I recently sent out letters to family and friends asking for them to partner with me prayerfully and financially to go on a summer project with Cru, but while I gave them some details, I am sure many of them are wondering what exactly Cru is and how I got involved. Cru is short for Crusade and used to be called Campus Crusade for Christ. It is an international organization with many different ministries. I am involved with the college ministry. Cru is passionate about connecting others to Jesus Christ. They encourage boldness in your faith and to share what you believe with others. The college ministry of cru is on many college campuses throughout the nation and world. In the United States, typically Cru has a weekly meeting which usually contains a small talk and worship, small groups, discipleship, outreach, and fun events. It is a place where christians and non-christians can come together to talk about God, get to know each other, and have a whole bunch of fun.
I got involved with Cru at Sac State when I transferred to Sac State as a Junior in Fall of 2011. When I moved to Sacramento, I was planning on getting involved with a church college group, but a few weeks into my first semester, my roommate and friend, Cami said she was going to go check out Cru which was a christian organization at Sac State. I felt that I couldn't let her go alone so I decided to go with her, and I ended up falling in love with it. I got really involved really fast, and I made a lot of new friends. I was encouraged to grow in my walk with God, and to be more bold in my faith. I went to most of their events, weekly meeting, small group, and was able to be discipled. Here are some pictures of my time in Cru:
Fall Retreat 2011
Every year Cru does a fall retreat where students no matter their spiritual background are invited to get away from school for a weekend and have fun getting to know each other and learn about God in a fun, relaxing environment.
Women's Dinner Fall 2011
Kami and Me at Crossroads Conference Fall 2011
Kami was an intern with Cru at Sac State. She committed a year of her life to work with Cru on the Sac State campus. Her full time job was to tell others about Jesus Christ, help run Cru at Sac State, and hang out with college students! Sounds awesome right?! Kami was also my small group leader, and she discipled me in fall 2011. She is a large part of the reason of how I got involved so quickly in Cru. She helped me through my hardest semester of college, and I will forever be grateful. Crossroads Conference is a conference put on by Cru in the Pacific Southwest Region (PSW for short which is California, Arizona, Hawaii, and South Nevada). Crossroads is a conference for juniors and seniors and helps them figure out what's next after college.
Kevin and Me
After one semester of involvement in Cru at Sac State, I was asked to join the leadership team for Spring 2012. I was blessed to be able to co-lead Prayer Team with Kevin Harris. We had an awesome team and were able to do some pretty cool events.
Spring 2012 80's Skate Night
Spring 2012 Buenos Aires Vision Tip
All the students who went on the Buenos Aires Vision Trip
Shortly after being asked to join the lead team, I was invited to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina on a vision trip with four of Cru at Sac State's staff and five other student leaders. We went to Buenos Aires during our spring break to see if our campus could eventually form a partnership with Buenos Aires. By forming a partnership we would commit to send students on future summer projects and short term mission trips. Sadly, we won't be partnering with Buenos Aires, but it was a great trip, and it helped me figure out that I can see myself being a long term missionary.
Audrey and me on our way to see the Tango in Buenos Aires
Audrey has become one of my best friends, and she has really helped me grow in my relationship with God. She is graduating this May and plans to go to graduate school to be a speech pathologist. I love seeing how she truly trusts God for everything.
Women's Retreat Spring 2012
Sarah and Me
Sarah started getting really involved in Cru in Spring 2012. She is now one of my roommates, and I love her a lot. She challenges me and grows me. Sarah went on a summer project to Santa Monica last summer with two other Sac State students, Cody and Mario. She is planning to intern with Cru at Sac State next year. It is amazing how God can move in people's lives, and Sarah exemplifies that for me.
Prayer team's last Prayer and Worship Night in Spring 2012
This was the last Prayer and Worship night of Spring 2012. Kevin and I were blessed to be able to lead an amazing team which helped put on a big event last spring where we joined several other colleges in a campaign to pray unceasingly for 40 days for college campuses in our nation. We had a 24 hour prayer event where we asked our campus the question, "What is your prayer for revival?" I have never seen so many people come out to a prayer and worship night, which is where we ended our 24 hour time. It was incredible and God was there.
Cru Houses 2012-2013
I was blessed to be able to live in the Cru girls house this last year. It was an amazing community of seven Godly women living together and using our house for ministry.
Cody and Me
This year I was blessed to be able to become part of Core team. Core team is a group of 7 students who lead and develop the Lead team. Cody is my ministry partner, and we coach men's/women's team, worship team, and prayer team. I also lead a small group for commuting women students and disciple a few women.
Audrey and Me having some fun at Core Retreat Summer 2012
Core Retreat was a time that the Core team got to have planning and praying for the year with our staff. After the Core Retreat, we were able to help lead the Lead Team Retreat and continue getting ready for the new school year.
Fall 2012 a group of us helped move new freshmen into the dorms
Fall 2012 Cru Hike in Auburn
Fall 2012 Cru Girl's House at the Root-beer Kegger
Fall 2012 First Home Football Game
Kaitlin and Me
Kaitlin went on a summer project last summer to Santa Monica with three Sac State students. She recently graduated from UCLA and is now part time field staff for Cru at UC Irvine. I was able to meet her in the fall when she came up to visit her Sac State project friends. She is now one of my closest friends, and she truly pushes me closer to God every day. Even though we didn't go to the same school, Cru and our love for the Lord brought us together and helped us form what I hope is a life long friendship.
Aubrey and Me
Aubrey is a sophomore at Sac State and one of my roommates. She is one of my closest friends, and she is going with me this summer to Ocean City! Without Cru, we probably never would have met.
Fall 2012 A bunch of Cru students celebrating Cody's birthday
We love celebrating each other's birthdays!!
Fall Retreat 2012
My Cabin at Fall Retreat
Fall 2012 Cru Halloween Party
Fall 2012 Cru Students at Chipotle on Halloween after our Weekly Meeting
Fall 2012 Playing a game called Assassins which is basically like a huge game of Cops and Robbers
Fall 2012 Cru students at Leatherby's after one of our events
Winter 2012 Cru Christmas Party
Christina and Me
Christina is one of our staff members. She has been my discipler for the last year. She meets with me every week one on one and teaches me more of what the Bible has to say and how to apply it to my life. She encourages me and holds me accountable. She also takes me out sharing on campus and challenges me to always be bold in sharing my faith. I love her so much!!
Nicole and Me
Nicole is one of the reasons why Cru exists. Nicole came to an outreach based Cru event in Spring 2012, and she kept asking questions. She is now a believer and on fire for God. I was able to go with her to Indy Greek Life Conference in February 2013. This is a conference in Indianapolis put on by Cru for Greek students. Nicole is another one of my close friends, and she inspired me to join a sorority. We are both hoping to someday start a Greek Life movement at Sac State.
Spring 2013 Sarah, Audrey, and Me in front of Cru at Sac State's Blue Like Jazz Outreach
The Staff challenged the Core team to create and fully run this years spring outreach. Sarah and Audrey are the other two girls on Core team. As a Core team, we trusted God with enabling us to develop and execute an outreach that would get our campus talking, and He showed up! There were tough times, but God worked everything out. The outreach was based on the book and movie Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. We asked many students on our campus two questions: 1) How has religion messed you up? 2) How have you found God? These two questions sparked a lot of conversation about what each person believed spiritually.
So there you have it. These pictures show a summary of my experience in Cru. Two big events I left out were Crossroads Conference 2012 and Winter Conference 2012. I enjoyed both of them immensely. After each conference, I felt challenged and encouraged. They have definitely been highlights in my time in Cru.
Cru is a community passionate about telling others about Jesus Christ. We have a whole bunch of fun, and we love hanging out with each other! I have made so many new friends through Cru and many of them are the deepest friendships I have ever had and are most likely going to be lifelong friendships. Cru has helped deepen my passion to grow in my relationship with God, and I love that it goes farther than Sac State. It is international, and after two short years of being involved, I have friends all over the nation and in other parts of the world. I can't wait to experience summer project this summer in Ocean City, NJ. I feel like God is calling me to full time ministry/missions, and after I graduate in December 2013, I hope to join staff with Cru in January 2014!!
