Ministering on the Campus Level

Karen and I are praying with students and coaching them to build a proliferating movement to saturate their entire school with the life-changing love of Jesus.

This was my role on

a campus a few weeks ago:

“Hey, we’re giving out free pizza in Building E today.”

“Really?!?”

“Yeah, we’re celebrating Easter with food, music, games, dance and videos. Go check it out!”

“Heck yeah, we will!”

Faculty and staff (like David to the right) help guide the students in navigating the complexities of student activity requirements, while reaching out to their fellow students boldly. Local pastors and volunteers (like Pastor Kortney on the left) are able to disciple the students and invite them into a larger multi-generational community where they can grow.

Pray with us that every Christian student would be made aware of peers on campus who are running with Jesus within days of their arrival on campus, before they have a chance to get sucked into different crowds, or even beforehand as prospective students with the help of parents and pastors from back home, and that they would be bold sharing with friends!

Reaching Freshmen Before it’s Too Late!

Fall is always a crucial time in our ministry. When even Christian students get to college, 3 out of every 5 walk away from the faith they grew up with, largely because new friends make Christian life seem foolish and lonely.

That’s why we put out so much effort the first few weeks of each semester to welcome all the freshmen to school with lots of fun activities. This year, Karen and I brought the kids with us onto UCF, the largest school in the nation. In the heat and the crowds, we gave out music, videos, comic books and invites to the always popular Cru pancake party! No one could resist the children and we built bonds with students, staff and even other clubs. It was truly a family effort!

That same night, I went out to Full Sail University to team up with InterVarsity and Every Nation at the club fair. Together, we got over 40 contacts, 8 of which came afterward to our joint hangout at Chewy Boba (a bizarre smoothie shop across the street). Pray for more unity like this across churches and organizations!

Mentoring Mentors

On campus with Jim Green, former president of the JESUS Film

God has given us the great opportunity, working out of Cru world headquarters, to rub shoulders with many pillars of faith and missionary role models. Most of the time, we are students who drink in the wisdom and experience of those who look back on a lifetime dedicated to the work of the Lord and have seen Him move all around the world. Sometimes, however, God turns the tables and allows us to teach them!

As part of my effort to see more of the Lord’s people actively sharing their faith and pouring into the next generation, I’ve been assembling teams from churches and other Christian organizations to get on campus with the gospel. The JESUS Film Project, a ministry that has brought a visual gospel to EVERY country in the world, has jumped in with both feet!

We’ve been amazed to hear even seasoned missionaries, like Jim Green, exclaim their gratitude to Karen and I for showing them how to interact with students and how easy it is to talk to young people about spiritual things! A video of some of them is posted here: TinyURL.com/JFatFullSail

What God did on Campus October 2015

Click HERE for our latest Prayer Letter. I can’t wait to share:

how God used us to train the president of the JESUS Film how to share the gospel with students on campus!
about a director of 240 churches learning from us how to build Cru ministries in Minnesota
our kids’ latest adventures
and just a sample of what God has been teaching us about sustaining joyful lives in turbulent circumstances

Click HERE to read more

Students Respond to “Pizza and God”

We recently partnered with a local church to host an outreach at Full Sail University and we wanted to celebrate Jesus by sharing with you what He is doing in the lives of these students. You can see pictures here. 50+ students came to the outreach to ask their questions about God. There were 38 who filled out surveys and 10 who indicated they wanted to know more about knowing God personally. You can see some of their comments below. Please pray as we follow up with them and we host another Pizza and God outreach (with another sponsoring church) this Thursday!

Training Evagelists

It has been so exciting to be able to serve at Full Sail University, where lots of jaded artists are churned out into the entertainment industry every single month. What an opportunity!

Every couple weeks, I’ve been able to share the gospel on campus right outside the building below, and take somebody with me who has never shared before. I got to take Pastor Chris here from a church of about 14,000! As he works with college-aged students in his church, he is excited to implement what he has learned by sharing with me at Full Sail! Talk about ongoing impact! I even got to see a student, Jason, accept Christ just the other week with the help of a stay-at-home mom (Beth) who wants to bring evangelism to her church!

Pizza and God In other amazing news, Walden Media sponsored us to show their new movie “The Giver” for free in a local theater just before its major release. 170 Full Sail students came and stayed for a 30-min discussion about truth, love and what it means to be alive. One student even posted a video testimony in response! From this event, we were able to get officially recognized on the campus, and have big plans, so keep praying!

A FAMILY MINISTRY

My colleague, Brian, and I have continued to make inroads to Full Sail University, a school in Orlando that pours graduates into the film, music and video game industry every month.

Because I signed up for more information on becoming a student there (would love to earn a Masters in Entertainment Writing someday), I was invited to join the school’s internal Facebook group. Right away, I noticed that I could look up other people on that network by interest:

604 interested in
God
949 say they’re “open minded”
346 are “exploring my beliefs”
1,024 interested in Christianity

That last group included Brittany. Both she and her professor father are excited to help us reach lost students at Full Sail and help Christian artists explore how faith and art intersect and how to be a light in the entertainment industry. I can’t wait to try out Art-specific strategies there, like a short film festival, a themes of life/story discussion series and an I Am Second small group testimony-based bible study. Please pray as we invest in the lives of young people who will shape what we watch, play and listen to in generations to come!