Colorado Serving Opportunities

This Summer was full of opportunities to Serve:

Just following MTL training, at our National Staff Conference, I had a really cool opportunity to do a few things on stage during our Campus Ministry time.

All three service opportunities allowed me to use the gifts God gave me to bring Him glory! 

One opportunity was following Roger Hershey's talk on "Tensions in Ministry", where a few ladies and I wrote tensions we experience in ministry as graffiti piece, outlining the words "But God" (pictured right).

The 2nd opportunity was to interpret (using American Sign Language) a mini concert for a band of "musicianaires" (music missionaries) committed to missions outreach, known as LEVEL 3:16.

With two male emcees rapping several verses and three vocalist keeping in beat with DJ KB, this was definitely an exciting challenge!
The best part of the performance was the relationships I started with the band members before the concert. I got to play with new friends in a way that brought more ATTENTION to God's name!


The last way I was able to serve the staff this Summer has to do with technology.

1. Cru offered staff around the country opportunities to bring their tech issues to the Power Bar, which I worked a few shifts in.
2. They also offered opportunities to get training in how to use Cru Apps by Google. I was able to assist three individuals to best use their technology to advance God's kingdom and save time in doing so.



Neat view from the social media deck

3. One fun thing I also did was help with the social media deck, managing tweets and Facebook posts about the conference. 

Technology is one of the main ways people connect today and it was fun to see the virtual Cru world get noticed across the nation. :)

Colorado Picture Update

This Summer was full of fun new relationships! 

Pictured right is the coaching group I was with every day of the first six weeks of the Summer. These women will all be leading in the Mid-Atlantic region under the direction of Jen Durlin, our regional/national director (center).

I really enjoyed getting to know each of them in a real way and can't wait to see how God uses us across the region! :)

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Other Vital Relationships: This Summer had lots of difficult moments that could only be faced in prayer with my sisters in Christ.

   A Jersey Metro Cru almuni, Jess Fong, was one of those women I leaned on often! We prayed multiple times through the tears of pain brought on by the enemy's attempted attack on our identity as ethnic minorities within Cru. Now headed to work with The Epic Movement of Cru in CA, I'm sure prayers will only increase. It's a blessing to my hear to know this gorgeous woman!

Patrice Holmes is a new but dear friend who lived in the dorm next door to mine all Summer long. We had long, honest and difficult conversations about reaching ethnic minorities within the United States Campus Ministry of Cru and The Impact Movement. It was so good to have Patrice around to challenge, encourage and pray with.

Since taking classes at the Institute of Biblical Studies with Cru last year, I have known Brianna Esa to be a warm, loving, compassionate woman growing deeply in love with the Savior. This Summer, our relationship grew to a new place of encouragement. Bri is on staff with The Destino Movement in LA and has become a great friend of mine, in spite of the distance.

In the Summer of 2008, at Rollins College near Orlando, Florida, I joined staff with Beth Hasbrouck. She is by far, one of my favorite people on this earth! It was God's sovereign plan to have us be two doors away from each other all Summer long as she took the classes I took last year with Patrice and Brianna.

Beth is on staff with Cru - Inner City, Chicago and keeps in touch regularly as an encouraging and motivating friend.

The 4 of us at Horsetooth, CO

Keeping Tabs Jan2012

RADIATE.2011—Be Free

Every New Year, I have the wonderful opportunity to worship into the New Year with hundreds of students from the mid-atlantic region. This year 937 students from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey gathered in the Baltimore Inner Harbor to develop their relationships with Jesus through fellowship, training, worship and prayer.

 Pastor Jackson Crum, Claude Hickman and Roger Hershey all spoke on the topic “be free”. In and through their teaching, felt God challenge me to give a detailed testimony, known as a “soul to soul”, to the women involved at Kean Cru. Little did I know this time, which included my sister, developed a greater feeling of freedom within the women to be open and honest about where God has convicted them of sin. Since that night, I’ve been able to privately meet with several of these women and encourage them, as Paul did in Ephesians 5:8, to walk as children of light.

One of the great things about conferences like these is that I am able to reunite with the students I worked with this past summer at Hampton Beach, NH Summer Project. It was really encouraging to see the women from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia & North Carolina persevering and “running the race.”

Jersey Metro Planning Summit - Tecumseh 2012

This Friday is the Jersey Metro Planning Retreat at Tecumseh! 

This is where we make plans for the semester! :)

Tecumseh Planning Retreat:
Students just returned from winter break, classes have started and they're barely back on their feet. It's times like this when we need the body of Christ the most and where we need to realign ourselves to the mission God has called us to and refocus our vision and plans. We’re getting away for a weekend of prayer, training, planning and connecting with others. Pray for us as our students come and readjust their focus as we realign ourselves to the vision of our ministry as a state.

When: This Friday, January 27-28th, 2012.

Check out this email I created to inform our students.

- Jersey Metro Staff Team

 

 

Jersey Metro Mission:

"By all possible means, let us advance God's kingdom by making Christ fully known on every campus, influencing the state and ultimately the world."

 

RADIATE2011 - Be Free

I just returned from Cru's 4-day winter conference, RADIATE. This year the theme was "Be Free" and 1000 students were able to hear from special guests like Pastor Jackson Crum, Claude Hickman, our own Roger Hershey, and "I Am Second" speakers: Chris & Adrienne Plekenpol. Students from all across the mid-atlantic region started off the conference worshiping with The Bridgeband....

There is a lot more to tell, but for now it's time to rest. If you're interested in more videos and pictures, check out my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/edithann.morales

Picture story! :)

I've not posted in a long time... But here's the short, picture version of why:

This Friday is our second Jersey Cru of the semester! Last month we had nearly 200 students!

Kean is really working on reaching out to their campus this week. (Quest week is a statewide student/staff effort to take the initiative to share the Gospel with students, faculty and staff on the 30/60 campuses we are on.)

Kean Cru doesn't just give out free pizza! We really want people to come talk about God. So we are providing home-made empanadas! :)

Fall Retreat was terrific! Students truly encountered Jesus Christ!

11 women represented KeanCru at this years Fall Retreat. Harvey (right) is joined by 2 NJCU men pictured above.

Discipleship was beautiful by the beach @ Harvey Cedars Bible Conference.

Although a D3 University, Kean Cru even represented at the tailgate festival this year and cheered on Liscet (2nd from right) as she represented Christ, running for home-coming queen!)

Just cuz we were at homecoming, doesn't mean we weren't going to make an effort to start spiritual conversations! Underneath the castle the students built, they laid sand with "Soularium" cards dug in them. :)

Last Thursday, in an effort to reach students who may not have attended the homecoming concert, Kean Cru played short films produced by the Global Shortfilm Network to promote spiritual conversation.

Before that, Kean Cru had a difficult time booking a room to have Bible Study in, so we did a few community building events like bowling! Here are some of our senior women involved in the ministry. (From left to right: Liscet, Sindy, Jahtasia, Sharon)

It was a fun time for everyone!

Even a silly time for newbies to get to know and love us! :)

RADIATE- Dispel the Darkness

Last time I told you about this conference coming up December 28-January 1st. But what exactly is RADIATE? And why are so many college students excited about it?

RADIATE is a four day gathering of college students from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, & Virginia. This will be the 2nd year this conference will take place in the Baltimore Inner Harbor Marriott Hotel. This venue is the only place available with the conference rooms and space we need for the 1000+ students and staff who typically attend each year.

MAIN Attractions:

MAIN SESSIONS

We will have meetings twice a day where we will hear from our guest speakers and musicians. Jackson Crum will be teaching us from the Word of God all three mornings. RADIATE favorite, Phil Carnuccio will be returning and kicking off the conference on the 28th. We will also hear from Campus Crusade for Christ staff Carrie Walker, Keith Bubalo and Jeff Martin. The Bridge Band will be leading us in worship once again, and our emcee Shelby Abbott will be our host.

We will also be joined by special musical guests REILLY and Trip Lee.

DAY OF FAITH

On the afternoon of the 30th, the entire RADIATE conference will put our faith into action. This year, we will be partnering with GAiN to pack thousands of seeds to plant and grow food for families in countries devastated by natural disasters.

THE CAFÉ Located in the Harborside foyer, The Café will be a great place to hang out with old friends, chat with Campus Crusade for Christ staff, pray, and possibly meet someone new.

SEMINARS

One of our goals at RADIATE2010 is to teach and equip each student on how to win their friends to Christ, build them in their faith, and send them out to win, build, and send all over again. We will be featuring some of your favorite seminars from last year as well as introducing a few brand new ones. You’ll definitely want to take advantage of this time!

PRAYER JOURNEY

There won’t be a shortage of fun activities to do at RADIATE2010 to keep your four days jam-packed. We created a quiet space that you can escape to and spend some one-on-one time with God. It is awesome to worship Him with 1,000 people singing and praising, but it is also very important to stop, be still and listen to what Jesus may need to say to you. The Prayer Journey is a great place to do just that, and it will be open 24 hours a day.

NEW YEAR’S EVE

This will be a New Year’s Eve party to remember! Dance party with Trip Lee, amazing firework show on the Harbor and kick-off 2011 worshipping our Savior with The Bridge Band. 

This is RADIATE!

RADIATE 09 - RADIATE His Life

So every year, pratically every ministry associated with Campus Crusade For Christ in each region puts on their very own Christmas Conference. For the past 3 years or so, ours (the Mid-Atlantic Campus Ministry Team) has been called RADIATE. Students from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia come together to learn how best they can RADIATE their faith to their communities. This year over 100 staff and 900 students met at the Baltimore Harbor Marriott from Dec. 28th to January 1st.

At this conference, I had several jobs. As seen on the left, one of them was to greet the students as they arrived and inform them of where to go to register. Later in the day, I was able to help my co-worker set up LNC (the "Late Night Cafe") which was a central gathering center for the students to fellowship over games and snacks after the night sessions. Several times throughout the conference I was privileged to work with our staff children in daycare as their parents worked the conference. Still, my most favorite job was spending time with young women over lunch or coffee and pouring into their lives the love Christ has given me. :o)

The students had the opportunity to hear Darryl Smith, President of US Student Venture (CCC's High School Student Ministry) talk about being more than a believer by living a life as a follower of Christ. Students also had the opportunity to choose from various seminars to attend that would in detail teach anything from the "Biblical Foundations for Sharing their Faith" to the "Importance of Prayer on the Campus". A few students in particular told me they thought the seminars were "meaty and edifying". On the third day, staff and students came together to put their belief of living for Christ into action by following the example of His life to feed the hungry. Together 1 million seeds were packed into 500,000 family packets to help feed over 50,000 families in Southern Sudan. Talk about RADIATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST!