Honorable Service

Jake graduated from Cornell this past May and enlisted in the U.S. Army.  I met Jake providentially in a north campus dining hall during the first weeks of his freshman year. Throughout his time at Cornell  I had the joy filled privilege of mentoring and serving beside him on campus.  Jake was more than a student leader in our ministry, he is truly a brother.  

Two days after he got out of basic training, Jake sent me a very encouraging Facebook message telling me about the ways that God had worked throughout his time in "boot camp." When Jake's time in basic training was over, 17 people in his unit had professed faith in Jesus and been baptized!  

I couldn't believe it! I didn't even know there was enough time to have spiritual discussions during boot camp! But Jake told me that the Basic training environment actually fosters many conversations about life and purpose and meaning and things like that. By being intentional, he said it was relatively easy to talk about Jesus there. He also said:

"Learning how to have those conversations at Cornell and in Cru was crucial....  Especially the stuff we learned on summer project.  [I was] so much more effective at communicating the gospel to these guys and it made a difference."

We truly praise God for the ways that He is already using Jake to bless others in the military. The vision of Cru has always been to train Christ-centered laborers on campus who can continue to share the gospel with the world outside of the campus!  It is very encouraging to know that Jake's time here in Cru at Cornell helped prepare him to live missionally in the Army.  

Between his junior and senior year Jake joined a group of Cornell and Yale students for 6 weeks of outreach on the other side of the globe.  Jake notoriously embraced the difficulty of the cross-cultural environment and expended himself to make friendships and spread the love of Jesus. He wrote: "Summer project was key for that spiritual maturity and missional mindset and development!" Especially because I regard cross-cultural summer mission's so highly, I am thankful for the way that Jake credits his Cru summer experience with helping him to grow as an ambassador for Christ. Jake benefited tremendously from the training and the teaching as well as the community and the brotherhood he experienced here in our movement.

And that leads me to something else I want to point out for our mutual edification. We know that God works through his people in community. Helping people to know and follow Christ during boot camp was certainly not something Jake did on his own and he would definitely not want me to tell this story in a way that made him seem like it was all on him alone. The truth is that Jesus was lifted up, and people were able to put their faith in Christ because a small group of committed Christ followers were working together! God in his sovereign goodness had placed a handful of Christians in Jake's training unit! And as a group, they were able to spread the love of God and point others to Jesus effectively.   

I believe that Jake's boot camp experience was extraordinary in the truest sense of the word -it was not ordinary! It does seem that the basic training environment is a place where people are processing the important questions of life. Therefore it can be a phenomenal place to explain the gospel to people! But at the end of the day I believe that God honored the faith and zeal of Jake and the other Christ followers in his class. I believe that God brought together the small group of Christians, and He united them into the missional community that they became during those weeks.  

Jake joined the army to serve his country and his fellow man, but above all, his desire is to Glorify God. Generally speaking, the U.S. Army doesn't harp a lot "spiritual well being", but through leaders like Jake, I believe many soldiers will be at least exposed to the power of the gospel.

From the Campus to the World!

Gospel transformation in and through family connections!  

For someone like me who received an atheist education since I was very young, the Bible was no different than any other collection of ancient myths. Many people have tried to share the Gospel with me... but I could not understand or agree with it.....

A couple of weeks ago Nick Biebel married Ronkui Han (class of '15) I got to be a part of their wedding ceremony which was definitely an honor.  I've known Nick since he was a freshman; he was part of a Community Group (Bible study) that I lead with Edgar Lei.  

The story of how God has worked in and through Nick and Ronkui is so good, I just wanted to share some of the high points here!  It's a story of how God works on campus and how that reverberates out into the world!

As I mentioned, Nick plugged in with us here in Cru pretty much right away.  He'd become a follower of Christ towards the end of high school though a youth group that a friend invited him to attend.   The youth program at Valley Bible Church helped Nick to understand and believe the gospel.   In the fall of 2010 Nick came to Cornell to study Plant Science.

It was in the Plant Science department that Nick met Ronkui Han.  Ronkui is actually from China and she came out here to the U.S. specifically for school.  Nick and Ronkui had some classes together and they were also part of a plant breeding club.  As they spent time together they started becoming pretty good friends.  They talked about a lot of stuff, including faith, God and "religion."  Nick is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and so the topic came up pretty often.  God used those conversations to provoke interest and curiosity in Ronkui.

Somewhere during Ronkui's sophomore year, one of our student leaders named Kaytlin (Kimball) was out on campus with some of the girls in her Community Group.  They were initiating spiritual conversations with people.  In a divine appointment Katylin met Ronkui! Some would say "randomly" but we can see God's providence too clearly to use that word!   Ronkui didn't know Katylin, but that day they started a friendship with Jesus at the center.  Ronkui started attending Kaytlin's Community group from time to time and reading the Bible and interacting with the truths of Christianity.

Nick was praying for his friend Ronkui.  Kaytlin and her girls were praying for Ronkui and God was at work all the way through!  Eventually Nick and Kaytlin found out that they were both friends with Ronkui and they were able to help her explore the gospel together!

Within a few month, Ronkui put her faith in Jesus!   And also, Ronkui and Nick started dating.

AND THEN....

Two summer's ago Ronkui's mom came out to visit from China.  She found herself a little bit bored during the day and so Ronkui suggested she go over to the First Ithaca Chinese Christian Church (FICCC) to make some friends and speak some mandarin.  The people at FICCC were incredibly welcoming and Ronkui's mom ended up spending a good amount of time over there.  She began to explore the Bible earnestly.  Here is a part of her reflection:  

Ten years before the summer I spent in Ithaca, I met a couple from Hong Kong.  They gave me a Bible.  Occasionally I would read it, for conversational purposes.  To be honest, I did not understand most of the material, nor did I believe any of it.  For someone like me who received an atheist education since I was very young, the Bible was no different than any other collection of ancient myths.  Many people have tried to share the gospel with me since then, but I could not understand or agree with it.  During my first Sunday Worship at First Ithaca Chinese Christian Church (FICCC), I fell aslee -as I thought I would_ when the pastor was explaining some Bible verses.  At that moment, the lady sitting next to me gently nudged me and spoke to me quietly: "That's okay.  It takes time."  Ashamed, I started listening to the sermon, and surprisingly, i could focus and understand what the pastor was talking about.  I came to Sunday worship every weekend in the following two months, and understood most of the content delivered at the services.  I began to believe that in this massive universe there is an almighty God, and his being is very relevant to my life!  

Nick and his now monther-in-law

In just a few short months, she also put her faith in Jesus Christ!  This past May, she came back to the states to attend Ronkui's graduation and wedding.  While here, she also got baptized!  She has been able to connect with a family of believers in Asia, but she wanted to get baptized at the church -and among the people who helped her to know Christ.  A number of people gathered to hear here incredible testimony and rejoice with her. 

Senior 2015: Esther Koo

"I grew up in a Gospel church, where half the congregation was black, the other half was white, and there were four Asians: my dad, my mom, my sister, and I. It was fun, and I thought all churches looked like that!"

Esther Koo is one of those people who really "gets" what we are trying to do as a ministry.   She is an extremely dependable and faithful servant who has contributed a lot to our movement here at Cornell.  There is no actual way of tabulating how many girls are  plugged into Cru and growing in Christ  because of Esther's leadership and example.  She is a real shepherd of women, she's an encourager and she has a lot of spirit!  We call it "Cantonese Fire!"   

Esther has an inquisitive mind.  She asks great questions and is commited to thinking about things critically.  

A few weeks ago at Church, Esther Shared about a particularly pivotal moment that occurred during her sophomore year. She said "I was meeting with my mentor, who was an upperclassman in Cru, and she posed the question to me, “Why are you a Christian?”  I responded that I enjoyed having the knowledge that God had a plan for me, and I could trust in Him for the future.  My mentor acknowledged that, but then proceeded to share the Gospel.  I was about to write it off, because I had heard it many times, but I realized that the Gospel should have been the answer to her question.  And for the first time, I was convicted by it.  I realized that up to that point, my “faith” consisted of Christian values and [knowledge of] Bible stories.

She continued: "Applying the Gospel to my life meant confronting sin.  I did not know the destructive effect that sin had on my thoughts, thinking about people in an unedifying manner and projecting my desire for affection physically and emotionally on the way I perceive others.  What’s more, sin is a barrier to an intimate relationship with God.  However, the power of the Gospel shatters that barrier and when I recognized sin and laid it at the foot of the cross, I felt freedom."

A couple of years ago on the Haiti spring break trip. 

Esther's zeal for Jesus is pretty overt.  She's served as a Community Group leader for the past several years and she's been a big part of our Spring Break mission trips every year!  Thankfully Esther will not be leaving Cornell next year.  She'll stick around to get her masters degree so we get at least one more year with her!

Esther also lived in the 10 girl Cru house.  

Seniors: Katie & Anna Johnson

It is so fun when siblings get to attend Cornell together!  

Katie and Anna Johnson are twin sisters who served faithfully in our ministry here at Cornell.  Right up til the last minute Katie was on campus helping me to interview and equip next year's Community group leaders.  Her dedication to shepherding and encouraging the younger women in our ministry was just awesome!  The Johnson twins are both literature buffs and Katie studied English here at Cornell.  She is hoping to teach high school in California while Anna is pursuing a job with the International Justice Mission.

 In her Senior exhortation Katie introduced us to a painting by the Belgian surrealist painter named René Magritte, called the Treachery of Images.  It's a painting of a pipe and underneath it it says "This is not a pipe."  The sentiment is simple and yet extremely profound.  

   
It says “this is not a pipe,” because it’s not a pipe; it’s just a painting of a pipe.  It is an image of a pipe and although it can provoke us to think about a pipe, in the end it cannot do what a pipe does.  A person would be foolish to live as though the image is all that there is!   Katie explained:  In the same way, much of what we see is only a representation of God, not itself god.  We are materialist and sensual beings who think that what we perceive with sight and touch in the physical world is what is most real.  But Romans 8:25 says that we hope for what is not seen, because we already have what we can see, and someday that will go away.  The world will fade away, but God is eternal.  C.S. Lewis said going to Heaven will be “the real wakening; the dream is ended, the morning is beginning.”   It is so easy to live our life consuming and consumed with all kinds of "images" and idols.  

Katie at one of our women's times

Katie is very good at helping others to see Christ through our favorite heroes from the past or from fiction.  They can function as echoes of the real Hero, like the drawing representing the real pipe.  She pointed out that Jean Valjean’s (Les Miserables) generosity to the poor reflects how gracious God is to us; Captain America’s purity reflects how Jesus lived the perfect life for us; Mulan is fearless in the same way that Jesus courageously came down from his throne in Heaven for us; Sydney Carton laid down his life as nobly for Charles Darnay as Jesus did for us. (A Tale of two cities.)  I know that many high schoolers will be blessed to have Katie as a teacher!  

Anna running Cross Country 

Throughout her time here at Cornell, Anna was involved with the on-campus chapter of the International Justice Mission (IJM).  IJM is an incredible organization that works primarily to end human trafficking and rescue modern day slaves.  IJM is a Christian non-profit that expends a lot of energy working to restore rule of law, protect the vulnerable and thwart oppression all around the world!   Anna's heart beats for the poor and those in need. While she was a student, Anna was constantly working to help Cornellians become more aware of important issues in our world.  Whether Anna ends up working full time with IJM or not, we know that she will continue to mobilize others to fight for enduring peace.  

Anna and Katie lived in a house with 8 other women leaders in Cru.  I called it "the girl house" but they called it Alpha Omega house.

Senior: Isaias Munoz

It was Freshman move in day back in the fall of 2011 and I got a call from the father of Isaias Munoz. We'd had some email interaction and I had told him to give me a call when they arrived on campus so I could meet them.  As soon as they pulled onto the grass in front of Dickson Hall I was there on my bicycle and Isaias and I have been bro's ever since!   Isaias' dad is a pastor in New Jersey and I remember hanging out in the hallway along with his uncle talking about reformed theology  while Isaias unpacked his boxes and set up his room.

That night I took Isaias with me to Walmart to pick up food supplies for one of our welcome events the next day.  The guy was serving in Cru from his first hours on campus, and he's been faithfully at it ever since.

Isaias and Dani at our Fall Getaway

That first day in the hallway, even though I had only known Isaias for 20 or 30 minutes, my main concern for him was that he would be taken out of the race by a romantic relationship.  So many college students -even those who grow up in stout Christian families are derailed by the lure of sexual sin and the party life.  I had known a number of guys like Isaias, and I told his dad specifically that of all the potential pitfalls at Cornell, the one I thought he needed to be most guarded against was hooking up with a girl who couldn't care less about Jesus!

Praise God, Isaias never got tangled up with that stuff here at Cornell.  Walking with Jesus in fellowship with a tight knit group of brothers, Isaias actually ended up dating an incredible woman of God named Dani Corona!  Today they are engaged and will be married on my birthday next fall. (October 11.)  Isaias and Dani were both leaders in Cru before they started dating and they have certainly continued to serve together this year.

Isaias and some of the sophomore guys he got to serve with.

I was talking to one of the sophomore guys yesterday and he was lamenting about how much he is going to miss Isaias.   I could never fully capture in a blog post how much this guy has contributed to our ministry and to the lives of so many of his fellow students.   Everybody who knows him knows that he loves the Word of God.  He is a man who can be counted on to speak truth in line with the scriptures.  But he's also a lot of fun!  He's got a fantastic sense of humor and he's able to ham it up and bring a lot of joy wherever he goes.  Isaias was so good at connecting with new students and helping them to feel at home in Cru.   He's outgoing and very social.

Gabe Casillo, Isaias Munoz and Sean Salmon; best friends.  

I still remember meeting up with Isaias and his best friend Gabe Casillo at the end of their freshman year; we have an interview process where we assess our future Community Group leaders.  I had no reservations whatsoever with these guys!  I remember talking with Isaias and Gabe about how grateful I was for their understanding of our mission on campus and their enthusiasm for our small group methodology.  (Certainly they had benefited from being mentored by Kyle Yost!)  Throughout his time here, Isaias has helped lead effective missional Community groups.  We will miss his capable leadership in that arena next year, but he will leave many holes to be filled.

I ask each of our praise bands to ensure that they always have a strong male vocalist in the mix. Certainly a strong female lead to accompany them is good, but I always want a strong male singer up front.  This is specifically so that when new guys come -especially someone who is "unchurched" and not a Christian, they can see that singing praise to Jesus is something men do.  It is a fact that many men who did not grow up in Church think that group singing is kind of odd.   We want a masculine role model to exemplify a heart of worship.   Isaias is certainly one of those guys!   His voice is strong and powerful and I know that next year when we are singing praise at our first weekly meeting I will miss his example and his leadership in worship.

Back in the summer of 2012 we went out to visit the Munoz Family in Jersey

I will also miss hanging out with Isaias on Friday nights.  This year we began heading out to Taco Bell after everything was wrapped up on Fridays after our main meeting.  We'd eat burritos and then hang out talking til 1:00 AM about life and mission and anything else that came up.  As the year wore on, more people began joining us and we moved the party to Denny's!  Hopefully we can keep that fellowship going as we head into next fall!

I could write forever about this guy, but one last thing I'll forever be grateful for.  Isaias used to take my son's out to Taco Bell for "man time."  They always had an incredible time together of course!  And true to form, Isaias was always purposeful and edifying in his engagements with my kids!  What a guy.