AMAZING!

RADIATE - FOUR DAYS YOU WILL NEVER FORGET

“I could write a novel about how absolutely AMAZING my last Radiate as a college student was!”

RADIATE is our annual winter conference with the Mid-Atlantic region of Cru. This December 28th – January 1st, over 1,000 students gathered in Washington, DC for four days of community and growth in their relationships with God.

They heard from great speakers such as Matt Mikalatos, Matt Watts, Heather Holleman & PastorJames White. Students and staff sang in worship with talented bands, and reached out to this city in need of hope. Finally, they participated in worship into the New Year.

A student boasted on Facebook:

“From bonding with my awesome Jersey Cru family & having us win the social media contest, to having my tweet chosen by Emcee Shelby Abbott, and having God completely strengthen the fact that I am indeed 100% Anchored in Him, & starting off the new year worshipping and praising Him, I could not be anymore blessed.” – Ramapo student, Angie Cisneros (pictured center on right)

As a student at RADIATE, I was amazed at the sheer number of students in the room and quickly fascinated by their hearts for God.  Eight years later, now on staff, I am truly blessed to witness God’s work in the lives of so many students!

God at work: Of the 741 students who told us they signed a pledge (here), 24 of them trusted Christ, 105 committed to spending a year of their life in full-time vocational ministry, and 220 committed on going on a Summer Mission with Cru.

Something even more amazing is that when asked to consider helping other students attend conferences and to consider supporting overseas missions, these “broke college students” pledged to give $81,751.74! God truly is at work!

Praise Him!

March Madness – Missions Style

All month long, students in the Jersey Metro ministry of Cru have been making famous the story behind the name, the man, the living – Jesus Christ!

Big-Break (Panama City, FL)

While students from around the nation made their way toward the sun for Spring break, our students looked for ways to connect them to the Son for every season that may come their way.

Gas for 1250 miles - $650, sitting in a minivan with 6 other women - 0 leg room, caravanning with another minivan of 6 women - 10 pit stops, sharing the Gospel with over 2000 students  --- priceless.

I had the privilege of accompanying 12 student women to join about 1200 others in Panama City Beach, FL to share the good news of Jesus. We started conversations with over 5000 people and it led to over 2000 Gospel presentations, which then led to 157 beach goers indicating decisions for Christ!! 
The week was long and I am still recovering, but God is so great!

BigBlitz (Ramapo, Rutgers, Stockton, Montclair - NJ)

Students preparing at MSU to share

During the same week, the students who were on Spring Break but couldn’t go to Florida went to blitz two campuses who were not on break. The following week (Spring break for the other ten campuses we work on) the other students blitzed two new campuses! 

Campus Blitz - Where a large group of people post flyers, take spiritual surveys, prayer walk, and start spiritual conversations with as many as possible within a day!

Staff and about 20 students who participated visited a total of four universities and had 158 spiritual conversations that led to 68 Gospel presentations and 1 decision for Christ!

Quest Week - #getoutthere (NJ)

Soularium, a picture survey used to
start spiritual conversation

Just before Spring Break, an alumni panel came to Kean Cru to share how they live out their vocation (to know, enjoy & share God) through their current occupations (what occupies their time). 

During that week many students were challenged and made efforts to start spiritual conversations despite what occupied their time – midterms!

Although there are many obstacles to living out our vocation, we must keep intimate connection with the King who calls us and has gone before us into the field.

Social Media

As I mentioned in November of 2013, social media is an advancing avenue for our students to use to start spiritual conversations with their peers.

#getoutthere is the slogan we have been using as @JerseyMetro to track  spiritual conversations on various social media outlets. One tactic we use to start these conversations is called “The Bi-Weekly Buzz”, where members of our staff team send out a video that can be re-posted, shared, and commented on. We’ve also started a blog on our newly designed website: JerseyMetro.com

On which, staff member, Joey Sforza recently posted:

Virality is in high demand.

Everyone on social media wants their posts to have more likes, shares, comments and re-posts. There is a deep emotional high that fills the soul when you see your post is getting lots of attention.

As part of this social media generation, Joey admits in his post his desire, like all of ours, to be known and loved. He then connects the reader to the terrible news that none of us will ever have that void filled through “likes” or “shares” or even in relationships. Joey then follows up with the good news that God can fill that void! J

Joey’s post was shared by nearly 30,000 people. This follow-up blog about it with a spiritual correlation was shared or liked by only 99.

It’s sad how so many people now live seeking purpose through how many “likes” or “shares” they receive. People are distracted with taking “selfies” in hopes to be “liked” while the enemy rages war against true loving community.  

Our hope is that through stepping into this social media world, we can engage people where they are and usher them into truly loving community with God and His family. That’s exactly what Joey did through this post and that’s exactly what our staff and students work toward in sharing the bi-weekly buzz (set up by Christine & Chris).

Join us on social media to #getoutthere with the good news that Jesus truly satisfies! You can follow @JerseyMetro on twitter or Facebook.

"LEVEL3:16 Missionaries on the Scene"

LEVEL3:16 at Rutgers Camden

“Cru and Impact for the win!! I love how the Lord brought us together for such a powerful outreach in NJ. Partnerships like this MUST continue!” – Crystal Whitaker, band member & Impact Music Staff

Each week this the past semester consisted of prayer, evangelism, Scripture, checking email, planning, discipleship, fund-raising & LEVEL 3:16! 

I met the majority of the band this past summer, in Colorado, during the Cru National Staff Conference. I even had the opportunity to interpret their concert on the main stage. Immediately, God laid on my heart the value, purpose and need for LEVEL in ministry & especially in Jersey!

LEVEL 3:16 uses the beautiful harmony of vocalists Candace Jones, Kristin Mason & Crystal Whitaker in combination with the sharpening scripture-based lyrics of Steve Gaskin & Chris Tabron all supported by the fun and engaging DJ skills of Kristen (KB) Newton.

LEVEL IN NEW JERSEY:

In their concert at New Jersey City University, Wednesday night, 40 students were challenged to enjoy the Christian life while taking Christ very seriously.         

Thursday consisted of panel discussions at Rutgers Camden (pictured above) & Kean University, where each member of the group shared their testimony of faith in Jesus and the Gospel message was clearly presented along with a few special musical tunes. J

Friday night ended with LEVEL joining us at Jersey Cru, leading us in worship for part of the night and ending in praise to our King with a few of their own songs! Following JCru I got into a conversation with a Jehovah’s Witness who is exploring Christianity and her faith because of the impact LEVEL had through their music!

About 100 people in total on these three campuses heard the Gospel & where challenged to live out Christ.

Bringing LEVEL3:16 here was not only strategic in reaching those students who have grown up in the church but still don’t embrace full surrender (live at His level – John 3:16), but it also challenged those who do live for Him to engage with others in the truth of Jesus (#getoutthere) & for those who don’t know Jesus, it challenged their view of Christians. AKA through their stories & music, LEVEL said: “Christians, STEP IT UP! Don’t be a sad representation of the greatest story ever told! Show them the joy that comes with knowing and loving JESUS!” And, “we love you world! Look at our first love, His name is JESUS!”

Special Story:

At Rutgers Camden, we ended defending the true faith of Christians to two lost students who believe there is a “mother god” who we must accept in order to be saved. L LEVEL 3:16 in town was not only good for NJ students, but for the band members as well! They had the chance to defend their faith & share in one of the most dangerous cities in America.

Emcee, Chris Tabron says:

“My experience in NJ was very re-affirming in regard to my faith. I was encouraged and also challenged in many different ways. It was a good mixture of a long week of ministry and relaxation. Go NJ. Thanks!”

The week was very busy with lots of driving, little sleep for a few of us and plenty of flights to last through the year! So Saturday we decided to celebrate with a day of fun in NYC with my sister, Eliza and Jersey Metro intern, Christine (pictured right).

Although it was a very busy week, I think God used it in ways beyond our knowledge here on earth for His eternal glory. One of the tangible ways I can see is in my own life as I served this group in various ways. Each of the young musicians with Impact, the African-American sister ministry of Cru, pursued me in love all week long and even sought ways to serve me. I am so grateful to God for providing all that was needed to bring them in and for using them for His glory!

God has once again proven He is the one and only Sovereign King, and HE IS GOOD!

Please pray for the women I disciple, students I coach and staff I work alongside to continue to submit to the Holy Spirit throughout the winter break.

Pray also for the students who have decided to attend RADIATE Dec. 28^th -Jan.1^st

Please pray for me as I prepare a seminar & interview for this year’s winter conference, RADIATE - In Awe (logo below).