Un-Crushed Students

We like to say that there are two versions of every Cornell student.  There is the regular version; a person who is brilliant, purpose-driven, often creative, optimistic and relational.  And there is the crushed version of that person: A person who's mental acuity, drive, vision and social abilities are fundamentally impaired by the "crushing weight" of homework, academic pressure, resume building extra-curricular activities,  un-ceasing competition and complete lack of margin. 

One of the best things about spring break trips is the way it enables us to spend time hanging out with the "un-crushed" version of our Cornell student leaders.  

Our spring break trips afford students the chance to get off campus, take a break from homework and get some fresh air.   The grace of the gospel pervades every aspect of the week.  And with our focus on Jesus, serving others and enjoying fellowship together the students are able to connect with God and each other in some really powerful ways.  The non-stop "success driven" culture at Cornell is actually very stifling.  But traveling together over the break is thoroughly enriching; students are categorically more joyful, clear thinking and social on the trips.  They are "un-crushed."   Lots of spiritual growth happens specifically because there is adequate mental and emotional space.  
 

I personally believe these experiences are invaluable for gaining perspective.  So much life at Cornell can become a neurotic shuffle from one intense class or assignment to the next.  It's "productive" in it's own rite, but at what cost?  Getting away for a week of doing nothing has it's own merits.  But for those who spend their week hanging out with friends, exploring ways to love others and soaking in God's word it is extremely fortifying.  

This is one of our guys, Paul, exhibiting some of the extra life students have on these trips!  haha. 

Foreign Policy and Missions

As we continue through this crazy election season, I want to encourage Christians to be thinking (and then voting*) about how this or that administration will affect the proclamation of the gospel to the nations.

When I was in college I had the chance to "smuggle" some Bibles into a foreign country.  Although carrying Christian literature was constitutionally legal in that country at that time, the anti-Christian religio/political situation was such that you pretty much had to sneak them in.  Ten of us folded a total of 250 thin-line Bibles into our clothing in our backpacks.  We hid the books in such a way that a superficial inspection of our bags would leave them undetected.  We traveled into the country in pairs and proceeded through the various baggage checks and customs stations without making any noticeable contact with our group -in case one of us got caught, we didn't want all the other's to be compromised as well.

After crossing the border we traveled into a city and convened at a restaurant.  At the Restaurant we sat at a table and stealthily transferred all the Bibles from our 10 individual bags into 2 bags under the table cloths. Two guys then boarded a train and traveled deeper into the country to deliver the Bible's to an underground church somewhere and the rest of us occupied ourselves with some sight-seeing for the day.  Especially for a college student, the whole experience was a blast; we felt like missionary James Bonds or something!

The experience was profoundly inspiring in a few different ways.  Not only was it strengthening of our faith and confidence in Christ, but I also took away a significant lesson related to international relations and the accessibility of the gospel.

If any customs officials or police would have found the stash of Bibles in our bags or caught us transferring the goods etc. the consequences for us as American's would probably have been pretty minimal.  This country had (and has) a good relationship with the U.S. and pretty much out of respect they would most likely have confiscated the Bibles and then refused to let us across the border, sending us back the way we came.  Possibly we would have been detained for a few hours for questioning.  Although it was possible that there could have been more dire consequences, that was pretty unlikely at that time.

A local resident or even a citizen of another country might not have been so blessed; they could have been subjected to a more harsh punishment.  But simply because we were from the U.S. we had less to worry about.  Our countries relationship with this foreign nation was so positive and they were so fundamentally appreciative of the United States,  that we as American's would have been given extra mercy for transgressing a serious social norm.

On the way out of that country I had another experience that was interesting.  We were actually leaving on a boat/Ferry and at the port station there were the various different security checkpoints.  If I remember correctly, there were 3 different checkpoints that we had to pass through.   The lines were held up and the boat departure time was drawing nigh.  We weren't sure we were going to make it!  But then, while in line at the last checkpoint, a border guard stood up and held up a Blue U.S. passport and shouted "American's" and began waving his hand in a gesture for any American's to pass on through.  The line was full of international travelers with passports from many different places and we were able to walk right by them to the front of the line and pass expediently through the last checkpoint with virtually no handling.   We simply held up our passport and the guard directed us to the boat!  We were literally given special treatment because we were from the U.S.!

I remember thanking God for such a successful adventure while marveling at the irony of the situation.   And I also remember thinking this: "Wow! Blue American Passport's are very powerful!"  To quote 'uncle Ben' "with great power comes great responsibility"   I remember thinking about how useful American citizenship was for enabling the spread of the gospel!  I remember being grateful and even proud that America had such rapport!  Because of America's role in the world, we were able -as American college students to carry scriptures to people who needed them with incredible expedience and a considerably limited risk to boot!   I remember thinking that this was really cool!

America's role and reputation in the world were actually helpful for the cause of Christ!  Having an American passport was a powerful and precious gift!  I didn't personally earn it, but for the sake of the Gospel, I wanted to steward it well and help other American's to do the same!  And I felt there was an urgency -even as I rejoiced, I remember thinking that such privilege probably wouldn't last forever!   Even then, I speculated that a day would come when our blue passport would gain us nothing positive at a foreign border!

In September of 2002 I was in Spain standing outside one of the University buildings handing out a mini-magazine talking about the events of 9/11 and explaining the gospel.  Most people were respectful, a few were engaging and another few shouted belligerently at us, ridiculing us for being American's.   On that day, in that country, our U.S. citizenship was NOT actually helping us to make the gospel accessible!

I have many concerns about the candidates running for president and the effects their administrations would have on our lives and the world we live in, but one primary grid that I can't not filter things through is what I'll call the "missionary grid."   I look at potential candidates and ask questions like "if this person were president, how would that help or hurt the forth-going of the gospel in the world.   In particular, I ask; "will this person as president make it easier for American's to travel abroad serving as gospel-proclaiming ambassadors for Jesus, or harder?"

Jesus' command (known as the Great Commission) to us in Matthew 28:18-20 factors into pretty much all of my big life decisions, as I actually think it should for every follower of Christ.  I know that the president is not the "pastor in chief", and yet, I think committed Christians should be thinking very much about the spread of the gospel to the nations and how a presidential administration will either impede that or enable it.   There are many important issues in the world, but the ultimate answer and hope for the world is found in the good news of Jesus Christ.

*Yesterday I went to the DMV to get my address changed.  While filling out the forms I also changed my political party affiliation to "none".  I'm planning not to vote in the presidential election in November.  

Cru Short Term Trips are Worthy!

Right now we have a team of Cornell students working in South Africa with the Mamalodi Initiative.  The Mamelodi initiative is in my opinion, a model of effective, sustainable, Christian humanitarian aid. Pioneered with Cru students from Harvard, the Mamelodi Initiative is an educational program that serves underprivileged teens and school age children.  Ivy league college students spend time teaching and tutoring kids so that they can pass the matriculation exams that stand between them and a quality education.  It has been rightfully observed; "if there is one thing every Cornell student can do, it’s pass a test!"  

Our team that’s there right now is reading the acclaimed book; When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.  Insightful and provocative, the authors of this book (along with their organization The Chalmer’s center) are an asset to Evangelical Christianity in America.  Their organization has played a key role in pointing out the different ways that Christian mission trips can be categorically detrimental even as the participants are trying to be a blessing.  As the title makes clear, it is possible to hurt even when trying to help.  Together, they are enabling all of us to take a more critical look at Christian missions and offering insights about how to do things well.   This is an excellent resource for everyone who wants to minister in and to the world in a way that makes a comprehensively positive impact.  

Certainly they are not the only ones to write about this topic.  In recent years, much has been written on the web questioning the wisdom and overall value of evangelical missions trips -especially short term ventures.   I’ve read many articles and even had conversations with students here on campus who contend that most short-term trips are not worth doing. I disagree!  believe that short term trips are thoroughly Biblical and we must keep sending out teams both to do short-term and long-term work.  But we should help each other to strive after wisdom and move forward with God-centered purposefulness.  

I really believe that it’s possible to do things well, and on the whole, I think the short-term trips that we offer with Cru are very valuable and effective.  Cru has both international and U.S. stateside summer mission trips that college students can participate in.  

I want to point out three things that help enable the Cru trips to be more helpful than hurtful on the whole.  

#1  Gospel Centrality.  One of the things that makes Cru’s projects so valuable is the gospel-centered nature of our missions. Throughout its history Cru has prioritized the communication of the good news of Jesus Christ as our primary objective.  The core of the Great Commission is to make disciples of Him!   We certainly value humanitarian aid and social justice initiatives; we believe in both good words and good deeds!  But no matter what else we do, we press forward with our conviction that the gospel is foundational.  Everyone everywhere needs Jesus, and our first aim is to make him known. Helping others to discover and follow Jesus is categorically helpful and good. Always.

#2  Working in Partnership.   When we take a short-term student team to another country we are typically working on or near a college campus, in conjunction with a long-term team of missionaries in that country.  Often, the long-term teams include local ministers who are native to that area or country.  Yes, sometimes a short-term team goes ahead of a long-term team, but in either case, we strive to connect our short term activities with those who are long term.  This format helps us to work in ways that are truly constructive, and it literally enables our short-term participants to contribute.  We aren’t just taking a group of students to a foreign country on some type of “Christian tourism” adventure, but we are able to involve them as ministers engaged in the long-term work.  

#3  Students working with Students.   A more cynical colleague of mine once asked the question: “Does anyone else think it’s weird that we take unskilled youth group kids to do construction in a country full of men who are skilled construction workers?”  He was scoffing the classic “mission trip to Mexico” phenomenon.  Certainly it’s an over-statement to say that everyone in Mexico is a skilled construction worker, but there is no doubt that most American junior high kids are in way over their heads at a construction site.  That’s not all bad, but what we’ve got going in Cru is different.  The majority of our ministry consists of straight-forward discipleship and evangelism in a context that our students are at least generally familiar with.  We take university students to a university!  It’s a venue where we are considerably experienced.  Sure, some methods need to be tweaked and “contextualized” a bit, but on the whole, our students are engaging in a kind of ministry that makes sense.  They are building relationships with other college students, they are building friendships and they are talking about Jesus.  It’s the same thing they do here at our campus!   

Here are some links: 

Mamalodi Initiative Website http://mamelodi.org/?page_id=651

Mamelodi Report Summary  http://mamelodi.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mitwopager.pdf

When Helping Hurts  https://www.chalmers.org/when-helping-hurts

A couple of Articles on this topic:

From Gospel Coalition:

Why You should Consider Cancelling Your Short Term Mission Trips  

AND

Don’t Cancel That Short Term Mission Trip

Some Biblical examples of Short-term missional methodology.

Jesus’ whole ministry was a 3 year short-term trip.

The Apostle Paul’s ministry was a series of short-term style mission ventures.

Jesus sends his disciples on some very short-term trips. eg: Luke 9,10.  

Jonah’s mission to the Assyrian’s was quite short.  

Michael Horton talking about the Church’s mission to make disciples.  He talks about needing to be aware of “mission creep”; losing sight of the main mission.  Scrub to the 2:10 mark.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXIVOvTANv0

From Parties to Evangelism

When it comes to communicating the gospel to people who don’t know Christ personally, there is general agreement that the best way to do this is in the context of relationship/friendship.   By and large most people in America -both Christians and non-Christians are decently averse to other modes of evangelism like street preaching, door to door, or random contact etc.   Although I don’t think any of those is unbiblical, I do think that these days it is most effective to communicate the gospel in conversations with people who you know and care about.  We should try and do that as often as possible!

But this doesn’t mean we should only talk about Jesus with the people we already have relationship with.   Certainly not.  Compelled by the love of Christ and commissioned to help the whole world  know and follow HIM, we must endeavor to reach out to others.  Living on mission with Jesus means meeting and connecting with more people.  We must strive to communicate God’s love and grace powerfully and effectively.  

Especially because all ministry is essentially an act of hospitality, one of the best ways to reach out to others involves hosting some form of hospitable gathering.   Here people can be exposed to the grace of God and experience fellowship in community.  This might look like a neighborhood cook-out, a party, maybe an open-mic style event, a bonfire or even something like an informal group of friends going out for burritos or bubble tea!   Whatever it is, it’s a venue for those who know Christ to spend some time mixing it up and building relationships with others who don’t know Christ.  

Below are three basic tips to help you be missional at a simple fellowship/party type of event.  

MAKE CONTACT:  

It is absolutely critical for those who know Christ to introduce themselves and welcome and talk to the people who are new!  This might seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how many fellowship/party events I’ve been to where all of the Christians are standing around talking only to other Christians while the non-Christians are out in another circle talking to each other!  MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!  What is happening?  Jesus’ words about  the wrongness of lighting a lamp and putting it under a bushel would apply here!  You need to extend your hand and meet people!  

There is nothing more missionally ineffective than a bunch of Christians hanging out NOT talking to those who do not know Jesus!  

MAKE A CONNECTION:  

Shaking hands and saying “welcome” is just the first step.   Again, because the idea is “relational evangelism” there needs to be a relationship!   Moving beyond simple greetings, take the time to  pursue conversation.  Think about where you are sitting.  Are you physically positioned in a place where you can connect with new people?   Sure someone needs to make sure that the napkins are stocked and that the ice bowl is full, but are you spending all of your time tending to logistics while ignoring the people?  Calm down Martha!  Take a load off, make yourself available, talk and chat it up.  Get to know things about the other person, and try to find those things that you might have in common.  

What we are doing here is actually caring about people.  The old saying: “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is applicable here.  Not talking to others essentially communicates; “I don’t really care much about you at all.”  

MAKE A PLAN: 
When you are at a large group cook out or dance or coffee shop or whatever kind of event, there is a good chance you are NOT going to be able to share the gospel right there and then.  Hopefully, as you cover ground in conversation, you’ll be able to at least broach the topic of spiritual things in some way.  And as you share a little bit about your life hopefully you’ll get the chance to at least mention the name of Jesus.  But in the crowded environment, you won’t always have the opportunity to really dig in and “talk theology” -especially if you haven’t known the person for more than 5 minutes.  So, you need to make a plan to meet up some other time.  How will you foster the relationship going forward?   It may involve inviting the person to something, or it might mean you going to something they invite you to!  Let’s say for example you learned that your new friend plays a lot of basketball at some gym or playground.  You could offer to meet up there and play some hoops.  Maybe your new friend has a booth at the farmer’s market.  You could make an appointment to go visit them there some Saturday morning.    Now the specifics of the situation might make this more or less conducive, but at the very least you should always try and exchange some sort of contact info. 

Even if you don’t sketch out a plan together, you as the missional-minded ambassador for Jesus Christ should be thinking of a plan!

The World in Wildwood

The main reason that we love the Wildwood Summer Project is because there are so many people from so many places in the world.  Cornell is certainly a place with students from around the Globe, but during June, July and August, Wildwood, NJ is the hot spot for college students from other countries. Morey's Piers - a collection of beach front amusement park attractions and restaurants is largely responsible for the legacy of foreign summer migration.  Supposedly inspired by both the Great Commission and Walt Disney, Morey's sends recruiters to job fairs at foreign universities throughout the year highlighting the employment opportunities and amassing their workforce.  

It's not uncommon when you're walking down the street to see postcards advertising "Bulgarian Parties" or other country specific gatherings.  

In 2011, more than 7,000 came from abroad to the Garden State through Summer Work Travel program and worked a myriad of service industry jobs.  

Below are a couple of links.  The first is "testimonials" page on Morey's Piers website.  You can hear some of the exchange students talking about their experience and get a real feel for where the students are coming from  The second is an article from NJ.com
http://www.moreyspiers.com/work/testimonials/
and
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/for_international_students_wor.html

Raising Funds

Campus minister Tim Casteel hosts a fantastic blog on Leading in Ministry.  

I've benefitted from a number of his posts, especially the one titled Money To Fund the Mission.  In it Tim points out how critical finances are to the mission of moving the Gospel forward.  

During the spring of 2012, every single Cru staff member in the northeast region had to take 5 whole weeks off of campus to work on raising financial support.  The sad reality is that almost all of us are under-supported and struggling at some level.        Both our personal support accounts and our campus accounts are low. And without adequate finances to live, eat and minister staff must pull back from time on campus, meeting up with people  and spend time looking for new financial partners.   

In Tim's article, he references a Mark Driscoll video where he describes THE game changer in the history of Mars Hill (Seattle).  

He says there was " a single thing that took them from 40 people to 800. A turning point that made the difference between their church shutting down and being the global influence that it is today through the Acts29 Network and Mark Driscoll’s teaching.

It wasn’t hiring a key staff. Putting on a big outreach. Giving a great sermon. Getting a new website. Him yelling at a bunch of men (that was a different video).

It was money.

A gift from a generous couple – a $200,000 gift that was 100x greater than any gift they’d ever received."

I recommend reading Tim's article where he includes insights from both Bill Hybels and R.C. Sproul.  

He concludes: 

"As ministry leaders we spend countless hours thinking through how to reach more people with the gospel. We plan ways to raise up new leaders. Get excited about new books/ideas that could be gamechangers. Dream of new websites that will singlehandedly reach the campus with the gospel. But we rarely think of money. 

I just wonder what would change if our ministries and staff were abundantly funded. Imagine what God could do."

That's our goal!  Stephanie and I are in a place where we actually need to raise $1300 in new monthly support.  Even as we take seminary classes in Colorado this summer, we are working to raise money.  God has raised up three fantastic interns for next fall; Will Poon, Mercy Gbenjo, and Kelsey Karys.  But if we don't get adequate support, they'll be ministering on campus without us! 

We want to see the Cru ministry at Cornell truly taking the gospel to every student.  We can no longer afford to be barely making it as staff or running on financial fumes as a ministry.  

If you are reading this, and you are a financial supporter of our ministry, I want to thank You!  If you aren't, and you would like to be, please be in touch, or check out this link.  

The Lord has Need of This

[I originally wrote this post for our crucornell.com site.]

Imagine you looked outside one morning and saw two 18 year old guys opening the door of your car and getting in.  One of em’ looks a little nervous for sure, but the other one carries himself like he owns the thing!  Maybe your first thought is; “why didn’t I lock the door!?”  But as you run outside filled with panic and  rage to yell out “Hey!  What the heck do you think you are doing?”   the nervous guy looks you square in the eye and says “The Lord has need of this.”  Then he gets inside with the other guy and they drive off, waving, with a sincere look on their face that says: 

“Don’t worry man.  This is going to be awesome!”

   [29] When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, [30] saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.  [31] If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ (Luke 19:29-31)

What would be going thru your mind!?  And what was going thru the disciples mind as they walked  toward Bethany to untie  some guys prize donkey.  I say “prize” not because I think it was  a county fair  blue ribbon winner but because in a first century agrarian community a donkey would have been  one valuable tool!  It was your tractor, your truck and your personal transportation.  I imagine the disciples proceeding with faith along with their usual bewilderment, no doubt hoping to get that donkey and get out of town without anybody asking questions.  “Just tell them  the Lord has need of this?  He had said.  Would that work?

   

I think of this passage every year at the end of September when  our ministry is getting ready to go to  the Upstate Fall getaway.  I also think about it on the second Friday night of the semester when we host a raging bonfire just off campus to welcome new students.   Sometimes I think about it on Friday afternoons when we need to move sound equipment across campus to our meeting room.  Basically, this passage comes to my mind whenever we need to transport people or equipment somewhere because I have never been to a college campus in the United States with so few cars!   In my feelings of stress and desperation I fantasize about walking calmly over to an unlocked construction van and driving off.  Of course I’d bring it back in a few days.  And if anyone asked me what I was doing, I’d tell them the truth.  “The Lord has need of this.”

 

” [32] So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. [33] And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” [34] And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” [35] And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.  (Luke 19:32-35)

Looking for a natural explanation, some might speculate that  Jesus already knew the Donkey owner  or that some sort of arrangements had been  made before.    It is conceivable that the guy knew who Jesus was, -but since He said  “why are you untying my colt?  we can’t conclude that he understood all that was happening.   It seems pretty clear that they were caught off  guard.  So we could surmise that it all worked out because  the colt was owned by an old elementary school buddy of Lazarus’, but what we actually see here is the Word of God going forth with power.  I imagine that fear was replaced with excitement and paranoia with peace in this situation because of Christ’s authority.  “they told them what Jesus had said.” 

And what might have looked like a couple of high school punks gaffing a dude’s valuable asset  was actually the Lord calling a man –inviting a family perhaps to play an active  role in the advancement of His Kingdom.  It was a simple donation.  But upon that donkey Jesus entered Jerusalem; fulfilling prophesy and marching towards the cross where he made a way for us to be reconciled with God.   

Our ministry exists see students reconciled with God.  And I’m writing this to you –students and parents to ask for a simple donation.  As we labor together to advance God’s kingdom and  proclaim the good news of Christ’s reconciling work

WE NEED MORE VEHICLES!

Faster than walking and smoother than riding a donkey, the wheel is a glorious invention!  And in our ministry we don’t have enough of them!  Not even close! 

Over the years students like Ben Hutton, Joe Teirab, Sarah Furnish and Larry Lin have served our whole ministry and even those outside our ministry by bringing cars to school.  Without  guys like Barret, Tyler, and Eddy and girls like Charlene, Nicole, and Tricia the army of God at Cornell would be even less mobile than it is now! 

And I am writing this post specifically to ask students and parents to please pray and consider seriously the benefits of bringing a car to school.

If you have a car, or if you can possibly scrape together the means to buy one on craigslist I am saying to you now,

The Lord has need of it!

I know there are many different factors and concerns related to this issue.  In my next post, I will take the time to sketch out a little cost/benefit analysis.  

Funding the Mission

Campus minister Tim Casteel hosts a fantastic blog on Leading in Ministry.  

I've benefitted from a number of his posts, especially the one titled Money To Fund the Mission.  In it Tim points out how critical finances are to the mission of moving the Gospel forward.  

During the spring of 2012, every single Cru staff member in the northeast region had to take 5 whole weeks off of campus to work on raising financial support.  The sad reality is that almost all of us are under-supported and struggling at some level.        Both our personal support accounts and our campus accounts are low. And without adequate finances to live, eat and minister staff must pull back from time on campus, meeting up with people  and spend time looking for new financial partners.   

In Tim's article, he references a Mark Driscoll video where he describes THE game changer in the history of Mars Hill (Seattle).  

He says there was " a single thing that took them from 40 people to 800. A turning point that made the difference between their church shutting down and being the global influence that it is today through the Acts29 Network and Mark Driscoll’s teaching.

It wasn’t hiring a key staff. Putting on a big outreach. Giving a great sermon. Getting a new website. Him yelling at a bunch of men (that was a different video).

It was money.

A gift from a generous couple – a $200,000 gift that was 100x greater than any gift they’d ever received."

I recommend reading Tim's article where he includes insights from both Bill Hybels and R.C. Sproul.  

He concludes: 

"As ministry leaders we spend countless hours thinking through how to reach more people with the gospel. We plan ways to raise up new leaders. Get excited about new books/ideas that could be gamechangers. Dream of new websites that will singlehandedly reach the campus with the gospel. But we rarely think of money. 

I just wonder what would change if our ministries and staff were abundantly funded. Imagine what God could do."

That's our goal!  Stephanie and I are in a place where we actually need to raise $1300 in new monthly support.  Even as we take seminary classes in Colorado this summer, we are working to raise money.  God has raised up three fantastic interns for next fall; Will Poon, Mercy Gbenjo, and Kelsey Karys.  But if we don't get adequate support, they'll be ministering on campus without us! 

We want to see the Cru ministry at Cornell truly taking the gospel to every student.  We can no longer afford to be barely making it as staff or running on financial fumes as a ministry.  

If you are reading this, and you are a financial supporter of our ministry, I want to thank You!  If you aren't, and you would like to be, please be in touch, or check out this link.  

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.

He went away sad....

This past weekend was an amazing time of championing the Greatness of God, and promoting world missions involvement. On Friday night at our meeting, we talked about God's missionary heart and our role to participate with him in making himself known to the nations. We talked about seeking first the Kingdom of God and not missing out on the things God has for us by seeking greatness for ourselves.

That was followed up (perfectly) on Saturday night with an event here on campus we call LIGHT 2010. Cornell alum, and World Missionary Alex Lee came out to challenge the students to surrender everything to our savior Jesus and follow him -wherever that might lead!

He told parts of his own story, and preached from Mark 10 -the story of the Rich Young Ruler as well as the book of Esther (chapter 4) challenging Cornell's rich, young, successful, "rulers" with the realities of a life spent in pursuit of God vs. a life that deny's His call.

The rich young guy in Mark 10 was unwilling to "sell everything", to leave behind his worldly riches and success and life to follow Jesus. As a result "he went away sad" Lee pointed out the fact that not surrendering to the call of God is a sad loss for you personally, and it's also a loss for those around you.

He challenged the students to step out in faith, to seize the opportunity God has for them now, like queen Esther, and not to miss out like the Rich young ruler did.

These are some words from an article that Alex wrote that corresponded to his message:

Let us take Christ's words to heart. The rich young ruler was first in the World's eyes, but what did that mean to Jesus? Did the wealth of the world really make him rich? The twelve ordinary men who left their boats and fathers and businesses behind -they were the rich ones. She was wise who broke her alabaster jar and anointed her Lord extravagantly. Church, break your jars! Leave your boats! If we are not careful, an entire generation of [north] American Christians will pass away silently into spiritual obscurity, impotent in eternal influence and mournfully barren. we will walk away the saddest of them all. Then we will have proved Christ's warning indeed. How greatly Good wants to use us! How Jesus longs to give us life, and life to the full....As God saved a nation through Esther, so he plans to save many more in our day? Through whom? The answer to this question lies with you.