Newsletters

January 2003

Bringing Joy to the World

Christmas Conference is such a great place to hear how God is working near and far.

Each year the students spend one afternoon delivering boxes filled with food to needy people in Indianapolis. They also share with these people about the God who loves them so much that He sent His son to pay the death penalty we deserve for our sins. I thought I would give you a glimpse of what God did that afternoon. We partnered with churches and went into neighborhoods. Some of the people who got boxes of food literally had no food left for their next meal. One manager of an apartment complex gave our students a list of people to go see. One group had police officers going up and down the street where they were. One officer stopped a student to see what was going on. She shared with him about God’s love and He received Christ that day! 1000 boxes of food were passed out.

Another group went to a prison. They saw many inmates and even a prison guard give their lives to Christ! Yet another group passed out 200 Jesus films, a movie about the life of Christ.

Altogether the 2200 students shared with 933 people and saw  more than 117 pray to receive Christ! (This doesn’t include the prison.) They got information from 660 people who wanted a church to contact them. What else can be said, but “Praise God!”

During another portion of the conference we heard from people from different countries; they shared what God has been doing through groups of students from our region who go overseas for spring break trips, summers, or for a year.

Our goal in our overseas ministries is to see nationals raised up to take over the ministry. Two of the people who are from the Middle East received Christ when the first group of Campus Crusade students went to their country and are now on staff. In Baku, Azerbaijan  100 students received Christ through the campus ministry this year. One guy was from East Asia and he said that the Americans on his team are now outnumbered by nationals! Albania (where Nate went twice while in college) has seen 70 Albanians join staff and they are now sending teams to Kosovo and the Middle East.

There are 50 staff from our region who are all over the world working with college students.

It is so easy for us to become nearsighted and only see what God is doing in Ann Arbor, but Christmas Conference renewed our vision for seeing students of the world come to have a personal relationship with Christ! It is exciting to dream about what God may do throughout the world through the students with whom we are working right now!

Ravi is coming!

Ravi Zacharias, a well known Christian author and speaker, will be coming to campus the second week of February. Dr. William Lane Craig will also come and speak on the existence of God. Please pray that Jesus would become the topic of conversation on campus during this outreach, that many students would be challenged in their belief system and that a number would come to know Christ personally. Also pray that our students would be encouraged to stand up boldly for their faith and share with their friends.

Kids' Corner

Boy was Christmas fun! It was so much fun to get to see both of my Papas and all my other relatives. My cousins are getting bigger now and they are a lot more fun to play with.

I got to stay in a hotel again! I just love hotels so much. I was upset when we had to go eat because I didn’t want to leave the hotel. We got to see Daddy while he was working at the conference—he made all the words to the songs show up on 2 big screens in the front of the room.

We have been talking a lot about underwear lately. Mommy says that I am going to get rid of my diapers very soon. I’m beginning to like the idea of wearing underwear. If I can stay dry for 3 days I get to pick out some Teletubbies underwear! I’ll tell you how it’s going next month.

-Andrew

I am learning how to be the center of attention. Christmas at my great-grandma’s house was the perfect place to practice it. I had everyone watching me and laughing at me.

I am finally able to talk a little more. It sure makes Mommy and Daddy excited when they hear me say a new word. I was looking at the book Goodnight Moon while we were in the car on our long trip and I surprised everyone by saying “night, night.” I say it all the time now! Two of my other favorite words are “shoe” and “sock” (since I try to take them off all of the time!)

I guess I’ll be the only one wearing diapers around here soon. I have been trying to ease Mommy’s workload a bit by helping to unfasten my diapers. I wonder why Mommy doesn’t think that’s very helpful?

-Lauren

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