!) for students to find it and win a little discount for our retreat. It’s like one day I’m talking about the mysteries of the glory of God and the next I’m setting up a little GOAT on a yoga mat in public spaces for marketing purposes while students stare and wonder at me.
I know! Isn’t that so weird? But God uses everything and anything, regardless if it is “weird” from our vantage point. Like, with the promo, I got to meet an international student from Japan named Naho. She’s not a Christian, but she was very excited about the yoga goat challenge and VERY excited about going to our retreat. And I know she’s going to hear the Gospel message all weekend long. Who would have thought that a silly little stuffed goat would be part of her spiritual journey?
Or, consider the talk I gave. It was titled, “God is greater than our hearts.” I spoke about how many of us have an inner critic who, with a loud voice, condemns us for our mistakes and shames us for our weaknesses and sufferings. But in the end God’s voice is louder. And he actually purchased the authority to have his voice be truer and louder by sending Jesus to die on the cross. To my knowledge, Naho was there that night, and I actually hadn’t even met her yet. But I like to imagine that it got her and the other non-Christians present thinking, without God, how do I address *my* inner critic? The secular view doesn’t provide a response convincing enough or powerful enough in my opinion.
So yeah. Ministry is weird. But I’m choosing to act under the knowledge that God really can use *anything*. Be it a talk, or a stuffed goat.
Keegan John Keelan
We had 1,000 UCSD students fill out our survey. 600 expressed interest in Cru, so we set to work individually texting all 600 of them. My phone was basically on fire. But here’s my teammate Evelyn rocking our sign! It worked out great! (Picture on the right)
Broomball with SDSU at a local mall! It’s sorta like hockey but without skates and with balls instead of pucks. Highly recommend if you haven’t tried! (Picture on the left)
Re: ministry being weird. If you ever came as a fly on the wall to SD, you'd likely catch me either packmule-ing my body with copious amounts of items for an event or toting a large quantity of food, probably chicken, for certain special meetings.
Prayer: Prayers for non-Christians to experience God at our Fall Retreat, Prayers for new students who are thinking about getting involved with the LGBT+ ministry.
Celebrations: For Naho and other non-Christians wanting to come to Fall Retreat
For Ian, a student I've been disicpling, for taking some big steps of faith this year and pushing out of his comfort zone in a few areas
New Places, But The Old Is Not Forgotten
Long Beach is where I am placed, but my role in San Diego is not forgotten. God has gifted me the opportunity to stay with my allied circle even though I will now be serving in Long Beach. My role with the circle will be changing in it too.
100%, sent is what we want our students to live by and we want our staff to live by too. So that's why I decided to take on a future role of helping coach future part time field staff and interns that go through the allied circle. I want to help send our part time staff and interns into where God is calling them. This circle helped me see my gifting and my heart to minister to students. It was a blessing from God and will continue to be such.
So what is an allied circle? We are a group of people who come together and support each other through the process of ministry. We support raise together and go through the process of ministry partner development together. Allied circles are the future of support raising because it allows for people to advocate for each other better and not feel alone in the process. The allied circle helped get me through my first two years of support raising and I would say I would not have gone into support raising for full time staff if it was not for having an amazing community constantly around me to push me further. God really provided.
So why is it important to you? Well first your funds go further than one area now. You will not just be supporting me in Long Beach, but you will be supporting people in San Diego too. My hope is that you will be able to get to know these circle mates over time and see how God is working in their ministry because of your support. Secondly, people will come in go in this circle so as the circle grows and changes I am hoping you get to see that process as people end up in new areas and as people join the circle. Overtime you could be supporting people who started in San Diego and then ended up in some other location serving the Lord through their gifting. In the future my updates are going to consist of stuff that happens where I am at, but also highlighting what is happening in everyone else's ministries too.
Prayer: Pray for the allied circle as we continue to grow. Pray for the ministries at UCSD, SDSU, and now Long Beach that students will be receptive to the gospel and seek Jesus. Pray as the year goes on the God reveals to our interns where they belong in ministry and helps them discover their passion.
July 1,2022
New Staff Orientation
This summer has been amazing. As I move from intern to full time staff, we are expected to go through a summer training to on board us to long term ministry with Cru. To start the summer off we did classes with the Institute of Biblical studies where I got to take seminary level courses. The two courses we took were Intro to Christian Theology and Bible Study Methods. This was such an amazing 2 weeks of training that taught me so much and made me feel well equip to start my long-term ministry with Cru. We had lots of reading and assignments from what you can see from the picture above. As full-time staff with Cru are expected to maintain our training through the years to continue to keep us up to date on how to lead ministries as best as possible. Please feel free to ask me how it went and about this process.
While there was a lot of training theologically at the beginning, we got to transfer into a phase of on boarding into Cru. We got to go through New Staff Orientation where we learned about the vision of Cru and how our individual callings call into the overarching vision of Cru. During this time, I got to visit the Head Quarters of Cru and learn about so many other ministries that I did not know existed in Cru. It was so awesome getting to hear about so many different people's passions for reaching people and how they felt like they were called to serve. It was honestly so amazing so please feel free to ask me about it.
Not only did I have such an amazing time getting to learn about Christian theology and how my individual calling fits into the vision of Cru, but I also have gotten the amazing experience of making lots of friends who are also serving in Cru and to just be able to have such an amazing time. For example, of fun things, I've gotten to do look at the picture on the right where I got to hold a gator for the first time ever. Was I scared the whole time, YES! But it was so cool.
Guys, God is working. I have made amazing friends with people who will be playing a part in sharing the gospel all around the world. Cru is doing amazing things. We have what is called Jesus Films which is based off of Luke and teams of people go around the world translating the film into different languages. That is so awesome. There are movements called Epic, Destino, Bridges, and Nations that focus on working with students from certain ethnicity backgrounds. There is Lifelines which is an outdoors focus of experiencing the gospel. Cru even has a humanitarian focused ministry called Unto. It was so awesome getting to meet and hear about people joining staff and serving in ways that are not just on campus.
Prayer: Pray for me as I step into Support Raising again. Pray that I can keep my eyes on the Lord and trust in him to provide. Knowing that my happiness lies in God.
From San Diego to Long Beach
Hey guys! First off thank you for another year of support. So many students were reached for Jesus this year. I have seen students grow in their understanding of who Jesus is. I have seen students overcome the hardships that life throws at them, and they reached out for help and were met with a community that cares and loves them. Praise the Lord for all of that.
"So now what are my next steps" you may ask. I am stay on staff with Cru. Again, Praise the Lord. I will be transitioning out of being an intern in San Diego and into Full Time Field Staff in Long Beach. Why Long Beach? Well, the Lord as given me a heart for students. I feel called to bring college students to Jesus because I think that is one of their most influential times of their lives. They are learning what it means to be them and for students who are already Christians, they are learning what it means to have their faith separate from their parents.
Long Beach has been on my radar since the beginning of the year. I heard of the team there and how amazing the team functioned and how on fire for Jesus the students are. This team is extremely passionate about sending students on mission and how to get all Christians to a point of feeling comfortable about sharing their faith to not just friends, but also strangers. Not only of this, but the reality is, Long Beach was in need! They have needed a new staff member to come alongside them and help launch movements and grow the Long Beach State University movement since 2017.
God place Long Beach on my heart, and I am happy to say that we will be an answer to prayer when I report there. I am excited to see how God uses me in this area. I am nervous about the change, but I have been met with so much love and support from my staff team and a lot of west coast staff who have been involved in my transition.
Pray for me as I step back into support raising because I am joining Full Time staff which means my support level will increase because my scope will broaden from who I am reaching and the amount I can support the ministry around me. Pray for change to a new team. I am excited, but nervous. Please feel free to message me with any more details about this transition, prayer requests, and where my heart is at. Message me at 951-514-1985
Ending the Year Right!
The end of the year came as quickly as it started. Our students had such a roller coaster of a year and they persevered through all the emotions, all of the classes, all of the events, all life had to throw at them, they were able to look to God and know that they are okay.
The picture above is of all of our graduating seniors. This is them at their final large group before the year ended. It was our sendoff large group, so it was an emotional night for everyone, especially the seniors. Some of these seniors are going off to others states to work in big corporate jobs, some are going to grad school, others grew a heart for this city and have surrendered a year to the Lord through interning. Praise the Lord of all of these seniors. They made it through covid, and all grew passionate for where they are ending up.
I have seen all of these students grow from immature freshman college students, into amazing men and women of God, dedicating their lives to living on mission for Jesus in some capacity. Some of these seniors came into college not as Christians, but God worked in their lives and showed them how much that He loves them.
I could say so much about these students, but what I want to leave you with is this, Thank you! Thank you for being the backbone of what we do so that we can impact students' lives like these one in this picture. None of this year would have been possible if it was not for your guy's generous hearts to seeing the Great Commision being fulfilled. Your support through finances and prayer helps us impact so many students live around the world. Praise the Lord.
Prayer: Pray for these students as the go from college into this hard world. They need your prayer support. Let's rally together as a family and help these young men and women by loving them through prayer.
Also, if you want any info on what these seniors are going on to do, please feel free to text me at 951-514-1985
May 5,2022
Importance of Sabbath
The Importance of Sabbath would sum up what our Men's retreat was. First it was one of the main focuses of the weekend, but also us as staff wanted to make sure these men were feeling rested and refreshed coming out of this weekend.
So we provided a lot of things for them to rest and have a good time. We had a pastor speak at the retreat, Dan Braga. He challenged our guys to stop living life so fast paced, but to learn to slow down and "smell the roses." Slowing down is a concept we in America have a hard time understanding. In college I feel like it is some of the worst. Students stressing about their next assignment, stressing about work, stressing about connecting with friends and family, stressing about how they are going to keep a social life with all of their course load.
Dan was teaching them that while it is important, it does not rule them. Teaching them that to trust God is to trust God in school too. That was so keep that weekend. One of the guys I disciple, Garrett, struggled with anxiety of school a lot before this weekend. Trusting the Lord is something we talked about a lot before Men's retreat, so by the time Men's retreat came we was more open to slowing down and trusting the Lord.
Just the other day he was telling me how he has felt behind in his work, but he does not feel anxious. He is keeping his schedule and trusting the Lord. He is being responsible, but does not get scared when he fails now. He told me, "I know the Lord will provide and I trust he has a plan for me." How powerful is that. To go from having an anxious mind to knowing he is trying his hardest, but when he fails he is not beating himself up, but trusting that the Lord has a plan. He also has been trying to now take a sabbath every Sunday now. He is taking time to "smell the roses."
Prayer: Pray that students continue to see the importance of letting the Lord in on their careers, studies, social life, etc. Prayer that Garrett continues to have this lower stress level as he continues to surrender and slow down by taking a sabbath.
Vision seen across the World
God is good!!! During this year's spring break my UCSD team got to take 3 students to the Middle East to share the Gospel to people from all over the world. What a beautiful experience it was for all of us. Why was it beautiful you may ask?
It was beautiful because we had our view of the people there changed. I went into the week, alongside my teammates, scared. Why? Because I grew up watching how the media portraited the people in the Middle East. There were never really great things said about people there. So that started my week off with fear. Fear to share and get to know people there. I was afraid that because I was Christian that these people would treat me differently. So, what changed?
As the week went on, I was continually praying for the Lord to open up my eyes and allow me to see his people the way he sees them. And He Did!!! That whole week I was met with kindness and openness. A kindness and openness that I feel like I do not get to see often in the states. After 5 minutes I would be deeper into a conversation than I would be back at UCSD. What was even crazier is that most people were open to talking about spiritual things and having that dialogue. They love to talk about spiritual things, but what I found is most people do not know what Christianity is there.
I got to share the gospel once. Only once and it started from a conversation about a movie that did not depict what we believe in at all. But what I found so amazing is that this person was so interested in what I had to say because he felt like he had to figure out what he needs to believe in. You would think that is abnormal in the Middle East, but it is common. Many people there do not know what they believe in, and they feel alone in this. They are struggling with what is societal tradition and what is actually what they believe in. Pray for the people in the Middle East.
So, what was the outcome of this week? The beautiful outcome is my team and I now have a bigger understanding of what it means to reach the lost. A bigger understanding of who we are reaching. Our students came back ready to share the gospel to their friends and family and anyone around them because they understand the weight of the gospel now. Praise the Lord! What I found is that when doing these trips and in general we have to know our prejudices so that we can surrender them to the Lord. Then we need to ask "Lord, open up my heart and eyes to the way you see these people so I can know them better."
Prayer: Prayer that the people we met continue to have seeds planted and that we can continue to know them better and pursue those relationships. Prayer that our hearts for the lost continue to grow and grow wider in the understanding of what that truly means
Challenge: If you have people in your life that are not Christians, try starting a dialogue with them and try to share the gospel. I have found that people want to be understood before they hear where you are coming from so maybe start with asking questions before you share the gospel to them.
March 19,2022
Trusting the Lord
Trust is something I am growing in every day. It is also something I have seen be really hard for students when it comes to their futures. I wanted to share with you some words from one of our student leaders who is going through this process herself.
Her name is Molly. A little about her, she is currently a senior at UCSD and is serving as a student leader. Molly is a servant team leader that helps with the movement as a whole and she is a freshman Bible study leader. Outside of Cru she is really connected with her church and really loves working with kids. She has an amazing heart for helping others.
When asking her what it means to live out on mission and what the Lord is teaching her, this is what she had to say:
"For me what it means to be sent is knowing that God gives us countless opportunities wherever we are to love others like he does, to be kind to people, and to serve others the way that Jesus did. being sent means saying yes to each and every one of those opportunities to do that. Trusting God with my future has been an interesting combination of saying yes to opportunities like that combined with letting go of figuring out how to do that myself. I am a planner and I like to know next steps but what I realized throughout this year is that there will be a lot of things that I can’t account for, and there will be a lot of ways that God will provide for what I need that isn’t necessarily how I thought it would go. To me that feels like flying by the seat of my pants, which is not my favorite thing to do, but it also leads to a sense of calm because it’s a lot easier to just say yes to whatever God puts in front of me instead of worrying about all of the what-ifs and questions about what the future holds. Trusting God with my future means seeing what and who he’s given me to focus on and being sure that wherever that will be where I‘m meant to be."
Molly has currently applied for internship with Cru to serve the Lord in San Diego. Pray for her during this continued time of processing and learning to trust God more and more with her future. It is a hard to let go of thing. Pray that the Lord continues to open up a clear path for where her heart for ministry should be. I know she loves working with Cru, so if the Lord allows it, pray that it is a time of growing and taking those opportunities in front of you.
Prayer: Pray for Molly that she continues to trust the Lord.
Challenge: Take some time and reflect, where are you not trust the Lord? Where do you need to give things up and let God in?
The Challenge for Community
Community is not a priority for students. It is not their fault though because they were never taught that community should be important. Staff has been working this whole year stressing the importance of community and we are finally starting to see the fruit of what God is doing in our students lives.
Recently we had what is called Winter Conference. This is a big retreat that we hosted where we had 11 different campuses represented, from all over southern California and Arizona. It was so amazing, but the most impactful thing I saw from that was an importance of community. I had multiple conversations with students that weekend, but the biggest thing that stuck out was a conversation with a student named Caleb.
Caleb is a student from Yuma, Arizona. He is an amazing student that I have gotten to pour into so much this year. Praise the Lord. What was cool is that by the end of this amazing weekend, where we learned so much and ate loads of tacos (by the way we had a taco party that weekend), Caleb came up to me and told me "Cody I don't want to go home." I asked why and he said, "I am afraid that I am going to lose this, this amazing community if I go home." That made me so sad, but also so happy. Sad because it hurt to hear that he feels like he has a lack of community in his life, but happy because he saw the need of it. So in that moment I encouraged him to go to the Lord and know he is not alone and then to recognize the community, the people, that God has placed into his life. To recognize it and accept the love they have for him. The accept the Love God has for him. It was emotional, but in the end he felt challenged to not let his community die at Winter Conference.
God is working guys. He is using random interactions, retreats, talks, Bible studies, and so many other things to further his kingdom. He is helping people realize their need for community and most importantly their need for Him.
Prayer: Pray for Caleb and other students like him struggling for community. Pray that they are able to see that God loves them and that He desires them to being in relationship with Him and in community with other.
Pray that what we saw at Winter Conference is not a onetime thing, but that God is working, and we are trusting that he did so much through that weekend.
Picture of taco party. We had 300 tacos. AMAZZZZZINGGG!!!!!!
A week of Fasting and Prayer
Covid has been hard. Not just for my staff team, but for our students. So we had to go into a major time of pouring into our students because they really needed that. Which was amazing and the Lord blessed us during this time, but we have been trying to learn how to move forward with the great commission while serving our students well.
This year the staff team had a vision for sending to not just people in our communities, but also reach people outside of our community for Jesus. But it has been a hard thing to cast vision to our students this year because none of our students have been on summer missions before and they have been so used to being poured into because Covid has been hard that they could not see the vision for being sent that well.
This Fasting and Prayer week helped open prepare our students in preparation for our Winter Conference where a lot of this same vision is casted. Our hopes for this time of preparation was to soften the hearts of our students and help them grasp the bigger picture of what we are all called to be a part of.
I would say it worked because so many students came into Winter Conference realizing the importance of fasting and prayer because it helped them see how much they had to rely on God's strength during that time. Also the amount of encouragement that came out of this week and the amount of conversations with no believers was so amazing. The Lord is working.
After Winter Conference we have so many students looking to go on vision trips so that they can get experience for having a heart for the lost and also for the summer. Please pray for these students as conversations of future and what it means to have a heart for the lost.
Prayer: Students give their futures to the Lord and learn to rely not on their own strength. Pray for students as the continue to grow their hearts for reaching the lost. Prayer for our staff team that we are patient in these conversations.
Mid-year Update on Me
This year has been crazy and hard for me. The Lord is showing me my areas of strength and clearly showing areas I need to grow in. In this post I want to be real with you guys. Life has been hard. The areas of growth have definitely out weighted the areas of strength.
The area I want to focus on is emotional competence and the importance of understanding your emotions. In my past I was used to not letting people in and working on my emotions on my own. Not truly expressing how I was doing to others because of fear of being judged. I was scared that if people truly got to know me that they would think I am too far gone. The Lord has been teaching me that this is not true. That His people will love and support me. He has been teaching me that it is okay to be seen known and heard.
The Lord placed many people into my life that are pouring into me and wanting to develop me. My coach Jon Roper has been teaching me this importance and how it will not just help me but help me when it comes to how I see myself in ministry work. He is currently helping me also see the importance of therapy and breaking down a lot of the stigmas I had with it. Praise the Lord.
While all of this is the case, I am not perfect at it yet and have so much to grow in that the Lord is helping see. I have gone through times of hard emotions, anger and frustration, but the Lord is meeting me at my brokenness and making me whole through him. Please continue to pray for me during this season of emotional growth. Also please feel free to check in with me and ask any questions you may have. I would love to hear from all of you and I plan on trying to reach out with you all soon.
Prayer: emotional growth for me, students, staff, and loved ones. Please do not just pray this for me, but also look at your life and reflect.
December 16,2021
To Yuma I Go!!!
Why was I in Yuma you may be thinking? Yuma, Arizona is not San Diego. You are correct, Yuma is not San Diego, but God has blessed me with an opportunity to serve one of Cru movements out there. How did this opportunity arise? Well to start, the weekend before, I was at a Cru Staff gathering with everyone from Cru Staff in California, Nevada, and Arizona. This time was so refreshing for all of us. A time for us to break from work on campuses and bond with staff and have real time with the Lord. It was an amazing experience. What was awesome about it was the fact I got to bond with one of my San Diego Staff members who is right now working in Yuma. During that weekend I was asked if I was busy that Monday and if I would be willing to drive out to Yuma and help for the day.
So, to Yuma I went. Maya and I woke up at 5 got ready and drove to Yuma to work there with our staff member. We got there and she was so excited because this is the first time, she got to work with someone else in over a year. I do not know all of your guy's experience with working alone, but it is really hard and trying to start a ministry movement on your own is really hard. So, it was such a pleasure to be able to help her for even one day.
To the campus. Where she has her movement at is at a satellite campus for a bunch of different Arizona schools. It is usually a school that is not to busy, but we ended up being able to table on campus during a Native American cultural day. It was amazing because they started with prayer, they had so many different dances and singers, they had all kinds of clubs. What was awesome about the clubs is that they ended up going around having all the clubs introduced and we got to introduce what Cru is and what we do. The host stopped with our table and said some words about how we are a club that is calling for a chance to have your life changed and that God is the way. It was so awesome.
After the tabling we went around the campus getting surveys filled out for getting people connected. It was a hard day. We had a lot of people shut us down, but we did not let that break our spirits because we were excited for the event we had planned for that night. It was an awesome time. We did not see new students come in, but what we saw was an opportunity for volunteers to form for this club. The non-student adults who came that night came from 1 hour away to be there and at the end of the night they poured into the students and to us staff. They felt so encouraged and ended with asking how they can help. God is working on this campus and people are seeing the opportunity of a movement being started here.
At the end of the night, we had to leave. We had to go back to San Diego. I left wishing I could do more. That feeling of leaving something unfinished came upon me. I wanted to help again. So, God provided. This Saturday, 12/18. Maya and I are going back for another day, surprising my coworker at the event she has planned. Please pray for her as she is trying to figure out here future and how the movement will be able to last on its own. Pray that these students are able to see and feel the beautiful weight of the Gospel. To understand why it is important to share their faith.
Pray: For the movement in Yuma in all aspects, the students, staff, volunteers, etc. Pray that God continues to use them.
Challenge: It is almost Christmas so my challenge to you is think of how God can potentially use you in somebody's life. Think about it, pray about it, and finally take that step of faith and trust God to provide.
Ministry work can be Informal
Interacting with students' at Large group and Bible studies is great. I get to go deep with them, but it feels like I have to split my focus. Lately God has been blessing me with informal interactions with students. Last year it felt like I only got to interact with students if I was leading a Bible Study or going to our large group and it got tiring and it got hard. I felt like my interactions with them were not impactful or I couldn't do my job or do what I came here to do. I felt like I was doing a mindless job and saw no fruit out of it. Needless to say, but last year was hard. This year I've been able to go Disc Golfing with students, go eat out with students, pray in person with students, evangelize with students, learn how to dive and spear fish with students. God has provided so many new ways to be with students and share the beauty of the Gospel with them. Praise the Lord. I want to talk about 3 specific times I found so fruitful.
1st is the one above, This day was so amazing. I got to go out and play disc golf with two students, Molly and Jackson, and my girlfriend, Maya. The day was beautiful and I got to just have such an amazing time sharing with them a sport that I love dearly and has helped me so much in life. They did so well and I loved on every hole they always tried to do better than how they did on the hole before. During this time we shared laughs and stories of how the year has been going for them and we talked about hardships that we have gone through, like how we were all affected by Covid. We all had hardship in different ways. I ended up seeing that I am not alone in my pain and they saw that too. What they have appreciated this year is how God has given them great community amongst all the hard things covid brought. Praise the Lord and how he is working in our lives.
2nd is this one above. This is Liam and I diving. In this photo he was teaching me how to dive. Like most people I do not know how to free dive for reasons also like most, a fear instilled by Hollywood by movies like 47 Meters Below or Jaws. Anyways This day was so fruitful because I've been telling Liam for a year that I want to get to know him better and what better way than joining him when he free dives and spearfishes. I have been working with Liam for about a year now, mentoring him and trying to be there as much as possible. I hadn't seen much traction, until I showed him I want to understand him more. How could I mentor someone if I don't know him. Anything fish related is his life and it is beautiful. When I am teaching him about the beauty of the Gospel I am now constantly trying to relate it to the ocean and diving and spear fishing. What is amazing is he is starting to see that his relationship is much more than reading the Bible, but is a lifestyle. That is isn't something that starts and stops when you are in prayer, but that it is much more than that. Continue to pray for him because he is working up the courage to share his faith with his family and friends and he is starting to desire God more and more everyday.
3rd is the one above. Minecraft is a video game. a very interesting one where you build things and make cities and farms. It is extremely popular in Gen Z. Anyways, I've started to play it and I am playing it with students I know, one I mentor and the other I want to. The student I will be talking about is Garrett, the one I mentor. He loves Minecraft and video games overall. I have learned so much about this kid by just sitting and talking with him as we are playing Minecraft. He has talked to me about his passions, his fears, and updated me during this time. He always shows me what he is learning from God. The time I have with him, I've enjoyed so much because when we are not playing Minecraft, we are talking about what it means to share your faith and how he can be evangelizing in his day to day. We've gone out and done formal evangelism, which consists of us talking to strangers and sharing the Gospel. We've done informal evangelism, which consists of getting to know your 5 people in your life that are not Christians, and you would love to share the Gospel with. We did our relational evangelism through Cojouneres, which is an amazing study that the YouBible app has. Garrett has taught me so much already and the biggest thing I've learned is how to have this positive attitude even through rejection when sharing your faith. God has given him a spirit that is open to learning and wanting to share his faith. Please continue to pray for him as he grows more and more in his faith. He right now is extremely excited to go on a Summer Mission, which Cru provides. Please pray that he takes a step of faith and goes on one.
Pray: That God continues to bless me with interactions like these.
That the students talked about continue to be encouraged by their community and their fires for God grows bigger as they continue to share their faith.
Challenge: Try out Cojouneres and reach out to 5 people in your life that you love and want to share the Gospel with.
Fall Retreat... Refreshing and needed!!
Fall Retreat this year was truly refreshing. While I did not sleep too much, the number of amazing conversations I had with students was so awesome. It felt like students were able to finally sit down and open up. It was so beautiful. One of my conversations that I enjoyed the most was the one with a student from Yuma, Arizonia. I was able to pour into this kids that I never met before. He has been struggling for year. Wanting to believe in God but is so hesitant. God allowed me to pour into by being an ear that would listen. Not trying to give advice, but listening to his story and praying for him. All he needed was an ear. Someone to listen. I am happy to say that I am still being able to check in with him and be an ear that listens and prays for him. I've been encouraging him to take a step to understand who God is by encouraging him to get connected to a church in his area and to read about who Jesus is by reading the Bible. Please continue to pray for him. Also text me if you want any updates on him.
Anyways, back to Fall Retreat. Alongside all the amazing conversations, we had an amazing speaker, Randall from one of our local churches. He did such an amazing job connecting with our students outside of the talks, through fun activities and being able to just chat with students, also in the main session talks, we went through Galatians, and he challenged all the students to recognize the areas of our lives that hold us back from being with God and encouraged us all to lay it at the feet of God because his love for us is unchanging.
Alot of our student were greatly affected by Fall Retreat and they continued to talk about it the rest of the quarter. They appreciated how Randall put on all their hearts to think about their day to days and how it can be given to God.
Prayer: Pray for continued momentum and that the students will continue to be open with us and embrace community.
Challenge: Text someone in your life. Listen to how they are doing and try to be an ear and point them to God.
October 15,2021
Small Groups Aren't so Small
Small groups, our bible studies at Cru UCSD and Community College, have been kicking off. Community College has been going for a while now as they are approaching their week 7 or 8. For UCSD they are just beginning. The above photo is of our Upperclassman bible study and Praise the Lord it is not small. We had about 25 students go to the upperclassman bible study recently and they were able to split into 3 smaller groups.
You may ask "So how is the structure of Bible studies working this year?" Well it is slightly different this year. For Community College and the Freshman Bible studies they are meeting every other week and are both going through Ephesians. The Community college Bible study is full of new believers who have never read the bible before so I've had the pleasure to be walking them through Ephesians. For my Freshman bible study there is only one student, there are more in the other group, but I am still so excited. The reason I am is because this student is Agnostic and my coleader and I get to help him go through the Bible and make sense of what he believes and help him understand the beauty of the gospel.
For the Sophomore class they meet weekly and they are going through 1st Peter which is so awesome. Finally the Upperclassman are meeting weekly and going through a guided study talking about who Jesus is.
There has only been one week of Bible studies so far so I am so excited to see how God works through these small groups.
Prayer:
Prayer that we are able to have new believers or nonbelievers in our studies so that we can help them understand the beauty of the gospel.
Prayer that we can form bonds with these students and pour into them
Prayer for Titus who is the Agnostic student in my bible study.
Prayer for Fall Retreat happening this weekend and that bonds form within these groups because of how God works through the students and staff at retreat.
Helping Other Who Need Help
We have an area within Cru that focuses on helping the community and they are called Community on Mission. This year God has blessed us with a partnership with Hope for San Diego. They have been helping with housing refugees in San Diego. With a lot of the hardship going on in the world today, it is beautiful to see a community out there that cares so much about helping those who are suffering.
In the Photo above we got the pleasure of being able to transport Hope for SD's stuff from one location to another so that they can be prepared for a large amount of refugees coming to San Diego from the Middle East.
What Hope for SD does is when a refugee family finally gets housing in San Diego, the info gets passed to them so that they can surprise the family with a fully furnished home. That is so amazing. Think about it yourself for a second. Imagine being forced to leave forced out of your land and into a country so foreign to you and not knowing how to house your family. You are in the country for a little living on a military base and you are told they finally found a job and housing for you and you finally have refugee status. And when on your way to your home you are stressed about how you are going to furnish it. Then you get there and open the door and it is fully furnished for you and your family. For me all the stress and anxiety goes away and a feeling or joyful crying comes upon me. Praise the Lord that a Christian organization gets to help these people and potential get to share the gospel with them.
Prayer:
Pray that we can continue to grow our relationship with Hope for SD and continue to help them
Prayer for Christian groups that get to help vulnerable populations like this
Prayer that God continues to soften my heart and the students hearts when it comes to loving their neighbors.
Large Group. He is....
Praise the Lord. He provides more than what we could ever ask for. the picture above is from our Large Group meetings. The students here are UCSD students and Community College students. This year we decided it would be an awesome experience to allow the community college bible study to come to the UCSD Large groups so that they can grow their community. Anyways in this picture above there are 77 students who came. I remember when driving over in my Orange Subaru Cross Trek just praying "Lord bring the people who need to be here. Bring the people who you want to soften their hearts to you. Allow us to pour into these students not out of our own strength, but out of yours." God answered that prayer in a much bigger way than I thought and continues to do so.
A common thing that has been said this year, by returning students and staff, is that "there are a lot of new faces" and there has been. Praise the Lord. What is even cooler is that this year we are going through a theme of "Refocus" and this quarter we are looking at God's character. Who he says he is.
So far we had two speakers talk about God's character. Most recently we talked about God's glory and how he is loved. One part that stuck out to me from one of our speakers, Keegan, is he quickly spoke on God's anger and how that too is love. He spoke on it saying that his anger is love because it is not at us, but to protect us. His wrath exists because he cares so deeply for us. So awesome.
Let me leave you with a challenge. I challenge you, myself included, to look at God's characteristics and to be in awe and just focus on that. Don't ask for anything but focus on God. So often I get lost in my struggles that I forget the beauty of God.
Prayer:
Pray that God continues to bring people to the cross at UCSD and the Community Colleges and allow Cru to be a stepping stone in these students faith journeys.
Pray for these students as the continue to adjust to college life.
Prayer for our movements because there has been a fair amount of distractions thrown our way by the devil to distract us from God. Pray that we stay focused on God.
Fall Huddle for UCSD
This year is off to an amazing start. We began with what is called a pre-Fall Huddle. What we do at this event is train our student leaders and encourage them for the year. Last year it was over Zoom, but this year one of the local churches was kind enough to allow us to use one of their spaces. Praise the Lord!
We had about 20ish student leaders show up for this event. All of these students have roles coming in. Some are bible study leaders, some are main meetings leaders, others focus on helping the community, and others focus on directing the course of the movement. All of these students sacrificed their Saturday afternoon to be here. How amazing is that!!
The day was so encouraging as we walked through times of devotionals and worship. Seeing all of the students praising God and relying on his strength for this time and future times was so amazing to see and hear.
After worship and prayer was over we got right to work with planning. Praise the Lord for the amount of energy these students had. Us as staff walked them through how to get people to do connection surveys and how to do follow ups. What was amazing about the surveys this year was every survey that was filled out we donated one care package to the homeless shelter that we partner with. So Awesome, but back to Fall Huddle. We trained them in those areas and then they got to break off into their specialized roles for training in that. This year I got to lead the training for Communications team and help them understand the important part of their role. They get to not only interact with students in Cru through social media, but also create content that could spark interest in nonbelievers eyes. It was so awesome getting to hear these students ideas that they came up with for how they want to see the social media look for the year and potential content ideas.
So after the individual groups came back we concluded with more worship and prayer and the night was done. All the students felt so prepared for going into the school year. Praise the Lord!
Prayer:
Pray for these student leaders that they continue to trust in the Lord in everything they do.
Pray for the students we continue to reach. We had about 560 surveys filled out and about half of them wanted to be connected. Praise the Lord.
Pray for the students who are lost. We continue to connect with them, forming relationships with all that we can and sharing the gospel with them at any chance we get.
September 1,2021
Bridges
Guys Praise the Lord. God is working with our international movement. Last year it was smaller with Covid, but this year Bridges is able to have a presence on campus. God has provided so many volunteers this year.
With the start of the year, with Bridges only being at SDSU, they were able to get about 20+ students to come. Praise the Lord. There were about 13 countries represented. That is so amazing. I am so excited for them and to see what God does with Bridges this year.
Bridges is a branch off of Cru designed at reaching international students. We had Bridges for a while, but no big traction has happened until now.
Prayer: Please pray that our Bridges staff is able to minister to all of these international students and that some of them are able to come to faith.
Pray that even though barriers still exist because of Covid, that they are still able to reach all the students they can.
The Beginning of Community College
Today was our first big meeting with all of our community college students. In this meeting we wanted to see who we have first. We were encouraged because we had 5 students come ready to talk about the vision of Cru Community college.
During this time we listened to what the students wanted from the year to see where their hearts were at. What was amazing is that we did not have to do a lot of vision casting for them. Staff, Jon and I, told them our vision for Cru there. Cru has a classic vision that keeps us all solid for the year. We Win people for Jesus, We Build people up and community up, and We Send people out to live on mission. What was awesome is that the students went through Win, Build, Send before we had to say anything.
Then after the vision we went on for planning for the year. We decided we wanted to start tabling on the campuses no matter how many students are there. We decided we wanted bible studies every week. Finally we decided that we wanted to have a once a month event that we usually call Big Sunday. At this event we usually welcome newer people and this is an amazing place to get contacts from and then do follow ups.
Prayer: We are starting tabling and this is important because the only Christian presence on these campuses are cults.
Pray for Discipleship, I have two students that I am mentoring so far and I know God is going to use me to teach them what they need to understand at the time.
Pray for follow ups. Last year we struggled with this. But this year it is one of our priorities.
From Summer to Fall
The summer for Cru students was an interesting one. This year we had what we called "Cru Summer" and it was amazing. Cru summer consisted of students all over San Diego County getting together and just having a great time. They had bonfires, Big Mondays (Those were their once a week gatherings), and group Discipleship. It was an awesome time for the students. A lot of the time the students were just so thankful to be together again because they all spent the whole year online isolated from each other.
They ended up ending Cru Summer with a Formal. I know very Prom like, but for some reason the students love formals here. Anyways that was an amazing time spent together. The students felt like it was one last celebration before some had to go off to others states for school, others were starting their jobs. It was so awesome getting to see Cru be this place for students where they felt cared about.
Now to the Fall. Last year we spent planning for the Fall all online. This year I've gotten to enjoy the presence of my fellow coworkers when planning this year out. We've worked on staff development too which has been so awesome. As many of you already know, I will be working on the University of California San Diego and the Community Colleges.
For UCSD we have gotten steps for planning, but luckily we have time before the year starts for. So we have started our strategic planning and how we are going to go about reaching the students this year.
For Community College we have already started. I have been meeting with the leaders and starting to plan the year out. We are finding this year is going to be like a fresh start. We have about 5 students we can trust as being our point people for the year and are on fire for God. Praise the Lord. But other than that we had a big drop off because students have transferred or are really busy. This year we are hoping to have a bigger presence on campus now that the Community Colleges are open again.
Prayer: Please pray for UCSD as we will be having our Vision team overnighter soon where we will get the chance to pour into our vision team leaders and plan for the year with their help.
Next please be praying for the Community College because there is so much uncertainty right now. Please be praying that our students have boldness in sharing their faith and that more of our students want to be discipled. I ask deo pray for numbers even though that is not the end goal, but I want to see Cru have a presence on these campuses.
Thank You!!
We Made It!!!
It took a while, but we are finally done. Support raising was a long, tiring journey that took everything out of me. At the beginning of the support raising process, I had a hard time. The reason being is because I had to take what God taught me from this last year about the importance of support and prayer partners into my meetings seeking for forgiveness. This was hard because I had to admit I did a bad job of keeping people in the loop, humble myself, and ask for forgiveness. It was hard at first because this anxiety of being shot down would creep up in my mind. Sometimes I did get shot down, but other times people showed me grace and forgave me.
This summer went quickly from bad to amazing starting in late June. Partners saw my heart for these students, encouraged me when I was at my low, prayed for my mental health and support raising process. In my past, I never had a lot of people backing me. It always felt like it was me vs the world. I was always so use to doing things alone. This summer God taught me that I need to ask for help and see the team beside me that wants to not only help me, but help me reach students for Jesus.
So thank you guys. Thank you for all of the kind words you have sent me. Thank you for
all of your prayers that you have prayed for me. Thank you for your financial support in getting me back to campus to help these amazing students get to know Jesus better.
It really takes a team and I am happy you all are apart of it. Praise the Lord!!
What to expect: In the mail you will be receiving something from me, thanking you for helping me through my journey. You can also expect to receive an email about updates on my page hopefully 2x a month.
Prayer: for me as I continue to make my transitioning phase from Support Raising to Campus.
July 8,2021
From San Diego to New York
This week has been truly amazing. I have gotten the amazing opportunity to Speak at Lisbon Wesleyan Church on Sunday 7/11. So that is coming up very quickly so please be praying. Knowing I will be speaking at the church I decided to get there a week early so that I can get to know the people at the church and help out with their VBS. To start off life in Lisbon is way different than San Diego. It is completely relaxing and there is no traffic. The people here keep everything unlocked because everyone knows and trust each other. People are so welcoming and care about others so well. This week while working at VBS I was amazed at how many students were coming to it. There has been 40+ students at this VBS and my grandpa, Pastor Floyd, told me this is 2x less than normal which is crazy.
For VBS their theme was Anchored to show that Jesus is the anchor of our lives. They start off everyday with Worshipping with the kids. Then the break all of the kids off into three stations separated by their grade level. This year they did story time where they learned about the miracles of God. They had game time which helped create team work and put their focuses on God. The last thing they had was snack time where they ate snacks and learned about being a missionary. Then they ended with worship and a missions support update. The missions support time was updating the kids on the fundraising competition between the girls and boys. The reward for whatever side that wins is seeing one of the adult staff, either female or male, get slimed. The mission they are supporting is a couple in the Dominican Republic. Their focus is helping families get clothing and clean supplies because most off the people they work with get their supplies from the local dump. The kids have raised $900+ so far for them. Praise the Lord.
This week with helping at VBS has been a mix of emotions. It has been amazing because I got to teach the kids about the importance of missions. It has been stressful because there is so many peoples names I have been learning which felt very overwhelming. It has also been very overwhelming because there has been a lot of relationships I have been forming this week. It has also been sad because while I have been here I continue to think of my departure from these people and from my grandparents. It has been 2+ years since I've seen my grandparents and age is starting to get to them. My grandmother struggles to walk around and has been struggling with her health for 2+ years now. She is going better than earlier this year, but it is still hard to see someone you love struggling.
That has been my week. Please keep the people of Lisbon Church in your prayers. That their hearts will be open to what I have to say and possible consider joining my team. Please pray for my Grandparents for health issues have been a struggle for both of them for years.
Thank you
The last photo is one of the resources they used for the Lord's Prayer and I thought it was so cool. What is amazing is they had 6 kids come to faith today. Praise the Lord!! He is Working.
July 2,2021
Surprises During Unexpected Times
So some of you may know, but I have an amazing girlfriend that I met through Cru a little over 8 months ago. Her and I found out we had a crush on each other, but we had to wait and develop our friendship before we decided to date. For those of you who do not know her, her name is Maya. She is a sweetheart who is on fire for God and is amazing with kids. She teaches me everyday what it looks like to really serve others. She pushes me everyday to be my best self and always helps me to look at God during times of hardship and good times.
Anyways that was a quick intro to who Maya is. I hope you all get to know her better through the years. Now back to the story. We were celebrating our seven months together and we had whole day planned out. First we started out with going to our local fair because she loves the fair so much. It takes away all her worries and anxiety of the days. For me, I love the fair for the food because it is everyone's favorite, DEEP FRIED food. It was an amazing morning and we both felt at peace as we moved on to our next adventure.
Destination #2 Honest Thrift Store and Garden Coffee. This place is my happy place. It is actually the place I am writing about all of this write now. This place helps me just get focused and get work done. It is also our favorite date place. We come here all the time and get coffee and just talk to the workers because they are the kindest people I have ever met. Small shameless plug, if you live in San Diego or ever plan on coming to San Diego, make sure you have a stop to this spot. It is the place the helped me discover my love for plants. Alright so back to the day, we came to this spot and sat for about 2 hours just enjoying each others presence. What a peaceful time as the cool weather was blowing through the surrounding ferns while the beautiful sun looked down upon us.
Destination #3-4 Long beach Gondola and food. Alright so the moment you have all be waiting for, the surprise during unexpected times. We had amazing food which got the night started off great and then we had a Gondola ride. We got to the Gondola a little too early so we had to wait, but it was well worth the wait because when we got on to the beautiful brown boat with blankets covering the seats the surprise began. So with every Gondola you have a Gondolier, the person directing the Gondola. His name was Logan and he was the kindest person I have ever met. I was expecting it to be an awkward ride, but God provided. Logan asked how we met and we said "a school club". He asked, "Which one" and we responded "CRU." Then out of shock he responds, "no way that is how I met my girlfriend in North Dakota." From there we talked with him the whole ride. We talked about our stories, the beauty of God, how working for Cru is, the struggles of being in a relationship, and so much more. At one point he pulled us off to the side and got out a guitar and sang us his testimony and it was called "Smoke an Mirrors". It was so beautiful. At the end of the whole ride he told us that he prayed to God to give him more friends who are in God centered relationships in his life. It was so beautiful to see that prayer being answered. So I ended up getting his number and Maya has been chatting with his girlfriend and now we are going on a double date in a month. God is Good. Surprising us in such an unexpected time. So beautiful to see God working in my life and those around me
June 11,2021
Support Takes a Village
My Circle Group (scroll down for more details!)
First off I want to thank you, my supporters, for both your financial and prayerful support this year. I would not be where I am now if it was not for all of your support. I would not be able to work with Cru if it wasn't for you. With that it is time to start my journey of a second year intern. So far support raising has been both an amazing experience, but also a humbling one. I sat down and realized some things I need to work on that will honestly help me in the long run when it comes to ministry work. This last year I was not great at communicating with my supporters so I deeply apologize for that. Also this last year I was not good at casting the vision of what I want to do for the future. So let me start now. This year is another beginning, but it is not the end. Far from it actually. I will be continuing ministry work, reaching the masses of students who do not know God. This is where I feel like I am called to be right now because I came from the same boat. A boat where I saw drugs, alcohol, partying, and sex as something that will satisfy me. It is not until college I came to see Jesus as Lord. I had people play vital roles in my life to get me to where I am now. Because of the people who helped me I desire to point students who come from where I came from and point them to God. In the more long term vision I want to do long term missions to reach the people unreached in other countries. For right now I feel like I have a lot to learn from both other people, but most importantly God. So I plan to stay with Cru or at least in college ministry as I develop. So that is the plan.
When it comes to Ministry partners development this year has been going a lot better than last year. This year I already have current supporters that have helped me by continuing to support me financially and prayerfully, but also some even took the gracious step to increase their support. Praise the Lord for that. So far with current supporters I am at 26% raised while last year I was at 4% at this time. Another blessing is that I have all the time to focus on Ministry partner development because I do not have to work another job at the same time. Again Praise the Lord. For this year I am still part of a circle. For those who do not know what a circle is, it is a group that support raises together and reports together. I am a part of an amazing group which I will include details on all of us at the bottom of this update.
Anyways I need your guys help. My individual goal for this year is $66,000 that I need to support raise by August first. Large number I know but this year really made me understand why the number is so high and that is because it takes a lot to keep ministries up and moving because our only support comes from our support partners. Anyways being at 26% raised I am reaching the ends of my rope when it comes to people I know who I can reach out to. So I am asking you, my supporters, two things. First if you are able increase your monthly giving please prayerfully consider increasing. If you gave one time I would ask that you prayerfully consider giving monthly. Not only would it help now but it would help when it comes to future partner development because I will need more monthly givers in the future. Before I move on to the second ask I want to say thank you for your current giving. You are helping so much. Now secondly, if you know people who would love to hear what I am doing and would love to financially give or even prayerfully give that would be amazing. Like it says at the beginning it takes a village support so putting me into contact with potential future supporters would be so amazing.
Thank you guys for all of your help. Please continue pray for both support raising and my mental health during this season because support raising can be draining.
Meet the San Diego 21 Circle!
Brittany (Cru- San Diego)
Hey, y'all! I'm Brittany! A native of Chicago, and I studied English at Elmhurst University. After visiting friends in California in the summer of 2019, I felt the burden to move to San Diego to draw Black and African-American students into the Christian community that I love so well. My desire is that students of every color would have a safe space to freely worship & fellowship with others. I'm excited to be a part of what God is doing here, in students lives, and can't wait to see what is to come. Thanks for joining me on the journey!
Contact Info: brittany.jones@cru.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1123059
Jordan (Cru- San Diego)
I am Jordan Langner!! Cru gave me a community centered around loving God and loving people, giving me opportunities to lead and grow in my faith, and now I want to help build up the next generation of high school and college students here in San Diego! God's been doing great things here in San Diego, and I'm excited to be a part of it by supporting students who are coming to know God for the first time or are looking to deepen their relationship with Him.
Contact Info: jordan.langner@cru.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1123493
Rebecca (Cru- San Diego)
Howdy! My name is Rebecca Miller and I graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 2019 with a BS in Community Health and a minor in Psychology. My husband, Kyle, is in the military and we have the gift of being stationed in San Diego. While we are here, I get the joy of serving as part time field staff with Cru on the campuses in San Diego. I am so grateful for your consideration of partnering with me as I join in the work that the Lord is doing on the campuses of San Diego. While at A&M, I grew in my faith tremendously as I learned how to share the gospel, live in community, and be discipled. My prayer is for students to fall in love with the gospel and pursue the Lord wherever He may take them.
Contact Info: rebecca.miller@cru.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1123073
Chad (Cru- San Diego)
Hey guys, I am Chad Hartman (Part-time staff/Intern). I am currently finishing my business degree at San Diego State University with my final semester being Fall 2021. I'm excited to be a part of the Cru movement on my campus and change students' lives like mine was changed during my time here with Cru. My passion is to share the good news of the salvation of Jesus with fellow students and help them to see the mercies of God poured out for them in Christ. I hope for everyone to have their own relationship with Christ and be a part of his church. Thank you for considering being a vital part of this journey with me.
Contact Info: chad.hartman@cru.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1123066
Jose (Cru- San Diego)
I am a UCSD graduate and am raising for my 3rd year of working with Cru UCSD while pursuing an MDIV at Westminster Seminary California. I am passionate about talking about Christ to people that do not know Him and helping Christians grow in the height and the depth of the love of God!
Contact Info: jose.ovalle@cru.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1099042
Natalie (Destino- San Diego)
Destino played a major role in my own personal relationship with God and I feel privileged in coming alongside others through their own journeys. My passion is to serve others and come alongside them as they explore the ways in which they can actively live out a Christ centered life. I am excited to see what transformative work God does in the lives of students, their families, and their communities.
Contact Info: natalie.ceja@destino.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1099003
Cody (Cru- San Diego)
I am a Second year intern raising for my second year of working with Cru. This last year I got the pleasure to work with Cru UCSD and Cru Community College. What brought me to work with Cru was the impact they had on my life. The staff poured into me and helped bring me back to my faith my freshman year. After that year I became passionate about being able to pour into other guys who were like me. Guys who were deceived to think that partying, drugs, alcohol, and sex would satisfy them. I joined Cru to help point guys away from this false satisfaction and point them to the only thing that could satisfy their lives and that is God.
Contact Info: cody.canepa@cru.org Giving Designation: give.cru.org/1099028
My First Year Recap
This year's been crazy for not only me, but all of us. We have gone from normal life as we knew it go into a year of isolation because of a pandemic. Through all of that made it. We are starting to see the world open back up again and Praise God for that. Through all the hardship God has been working not only in my life, but Cru as a ministry in San Diego. This year I got to work with Cru UCSD and Cru Community College. At Cru UCSD we saw us go from 100% online to partly in person. We were forced to adapt and our student leaders did an amazing job at it. We did all of our outreaches online and God provided for us by creating amazing support through vulnerability from our students through our Testimony, Mental Health, and LGBTQ+ outreach. God provided an amazing amount of students through our Fall launch outreach that was 100% online. We saw 37 consist freshman coming to Cru events. God just works wonders when we need it most!! With Cru Community College we went from 8 students showing up to events to 25 students. We were going from being partly in person to fully in person through the year. God provided students for us when we thought none would come to certain events. He provided people who had a desire to see the gospel spread to the masses and see Cru grow in the area. These people helped us with social media because that is something we lacked; venue for the whole year at Summit Point Church; and also with leading worship. God provided in so many way. My personal favorite thing that God did was placing the need of surrendering our lives to God as a topic for the year. We saw this topic speak to students in so many ways from what they want to do in the future to being at peace when plans do not go the way we planned them to go. So you could say this year was an amazing year of growth. While all of this was amazing I have to thank you guys, my supporters for helping us do this all year. From financial support to prayer. You guys pouring into me allowed me to pour into others. So a BIG THANK YOU to you lovely supporters. While this year may be over, my journey is just beginning and I cannot wait to see how God provides this next year. Praise God for getting me through year one and many years to go. So excited for the journey God has placed me on and for the journey you guys will be joining me on. To end this update I would love to end it with a challenge. I challenge you, myself included to reach out to someone supporting you and see how they are doing. Tell them why you love them so much or even just be there for the through hardship.
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