Relevant Media

Christmas Conference this year was a great experience for us. It was great to be around students and staff again and hang out with Rachel’s team. Rachel was the nurse on call again and I was running camera for the main sessions but, beyond using our gifts in ministry, the Lord really met us at this conference. We really felt the Lord’s presence in our lives as we heard the talks from James White. We were recharged to finish our support and join our teams in Indianapolis. If you want to hear more about Christmas Conference you can read our February newsletter.

“Getting into heaven is my New Year’s Resolution,” stated Herman, a young father living in Indianapolis. As he shared with Matt, Kelly, and I, he made it clear that he believed in God, but did not think he would go to heaven because he was not a “good person.” Matt and Kelly, two students from Indiana State University, shared with him the Four Spiritual Laws, a booklet written by Bill Bright explaining the Gospel clearly. When it came to the point of praying to receive Christ’s gift of eternal life, Herman expressed immediate interest.

[ Kelly, Matt and Rachel on the Day of Outreach ]

Herman prayed to receive Christ and is now going to receive follow-up from one of the local churches in the Indy area. He is only one of the 155 people who prayed with students to receive Christ during our Day of Outreach.

On this day, students receive training on how to go through the booklet with people in the community. They meet with leaders from the surrounding churches to receive information and encouragement. Then the students hit the neighborhoods with “Boxes of Love,” filled with food, toys, and necessities, and a community survey to lead into a discussion of faith. They go out in groups of 2 or 3, knock on doors, and talk to the members of the communities surrounding downtown Indianapolis.

This particular year, students talked to almost 3000 people, shared their faith almost 1000 times, and now have over 600 people for those churches to contact this year for follow-up. For Matt and Kelly, this was a first time experience in praying with someone to receive Christ. For me, this was an experience to remind me again why we have decided to leave our families and careers and move to another state to work with students full-time.

Our prayer is that these students will take this training, motivation, and experience back to their campuses to do the same there. Our focus is continually on winning, building, and sending, and this day was only a part of how we accomplish this.

[ Ryan on Camera ]

“Lights, Camera, Action!” Although these were not the words that I heard, at times it felt like it. For the past two years, I have run the camera at our annual Christmas Conference. During this time, over 2500 students from the Great Lakes Region (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois) gather in one place to worship, fellowship, and receive training in evangelism.

This year, the main speaker was James White, a former staff member turned pastor. He is an incredible teacher, and God used him to not only speak to the hearts of the students, but to the staff as well. The worship was amazing, as always, with the latest in the up-and-coming songs of the David Crowder Band. Most importantly, lives were transformed as students shared their faith with over 1000 people in the surrounding area, with 155 first time decisions for Christ, and they will move on to their campuses with this experience of sharing their faith.

I may not have been the one teaching from God’s Word, leading inspirational worship, or even an energetic emcee getting the students involved with the conference, but I was one of the people who brought these things closer to the students. In a room with almost 3000 people, seeing the stage is not always a possibility.

[ Conference Center in Indianapolis during Christmas Confereence 2005 ]

Along with a couple others, I ran the cameras that made everything up and close on the big screen. With so much for the students to see and experience, we have the awesome responsibility to bring it to them in a professional and skillful way.

It is because of the skill and professionalism I have seen in the staff members, that I have chosen to work with Campus Crusade. Our vision is to turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers, so no matter what our role with the ministry is, this will always be the priority and focus. My goal, as well as the ministry’s as a whole, is to do this in a way that uses the highest technology and skill, to meet the students where they are.

Please Pray

> For our support to be complete by June 12th 2006.

> For Herman to receive follow-up with a local church.

> For Matt and Kelly to take this experience and use it to impact their campus.