Sabeth at Cortland

Last year Sabeth Gardiner did an awesome job serving as our primary staff member at her Alma mater, Cortland State (SUNY Cortland.) All summer long, I wanted to write at least a little bit about her!  Looking back, I'm glad I didn't because there is even more to say now that we have kicked off the school year.

We met Sab a few years ago when she joined us at Cru's winter conference along with her best friend Elise.  Although she was a student at SUNY Cortland, she jumped right into the Cornell fellowship with both feet.   Her enthusiasm for life and contagious exuberance made a big splash and right off the bat she brought a lot of energy! (And especially when she's with Elise!  Wow! Pure firecrackers those two!) Sab became fast friends with our other students and we all had a lot of fun that week. 

Sabeth actually became a Christian while she was in college.  She got involved in Cru and took her walk with Jesus very seriously.  That January at the winter conference she pretty much finalized her decision to intern.  Sabeth is a gung-ho, friendly, energetic woman of God.

Last year, as an intern, Sabeth Gardiner was our primary staff member serving at SUNY Cortland.  She was a part of our team here at Cornell: she attended our staff meetings, our leadership meetings and our large group friday night meeting, but during the week she labored on the campus 30 miles away from Ithaca.  I was essentially connected, and  Mercy Gbenjo would head out with her once or twice a week,  but at the end of the day, Sab was very much sluggin it out solo* lots of the time!

As a relatively new Christian, and a fairly inexperienced leader, Sabeth often felt overwhelmed. To be honest, there were a few times when I myself wondered if in fact I had done her a disservice by giving her so much responsibility.   But despite her own misgivings, she navigated the difficulties with a persevering heart.   She got up every day, went to campus, and met with students.  She mentored some younger girls and provided some helpful direction to the small band of student leaders.   

But Sabeth was never quite sure that it was "working out."  In fact, even as the year came to a close last spring she had fears that most of her labor had been in vain.  She wondered if the the whole operation was gonna fall apart!  But God is faithful, and the gospel is powerful even when we proceed with trepidation.  A few weeks ago, at the first Thursday Night Large group meeting, as the new year kicked off, we were able to rejoice together at God's incredible work.  The student leadership team at Cortland is on fire!  The girls that Sabeth mentored are ready and able, and their kick-off meeting was awesome!  40+ people gathered together for a night of worship, preaching and Bible study. 

All in all, as we kicked things off this year, it became clearer than ever that Sabeth really did an incredible job! 

Mike McCarthy is one of the main guy leaders out at Cortland, and he got to give part of his testimony out at our Fall Getaway.  Mike hit the nail on the head when he affirmed Sabeth from the front, remarking that "we are all benefiting from the work Sabeth did last year on campus."   There is no doubt that God used Sabeth's efforts to encourage and develop and align all of the student leaders out there.   

Cru at SUNY Cortland students at the Upstate Fall Getaway

The ministry out there is off to a great start this year!  Sabeth is no longer interning with Cru, but she continues to volunteer and show up and serve in a lot of ways!  She is very much still a part of the ministry, and in many ways, we still consider her a part of our team!  

Sab finished out her year at the Rocky Mountains Lifelines Summer Project.  

*"Solo" only as far as full time staff are concerned.  Of course there were the student leaders doing a ton of the work!  And beyond that, a man who has been a faithful and extremely helpful presence for many years out in Cortland, is Alan Masters.  What a boss!  Additionally, the pastoral staff at Grace Christian Fellowship are a huge support to our Cru ministry in Cortland.   

Lifelines Summer Project Video

Staff Friend Matt Williams put together a short video about this past summer in Crested Butte.

Summer Project 3

(this post was written a few weeks ago.)

Yesterday we left Crested Butte Colorado. Our summer project is now finished and we are currently in Santa Fe, NM visiting familia.

I am annoyed with myself for not posting on this thing more frequently. The internet signal at our place in Crested Butte was definitively terrible, and we didn't have much time to spend cruising the net anyway.

Stephanie and I ended up serving for 3 weeks with the all girls group. Gina, Julia, Jessica, Sarah and Nicole were awesome. Week 1 was backpacking. Week two we spent 3 days white water rafting. The water level in the Arkansas river goes down all summer, so you want to raft as early as possible in the season. All of the groups got to go rafting, but since we were the first week, we had the best (craziest) water.

The week after that we took the group rock climbing. The climbing was fun, but the programs were even better. Since the group had been together for three weeks already, they were really able to connect with each other and to dig deep as we processed the material. The best program of the week focused on 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10 where the apostle Paul iterates Jesus' words to him saying "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul continues saying, "therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Paul's words are amazing, radical and totally counter-intuitive! He's talking about boasting in and delighting in weaknesses yet we typically don't even want to acknowledge our shortcomings! The emphasis out on the rocks that week was on facing our weakness and imperfection, being real about it and experiencing the grace and Glory of the one who alone is perfect and strong.

The population in Crested Butte (CB) peaks on the 4th of July weekend. That's when we had our biggest outreach event. Over the course of the summer, we cultivated a close relationship with the CB Chamber of Commerce. This enabled our students to serve in the community at different events including the 4th of July parade. We were the official "parade marshals".

After the parade we partnered with one of the local churches who was hosting a big 4th of July BBQ in the park near downtown CB. I helped run some of the kids' games while our students hit the crowded streets to engage people in spiritual conversations. They used the tool we call "Soularium". It's a 'tool' designed by staff and students at NYU and in Spain and it uses pictures to get people talking about what they believe. By fostering open dialog we get to communicate the good news of Jesus in a very relational way.

On the 2nd to last day of the project we attempted to summit a 14,000 ft. peak called "Red Cloud" The weather turned on us, so only a few of the fastest hikers made it up the hill. That was a bummer, but it was good to hike and have some final conversations with some of the students.

Summer Project....fresh snow in June!

Fresh Snow!

We started our summer project here in Crested Butte, Colorado last Saturday. The weather was warm and amazing all week and then yesterday it got cold. In the past 48 hours we've had wind, rain and a fresh dusting of snow on the beautiful peaks surrounding us here. Sunshine has broken thru at random times, so we've been able to hang outside still.

We are on the Rocky Mountain Lifelines summer project. Lifelines is the 'outdoor and experiential learning' ministry component of Campus Crusade for Christ. This project focuses on leadership and character development. We will be helping students to experience the Christian life and grow in the context of relationships where we help each other to understand the grace and truth of the Gospel more completely.

This past week all the newbies like ourselves were trained in the programatic ways of lifelines. We learned how to incorporate Biblical truths into educational outdoor experiences. It was sort of a crash course lead by our awesome coaching team.

As part of it all, I got to go on a one night backpacking trip and Stephanie got to do some rafting. One of the best things about this project is serving alongside our friends Adam and Tracy.

Yesterday, the students showed up. We have 16 students on this project.

Man I hate computers! It doesn't matter where we are, it seems like computer/technology problems follow me and harass me like a playground bully. Our internet situation here should be good to go, but for some reason it only works about half the time we need it to -and only on one of our computers! This has made checking our e-mail and updating this blog quite difficult! We'll do our best to keep you updated!