Nick Biebel; Faithful Ambassador

Throughout the past few months, people would ask me "how are you going to replace Beebs?"  The truth is, there is no way to replace Nick Biebel!   We will simply miss him!  

An alumni recently visited Ithaca  and lamented the absence of Uber.  Cru undergrads probably don’t feel the lack because they’ve had Nick!  If I just wrote about the way that “Beebs” used his minivan to help other people over the past two years, you’d be able to get a sense of how tirelessly Nick has worked to serve the body of Christ at Cornell.  Week in and week out Nick was driving people and sound equipment and ministry supplies to different meetings and gatherings.  He took people to the grocery store, he took people to the airport, he picked up people from the train station and the bus station and the hospital!   I am sincerely thankful to those who have supported Nick’s “van ministry!”  The amount of money he spent on gas is a gift to the kingdom all the way through!  

Nick was part of the marching band and Pep Band during his time here. He built many significant friendships

The departure of our man Nick Biebel from Cornell will be felt not only in Cru, but throughout the Body of Christ at Cornell.  Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Tabernacle Baptist and Chinese Bible Study will all sense that something isn’t quite the same as will people from many other churches and Christian groups.  (Nick’s passion for unity in the Body is contagious!)   “Beebs” and his wife Ronkui are headed to California.  Right now, Nick is at Cru’s New Staff Training in Florida, but the plan is for Ronkui to attend grad school at UC Davis and for Nick to join the staff team there.  

Nick took up Power Lifting over the past couple of years. 

Nick has left a large hole in our community and not just because he’s a really big dude who’s been here for six years!   Nick is a fun-loving, encouraging and energetic guy who has been spreading the fame of Christ here at Cornell since his freshman year!  You may recall the story I wrote about him putting a sign on his dorm room door inviting others to talk about faith.  When he first popped into the small group I was leading on North campus in the fall of 2010 I had no idea what an ambassador for Christ he would become.  Throughout his time here he has helped develop younger students into sold out disciples for Jesus.   He’s lead small groups, coached ministry teams and helped organize all kinds of events!  Additionally, Nick put together a discipleship resource that we are presently using throughout our ministry here at Cornell.

When it comes to helping students to grow in their understanding and experience of the gospel, we are always on the search for helpful materials.  Some resources are free and others cost way  more than they should!  Over the years Cru has developed many different follow up and discipleship packets that we use to develop and mentor students in their faith.   Somewhere along the journey to find a really good resource that was both theologically robust and easy to use, Nick decided he would try and format something new.  Working in cooperation with numerous friends, Nick wrote and modified existing Cru discipleship materials to form up a packet of lessons.  This was no small feat and took hours of life!  But in and through it, Nick’s passion for theology and gift for teaching were put to good use.  He named the resource “The Fullness of Christ” and it presently serves as our primary set of discipleship materials.  What a gift!

Over the years I have appreciated Nick’s passion for evangelism, his zeal for good theology and his overall dedication to the ministry.  At any given event or meeting or outreach you could depend on Nick to come early and stay late.  He was “all in” in every way.  Nick managed our facebook account and helped organize our leadership meetings.  He spoke at our main meetings and also out in Cortland.  Nick was a key player in some of the biggest outreach and worship events on the campus including Easter on the Quad and the 2016 Worthy Event where we filled up Bailey Hall! And beyond all of that, Nick helped foster community.  Together with Ronkui, Nick helped make Cru feel like a family.  He loves people with such consistency, he would serve and meet up with people all the time.  He would open his home for game nights and spend his money to buy food for others!  

Nick has an exciting chapter ahead of him, but we’ll miss him here in Ithaca in the fall!  

Class of 2014

This past weekend, another class of seniors walked across the stage and received their diplomas from Cornell.  We had a great group of seniors this year and of course they will be greatly missed.  Nick Biebel will be sticking around as an intern next fall and Robin Ying will be here for grad school.  Other than that, the students are headed all over the place!

At our last weekly meeting we had 13 of our grads share a few minutes worth of parting wisdom.  Over the next few days, I'll include some quotes from each student. 

Joana Choe talked openly about the difficulties she encountered throughout college related to finances, family, academics and future career.  She was involved as a leader and connected to our ministry through all 4 years at Cornell. I personally appreciated the great insights that she shared about how hard it can be to lean on God when struggles last a lot longer than you would ever imagine they would!  

"Don’t let the bad situations and people who hurt you shape your view of God. Don’t allow you’re your heart harden towards God because of it.  Be aware of when this is happening, because it happens slowly and without you realizing it.

Remember why you first decided to give your life to God.  Remember his goodness and how he has worked in your life.  And if you feel that you have become distant to God, he is waiting for you, and you can come before his throne, confident of his grace and love towards you.  Persevere, pray, endure, and love.  Trust in the Lord, and hold fast to his promises."  

Hanny Chrysolite has a real missionary heart. We were hoping that she could go and serve with Cru overseas next year, but it didn't work out because she isn't an American citizen at this point. Bummer. She had some excellent encouragement to share. "Praying with someone else regularly. I can’t stress enough how praying with my roommate twice a week has been really a huge blessing and a highlight of my time at Cornell. To have someone praying for me regularly and checking up on me serves as a reminder that I am not alone in my spiritual journey."

Proximity is key

I want to ask you to pray for us this week as we work to raise some new financial support.

This summer we are going to be moving to a different house -a house that is very close to campus.  It is literally only about 200 meters from North Campus.  As we work to put the gospel within arms reach of every student we see a lot of benefit in living close to the students.  Back when we served in Nebraska we lived 2 blocks from the student Union building.  It was awesome for our family and our students to be so near to the school.

Proximity is a key ingredient in everything we do.  We are constantly coaching our students on how to be present on the campus both physically and emotionally so that they can engage their friends and classmates with the Gospel.  Jesus came close in order to reveal himself and demonstrate his love to mankind; thru his humility and sacrifice he made a way for us to be reconciled to God.  As Christ's ambassadors, we must get close to people in order to serve as he did and point people to him.

Living close to campus has many advantages.  First, it will enable us to host students at our home more easily.  Jesus did so much of his ministry while eating meals with people -we want to do the same.  Hospitality is one extremely effective way to serve others and demonstrate God's grace.  Living close to campus will enable Stephanie to meet with more women leaders.  Just this week, as things were coming to a close, we were trying to organize our schedules to be able to catch up with many students before they leave for the summer.  It is hard to coordinate taking care of our kids and meeting up with some of the girls.  But when we live right next to campus,  Stephanie will be able to meet with them at our house even while our kids take naps!

The university is our mission field and living within walking is going to be amazing.   But the financial cost is high.  Living near to campus costs more money and so we need more faith-filled partners to help make this happen.

The semester has been busy and we are heading out to our summer project next Monday, but in the short meantime we are working to raise $1,000 in new monthly support.  That's a lot of money to raise in one week, so we are praying for 10 new partners who will give $100 per month.  Right now, two people have stepped forward to join our support team, so we only need 8 more!

Please pray for 8 more people to join our support team this week!

Letter from my Dream World!

A big part of our work on campus with students involves mobilizing students to go to the world as missionaries. We have both short-term and long-term trips that students can be a part of. There are so many needs in the world, and the experiences are so valuable that we promote these a lot. This year, we've got students going to Haiti, as well as Colorado, and Montana on Cru Summer Projects. Sadly, one of the biggest inhibitors to student participation in missions is parents. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. Even (and very often) Christian parents can be extremely discouraging of their kids spending a summer serving others and spreading the Gospel. Usually, the discouraging sentiments are rooted in a lack of faith and zeal on the part of parents, and that is very unfortunate and sad. But, other parents are different! Below is a real email written by a parent of a student in our movement. This father is absolutely filled with faith and confidence in the Lord as well as a dedication to the Great Commission. He wrote this last year to both of his sons when they were applying for the summer projects that they eventually went on. One of the boys is a leader in our ministry, and his brother is at another college. I can't even imagine what my job would be like if every parent was like this! I call this a letter from my dream world! Hi Alex & Jim, I reviewed the online materials regarding CRU's summer mission programs. I believe these are valuable programs and I'm happy to see that both of you have expressed strong interest in participating. As I will be making a couple of mission trips myself this year, and Mommy and Mark may also sign up for a trip to [closed country], I can see that the Lord is really blessing our family to participate in His work. I understand the cost is high but I also trust that the Lord will provide. With this, I would encourage you to start the process as early as you can, including signups and fundraising efforts. If you want me to assist in providing contact information for your fundraising exercises, please let me know. Just in case you want to know, we recently received a fundraising letter from Brian Smith, who is planning to go to the middle east with the same CRU program this summer. God bless! Dad In my dream world, Christian parents would be the biggest cheerleaders for Christian Missions. I can't even explain how many encouraging elements there are in this note! His interest in what his kids are thinking about doing is commendable. He encourages his kids to sign up early, and start raising their money. He is not the least bit concerned that the whole family will be trusting God for financial support in order to participate in missions, because he knows what a privilege it is and that God will provide. Then, he mentions another student, a family friend, and implies that he will be supporting him financially to go on a Cru summer project. Who is this guy!?! His example is one that I hope will be followed! *I have changed the names of the students and the country.

A Sure Foundation for Encouragement

The other day I mentioned some of the things that we have found encouraging about our ministry this year. And we truly are thankful for the ways that God is moving on campus and in peoples hearts, and we have much to be grateful for in every area of our lives. But our thanks is to God and we give our praise to God because he alone is the sure foundation for our encouragement, comfort and hope.

Since this past summer I have been drawn to Philippians Chapter 2. Paul writes a whole slew of amazing things in that chapter, but I love the way he starts out; “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love…” He goes on to exhort us to be imitators of Jesus who perfectly exemplified humility. But Paul begins essentially by inferring and acknowledging that being united with Christ should be encouraging and there should be a true sense of comfort from God’s love. This is foundational, and it is in light of these realities, and because of this truth we are able to contemplate, and imitate Jesus’ example.

So often I allow my encouragement to be based on my circumstances. We all know that that’s a pretty shaky thing to build anything on because circumstances always change and are virtually never predictable! But I find myself seeking comfort in all kinds of places and things, when I should be resting in God’s love.

Again, there are many things on campus and at home that are going well, but there is plenty of struggle and trial as well. Life is difficult, and the reality is there is never a time when everything is going good.

So what do you do when things are going bad, or when there is hardship and disappointment? What do you do when you are feeling down or discouraged? My default is to “count my blessings” and “focus on the positive”. I think those are generally virtuous options, but sometimes the math doesn’t add up and the negatives are actually outweighing the positives! (Circumstantially speaking that is.) Merely having a positive attitude and trying to focus on things that are going well doesn’t always cut it. And, that isn’t a Christ-centered approach.

No matter what is going on in life –even if we are bound with chains sitting in a jail cell for no good reason as Paul was when he wrote this- we can be encouraged. We can be comforted because present circumstances are not eternal, but God is.

So, here is a very simple example from our life. We were bummed to be here in Ithaca separated from our families for Christmas. It is disappointing not to be able to spend the Holidays with our relatives, for our kids not to be able to be with their grandparents for Christmas. It is unfortunate that we could not afford to fly to New Mexico or Colorado to celebrate with those we love. It was kind of lonely actually, to be chillin in our house for days. So, to combat my discouragement, I can do a few things. I can be positive, (and as an optimist I generally am.) I can acknowledge that we have a wonderful little family right here, and that it was great to have our friend Larry spend Christmas day with us. And I do consider it a blessing that we are all healthy and none of us is in chains in some dungeon! Those things are encouraging, and are evidences of grace that we are grateful for.

But what truly ministers to me is this reminder from God’s word that I am united with Christ and his love comforts. I wish I could have been with extended family in the southwest for Christmas, but it was just not feasible. But I AM with Jesus, and He is with us. It would be great to be munching green chile enchiladas and enjoying some warmer weather; but even better than that, I can know and experience the personal love of our great God.

There is encouragement because I’m united with Christ.

Ministry Encouragement

Of course it's true that “numbers aren’t everything” but as we labor to put the gospel within arms reach of thousands of students, it’s good to take account every now and then to see how things are going. So as this semester and year come to an end; how many people are involved in our ministry? The difficulty lies in both knowing who exactly we should count, and then figuring out how to count them. The fast paced and organic locomotion of this ‘movement’ compel us to operate mostly on estimates. But there are some solid numbers that we find encouraging as we praise God at the end of this semester.

We had over 105 people at our Christmas party! (We lost count at 105) Our end of semester party numbers serve as a pretty good ball park figures of how many people are involved with us. Our weekly large group meeting attendance fluctuates anywhere from 70 to 150, so the parties usually give us a nice number of how many people are most connected to Cru at Cornell. Many people came and brought friends.

This semester we had 9 Community Groups. We have been emphasizing the importance of small groups as our primary vehicles for both evangelism and discipleship. Every community group had at least 2 leaders and a couple of them had even larger leadership teams. This year we started our first grad student small group lead by one of our great friends Barrett Keene. Our small groups have an average of 8 people in them, and a vision to reach out to those living around them.

One of our most rockin’ small groups has over 20 girls! Abbi is a junior who went on the Yellowstone summer project this past summer. She is a hotel management major and she co-leads this group with one of her sorority sisters named Nicole. Their leadership and enthusiasm are blessing many of the women and most of our freshman girls are hooked up with them.

Back in September we had over 50 students go with us to our fall retreat. That retreat always serves to help students bond together and get a bigger vision of God.
We’ve got 5 Cornellians coming with us to the Boston Winter conference and two of our students will actually be playing in the BWC praise band!

Two of our staff will be going to Haiti over Winter Break. Edgar and Nic will be traveling with a team to help serve the people alongside the Campus Crusade ministry there.

Last year we took 11 students down to Florida for our Spring Break mission trip. This coming spring we are planning to drive a bus down there and we already have 26 students pre-registered for Big Break as well as 10 students gearing up to serve in Guatemala.

This semester, a group of Cru students re-launched “weekly EV”. This is a scheduled time when students gather together, pray and then go eat dinner intentionally striving to engage others in conversations about Jesus. A few weeks ago, they had 20 evangelistic conversations at dinner time.

A Warrior's Passing

We just found out this week, that Franklin Elser passed away in October of this year, in Missouri where he and his wife Betty were living. Franklin was a man of great faith, and a retired Presbyterian minister.

Stephanie and I still remember vividly our visit to Franklin and Betty’s house back in 2001. We were actually raising financial support in order to head out to Spain on our first assignment with Campus Crusade for Christ.

We had a wonderful visit with the two of them. Betty is very outgoing, and loud, and Franklin was much more soft-spoken. He had a cane, and was almost 90 years old. He was small, and his back was curved. His calm and yet engaging demeanor, combined with his age and his cane reminded me of Yoda from Star Wars. I remember three things specifically about Mr. Elser.

#1. He was a devoted prayer warrior.

At the time, the Elser’s were living in a little home on the East side of town. It seemed like and apartment, not too big, nice and cozy. There was a couch, and some chairs, and I don’t remember too much about the décor, except for the big World map pinned up on one of the walls. Franklin and Betty used the map to help them pray specifically for the nations, for people all over the world. If I recall correctly, there were a couple of handwritten notes on the wall next to the map with specific prayer requests. It was like a prayer wall. (I think I remember that he had those books that help you pray strategically for each country in the 10/40 window, but I’m not sure)

Though age had taken it’s toll on his body, Franklin’s mind and spirit were quite alert still. And though his official pastoring days were behind him, he was still quite engaged in the work of missions, praying faithfully for the Gospel to go forward all around the globe.

#2 He was a fervent supporter of missionaries.

Praying would be enough, but as Jesus stated: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21) We asked the Elser’s if they would like to contribute to our campus ministry work, and they responded with a joyful “Yes.”

At that point, Franklin did something I will never forget. He picked up a piece of paper. It was white, and folded in half. After unfolding it once, there was another piece of paper scotch taped to it, so that the total size of the page looked to be around 17 inches long. On both sides was typed –in single space type with an old typewriter the names of various different missionaries and mission organizations. And next to each name was a dollar amount ranging from $15 to hundreds of dollars that he was giving to the different missionaries. I was able to look at it for only a few minutes as Franklin added our names to the list –but I estimated that there were like 120 different missionary organizations and people that the Elser’s were giving to! (I didn’t get to count them, but I estimated based on the lines that fit on a page of that size. All I know was there were a bunch!) There was a line that said Campus Crusade for Christ on it. Franklin and Betty had already been contributing generically to Campus Crusade, so he wrote our name next to that, and decided to earmark his next contribution (and add to it) so that it would go to fund our ministry.

I could not believe how many missionaries they were supporting –and praying for! Especially on a retired pastors salary. It was truly inspirational to Stephanie and I both.

#3 He was a discerning encourager.

Over the years, Franklin continued to encourage us. A couple of times he wrote us a short note to let us know that he was praying for us, and to lift our Spirits.

We saved the one he sent us back in December of 2001. At that time, we were ready to get to Spain, and were becoming a bit disheartened about how long it was taking us to amass the funds! We’d been raising support for about 11 months and still didn’t have enough to leave.

At a very divine time one day, we received a short hand-written note from Franklin. He had meticulously scrawled a verse from an old hymn for us to read. It encouraged us to fix or eyes on God and trust in his timing. We saved that note because it so ministered to our souls, and the words of that hymn still do.

Franklin was a devoted follower of Jesus, and today he is with him in paradise! Our prayers are with his wife and family who continue to live on. I know they miss him, and we do to. I am very thankful for his example.

(Additionally, just this week I found an old Mission Frontiers publication. It featured John R. Mott –which is cool because he was at Cornell. The magazine was actually addressed to Mr. Elser, and he’d apparently given it to my brother David back in high school. On the back cover he’d written the names of 4 students who he had thought might benefit from it.)