If you had to fill in the rest of the sentence, how would you finish it? God is greater than _______.

Now imagine being with 2400 others finishing that sentence—it’s incredible! And, it’s not all about the same thing. Can you hear the resolve in their voices as they declare it?

• God is greater than my future.
• God is greater than my circumstances.God is greater than my past.
• God is greater than my sin.
• God is greater than my present.
• God is greater than the harm done to me, than my fears, my failures…

Each of the four days of this conference saw resolute commitments of yielding to Christ—mending a broken friendship, reading the Bible, breaking up with a boyfriend, choosing purity, deferring to parents, applying for a summer missions project, or committing to a year long ministry internship.

God has used our annual Winter Conference, IndyCC, as a trail marker of believing God for greater things every year.

You would have loved listening to our students from last summer on Crossroads as they wrestled with yielding control of their plans to Christ. Many of them are pursuing Internships and full time ministry in the coming years.

We gain an interesting perspective putting on a conference from the back of the room. You and us, together, have the privilege of seeing God at work in these lives as well as ours. You share in these eternal rewards—in this lasting fruit.

Thank you for journeying with us as we help show our students a clearer picture of who God is and what His Kingdom is all about. Would you take a moment and pray for our students? Pray that they would do the hard work of daily choosing to live knowing that “God is Greater Than…” Thanks.

Summer projects are 2-10 week hotbeds of ministry all over the world that take place between May and Aug every year. These short chunks of time every year are probably the most impactful thing that we do in the campus ministry.

Not only are staff and students going to strategic locations for ministry every summer but they are taking giant leaps in their walks with the Lord and reaching other college students for Christ.

This last year 3500 students went on summer projects across the globe. That is 3500 students that now have changed lives and a closer walk with the Lord because of their summer. More than 100,000 people heard the gospel presented to them and together they saw 8000+ men and women enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

These are staggering results of what the Lord chooses to do in and through Campus Ministry Summer Projects around the world every year.

Let me step back a moment. What does it take to get there? How do these 3500 students decide how to spend their summer? Once they have decided to go on a summer project with Cru, how do they know where they should go?

Before a student maybe even knows what SP they want to go on or if they want to go at all, they need to know what a summer project is and what opportunities that are available to them for the summer.

gosummerproject.com is live now. Check out the website and read some stories from students who went on summer projects last year.

There is a long and thoughtful process that goes into the promotion of Summer Projects each year. We actually have a team at our national office in Orlando who is dedicated to evaluating, promoting and accelerating what we do on SP each year.

This past year the SP team in Orlando asked the Zero Canvas team (our design team in the Great Lakes) to take ownership of this process for SP 2012. Kristin Madeja, our team leader has a great post about the full process on her blog.

As we were finishing up the promotional materials and getting ready for the application process for SP 2012 to start this fall, they had no one to develop the website http://gosummerproject.com. I was asked to step in and finish what was started. I am thrilled that last week we were able to finish the site and students have already started applying for Summer 2012 through the website. In one week the gosummerproject website has had over 6000 unique visitors.

In a unique way you have helped fuel over 3500 students this next year who will give a summer of their lives to follow the Lord and see what He will do. Many of them are scared and will take leaps of faith this summer but will see the Lord do amazing things and forever change their lives.

Because of my unique combination of giftings in graphic design AND web development, and because I can devote my full attention to these projects, this vital tool can exist and be done the way the designers originally intended. Thank you for the part you have played in literally reaching the world for Christ this next summer.

What if I asked “What if____?” and filled in my blank any old way I wanted? AND what IF God responded to me specifically with something new? What if He surprised me as I give Him free reign in my life? What if He wants to do something new in my heart and my mind?

Can you answer that question? Rachel and I will be headed to Cinncinatti for our Regional Fall Staff Conference in a few short weeks to see how the Lord would have us answer that question.

Besides going to the conference, Rachel and I both have significant responsabilities during the conference.

As always, Ryan is in a tech role helping make the main meeting run well as well as leading the video team to stream our conference to our 150 International staff that are part of our region.

Rachel had taken on more responsability to help lead our Internship process in our region (yes, while she is pregnant) and will be helping to lead a training time during the weekend for our staff who will be evaluating Internship applications this coming spring for 2012.

September signifies the start of the fall and cooler temperatures. It is also right in the middle of a strategic time on campus we like to call the first 6 weeks. In the first 6 weeks of ministry on campus, each one of our ministries is ramping up and trying to get things off the ground.

As the Juniors, Sophomores and Freshmen from last year step up into leadership roles within the ministry, there is a brand new group of students who are making their way on campus. Most of them are Freshmen. These students are the key group that we try to introduce to the cru ministry during these first 6 weeks.

One of the main ways we try to connect with this group of students during the first 6 weeks on campus is through a short questionnaire. We ask questions like: How important is your spiritual life? Would you be interested in a small group bible study? Would you like to hear more about cru? Would you like to know more about a personal relationship with Jesus?

We use these questionnaires throughout the school year to connect with students on campus and engage in spiritual conversations with them.

Can you imagine trying to connect with 5000 freshman college students with a team of 10 or maybe 15 staff and a group of student leaders? This task feels insurmountable and often some of these contacts fall through the cracks. How can we make this questionnaire/contact card generation easier? And how do we make sure that we connect with each one of these students after we have their information? These are questions I love asking.

You may remember a project I was working on last year called Bonfire. Bonfire has been added to a nationwide cru software project called missionhub. Missionhub is a web application that helps to connect students with the ministry on their campus.

Beyond the campus ministry, the goal of missionhub is to connect students, ministries, churches, and local business professionals and others in the great commission. Missionhub will include many of the features that Bonfire possessed in the near future but the strength of missionhub right now is helping our ministries connect with students on campus.

Missionhub allows our staff to connect with students and retain their contacts in a streamlined way that is easier to manage. Instead of using contact cards (pen and paper), missionhub harnesses the power of facebook and social media to put students who volunteer their information into a database that our teams can access and even sort and assign to other members of the team.

Imagine if you were a staff member on campus and you could log into missionhub and see everyone on your campus who has filled out a survey. Not only that but you might be sitting in the lobby of a dorm on campus right now and you can see who lives in that dorm and pull up their phone number (which they have provided) and give them a call.

“Hey Matt, this is Ryan on staff with cru. I just pulled up the questionnaire you filled out last week in the quad and you mentioned you might be interested in hearing more about Bible study opportunities on campus. I lead a Bible study in your dorm and I am in the lobby right now. Do you have some time to get together?”

And you can do all this without carrying around a stack of contact cards or spending hours typing all the information into an excel file. Missionhub is completely mobile. You can access it anywhere on the go using a smart phone or iPad. The staff around the country are using this program as you read this. This is a great example of how I want to continue using my skills to help make ministry on campus more efficient so that more time can be spent engaging students with the Gospel.

Early this spring I was working on a way to streamline the development and maintenance of our web infrastructure in the region. I utilized a few web platforms known as Thesis and WordPress. This was not only for our regional websites but also to provide the ease of use and inherent operational capacity for our local ministry teams across the region.

As the semester began, I was bombarded with requests from our local teams around the region for updated websites for their ministries. It used to take me weeks worth of work to accomplish this for them.

Now, with our new network of websites set up on the regional server it takes no time at all. I am able to provide a high quality website for our local teams that they can edit and maintain.

I have also helped several of our other regions in the US utilize this same strategy for their campuses. Hundreds of campuses across the US have had effective websites and connection with students happen through the infastructure I was able to build out this last spring.

Curently, I am hosting half of our ministry teams local websites on the regional network with more to come.

Last summer, we had the incredible opportunity to live in downtown Chicago for 7 weeks, working with 50 other students and staff during the Chicago Summer Project.
Ryan led the Crossroads Project, an internship for operationally-minded students and Rachel had the opportunity to develop relationships with the students and was able
to share the Gospel at the UIC campus. One UIC student, Natalie, for the first time truly understood the Gospel and was able to get connected with the ministry there.

Once again, we get to pack our little family into the minivan and “move” into the Automatic Lofts across from UIC’s campus. We are so excited to be a part of the Chicago and
Crossroads Project. We are looking forward to meeting our next group of students, investing in them personally and professionally. This year, Ryan is sorely outnumbered with
2 guys and 8 girls. There will be an additional 70 students with the Chicago Summer Project, plenty for Braden and Logan to win over with their charm.

One student from last year, wrote about her experience with Crossroads and we wanted to share it with you.

“When I was deciding to do with my last summer in college, I felt stuck. I had always wanted to do a summer project with Crusade – I loved the idea of spending a summer
learning how to reach people with the love of God in actions and words. But I also have a passion for writing, and with a job search looming, I really needed an internship.

God brought me from that crossroad, pulled between two choices, to Crossroads. Not only did I get to experience the amazing community of the Chicago Summer Project and
share the gospel with college students in the city, but I also got to use my love of writing for God’s purposes. During the day, we worked on projects for Crusade,
including planning the theme and promotion for the Indy CC winter conference. We got to see how members of Crusade’s design staff used their passions in unique ways
for the Lord. Ryan and Rachel opened up their lives to us, whether it was making delicious home-cooked meals for us when we were far from home or letting us play with
their adorable kids.

It was an incredible summer that taught me the incredible value of working passionately with the talents we have for God’s glory. The crossroads in my life is no
longer about a choice between serving God and doing what I love with writing – it’s about finding the place where those intersect.”
- Rachel Small

Crossroads 2010

It is because of your partnership, both in prayer and financially, that we are able to be a part of this and serve the Lord in this way. In order for us to be able to be a
part of this project, we need to raise $3000 in additional support. That’s how much it will cost our family of four to live in Chicago for 7 weeks, as well as operating
expenses for the project. We are also headed to Colorado this year for the National Staff Conference for 10 days in July. Between plane tickets and room and board, we will
need at least $2000.

Would you prayerfully consider giving a special gift toward our summer expenses? Every gift is significant, because no matter the amount, we realize that it is a sacrifice
unto the Lord, and for that, we are extremely grateful. Please make all checks out to Campus Crusade.

Thank you so much for your time and for considering our ministry. We are so grateful for you!

GradCru!

- Reaching Students through a website.

Recently we heard from Chuck, who leads our Graduate Ministry of Campus Crusade. Chuck was telling us about an international Ph.D. student at a school in our region. Less than a year ago this graduate student did not know Christ as his personal Savior.

This fall Steve, as I will call him, was searching for a Christian student group on campus and came across our graduate ministry website, GradCru. You can read about how Ryan was involved with developing the GradCru website at relevantmedia.org.

Here is the message that he sent through the GradCru website:

Hi,
I’m interested in your groups Investigative Bible Studies, but I’m not a Christian and I’ve just started to read the Bible daily three weeks ago, from the first page of the Bible. I want to learn more about the Bible, Jesus Christ, and Christianity. I really hope I can become a follower of God. I have many questions due to my little knowledge in Christianity. (I am so bad, to be honest; I challenged my Christian friends based on my flawed scientific rationality and my very little knowledge in Christianity. )

Could you please let me know whether I, would fit your group well? Or do you have any advice that could help me learning the Bible, Jesus Christ…? Thanks for your help.
- Steve

Since then Steve was able to get involved with one of GradCru’s Investigative (Seeker) Bible Studies and has come faithfully. Three members of the group were able to meet with Steve a number of times to answer his questions and encourage him in his search for God.

In November he talked with Chuck (the director of the GradCru ministry) at church and said that he had placed his trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of his sin. He now felt at peace with God.

He went home, overseas, to tell his family of his new faith in Christ. They live in a very rural area and are very poor farmers. Steve had not seen them for 4 years and wondered before he left what they would think about his new found faith in Jesus Christ. He hoped to share with them about Jesus Christ himself.

When Steve returns to the states, Our GradCru staff will continue to meet with him and take him through foundational follow-up to help him grow in his new faith.

It is amazing to see how such a small thing as simple as an informational website for one of our ministries can connect a student, grad-student or faculty to someone who truly follows Christ and that can change their lives.

It is such a blessing to see how something that I have helped create is having a lasting impact on the kingdom of Christ. Thank you for leveraging technology for the kingdom and being a part of Steve’s life.

Epiphany! – A moment of clarity, a flash of insight.

You’ve experienced it. You remember when the fog cleared, the lights came on—and your next step was clear as day.

Now imagine being with 1774 students as they experience epiphanies—it’s incredible! And, it’s not all about the same thing: yielding to Christ, mending a broken friendship, reading the Bible, breaking up with a boyfriend, choosing purity, deferring to parents, applying for a summer missions project, or committing to a year long ministry internship. They’re so eager to give God the priority, the place of prominence so that their lives would be “Unmistakable!” for Christ.

Here’s the best part of what you and I did together: we created an environment where students could hear from God.

By freeing up the students from preventable distractions, we created space where they could listen for God’s voice (in the talks, in their personal Bible reading times, in conversations with their mentors, during the day of outreach, etc.).

God has used our annual Winter Conference, IndyCC, as one of those sweet spots to hear from Him every year. I have a unique role at this influential conference. Perhaps like most people, you have a “behind the scenes” job. It isn’t flashy—but it’s completely necessary. The kind of job that no one thinks about if you do it right, but one that everyone notices if you don’t. My job was to direct the video presentation that was seen during the conference: everything from worship, stories of what God is doing in students lives throughout the region, and giving the speaker a platform to make Christ’s message clear.

I wish you could have been beside me as I walked passed the students (on my way to put out a fire, fix a problem etc.). You couldn’t help but smile, knowing that it was here (and in a small way, because of our work) that they were meeting with God.

Together, we have the privilege of seeing God at work. You share in these eternal rewards—in this lasting fruit.

Thanks for journeying with us as we help show our students a clearer picture of who God is and what His Kingdom is all about.

P.S. Would you take a moment and pray for our students? Pray that they would do the hard work of daily choosing to live in light of their epiphanies—of all that God is calling them to. Thanks.

I am driven towards solving real problems in our ministry. I believe that technology helps us do that and when we incorporate it with the message of the gospel,
we see changed lives. This is why the relevant media slogan is “Changing Lives by Developing Technology to Maximize Ministry.

On my team (operations), we talk about effectively equipping the ministry. This can be accomplished by streamlining processes so staff can spend more time on campus or
develop a tool to impact ministry directly. I am working on two projects this fall that will do just that.

Last spring I started working with a few other developers on a web application that will serve as a communication tool and social network for our ministry.
We call it Bonfire – because we wanted to create a place that staff and students can come on the web. We also want to see a Bonfire happen in our ministry.
We are about to roll out the beta on campus and have our staff and students utilize it for ministry. We hope it becomes an essential tool for our staff and helps maximize effective
ministry across the US.

Bonfire – dashboard

Here is a recent email that I received from a staff member on one of our local teams.

“I wanted to run an idea by you and see if something like this exists. I am part of several online communities. An online community is basically a website that can be a
limited or as open in its membership as it wants to be. It’s a place where people go to share ideas and talk about something of common interest.

Is there an online community where Crusade staff could go and hear the latest on what different campuses did “last night” to share the gospel (successes, failures, etc),
how different staff are finding success with Support, to talk about parenting as a staff mom, share “talk” notes, etc. etc. etc., this would be so helpful? – Tony Burell

I told Tony, “Yes there is and it is coming.” Tony is not the only staff member on the field who has been asking about this and it feels great that we can say Yes…
It is called Bonfire – connecting ministry together.

I hope that the Lord continues to allow me to use my gifts to develop the right tools for our ministry and help our staff meet more students on campus, have more conversations
and see the Gospel heard more places because of the tools I help to create.