Joel, a first year intern, is our ONLY Latino staff person in Los Angeles. Please pray for him and our entire Destino team.
Over the summer, I had the chance to coach Joel as he raised funds to join our Long Beach Destino team as an intern. It was fun to see Joel take steps of faith to see God provide in huge ways. Joel finished his fund-raising and reported in time to start the fall. It’s exciting to see the impact Joel is having as the ONLY Latino guy who is on the team.
A few weeks ago, before heading to campus for the day, Joel prayed, “Lord, save someone today. Let me see and guide someone from death to life.”
Later that morning, Joel found himself talking to Jamie, a student he had met and talked with briefly just a few days before. Moments into the conversation, Joel decided to bring up God. In what turned out to be a 2 hour conversation, Joel was able to engage Jamie regarding his past and his current beliefs in God. Joel was able to share the gospel and though Jamie thought he knew God, it turns out that he never really heard and understood the message of Christ before.
Jamie opened up about his desire to know God and trust in something greater than himself to satisfy his emptiness. As Joel shared about the great love God has for him, tears welled up in Jamie’s eyes and he could not speak. Obviously God was working in Jamie’s heart.
In that moment, as he saw Jamie move from death to life, Joel remembered the prayer he had prayed that morning.
Thank you for your prayers for us. Because of your prayers and partnership, many lives, like Joel’s and Jamie’s are being changed for Christ’s sake!
Last summer, a student named Elda attended our “Destino Trek” project in San Antonio. Through that experience, Elda received vision and training to start Destino on her own campus at Chico State.
Elda is our Destino student leader at Chico State.
A few weeks ago, I received an email about Samira, another Chico State student whose life has been impacted by being involved in Destino. Here is Samira’s story, as told by one of the Destino Trek staff:
It was midnight. I got the short straw at our staff meeting and so my job was to drive to the Austin airport and pick up a student arriving a day early for “Destino Trek,” an intensive leadership training week we do each year in central Texas.
Samira (Sahmeer-ah) from Chico State was waiting for her luggage when I met her at the carousel in baggage claim. As we made the one hour ride back to where we were hosting the training, I found out Samira was like most of our students—her parents are immigrants, she is the first in her family to go to college, Spanish is spoken at home but her English is really good, and she was a new Christian who wanted to grow and become more of a leader for Christ.
I hit the pillow hard that night and got up the next day to help Samira and sixteen other students (pictured below) from around the U.S. to pursue their goal of growing as spiritual leaders.
Samira is a Chico State student who attended the Destino Trek!
Each day we did some sort of physical challenge, a high ropes course or kayaking down the Brazos River. But we’d also train them in how to spend time with God, how to share their faith, how to grow in character, how to launch and build a Destino movement, etc.
After one morning of training on how to share your faith, we had an afternoon of outreach in the community. We all paired up to talk with people, and Samira shared her faith for the first time.
That night we came back to the ranch and had a time of telling each other what God did. Samira spoke up. She began to say that she was able to share with somebody. But then she stopped midway through the story and said, “Can I tell you in Spanish?” And the whole group spontaneously said things like, “Of course!” “This is Destino!” “We’re your familia!”
Samira then really lit up and, in Spanish, passionately told us how she led somebody to pray and receive Christ that afternoon. It was the 1000th moment I’ve had in the last two years with Destino, that I saw how much we need a ministry like this to win, build and send students like Samira.
Through your partnership, Destino movements are starting on campuses like Chico State through students like Elda. As a result, students like Samira are being reached and trained to influence others for Christ. Thank you for your partnership in reaching students and faculty from every culture on every campus for Christ! We are extremely grateful for you!
Jen and Dave as Emcees for CCC’s regional staff retreat
One of the things that has been fun about our job is that we have had more opportunities to speak and teach and influence our staff. Not only have we spoken on many campuses this year but Dave flew to Daytona Beach in January to address all of Campus Crusade’s new staff.
We had fun serving as Emcees for a portion of our staff regional retreat and in addition, Jen and I were able to lead a training seminar in “Building movements” with 25 new leaders of ethnic movements.
One of the points we shared with these new leaders is that building anything significant takes time. To help illuminate the principle, Jen showed a clip from the movie “What About Bob?”
In the movie, Bill Murray plays Bob, a neurotic patient who drives his psychiatrist nuts (pun intended)!
Bob finds a new doctor, Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss, who recommends to Bob a ground-breaking new book (his own) entitled Baby Steps.
The idea, Dr. Marvin explains, is to take small steps to achieve a larger goal. By taking small steps, the stress that sometimes comes with the enormity of a task can be eliminated.
Bob takes the advice to heart and as a result, develops an unhealthy attachment to his new doctor, which ultimately drives Dreyfuss to the loony bin.
It’s easy to sometimes feel overwhelmed with the stuff of life like Bob. When I think about the enormity of our job, I can sometimes begin to relate to Bob’s neuroses. We’ve been given the leadership task of reaching over 2 million students who do not culturally relate to our traditional ministries. It’s no small task and be quite overwhelming at times.
We’re trying to heed the advice of that wise sage, Dr. Leo Marvin, who encouraged Bob to take “baby steps.”
As we look back on this past academic year, I can say that we’ve definitely taken “baby steps.”
Though there’s still much to do, we’ve seen new Destino ministries started at Chico State, San Jose State, and UC Irvine, along with a new Destino team that is focusing ministry efforts at Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton.
We’ve seen new Bridges volunteers raised up at San Jose State, Berkeley and Hawaii.
Most importantly, we’re seeing more and more of our staff and students step out in faith to reach into these different cultural communities with the message of the gospel.
We’re reminded that change is often slow and incremental rather than fast and instantaneous. As Bob quipped to Dr. Leo Marvin, “we’re doing the work, we’re not slackers!”
Thanks for your partnership with us in taking “baby steps” to seeing every student of every culture have the opportunity to hear and respond to the message of Christ.
Click here to download the pdf version of “The Lowedown”…
I was awakened to the smell of something burning. Moments later, I noticed flight attendants quickly running up and down the center aisle of the plane with fire extinguishers.
Smelling a burning smell and seeing flight attendants scrambling with fire extinguishers is usually not a good thing when you’re cruising at 30,000 feet above the ground.
An airport fireman, wearing a hazmat suit, checks things out on our plane in El Paso
Moments later, an announcement was made that our flight to Houston was being diverted to El Paso.
After being on the ground for an hour, we were told that the source of the burning had still not been identified (later, in a letter from Continental, I learned that it was a faulty circuit board that had burned). As a result, we were all re-booked on other airlines.
I found myself now heading to Dallas for a connecting flight that would ultimately get me to Orlando where I would rent a car to drive to Daytona, where 75 people were attending our New Staff Training conference.
Unfortunately for me, when I got to Dallas, I saw that my connecting flight was delayed by 4 and half hours.
By the time I finally arrived in Orlando, got my car and drove to Daytona, it was after 5:00 in the
morning.
I was scheduled to speak in just a few hours. Little did these staff know but I was going to ask them to take
an unplanned diversion of their own. Instead of heading to Houston, or some other location they had their hearts set on, I was sharing about the tremendous needs to reach the growing Latino student population. I invited those in the group to join us in Los Angeles to help us reach Latino students.
I was incredibly tired, and I don’t drink coffee either, so I was functioning on pure adrenaline.
I was able to make an impassioned plea that resulted in 3 New Staff making an “unplanned diversion.”
Left-Right: Stephen Brown, Tyler Helfers, Christina Helfers
Stephen is a single guy from North Carolina who had never traveled east of Tennessee and Tyler and Christina are a married couple from Minnesota who were thinking of going to Miami.
Instead, the Lord has diverted them to Los Angeles, where they’ll be serving with Destino.
Two weeks ago, all three of them were in Los Angeles to check out the campuses and get an increased vision for what they’ll be doing with Destino. It was a fun time to see the fruition of my crazy flight from January.
Thanks for your partnership with us. Because of your commitment, we are able to recruit people like Stephen and Tyler and Christina to take unplanned diversions to see people from every culture reached for Christ!
Click here to view the pdf version of The Lowedown.
160 Latino students and dozens of Campus Crusade staff were packed in the meeting room, listening as students, one by one, stepped to the microphone to share their story of what the Lord had done earlier in the day.
It was the day of outreach for the conference and many students told stories of sharing their faith and the people who had responded to their message of hope.
Jose Luis (left) and Sara Ramirez, a student at Arizona State
Jose Luis, a Destino student at Texas A&M stepped up to share his experience. He nervously began to share how God had worked that day.
Many of the students went to neighborhoods in San Antonio to pass out “Bags of Blessing”, gift bags of food and toiletries we assembled with the help of a local ministry that are designed to give hope and spark spiritual conversations with those who receive them.
Other students, however, were assigned to go to an orphanage of older youth to give hope and encouragement to them.
Jose was in the group that was assigned to go to the orphanage. He was nervous because 10 years ago, he was an orphan who was temporarily housed in a shelter in San Antonio after arriving to this country from Honduras.
Jose nervously shared about his fear and anxiety as they approached this location that he had never heard of.
Jacob prepares for the rush of students!
When they arrived, Jose stepped out to look around. In the distance he saw a bunch of kids playing on a soccer field. That’s when it hit him. He had been here before. Jose realized that this was the place he had been housed 10 years earlier.
Jose told us how he was able to share a message of hope with 20 teenage boys at that shelter. He told them how they could make it because he made it. He explained how he was in college now and they could go to college too. He then shared about the hope he has through his relationship with Christ.
10 boys trusted Christ that day with Jose. There was nary a dry eye in the room as he shared his story.
As Jose finished his story, Jose Diaz, the student MC from New York City, approached Jose and handed him a soccer ball that was signed by all the teenagers from the shelter.
They signed the ball as a thank you to Jose and to Destino for coming to them and sharing his message of hope and encouragement.
It was a powerful moment to see how the hope of the gospel is spreading to many open hearts within the Latino community.
Joshua fills the bag of one of our staff members!
Jennifer, I and the boys were privileged to be there at the conference to serve and help Destino minister and train their students. It was so exciting to see that the conference doubled in size from last year to this year.
We had the opportunity to interact with many of the nearly 40 students who were there from our region and it was fun for our kids to help us put together the “Bags of Blessing” that were used on the Day of Outreach.
Thank you for your partnership in reaching students for Christ and for giving every student an opportunity to experience Christ in a way that culturally relevant to them!
Click here to view the pdf version of The Lowedown!
It’s late at night and you can’t sleep. You should probably use that time to read your Bible and pray for all the things going on in your life but instead, you decide to kill some time by watching TV. The only problem is that even though you have 500 channels on your satellite dish, there is absolutely nothing on.
Wait, what was that? You go back to the channel you just passed to listen to a guy tell you about ShamWow, the amazing chamois, towel-like product that will absolutely revolutionize your life. You’ll save money because you’ll never need to buy another paper towel as long as you live. In addition, it will absorb any spill or stain that has ever soiled your carpet.
The Amazing ShamWow!
You’re mesmerized as you wonder how you’ve lived even one day without this fantastic, amazing, revolutionary product.
Such is the world of infomercials, 30 – 60 minute “paid programs” which aim to sell you products that you probably wouldn’t pay a dime for if you saw them in the local Wal-Mart. But somehow, when you watch the infomercial, you’re tempted to sign over the deed to your house to get a bucket of “Oxyclean.”
Growing up, I remember Ron Popeil, who popularized the infomercial with his amazing food dehydrator. I desperately wanted one so I could make beef jerkey, but I wasn’t old enough to have a credit card, so I could never order one. Just maybe though, I’ll be lucky enough to acquire one through a white elephant gift exchange!
Amazingly, Ron Popeil is still promoting his Ronco products. Infomercials have come a long ways though. Recently, I saw an infomercial for a revolutionary fitness program called P90x. To be honest, I have wanted to get this program because I know that if I go through the 90 day intense workout, I will look more ripped and fit than just about any man alive! Seriously though, I know many who have used the program and it does seem legit. Perhaps I’ll give it a shot when I have about $70 laying around that I don’t have anything else committed to it.
In the mean time, I’ve come up with my own version of P90x. As you know, Jennifer and I are giving leadership to our staff to encourage and coach them to reach the nearly 2 million students in California, Arizona and Hawaii who are ethnic minorities. The number of students who are culturally non-white continues to increase and is now approaching 60% in our region.
In order to reach these students effectively, we need to start movements within their cultural group that will communicate the message of Christ in a way that is culturally relevant to them. That’s our goal.
Jen and I have identified 90 different cultural ministries that we would like to start on campuses throughout our region. So what is our version of P90x? Well, we are starting with Prayer. We’re praying for the Lord to help us start 90 new cross (x) cultural ministries. Hence P90x is Praying for 90 crosscultural ministries to be established in California, Arizona, Hawaii and Las Vegas.
We are trusting the Lord to establish 8 of these new ministries by December and 18 total by May. This is a huge step of faith for us and we’re working hard to surface leaders for new potential movements. Please pray for us and with us that the Lord would establish HIS P90x program here in our region. I can say with all sincerity that this P90x program WILL revolutionize things. And if you have a cool idea for how we can
turn this into an infomercial, please let us know!
Click here to view the pdf version of The Lowedown!
Not long ago, we heard the words that no parent wants to hear from their dentist.
“Your kids need braces.”
When we broke the news to our kids, understandably, they were not very happy.
I can sympathize with them. I remember having braces when I was in junior high and high school and it was horrible. It was bad enough that I had all of this exposed metal in my mouth, but the orthodontist told me I had to wear these little rubber bands that went from my top teeth to my bottom teeth. I couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to accomplish other than getting me to keep my mouth shut! Maybe it was a directive from my parents!
Dave – freshmen year
The orthodontist also gave me this contraption that he called “head gear.” It was basically a big metal bar that connected to the braces in the back of my upper teeth and attached to a strap that wrapped around the back top of my head. It looked kind of like an old school football helmet, with that bar sticking out in front to protect the kicker’s face. (Some have referred to it as a Halo)!
The purpose of the “head gear” was to put tension on the upper jaw, pulling it back to correct an overbite. The orthodontist instructed me to wear this thing “at all times”, including when I was at school.
“No Way!” That’s where I drew the line. I remember one person from school who wore a “head gear” and it permanently ostracized her from the rest of society. It was like having leprosy or some nasty skin rash. If you’ve seen the movie “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, wearing a “head gear” at school was equivalent to having the “Cheese Touch”. I wore it to bed and that was it.
During my freshman year of high school the inside of my mouth got so cut up from wearing braces during wrestling season that we referred to the inside of my lips as “meatloaf.”
Jacob in the 4th grade with braces
One day, my dad asked the orthodontist if he could finish what he needed to do without the braces. The dentist agreed to take the braces off if I would wear a retainer every night. It seemed like a good trade, so I enthusiastically agreed.
When the dentist took the braces off, I had nice straight teeth. Man I looked good! At that point, I was glad that I had invested over 2 years in braces. At some point though, I stopped wearing the retainer every night. It just didn’t seem completely necessary. I didn’t see the point.
One day, years later, I came across that retainer. When I put it in my mouth, I realized that it didn’t quite fit anymore. It turns out that my teeth had shifted. Slowly, they were drifting back to the state they were in before I had braces.
The concept of braces is simple: you put a wire around the teeth and slowly tighten the wire to straighten and align them. Once they’re aligned, you wear a retainer in order to keep the teeth from drifting back to their crooked state.
It seems to me that spiritual disciplines are a lot like braces. In my heart, I’m prone to sin and wander from what’s right and what’s true. I read God’s word, pray and practice other disciplines in order to stay on the right path.
God’s Word transforms me and helps align me to Him and His purposes. So spiritual disciplines are like braces in some ways.
Joshua in the 4th grade with braces
And it turns out, that once I stop applying these disciplines to my life, I’m prone to wander back to my sinful, selfish state, just as my teeth, without that retainer, will slowly drift back to being crooked and unaligned.
So when I question the purpose of reading my Bible, praying and meditating, I think about braces. The benefit may not be immediately apparent, but it’s the end goal that motivates me—to become more like Jesus.
Now if I could just think of a way to help my 9 year old boys to see the “benefit” of braces now. Because at this point, the motivation that “you’ll look good for the ladies” isn’t quite working. I’m guessing though that by the time they get their braces removed, they’ll have a much greater appreciation for “the ladies”!
Please pray for our kids and us to be constantly “aligned” to God’s purposes!
Click here to read the pdf version of The Lowedown!
The “Crusade House” has been a hub for ministry to San Jose State University for over 25 years!
I nervously held the envelope in my hand. After 4 weeks of New Staff Training, I was anxious to open it up and see where I was going to be assigned as a new missionary with Campus Crusade.
As I slowly began to open the envelope, many thoughts raced through my mind. Would they assign me to work in the office? After all, I had a computer science minor and there was always a need for people with computer skills in the office… (Read the rest of the Lowedown)
Patricia came to know Christ when she learned about Him through the website: every student.com
Before entering her freshman year at UC Davis a few years ago, Patricia visited our everystudent.com website. In an attempt to quench her spiritual thirst, Patricia read just about every article that was on the site.
Patricia ended up giving her life to Christ and began getting followup resources through the site.
A few weeks later, she showed up on campus at UC Davis as a brand new freshman, looking for a place to plug in socially. She saw the signs and banners for Campus Crusade for Christ and recognized us as the group behind the website that had dramatically influenced her life.
Right away, she got involved in a Bible study with some other freshman girls that helped her to grow in her new faith. By the time she was a senior, Patricia was leading a freshman Bible study herself!
So there I was, staring at a huge LCD flat screen monitor on the wall that displayed in bright colors a map of the entire world. Every few seconds, a small flag would pop up with the name of a different country, indicating that someone from that country had either visited one of our websites, indicated a decision for Christ or requested follow-up of some kind. (read the rest of The Lowedown)
The Lowedown 