Sending Students to Reach Students

From the beginning, Cru has understood that students are crucial to seeing the Great Commission fulfilled and the world transformed.  

Not only are our Cru students at USF a crucial part of reaching their own campus with the love of Christ but this summer many of them will be playing a vital role in reaching students globally.  

Whether they're headed to Asia, Africa with us, or the global community in Miami, our USF students are taking the gospel to the world this summer and the impact will be eternal. 

We wanted to share with you this quick video that emphasizes the compelling need to reach students around the world with the reality of Jesus.

Fall Update

September Update

Home Sweet New Home

We are thrilled to announce that we have officially moved to TAMPA, FL!!! 

God provided a lovely little townhome in a neighborhood that is close to USF's campus. We are just absolutely amazed as we soak up God's lavish love & goodness in providing this place. It has everything we asked for and MORE!

 Here is just a peak at the new neighborhood... it is one of our favorite things about the new place.  A house photo tour will have to wait until we are just a little more settled... we are still trying to find places for everything. :) Enjoy!

Our little slice of home... although the building goes on to the right and left, our unit is just what you see peaking out there (the front door and big window on top & bottom).

The amazing lake we have across the street from our front yard... a dream come true for Anna!

We got the keys Labor Day weekend... spent Day 1 painting up a storm and moved in the following day.
We could not have done it without the help of our USF Cru staff team & both of our families!

City driving & traffic is definitely something we're having to get used to again.

Summer Newsletter

July2012 Final

May Newsletter

May_2012_Final

Imagine the Impact

One small impact in water creates ever growing ripples…

This is the picture that comes to my mind when I think about college ministry. The ripple effect is a great analogy because the group of people we seek to reach will be the leaders of tomorrow. So sharing Christ with the influential people of this demographic can have a shock wave that potentially affects thousands of people.

As I thought about this opportunity my mind wandered to the question, “What exactly are USF alumni doing now?” “Which of today’s leaders were yesterday’s USF student?”

What I found was awesome…

SO who is the most popular person to ever come out of USF?

HULK HOGAN of course!! If anyone knows about IMPACT, it’s Hogan! OHH YEAHH!

While graduates of that caliber are hard for any academic institution to beat, with a little investigating it became obvious that USF alumni lead in more than just ripping their shirts off in the wrestling ring.

Did you know that (according to Wikipedia), USF grads now run several major business enterprises like BEA systems, Disneyland International, FedEx, Google, Norwegian Cruise Line, TECO Energy Inc, and Symantec?

In addition to that, USF alumni have held offices in the U.S. House of Representatives, Florida State Senate and House, and the Florida Secretary of State. Grads have also won many distinguished awards including Emmy Awards and the Pulitzer Prize.

The list goes on with some USF grads who have even gone on to be presidents of other universities like Central Michigan University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cedarville University. Not to mention a couple dozen professional athletes and even Miss America 1999! 

List of names can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USF_Alumni

That is pretty impressive! 

As you read about these former students, IMAGINE THE OPPORTUNITY we have at USF as we work to expose EVERY student to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Who knows, maybe we can even influence the next “Hulk Hogan” of the wrestling world… body slamming people for Jesus!

March Newsletter

Here is our most recent update. If you would like to receive an email copy of our updates monthly there is a place to subscribe on the left. Hope you enjoy! March 2012 Newsletter

The world in our back yard...

Lara and Robbie holding the "where are you from?" signs

Last week, some of the CRU staff and students set up a table near one of the student cafeterias in hopes of connecting with international students.

They set up a map of the world that students could write on with a sign that said “Where are you from?” in multiple languages.

During the 2 hours that the CRU table was there, more than 50 students from 24 different countries stop by and mark where they were from!

The table was our first coordinated attempt to connect with these future leaders from all over the world. Overall, USF has close to 1,700 international students. Please continue to pray that God would use us to reach the Nations that are here on our campus.

Diving Into The Gospel

I recently had the opportunity to preach at our church in Spring Hill on Sunday. It was an awesome opportunity! As I prepared to share on that Sunday, I prayed about a topic and only one thought came to my mind: "The Gospel". The most significant and beneficial things we as believers can do is fix our eyes on the cross and the LOVE that God demonstrated to us through it! The extent to which we are continually experiencing the Gospel is directly correlated to the amount we grow spiritually. I know as well as anyone that this is often "easier said than done"...

This message was a compilation of several thoughts and ideas that the Lord has used in my life to help me grow and mature in my faith. I hope that as you listen you may pick up a thing or two that you can put in your "spiritual toolbox" to help you experience the Gospel for your lifetime.

This was the video I showed to close my talk: Awesome spiritual analogy! (excuse the title)

Much of the inspiration for the sermon came from the articles: "The Gospel Centered Life" & "Hearing the Music of the Gospel"

Passion 2012 Conference

We just returned from a Conference in Atlanta Georgia called Passion. The conference had 44,000 students ages 18-25 and featured speakers like Beth Moore, Francis Chan, John Piper, and Louie Giglio. Imagine a packed Georgia Dome full of young people lifting up the name of Jesus in worship at the top of their lungs. It was indescribable and powerful!

One aspect of the conference was focused on the issue of modern day slavery. Each day featured different stories that brought to light the realities of human trafficking, child exploitation, and forced labor.

FACT: There are 27 million slaves living in the world today which out numbers the entire African slave trade! It is hard to imagine... By challenging these college to "Do Something NOW!" Passion hoped to raise $1 million dollars for Various charities that work to educate, prevent, rescue or rehab people exposed to this modern day atrocity. Some of the charities include: International Justice Mission, Tiny Hands, A21, and The Atlanta Project among others.
For more info check out Passion 2012: DO SOMETHING NOW

THE RESULT: College students stood in line for hours to give and when it was all said and done a total of $2.6 million was given. That's right, the same group of people who live off of Ramen noodles and scrounge in the cracks of the couch for pocket change gave almost triple the goal set before them to END SLAVERY. If that doesn't scream FREEDOM, I don't know what does.

The following is the story covered by CNN

The Biggest Fan | Worldwide Challenge

Here is an article about USF in a issue of Worldwide Challenge from Jan 2010. It features the Athletes In Action  ministry and Asif Shaikh's work with the football team. It is a great picture of some of the things God is doing on our campus!

The Biggest Fan | Worldwide Challenge

Also, our most recent newsletter has been posted under "Monthly Newsletter" for your enjoyment :)

USF Fall Retreat

When we were students, one of our favorite parts of CRU was Fall Retreat. It always provided an awesome getaway to focus on God in the midst of a hectic semester.

It was that time of year again... Last weekend USF had their Fall Retreat at the Word of Life Bible Camp. Each year USF partners with UCF (University of Central Florida) to put on this weekend. Overall there were 4 schools in attendance totaling to more than 200 students and 40 of them were from USF! Also, Anna and I actually got to be there for part of it because we live so close to the camp.

Anna with some of the USF girls

The theme of the weekend was "Revolution"... Not following the way of the world but starting a revolution for Christ! It was refreshing to see each student seeking the Lord and learning about His love and strength through the different talks.

One of the best part for us was that we got to start to build relationships with some of the student and leaders who we will be working with when we start on campus. It was a nice break from the support raising trail. We even got to spend time with our awesome "future bosses".

John and Keri Schneider are the directors at USF. 

The last leg of our Summer Adventures...

Since our last update we've been to states 10, 11, and 12 of our road trip including:

Kansas City... where we visited friends and Dan fed a baby (Aleah, our niece) for the 1st time...
 

We visited Gma & Gpa Hull and got in touch with Dan's Cherokee roots in Oklahoma...

And we made it to Dallas, TX to visit Dan's aunts, uncles, and cousins...

Road Trip Continues

Our time in Nebraska amongst the corn has sadly come to an end and we are on to KANSAS! This will be our 10th state this summer... Quite a road trip! Eventually we will visit Oklahoma and Texas before venturing home to sunny Florida!

Moose Crossing...

We just got done going through New Staff Training in Fort Collins, CO and are now officially on staff with CRU!

Despite many moose encounters we made it down the mountain & are currently chillin in Nebraska. More posts and updates to come soon. :)