It was the spring of 2014 and Jen and I were just entering a new phase of ministry. After 25 years with college students as our primary focus, we made a pivot to reach Millennials, the largest age group in our culture, but the least churched.
We flew to Nashville to spend some time with about a dozen other Cru staff members who were also committed to reaching this underserved audience. On the heels of our staff time, we were slated to attend the Q conference (led by Gabe Lyons – now rebranded as ThinQ Media) and we were looking forward to meeting with one of our former students from our time at the University of Arizona who had transplanted his family to the Nashville area.
On the first day of that conference, Jen experienced some chest pains that ultimately landed her at Vanderbilt hospital.
I wrote about that experience in our April 2014 newsletter, which you can access here (bit.ly/LWDN0414).
We left Nashville feeling grateful that we had dodged a bullet. When we arrived at the hospital we didn’t know what was going on. We were relieved when the doctors told us that they thought Jen had walking pneumonia and gave her antibiotics to help clear up any infection.
It turned out though that that diagnosis was wrong, and this was just the first phase of a medical journey we entered, and are still in.
Thankfully, we know a lot more about Jen’s condition, vasculitis, which is currently in remission.
This last fall, I had the opportunity to return to Nashville for the first time since that ordeal. Jen was not able to make this trip due to a conflict with her class schedule.
Once again, a fledgling group of Cru staff met to discuss and dream about reaching the under-served audience that is Young Adults.
It was great being back in Nashville and experiencing a bit of the culture, including good BBQ and some great music from talented artists.
We were surprised by one of our Cru staff who lives and ministers in Nashville and happens to live just around the corner from Kris Allen (of American Idol Fame) who did an acoustic set for us on our colleague’s back porch! That feels very Nashville-y!
As much as I enjoyed connecting with our staff and revisiting and renewing my vision for Young Adults, the highlight of my trip was my time after the conference.
I decided to delay my return so that I might meet with my friend Mark, the former student we had to cancel on 10 years earlier.
In addition, another friend from our church in South Orange County had moved his family to Nashville 4 years ago and my trip provided an opportunity to connect with him as well.
It was great to pray together and have extended time to connect on a deeper level and hear how God is moving and working in the lives of these two families.
As I reflected back on my time in Nashville, I realized that the number of Cru staff who are reaching Young Adults is still rather small.
What really stood out to me though is that the make-up of the staff in attendance was different. I was the only person at these recent meetings who had been at the Nashville meeting 10 years ago. That is often the nature of ministry. People often come and go and move on to other opportunities and other callings. For us, at this time, Young Adults remains our calling.
We are grateful for your investment and commitment to us!
To read the pdf version of our newsletter, click here.
The Lowedown 