Mission to Miami

“Does that describe your heart or someone you know?”

I let the question hang awkwardly in the din of teenage horseplay and clacking dominos at this mostly Cuban campus of Miami Dade College.  I told them we were “looking for students who love sharing about Jesus but aren’t jerks about it.”

We said something like this over and over during a mission trip my team took to the greater Miami area.  We were using a strategy called the Key Volunteer Challenge to find just the right kind of students who could launch an evangelistic movement that would spread from campus to campus across their city.  God has used this strategy overseas, but this is the first time we’ve tried it here in the US.

Guess what? God was moving everywhere we went!  I heard all kinds of responses to that question (always polite, even if not always helpful), but we ultimately found what we were looking for!  Sometimes in a pile of “that’s not me” head scratchers, a name would start to echo around of a friend who was bold in their faith while still loving those who didn’t agree. In those cases, I would get contact information and find that person later. Sometimes in the midst of a band of self-proclaimed atheists, one student would sheepishly raise their hand and say, “that’s me.”

Manny was a student like that.  He graciously parted ways with his friends to sit down with me and hear what the Lord was doing in Miami.  As Manny and I talked through God’s call on his life, I saw a spark grow into flame.  He quickly listed 5 people he would share the gospel with that week and 5 more people with hearts like his that he would invite to join the wildfire movement with him.  He even said his Spanish-speaking church would get behind his efforts on campus.  Manny was one of more than 40 students on 13 campuses that week who said “yes” to this wildfire challenge.  We also connected with 4 churches who want to help!

Cru is active on about a third of the college campuses in the US.  In order to get to the other two thirds, we will be coaching missionary and church teams all over the country to do the same Key Volunteer Challenge on campuses near them.

To provide for future expeditions and maintain our ministry, Karen and I need to raise about $8,000 before January 2018 to stay on track as fully-funded missionaries for the upcoming semester.  Can you be part of meeting this urgent need?  Would you prayerfully consider giving a gift of any amount before the end of December?  You can give online at give.cru.org/0589812.

Whether you are able to help meet this need or not, we want to express our deepest appreciation for your partnership.  Through your generous giving and prayers, we and many young people have been truly blessed.  Thank you for serving with us to bring the gospel to the whole world through college students!