Jersey Metro Cru is Unique

Students who are and alumni who were involved in the Cru movements of New Jersey (known as Jersey Metro Cru) are unique. These young Christian leaders have been exposed to the Good News of Jesus as expressed through a variety of people and cultures.

Kean University Cru @ Fall Retreat 2014

A DIFFERENT WORLD
Not many college campus movements are made up of such an ethnically diverse group. Being involved in Cru at just one campus, you can befriend someone from Singapore, dorm with a Filipino American, meet African-Americans, Chinese Americans, first generation Haitians, second generation Dominicans or Puerto Ricans, Portuguese students and even 7th generation Germans. It's not uncommon to see this group having dinner, fellowshipping in the game lounge or going on mission trips together - especially in the northeast parts of New Jersey.

In fact, Steve Douglass, president of Campus Crusade for Christ - the worldwide non-churched based organization to which Cru belongs, spoke at Jersey Cru (our statewide Cru meeting) just two years ago. He told stories of people from around the world coming to know Jesus and then looked at the crowd and pointed out the reality of the amazing diversity in the room. We once asked how many people spoke a second-language and 2/3 students stood up. Darryl Smith, president of the high school ministry of Cru also came to speak at this meeting and noted feeling like it was heaven but without the amazing food.

STEP BY STEP
This type of environment didn't just happen overnight. 
A few students had to make a decision to be uncomfortable in a setting that was for the majority different than what they were used to. These students challenged the band to learn new music for worship, gave the staff different background music to play before and after the meetings, and introduced various Pastors and speakers to the team. Each individual student engaged with as many of the majority culture in the room as possible so that each person they met would know that not all stereotypes are correct and crossing culture isn't so scary. When other ethnic minorities came, they felt more comfortable seeing people who looked like them and sounded like them. This initial group stayed and created space for others to come and continue to create space. The ministry in New Jersey isn't perfect but also hasn't lost it's core values to glorify God but now expresses them through a variety of ways.

OUR VISION
Empowered and led by the Holy Spirit, each staff and student strive to advance God's kingdom by making Jesus Christ known in whatever way possible to whomever possible for the sake of influencing the state and the world. These staff and students recognize that there are students attending college on U.S. soil who are citizens of countries in which Christians are not allowed. They also see and seize opportunities to create communities that are ethnically diverse and reflective of their state.

SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? 
Students, staff and alumni of New Jersey have a unique perspective of the body of Christ. 

• We can more easily connect with others across cultures unlike many in our nation.
• So we can share the Good News of Jesus with MORE people.

• We see the spiritual depravity first-hand as we engage in spiritual conversations across ethnic barriers on campus.
• So we can step up in leadership within and outside of our ethnic cultures to bring about positive change.

• We have seen and acknowledged the racism within our own hearts and the relational divide within the body of Christ nationwide.
• So we can challenge our brothers and sisters in Christ here and around the U.S. to grow in building relationships and loving others across cultures.

#GETOUTTHERE

God didn't just place you in the Jersey Metro ministry of Cru for no reason. Our nation is currently suffering from the lack of knowledge and love for each other that comes with the experiences we've had living here. You know this breaks God's heart. So Have His Heart for our nation.

Could God want you to go somewhere, say something, do something, or give something that can be a small step towards the healing of our nation? 

Surviving VS Thriving

WE SURVIVED! 

...AND THRIVED!

It's been an extremely DIFFICULT and yet EXCITING month! 

I expected to do a lot of planning for the Fall and I knew my role on staff would be different but I didn't expect to have so much more responsibility. My new role as the Missional Team Leader (MTL) in the Urban area in New Jersey expands my responsibility to coach a team of student leaders to include staff and intern leaders as well!

To the left is a collage of pictures of my coaching group this Summer on our trip to go white-water rafting. Being a city girl, I didn't often enter into nature's uncontrollable scene. That was God's work and I typically appreciated it from afar with my paint brush and canvas but this time God had something else in mind! I was SO nervous to head into the unfamiliar and basically learn through experience and yet, none of us fell out or were injured! Our guide was younger than us and had only a High School education but he was the expert and knew how to correct our mistakes if and when we did!

Similarly, I know the Holy Spirit is an expert (at the very least) in winning people to Himself! He controls the waves of the sea and he reigns over the waves of ministry! 

Just as the guide taught us how to row correctly, my job now calls me to be a guide and coach the staff, interns & student leaders in how to lead others to Christ, build them up & send them into mission. As their team leader, I will have to be the example but I can't do it alone. I need the help of my team to maneuver through the waves of ministry and I especially need the leading of the Holy Spirit to show us where to go.

• Please take a moment to stop and pray for the Holy Spirit to move before us in the lives of students who don't yet know Christ and those who know Him but don't know how to serve yet.
• Please also pray that God will remove all obstacles that can cause our team to row out of sync and any obstacles that may not allow us to report to campus full-time. (ie: financial support) Pray that we may thrive in His power!

Did you know?

Did you know this about Cru & my ministry scope?

I figure since I will be getting training for the next few weeks to be the Missional Team Leader of all the Urban schools in New Jersey, I should share a few fun facts I learn. There are many reasons why I chose to work with college students, here are a few:

Did you know?

• Professors influence every student with whom we work. Over the course of four years, every single student spends around 2,000 hours in a classroom, being taught and shaped by 25-30 professors. And the influence doesn’t stop there—add textbooks, homework assignments, papers to be written, and so on and we begin to see the incredible reach of university professors. 

Help me reach students who can reach the professors who shape and mold the next generation of  leaders. Visit give.ccci.org/0597677

Everyday of my life...

Luke 21:4 "For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

I am a full-time missionary. My boss is God. Every day of my life I choose to serve Him and His mission to accomplish His vision through the organization formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ, now called Cru.

Using a picture survey to start spiritual conversations

I spend my workday talking to students who have always 'known" Jesus but don't fully know His transforming love (discipleship & training). I spend multiple days a week starting spiritual conversations and building relationships with the students, faculty and staff that God brings across my path who don't yet know Him (evangelism).

Tammy  (my director) & I at a Jersey Metro staff mtg

Twice a week I gather with a group of individuals (my staff team) who are deeply in love with Jesus and passionate about seeing the same vision come to reality across the state of New Jersey so that it ultimately impacts the world. Together, we pray for the college students that flood the campuses and the faculty that guide those students in their knowledge of this world. Together, we listen to God and pray about how He may want us to encourage one another and encourage the students to action; Action in prayer, action in planning and action in stepping out on faith to see those plans come to pass.

Because this is what I do with my time, I have a team of supporting friends and family who financially support me to be able to be on campus without concern of finances or food or shelter or health. From financial gifts of $10/month to annual $800 promises or even groceries for a few days, stamps for the week or gas cards in the mail. Because of people like you, I can be used by God to reach the increasing number of students around the world. Thanks you.

If you would like to help in any way, check out the how you can give note on my facebook page or visit give.ccci.org and use account number 0597677 or simply ask me.