Category: Newsletters

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Signs of Spiritual Renewal

“Christianity has an image problem.”

These are the opening words from “UnChristian”, the 2007 book by David Kinnaman, President of Barna Research Group, and Gabe Lyons, founder and president of THINQ Media. The purpose of of the book was to highlight the perceptions of the church from those who are unchurched, in order to give meaning and understanding to the decades-long decline in the influence of the church on the culture at large.

In 2011, Kinnaman published “You Lost Me”, which sought to explain why so many Young Adults who had grown up in the church were leaving the church.

For those of us who are older and have been Christians a long time, it’s been obvious that the church’s influence has been waning for years, perhaps even decades. But recently, we’ve seen that lack of influence breach the barrier of the church, as hoards of young people have been leaving the church for one reason or another.

Recently, however, there have been signs of a spiritual renewal in the U.S. and beyond.

You may recall that in February 2023, a routine chapel service at Asbury College in Kentucky turned into a 16-day outpouring of spiritual renewal that impacted nearly 50,000 people, mostly young adults. (See article here)

Many Christians pointed to that event as a possible starting point for the greater spiritual awakening that we’ve spent decades praying for.

Since then, signs indicating a spiritual renewal here in the U.S. and beyond have amplified. We hear reports of new people attending church for the first time and people returning to church after a long absence.

Since the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, renewed interest in church and Christianity has seemingly increased even more, in the U.S. and beyond.

You may know that Jen has been a part-time student at Talbot Seminary for the past several years, pursuing a degree in Spiritual Formation.

This semester she’s taking an online Theology course and one of the other participants is from the UK. The professor asked the UK student if the rumors he has heard about an increase in church attendance in the UK are true. The student confirmed that from what he’s seen, church attendance definitely seems to be on the rise.

Still, it’s sometimes hard to know the actual substance of what we’re hearing.

Are these reports merely anecdotal, or are they actually reflective of a larger trend of spiritual renewal?

It appears that these stories are not just isolated events but are actually mirroring a larger trend of renewal.

Earlier today, I saw a post on X.com with an image that showed that Bible sales in the U.S. have increased by over 40% in the last 3 years. Downloads of spiritual apps and Christian music are also way up.

Barna research confirms that there are signs of a spiritual awakening in the U.S. The surprising aspect of their research is that this awakening is being fueled by Young Adults!

According to a Barna report released in April 2025, there has been an increase in the number of Young Adults who claim to have made a commitment to Jesus. At the same time, many of those who say they’ve made a commitment might not identify themselves as “Christian”.

While this may seem contradictory, it actually reflects how the younger generation is attracted to the person of Jesus (at least their understanding of Him) but are often skeptical and wary of institutional religion.

A more recent report from Barna in September 2025 indicates that there has been a resurgence recently in church attendance and it has largely been led by Young Adults.

What’s surprising is that contrary to past experience, young adults are going to church more frequently than older generations.

Even more surprising is that young adult men are outpacing women in their spiritual interest.

While there are many reasons to rejoice and be hopeful, there are still challenges. Kinnaman notes that even though Young adults are attending church more frequently, they still are only attending less than 2 times per month and “churchgoing alone does not in itself create devoted disciples…there is still the challenge of shaping hearts and minds to live out their faith beyond church participation.”

This is why we are focused on Young Adults. We seek to fill in that gap – to provide coaching, mentoring and discipleship for Young Adults to help them thrive spiritually and live with purpose.

Thank you for your partnership in ministering to this vital community. Please pray for us and with us, that a spiritual renewal would continue across the U.S. and beyond and that young adults would continue to turn to Jesus as the only one who can fulfill their core needs and desires!

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A “Golden” Opportunity

Helping out our Cru Military ministry at the FamilyLife Conference in Anaheim

Lately, we’ve been thinking a lot about marriage. In November, Jen and I attended a Weekend to Remember Marriage Conference hosted by FamilyLife. It was excellent. If you haven’t been to one, we highly recommend it.

In February, Jen and I helped out at a Weekend to Remember Conference in Anaheim. There were a number of military couples attending and our Cru Military ministry had a special booth and specific resources to help military families navigate the unique marital struggles they encounter.

In February, our church embarked on a 3 year plan that will lay the foundation for the next 45 years. One of the initiatives that is laid out as part of the “Dream Now” vision is strengthening families. A statistic that was shared is that 70% of all marriages in Orange County end in divorce.

We know all too well how the breakdown of the family has impacted the Young Adults of today. The landscape of families has encountered a seismic shift in the last 40-50 years.

An often quoted statistic about the spiritual influence men have with their family

When I was a kid, I didn’t know anyone whose parents were divorced. Today, divorce is so common that it’s almost strange to meet a Young Adult whose parents are still together.

All of this has created some unique challenges and opportunities when it comes to ministry.

Young Adults are less likely to have a strong extended family to rely on for support, whether it’s emotional or financial.

Because the nuclear family has been so fractured over the past 50 years, many Young Adults are longing for older adults who can provide mentoring and sage life advice that older family members have traditionally provided. I can’t tell you how often a Young Adult has mentioned to me or to Jen that they have nobody in their life who is older with whom they can discuss life issues.

For the last few years, I’ve been very involved in men’s ministry at our church (Jen is also very involved in the women’s ministry). I do some occasional teaching and I give leadership to a group of men who meet early on a weekly basis.

I’ve enjoyed applying all of the ministry training and experience I’ve accrued over the years to help older guys grow in their spiritual lives.

As I’ve connected with men over the years, I’ve realized that spiritually speaking, old guys have the same needs as young guys. Men want to make a difference and they want their lives to count. Men often want to take steps to grow spiritually but many times, they don’t know what to do beyond attending church, giving money and being involved in a small group.

Lately, we’ve been wondering if we can somehow “marry” our day job (Young Adults) with our part-time ministry to older adults.

Young Adults overwhelmingly indicate they want older people in their lives to function as mentors and even spiritual guides.

Older adults often communicate a strong desire to make an impact in others, particularly the younger generation.

Partnering with Cru Military at a Family Life Conference. Multiple ministries collaborating and intersecting.

What if we could help older Christians take steps to mentor and influence the young adults around them?

We’ve actually had this idea for a while but it’s been brought to the forefront more recently as God has provided numerous situations and personal examples that have made this need obvious and undeniable.

Our vision is not just to mentor Young Adults directly, though we are doing that. What we really want to do is to multiply our impact by equipping others, particularly older, wiser and more mature believers to take steps to pour into and impact Young adults. We believe that there is a golden opportunity for those who are entering their golden years!

Perhaps that sounds interesting. If so, let us know. We’d love to hear your thoughts and provide support and help for you to take meaningful steps that would enable you to make an impact in the lives of others!

Thank you for your continued prayers and partnership that enables us to minister to Young Adults…and Old Adults as well!

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A Divine “Coincidence”

A few months ago, I approached one of the pastors at my church about meeting to discuss a personal matter. We had met many times before over lunch and coffee to talk about men’s ministry, which he helps to oversee, but since this was a personal issue, I suggested we meet at the church office.

When I arrived at the office, he escorted me upstairs and into a conference room, which I had never been in.

I made a remark about how I liked the glass plates on the wall that functioned as dry erase boards and even the conference table had the same glass plates with notes and ideas from a previous meeting scrawled on its surface.

In response, my pastor shared how, just prior to our meeting, he had been in that conference room brainstorming with a Young Adult about men’s discipleship within the Young Adult ministry.

My antenna immediately perked up. Did he say “Young Adult ministry?”

If you’ve followed our ministry with Young Adults for the past 10 years, you probably know about the challenges we’ve experienced in ministering to this audience.

Young Adults are the largest population group in America, and yet, they are the least churched. There are a number of reasons why Young Adults are not active in church, some of which I’ve outlined in previous blog posts. To learn more, check out some of our prior newsletters and blog posts:

Young Adults are leaving the church in droves and most churches simply do not minister well to this demographic.

For the past several years, I’ve talked to a number of pastors at our church, wondering where the Young adults are at and whether Saddleback church has a ministry dedicated to this specific audience.

The response was always the same. The pastor was unaware of any specific Young Adult ministry, but maybe if I talked to “so-and-so”, they might know.

I learned more than I wanted to about the history of Young Adult ministry at Saddleback – how it had once been a thriving ministry but was not currently active. 

So when my pastor friend casually mentioned that he had just had a meeting with a Young adult about the Young adult ministry, I was naturally curious.

Before diving into the issue which I wanted to discuss, I asked him some questions about the meeting he had. He knows that I work with Cru and that our ministry focus is Young Adults so I asked him if he would connect me with the young man with whom he had just met. 

He agreed to reach out to the person and see if they would be willing to connect with me. He sent a quick text before we moved on to talking about my personal issue.

When our time was ending, he noticed that the Young adult had already texted him back and said that he would definitely be interested in meeting. So I got his contact information and I sent him an email later that afternoon.

A few days later, Logan got back with me and we arranged to meet up for breakfast.

Logan and I at a local eatery!

When we met, I asked Logan a few questions to get to know him better. I learned that he grew up really close to me and he had recently graduated from Cal Baptist University. 

I was curious where Logan went to high school. It turns out, he went to the same high school as our boys.

I asked him what year he graduated and I learned that he graduated the same year my boys graduated.

I told him I had twin boys who went to his high school and I wondered if he knew them.

That’s when the light bulb went off.

He said, “Wait! Your last name is Lowe? I know your boys. We were in the same Life group together in high school. I didn’t make that connection when you reached out to me.”

Logan is on staff with Saddleback, serving at the Brea campus. But he also helps to lead the fledgling Young Adult ministry that started up last year.

As I shared with Logan our vision for Young Adults and the resources we provide, particularly in helping Young Adults grow and mature in their leadership and their ability to become multiplying disciples, I could see his eyes light up.

I’m constantly amazed at how God works to orchestrate opportunities and open doors. In all the times I initiated with various pastors at our church to inquire about Young Adult ministry, it went nowhere. Then when I initiated to talk about something completely unrelated to Young adult ministry, the door suddenly and unexpectedly opened to connect with a key Young adult leader.

I’m not sure where this might lead but we’re excited about the potential of mentoring and coaching these young leaders who are working to create a community where Young Adults can thrive spiritually and live with purpose.

Our vision is not just to coach and mentor Young Adults, but to coach and mentor others, whether Young Adults or older adults, who can help to lead and mentor Young adults in church communities everywhere.

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The Nashville Redemption

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.

Our first time in Nashville (2014) included the Q conference. We only got half of the first day in before Jen ended up in the hospital. A highlight of that session was an interview with Carrie Underwood and her husband, NHL Hockey player Mike Fisher.

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. 

Cru Embark staff enjoying good BBQ in downtown Nashville

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 treated to a small intimate, unplugged acoustic set from American Idol season 8 winner, Kris Allen
Me with Kris Allen – American Idol Season 8 winner

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!

Meeting up with my friend Mark, a former student from way back during our University of Arizona days. This meet-up was 10 years overdue!

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.

I was able to connect with a friend (Rob) from our church in SoCal who moved his family to the Nashville area a few years ago

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.

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The Last Supper and the Human Condition

Last month, Jen and I took a break from our daily routine and traveled to Italy to visit our son Joshua, who is an Army officer stationed there.

It was a great to visit him and see what his world is like. It was also fun to get a taste (literally) of Italy, though we only saw a small portion of the country.

Jen and I loved hanging out with our son Joshua in Italy, where he is serving as an officer in the U.S. Army.

In addition to spending a day in Venice and a few days in Florence, where we saw Michelangelo’s famous statue of David, Jen and I also took a day trip to Milan, where we experienced a very informative walking tour through parts of the city that included seeing the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) as well as the famous DaVinci masterpiece “The Last Supper”. 

Venice was exactly how I imagined it from watching movies like “The Italian Job”

I have to admit that the Last Supper was not exactly what I expected. It looked a little different than all the photos you see. It turns out that there’s a reason for that.

Our guide explained that when DaVinci was commissioned to make the painting, he decided against the tried and true traditional Fresco style of painting, which creates a permanent image because the painting is all done in wet plaster.

The downside of this technique is that you have to paint very quickly before the plaster dries. DaVinci wanted to take his time and create a painting with more intricate detail than the fresco technique would allow, so he developed a completely new technique that allowed him to take his time.

Joshua and Jen at dusk in Florence on a bridge overlooking the Arno river

The result was an undisputed masterpiece. However, it became more clear, over time, that DaVinci’s novel new technique was flawed, as parts of the painting literally began to flake away from the wall.

To fix this problem, other painters were often called in to fill in the gaps and “restore” those portions to match copies that demonstrated the original image.

Fast forward hundreds of years and the image on the wall has been painted over dozens of times. The original image is actually lost as many of the finer details, such as facial expressions, don’t look exactly as Leonardo had painted them.

Jen and me pose with the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) in the background

In 1977, it was decided that the painting would go through a restoration process whereby all the extra layers of paint would be removed so that the image that remained would be only what Leonardo had painted. It was risky because they weren’t sure if ANYTHING would be left when they removed all the layers.

Fortunately, there was still plenty of Leonardo’s original image still intact when all of the extraneous layers were removed. At that point, what was left underwent an extensive 25 year restoration process to ensure that the image would not experience further decay.

What remains is still amazing but it is not exactly the original. There are parts that have faded or flaked away. We have a good idea of what the original looked like based on copies that were created when it was more complete.

The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci

I think the Last Supper illustrates the human condition. The Bible tells us that we are God’s masterpiece, but it also says that we’re broken because of sin. 

Just as the Last Supper was in a constant state of decay, so too are we. Without outside intervention, the Last Supper was doomed to decay into, at best, a muted reflection of the original masterpiece and at worst, nothingness!

The same is true with us. Without God’s intervention, we have no hope of reflecting the true masterpiece that God says we are. And even in this life, the best we can hope for is a muted, partial reflection of God’s artistry. 

The Last Supper will never be restored to the original image that Leonardo painted. But we, as believers, have the hope and assurance that one day, we will experience the final restoration of our bodies and our souls. Sin will be eradicated and we will no longer experience death or decay!

THAT is good news and it’s amazing!

Thank you for your partnership with us, which allows us to help others realize that we are all “masterpieces” in need of restoration!

Arrivederci!

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What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar….or a Coke?

January marked the 35th anniversary of me (Dave) being on staff with Cru. As I reflect back on the many years of ministry, I’m amazed at all God has done in the lives of the students, staff and Young Adults to whom we’ve ministered. What follows is the story of one student whose life was impacted at San Jose State University and the many ways he and his family continue to make an impact for the Lord today.

It was the fall of 1990 and we were on campus at San Jose State University for Registration Day, a day when students could change their classes, settle their schedules and get their books for the Fall Semester.

Our goal was to surface students who had a spiritual interest and since we really wanted to engage with freshmen, we set up a large banner that said “Freshmen, Stop Here!”

Over the years, the “Freshmen STOP Here” banner was effective in drawing new students to our table.

We offered ice cold Coca-Cola drinks in exchange for filling out a spiritual interest questionnaire.

One of the students who filled out a card was Dexter. I still remember his bright smile and friendly demeanor. I flagged his card to ensure that I wasted no time in getting back in touch with this potentially “hot” lead.

What I didn’t know was that Dexter wasn’t his real name and the phone number was not his home number. Being a Cru Staff “NEWB”, I wasn’t yet wise to all the tricks that students use to feign interest in order to get free stuff.

Not long afterwards, I called “Dexter” to set up an appointment to meet. Dexter had decided to put his work number down instead of his home number. And instead of using his real name, he gave a stage name that he had used as part of a dance group. He knew that if he got a call at work from someone asking for “Dexter”, he would know it was someone from this “Campus Crusade” group (as we were known back in those days) and he could avoid the call if he desired.

I was oblivious to all of this of course. I just called the number, which turned out to be an Office Club. I didn’t know any better so I asked for Dexter. Someone on the other end put me on hold while Dexter was paged.

Dexter was surprised to hear his stage name being paged. He thought the call would never go through because there were no “Dexters” who worked there. So why the person chose to page for Dexter in the first place remains a mystery. 

Dexter ended up answering the phone and amazingly, he agreed to meet with me.

When we met on campus, I learned that Dexter was a fairly new Christian. I also learned that he wasn’t a freshman. He was a sophomore who recently changed majors, so he was a “freshman” in his major. He stretched the truth on the questionnaire so that he could get a free Coke. We had a good laugh about that.

Maricar and Rauderick (Dexter) are actively planting churches, building disciples and reaching the lost around the world.

Dexter (whose real name is Rauderick) and I hit it off and began meeting regularly for discipleship and ministry training. He ended up becoming a leader in the Cru ministry at SJSU.

A few years later when Jen and I moved to Davis to start the Cru ministry there, Rauderick drove over from the Bay Area and brought us an overhead projector from his job at Office Club that we were able to use for our weekly meetings (yes, those were still the days when we used transparencies for worship music!)

Today, Rauderick is living in the South Bay Area with his wife Maricar and their 4 children, three of whom are in college. He works as a clinic director in San Francisco, providing mental health services and care for those who are most marginalized. But that’s just his day job.

For the past 23 years, Rauderick has been living out his passion for the gospel as a bi-vocational pastor, providing spiritual care and direction to those in his congregation.

Rauderick has a passion for making Jesus known. He and Maricar have been involved in numerous church plants and are active in world missions, training missionaries in the Middle East and pastors in Vietnam.

Raud and Maricar also have a heart for families. They love counseling and mentoring couples using HomeBuilders materials produced by Cru’s FamilyLife ministry.

For the past 35 years, we’ve sought to make disciples of all the nations, raising up leaders and laborers who could make an impact for Christ wherever the Lord might lead.

To me, Rauderick (aka Dexter) is an amazing example of a former disciple who exemplifies our vision: to raise up disciples who will walk with Jesus and become life-time laborers, impacting those around them for His kingdom purposes.

Please pray for Rauderick and Maricar as they lead their family and those under their care. And please continue to pray for us as we seek to raise up others in this younger generation who will become life-time laborers, just like Rauderick and Maricar!

The De Silva Family
Isabel (front), Gabrielle (middle left), Samuel (back left), Abigail (back middle), Maricar & Rauderick (back right)

 

Header photo by Mahbod Akhzami on Unsplash

Freshmen Stop Here photo by Dave Lowe

Other photos courtesy of Rauderick and Maricar De Silva

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There’s an App for That!

Can you believe it’s been 17 years since the iPhone was introduced? Technically, the iPhone is not considered the first smart phone. That distinction belongs to a phone designed by IBM in 1992 called the Simon Personal Computer (SPC), which was released in 1994. It’s considered the first smart phone because it was the first phone to include apps.

However, it was really the iPhone that revolutionized cell phones as we know it. Flip phones and Blackberries, which were ubiquitous up until then, are but a memory now.

Back in 2008, when smart phones were still relatively new, Apple embarked on an ad campaign that was highly successful and no doubt aided in the early lead the iPhone had over competitors in the newly created smartphone market.

The theme of the ad campaign was: There’s an app for that! Commercials touted the abundance of apps that were available for the iPhone compared to other smart phone platforms. Just about anything you might need to do with your phone, there was an app available that could do it for you.

Here’s an example of one of those early iPhone commercials:

Recently, I had my own “There’s an app for that” moment.

I was meeting with my friend Mike, a guy I’ve been coaching over the last few years. I met Mike in a grocery store parking lot during the pandemic and we’ve been connecting ever since. You can read about that story here in our January 2021 Newsletter at Lowedown.com.

Mike has a passion for basketball and after spending some time as a high school coach Mike has been trying to make the leap into the difficult world of coaching at the collegiate level.

After volunteer coaching for several years at Azusa Pacific, Mike is now an assistant coach for Biola University.

Mike was recently hired as an assistant coach at Biola University, where he now has the opportunity to influence the young men on the team, not just in their basketball skills, but in their spiritual lives as well.

Mike and I were going over some new discipleship material I’ve been developing. The idea is to create a menu of lessons that anyone can use to help another person take concrete steps in their relationship with God. I’ve been going through the content with Mike to get his feedback and to see if this is the kind of material he might be able to use in his basketball ministry.

After we finished the content, Mike told me, “I wish I could translate this into Japanese.” Mike has a significant ministry to Japanese kids and teens both here and in Japan, through the many youth basketball camps he hosts.

He shared how he thought the content we were going over could be super helpful but he wouldn’t be able to share it with a Japanese student because he doesn’t know Japanese well enough to translate the content himself. It launched us into a conversation about how even here in Southern California, there is often a need for material to be available in multiple languages besides English.

The GodTools app is available at the App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices.

Though my content is currently in English only, our conversation made me think about the GodTools app that Cru has created for evangelistic and spiritual conversations. 

I had assumed that Mike probably was familiar with the app and probably had it on his phone, but when I mentioned it, I found out that he not only doesn’t have the app, but he was only vaguely familiar with it.

I pulled up the app on my phone and showed him how he could have access to a number of different gospel presentations as well as a presentation on the ministry of the Holy Spirit….all at his fingertips. 

To demonstrate, I opened up the Four Spiritual Laws presentation and began to scroll through the pages.

The GodTools app can be shared in 90 different languages and the Parallel feature allows you to toggle between multiple languages at once. You can even share your screen with the person you’re sharing with.

One of the best things about the app though is not just having a gospel tract on you at all times, but the fact that you can share the presentations in any one of 90 languages. And there’s also an option to toggle the screen between 2 languages (English and Japanese for example). 

Mike was excited to learn there was an app at his disposal that would allow him to share a number of tools with his Japanese friends in their native tongue and he didn’t have to spend the money to hire a professional to translate it.

It turns out that if you want to share your faith with others, there’s an app for that. And if you need to share it in a foreign language, there’s an app for that as well!

If you haven’t downloaded the GodTools app yourself, consider adding it to the other Bible apps on your phone. Go to GodToolsapp.com for more information on the features of the app and for suggestions on how to use it in your conversations. 

Please pray for Mike as he continues to establish himself as a collegiate coach and pray for us as we seek to continue helping Young Professionals multiply their lives into others.

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A Recent “Weekend to Remember”

Last month, Jen and I attended a “Weekend to Remember” Getaway Conference sponsored by FamilyLife, which is a ministry of Cru. 

We’ve found this weekend conference to be a great way to reflect on and invest in our marriage. It really is one of the best resources our ministry offers. 

We’ve attended this conference a few times over our 30 years of marriage but it actually had been over 15 years since our last conference, so it seemed like a good time for a refresher. And being in LaJolla was not a bad selling point!

But we had a secondary reason for attending this particular conference. 

Of all the Weekend to Remember Conferences FamilyLife puts on each year, a select few are labeled as “Military Friendly”. What that means is that military couples who attend are given additional opportunities to connect and are provided with additional resources to help navigate the unique challenges that military families experience.

We were able to greet military couples when they arrived, give them a goodie bag and alert them to the lounge and a special breakout session just for them.

Families are extremely important to God. In the Old Testament, God is portrayed as a Father and the Nation of Israel are His people.

The New Testament continues the theme by showing that when people of any race or ethnicity put their faith in Jesus and His death, they are adopted into God’s family as His sons and daughters.

The family unit is an important building block culture. Study after study demonstrates that many of the problems we are experiencing in our culture – the rise in crime, exponential drug use, failing education system, etc. – find their roots in the breakdown of the traditional family. There is no doubt that healthy families result in healthier communities.

Keeping families together is hard enough these days. But military families experience additional challenges that civilian families don’t. From frequent moves to long-term deployments, military families have an added layer of complexity that must be navigated and considered. 

We had tons of FREE resources available for military families to help them navigate the specific pressures that come with military service.

Our goal at this conference was simply to be available to military couples and provide resources that might help them in their current situation.

Over 25 military couples attended the conference. We were able to greet couples when they checked in and then alert them to a special lounge we had prepared for their own use during the conference.

In addition, we had a special breakout session for military couples where we were able to highlight resources and opportunities Cru Military provides for Military families beyond the weekend getaway.

It was nice for us to experience a short getaway given all that we’ve experienced this Fall in our own family. It was also nice to be able to meet some military couples who were in attendance, hear their stories and provide encouragement and resources to help them lead their families well while serving our country. 

If you’ve never attended a Weekend to Remember Getaway, we highly recommend it. Even if you have done one before, it’s never a bad idea to invest in your marriage. 

Reach out to us if you’re interested and we would be glad to give you more information!

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The Long Goodbye

On Thursday, October 26th, we said goodbye to my father-in-law, Cliff Bloom.

While his passing was somewhat sudden at the end, in many ways it was a long goodbye, as Cliff suffered from the cruel disease of Alzheimers which forces its victims to endure a slow demise mentally.

Classic Cliff – a big smile and ready to greet you with a hug!

Even though Cliff’s cognitive abilities were in decline over the last several years, his long-term memory remained mostly intact.

Cliff was born in the Philadelphia area and thanks to his dad’s employment as a civilian engineer with the Army Corps of engineers, Cliff lived an adventurous life growing up in various parts of the world that most people only read about.

Cliff loved to regale others with stories of what it was like living in Morocco or Turkey as a teenager, or the camaraderie he enjoyed with fellow cadets at Sewanee Military Academy where he attended high school.

Cliff started college at Georgetown but when his parents settled in Oklahoma he ended up transferring to Southeastern Oklahoma University. When asked how he ended up at such a small school that was off the beaten path, Cliff told the story:

“I set out in the car from my parents house and I wasn’t sure where I was going. I happened upon this small school where I saw a bunch of students who were having fun. A bunch of students were standing in a line and when I asked what they were in line for, they said they were registering for classes. I got in line and registered myself.”

Joshua (left) and Jacob pose with their grandpa (ca. 2007)

Upon graduation, Cliff attended Officer Candidate School where he commissioned as an officer in the Navy, serving our country for several years during the Viet Nam war.

Cliff was extremely patriotic and loved history and learning about other cultures. He was a people person. To Cliff, strangers were just friends he hadn’t met yet.

Less than 2 years after Jen and I were married, we learned that Cliff was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Though it was benign, he developed a serious infection as a result of the surgery and it left him partially disabled. Life suddenly changed for Cliff, who was no longer able to do the active things he enjoyed, like cycling and golf.

I never once heard Cliff complain about his situation. He was an extremely positive person who loved to laugh and joke around with others. He always sought to make the best of his circumstances.

Family Christmas photo (December 2015)
Front (L-R): Susan, Cliff, Jen, Dave.
Back (L-R): Kyle and Thomas (our nephews), Jacob, Joshua, Debbie (Jen’s sister), Steve (brother-in-law)

Whenever we would visit Jen’s family, Cliff was always there to greet us with a big smile and big hug. He had a way of making you feel loved and special. He was an encourager at heart and he would often tell his kids and grandkids how proud he was of them.

The beauty of the gospel is that there is hope beyond this life. Though Cliff will be sorely missed, we take comfort in knowing that He is with Jesus now and he is no longer suffering from any of the health or memory complications that afflicted him in recent years. He is alive and fully redeemed!

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for us and our family as we grieve Cliff’s passing and seek to celebrate his life and legacy!

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The Power of Multiplication

Given the choice, would you rather have $1 million given to you in a lump sum or ONE penny that doubles every day for 30 days?

If you’re like me, you might be thinking, “pennies are basically worthless….I’ll take the million dollars, thank you!”

This scenario, however, illustrates the power of multiplication, or, in financial terms, compounding. 

Compounding is so powerful that Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying, “compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”

So what happens if you take the penny? At first, not much. After ten days, you’ll have just $5.12. After 14 days you still have less than $100. But on day 20 you’ll have over $5000. By day 30, due the power of multiplication, you’ll have over $5 million.

This illustration is often used to demonstrate the power of compound interest in building wealth. However, the power of multiplication also extends to ministry – specifically discipleship. 

Consider the example of Jesus. From a purely numerical perspective, one might consider Jesus’s ministry to be an abject failure. After all, though he preached and ministered to the masses, at the end of his life, he had only a handful of followers, and they all scattered when he was arrested.

But Jesus’s ministry was never about building the biggest following. Instead, Jesus focused on developing a few key people who would be able to carry on his ministry and provide foundational leadership for the church after he was gone.

The principle of compounding is illustrated in this table, which shows what can happen to a penny that is doubled every day for 30 days.

By investing in and developing a handful of individuals, the early church was able to sustain the explosive growth it experienced at the outset.

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul tells Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

Paul is instructing Timothy to follow a principle of multiplication in his discipleship efforts. Essentially, he’s saying, “I built into you, and now I want you to take what I’ve taught you and build into others. But don’t just build into anyone. Build into those who will be able to build into others as well.”

In other words, Paul is telling Timothy to be selective into whom he builds.

A powerful book that outlines Jesus’s ministry strategy is Robert Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism. The book is a short read (only about 100 pages) and the title is a bit of a misnomer because the book is not really a book about evangelism but instead, explains Jesus’s discipleship strategy, which employed the principle of multiplication.

Over the years, we’ve sought to employ this ministry principle in our own discipleship efforts. In fact, when we worked with students, we would often take our young leaders through this same book to teach them the importance of building multiplying disciples.

Robert Coleman first published The Master Plan of Evangelism in 1963. Since then, it has sold over 3.5 million copies.

Now those students are all grown up and living in various places all around the world. It’s amazing for us to see the impact they are having for Christ in the different settings in which God has placed them.

Now our focus is on Young Adults and helping them to walk with God and multiply their lives in a workplace environment. It’s a bit more complicated helping Young adults live out their faith in the big people world but the principles are the same – take the things we’ve learned and pass them along to others who will be able to do the same.

In this way, the number of people who can be a force for good and influence others for Christ will multiply over time. At first, the results might seem insignificant, just like that penny. But over time, it’s amazing how the principle of multiplication takes effect.

Please pray for us as we seek to multiply our lives into this next generation and help them become multiplying disciples for Jesus – men and women who impact others for Christ wherever God places them!