Blog Feed

From Orlando to the Nation…

Chad and Cindy greeted me with gumbo and jambalaya at the door of their beautiful house.  They walked me back to their breezy screened-in pool area where other members of their church life group shared their lives and their food with me.

What a great opportunity to get to know other brothers and sisters as I was invited to share about what God is doing in the lives of students at University of Central Florida (UCF) and how they can help us reach and equip these students with the gospel.  Their ages varied, but their hearts were ready to be used by Jesus, and they plan to bring “free cookie s and advice” to students with me!

This season has seen many partnerships spring up with churches around UCF.

Our goal is to help Cru everywhere to be even more effective at reaching every student by building a culture of partnership with local churches, but many of our staff around the country are hesitant to try this. What we’ve done with smaller schools may not be enough to convince them, so the work we’re doing at UCF (one of the largest schools in the nation) is vital in helping Cru folks to see how beneficial church partnerships can be for everyone involved.  Please pray that what we do here will inspire big things all across Cru and the Church!

Reaching Chicago

Jeff Koch, leader of the Chicago Cru staff team

I was huffing and puffing, on my way back from the park with my kids.  Chicago was calling, and I didn’t want to miss this chance to impact a team of missionaries running ministries on over 11 college campuses across the city.

Still puffing, I popped open my laptop just in time to greet a group of young, smiling faces on video chat.  They contacted me because they’d worked real hard to get where they were and just didn’t have capacity to reach any more campuses without the help of local churches.  “What do we do and how do we get started?”  Over the next 90 minutes I told them about my experiences in NJ and other places, launching and building spiritual movements arm-in-arm with the bride of Christ…

“We are ALL IN!” they declared, excited to see God’s people activated toward reaching more young folks than they ever could on their own.  Pray for the Chicago Metro team, and pray for more like them!

What God’s been teaching us – His Bride throughout history

11th Century – the Church splits between East and West

Who knew doodling in class could be such a good idea?  Karen and I sat down in our seminary class on Church History this month, doubtful that our spotty memories could retain all the information from 20 centuries of names, dates and events.  Not to worry, though—our animated professor had a plan!

 

He taught us to memorize a letter (only consonants) to match each of the 10 numerical digits, then turn those letters into word-pictures.  For example, number one is represented by the letter “T” and 11 could be “ToT,” so he had us imagine two tots playing tug-of-war with the church to represent how the Catholic and Orthodox church split during the 11th century (over issues like beards and what bread to use in communion).  It sounds ridiculous even as I recount it, but I’ve got to tell you that those 20 centuries are all pretty clear in my head along with many of the significant people of the time.

But what did God teach us through all of this?  Beyond simply how to memorize things better, we learned so much about how God has been on the move since the days of Jesus, through (and sometimes in spite of) the dubious dedication of His children.  I can see where a lot of people with different backgrounds are coming from.  I have a greater desire to reach out to those who are different and get to know them.

It also gives me confidence about the future.  The Church has continually gone through lots of trouble from inside and out and, if it were up to people, it would have languished long ago…but the Holy Spirit keeps breathing new life on those who are willing, and He will continue to do so until Jesus returns!

Latest News

Click here or on the image to read about mobilizing churches to reach students at UCF, training Cru staff to partner with churches in Chicago and the latest with our family and our relationship with God.

Just got time for a quick prayer?  Please talk to the Lord about:

  • Students on mission trips
  • Big transitions for many missionary families in Cru
  • Upcoming busy summer events and travel

You can give to keep this ministry going strong by clicking here.

Thank you so much for walking with us through these amazing days!

Dialogue or Debate

I discovered a very interesting board game the other day, where each player takes part in a mock tavern brawl.  Your goal is simply to gather the most “reput
ation points” either by performing ridiculous stunts (swinging on chandeliers, showing off on the table) or by stealing reputation from your opponents (knocking them down with chairs, stabbing them in the back, etc).

As a game, it was a lot of chaotic fun, but the concept of “stealing reputation” got me to thinking about how we do that in real life.  When we engage people we disagree with about something, do we have a humble posture that says “lets both learn and grow, because neither of us has arrived” or do we make people feel like they have to defend themselves in order to “win the debate” or be counted as an equal.

We can’t afford to stop talking about the things that are most important just because we don’t agree, but let’s look for ways to show our own vulnerability and to honor the other as we journey along together…

That doesn’t mean I won’t take you down in that board game though :).

 

Cartoons for Christ?

Talk about a “team effort!” God had us link arms with two local churches, a city art ministry (Evoke), and the school’s Christian Filmmakers group to bring Columbian animator Jonathan Hernandez to speak on campus about faith and art.

Jonathan got them laughing as we all shared our favorite cartoons growing up and why we liked them.  He went on to talk about how coming to Christ brought a new purpose to his own art and career.  Students engaged throughout (some, like William below, even stepping outside with Pastor Red to talk more deeply) and hung around afterward with questions.  This has led to several new members (like Daniel on the bottom left) growing in their faith at our weekly bible study as well as plugging in at church!

Please pray that we are able to continue to build bridges with other ministries around the country, and that our college students see that and are drawn to Jesus because of it!

Reaching Professors

Last semester, our student ministry teamed up with Faculty Commons (our ministry to and through professors) to host a Thank-A-Prof outreach. We set up a table and encouraged passing students to write a thank you note to a favorite professor. As word spread that we were starting a “Movement of Gratitude” on campus, students quickly warmed up to the idea of blessing their professors, who are usually only critiqued and evaluated.

The response was GREAT! We collected 162 cards which we’re delivering this semester, giving us the opportunity to meet new faculty and engage them in relationship and gauge their spiritual interest.

Sally, a professor at UF, was asked to rate her interest in knowing God personally from 0 to 10. After some silence, she said “I can’t answer this now but I reckon I’ll need to answer it sometime.” After assuring her of God’s love for her and His desire for her to know Him personally, Sally gladly accepted C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity” (my favorite book) and an offer to grab coffee and talk more.  Please pray for Professor Sally and the Faculty Commons missionaries working to reach influential educators like her who open doors for us all over the world.

Celebrate

As part of an effort to partner with a network of churches in building a new gospel movement at Florida Gulf Coast University, I (Jeff) was blessed with the opportunity to attend a 2-day conference called DiscipleShift.  There were a lot of neat ideas shared, including how they use the powerful method of Bible Storying to unpack the week’s sermon in all their Life Groups.  What stood out to me most of all through the weekend, though, was the importance of celebration.  This is not something I’ve done very well.

The Bible says a lot about celebration, God even commands us to remember the good things in our life by throwing parties!  In my own strategic, always-looking-forward mind, I often forget to stop and make a big deal about people and what they & God have accomplished.  Let’s spend less time reaching for the next thing (which only God can accomplish anyway) and more time rejoicing in the people and blessings God has already given us!

  • Plan daily and special times of celebration
  • Dedicate everything to God and thank Him for it
  • Lead with joy (and maybe a gentle prank or two 🙂
  • Claim the promises of God (especially His promise to forgive)
  • Invest in God’s people

Watch this beautiful video on the art of celebration: youtu.be/VamJCsYMFBg

BROOKLYN UPDATE

Diana Edwards (2nd from the left) helping run a Cru Inner-City food packing event

Remember what God was doing last month in Brooklyn?  Check out this text from Diana: Jeff just came out of a meeting with Pastor Paul, Sasha [new Cru missionary in NYC] and a couple of others. God is about to set Brooklyn on FIRE.  And ur name was the one who connected it together!! The elbow [I called myself an elbow in the body of Christ, connecting heart to hands]!  Pastor Paul invited me to his church plant gathering Friday.  I invited Samantha [another evangelist friend] and her children. Its in her neighborhood!  Look at God!!!! Keep doing what u do!

Pastor Paul and his wife helping to reach students in Brooklyn

Email from Pastor Paul: It was a great meeting. Sam [Jews for Jesus] shared his experiences doing outreach and evangelism on campus and provided a lot of helpful information in terms of decoding the campus. He is also going to work with Cru in providing training to reach out to Jewish students. In terms of next steps, Sasha and Josh are going to set up evangelism training for members from our [church] launch team and then we will go out together on campus. They are also going to work through [a Brooklyn College student] to get a club on campus that will facilitate greater access to students and for follow up. We are also going to create a prayer group that meets at least monthly to pray for the work and the community.  I’m excited!!! I can’t wait to see where God takes this. I was blown a

Sarah and Sasha, part of the new Cru staff team in Brooklyn.

way how God brought all of us together, and you, sir, were the instrument that the Lord used. Jeff, I truly thank God for you and your heart to see His kingdom grow. Keep praying for more like them!