Since going through our evangelism training last year, Tyler (a senior at Sac State) has been consistently getting into conversations about Jesus in the dorms, including with Ibrahim, a computer science major. While they talked a lot about faith and Christianity last year, God is clearly at work in Ibrahim’s heart this fall! 

At the start of the semester, Ibrahim opened up to Tyler about some difficult circumstances he’s been going through. Tyler responded by pointing him to Scripture, particularly to Jesus. He even gifted Ibrahim a Bible!

Hungry to learn about Jesus and to understand the gospel, Ibrahim has been coming to one of our dorm Bible studies, asking questions, and seeking to learn.  He even took a step of faith to come with us to our Fall Retreat!  

At the retreat, Ibrahim gathered with 101 Cru students from Chico and Sacramento (pictured above). Our speaker, one of the executive directors of Cru’s campus ministry, spoke about the power of the gospel and how God gives us new life, new identity, and new purpose. Ibrahim really connected with the messages, gushing about his experience of the retreat at Bible study the following week. 

While he is still wrestling about surrendering his life to Jesus, Ibrahim continues to be curious and open, eager to study the Word. Please pray for him as he considers how to respond to Jesus’ good news. And pray for Tyler and others who continue to journey alongside him and point him to Christ! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for Tyler and others who are stepping out in faith to share Jesus! 
• Pray for Ibrahim and others who are considering the cost of following Jesus. 
• Pray for Cameron’s evangelism training group, Bible study, and discipleship groups. Pray for students to take the next step in their walk with the Lord.
• Pray for our family’s health as this tends to be a hard time with littles and germs! 

The new school year kicked off with a bang on all of Sacramento’s campuses last month! In just a few days we talked with hundreds of new students, many of whom indicated an interest in learning more about Jesus and getting involved in community on campus.

This year, at Sac State alone, five bible studies are beginning to meet each week! I, Cameron, have the privilege of co-leading a Bible study in the dorms on Tuesday evenings. I have loved getting to hear about each student’s spiritual journey as they get plugged into our study. 

If you were to visit our study on a Tuesday night, you would meet Isaiah, a first year who is not yet a Christian but faithfully searching for answers. You would meet Allison, a first year with a Catholic background who wants to grow in knowing God, with this being her first ever Bible study. You would meet Rielly, a third year mechanical engineering student who has walked with Jesus for many years and wants to grow in loving God and loving others. You would meet Nataly, who wasn’t really looking to get involved, but something made her stop at our table during welcome week. You would meet Yemi, who wants to make God a priority and depend on Him. And, you would meet a handful more who each have their own story of how God has shown up in their lives!  

Lastly, you would also meet Noah, a second year mechanical engineering student, who is helping me lead our Bible study. A new Christian when he started at Sac State last year, he quickly joined my dorm study, got involved in every opportunity available to grow in his walk with God, and learned how to share his faith. This past summer, Noah participated in Cru’s Lake Tahoe Summer Mission (where I led a training in early August). Along with over 80 others, he learned evangelism skills, how to live out his faith in everyday life, and to live in gospel-centered community. Seeing Noah grow and take steps of faith is a sweet demonstration of God at work! 

Thank you for investing in the lives and ministries of students like Noah who seek to know God and make Him known on our Sacramento campuses! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for all of the students we have been able to meet over the last few weeks of fall launch! Pray for them to get connected to Christ-centered community.

Pray for Fall Retreat (Sept. 26-28)! Pray for students to come and connect with the Lord, grow in dependence on Him, and leave with a vision to partner with God to reach their friends and classmates. 

Pray for our kids who have had lots of spiritual questions recently! Pray for discernment and wisdom for us as we parent and lead them.

As the semester came to a close in May, our team and students from all of our Cru movements in the Sacramento area gathered to celebrate all that God did in the 2024-2025 year. As pictured above, we shared stories over pizza about how God is at work and enjoyed a free planetarium show at Sac State (below), hosted by one of our Christian faculty.

One story that stands out is how God has opened doors for us to minister in the dorms at Sac State. After years of not having access, God allowed us to launch a dorm Bible study. It’s been a great place for new freshmen and transfers to find community and explore the gospel. Cameron helped lead this study and loved getting to meet with these students weekly, seeing new students turn into next year’s leaders. 

Noah, a freshman engineering major from Stockton is one of the students we met through our dorm study. He arrived in the fall as a young believer. God put the gospel on Noah’s heart in such a way this past year that Noah has been actively sharing his faith with dorm mates, classmates, and other students on campus. He’s even preparing to lead one of our dorm groups this fall! 

Desiring to grow his impact, Noah will be spending two months of his summer this year on a Cru mission trip in Lake Tahoe. The Tahoe mission provides rich training in evangelism, leadership development, and experience in community outreach. Pray for Noah’s growth and for opportunities for him to use what he learns this summer when he returns to campus and in the rest of his life! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for his work through our dorm study and the other great things he did this year! 

• Pray for Noah and all our students’ spiritual growth during summer break!

• Pray for Cameron as she prepares to lead trainings for the Tahoe Summer Mission at the end of July. 

• Please pray for our family to love each other well and grow together in Christ as we go through a season of grief. 

The WHOLE campus to the WHOLE world! This vision of Cru involves mobilizing both students and faculty to share the good news about Jesus. This last month at Sac State, we had a taste of that through our “Professor, What’s Your Story?” event.  

Three Christian professors (pictured above) from different departments (criminal justice, physics/astronomy, and philosophy) all shared their testimonies to an audience of students. They highlighted how they came to know Christ, following Jesus as college students, and how their faith interacts with their fields of scholarship. The program ended with Q&A from students. 

In preparation for the event, we encouraged all our students to invite their non-Christian friends. One Cru freshman, Noah, brought his dorm mate, Michael, who has some familiarity with Christianity but isn’t walking with the Lord. 

Students were so encouraged by the chance to engage with the professors about faith that many stayed after the program ended to have coffee, snacks, and talk with the professors personally. Some even stayed an extra 30-40 minutes!

One student who came, Leila, told the faculty, “As a first year student, I felt comforted hearing your stories, knowing that I could relate.” Praise God for teachers willing to live out their faith on campus! Please pray for the message they shared to bear fruit in students’ lives! 

Thank you for partnering with us and investing in the message of Christ reaching the whole campus, whole city, and whole world! We are so grateful for you! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for students hearing the gospel from their professors!

Pray for follow-up conversations with students like Michael. 

Pray for our spring planning times as we prepare to welcome new students in the fall. Pray for our student leaders as they transition into their new roles.

“Can I read your Bible?” Josue asked Tyler just before Tyler left their dorm room. 

Tyler (pictured middle in glasses), a junior transfer studying English at Sac State, has been attending Cameron’s Bible study in the dorms all year. He has actively sought opportunities to grow in his walk with Jesus and in ministry while in Sacramento. Among things like learning how to share his faith, being trained in leading a Bible study, and participating in a discipleship group with Cru, Tyler has been engaging in “Prayer, Care, Share”, our most recent initiative to open doors for the gospel to reach friends and classmates. The intention of these 6 weeks is to actively pray for the people in our daily spheres, noticing where God might be at work in our lives and how he might use us. Then, we start looking for ways to serve and meet tangible needs of those same people, with the hope of loving as Jesus loves. Finally, we seek opportunities to share Jesus’ love by being curious, asking good questions, and engaging in spiritual conversations with our friends. Prayer, Care, Share will end with an event that students can invite their non-Christian friends to where four Christian professors at Sac State will be sharing about their faith in Christ. While these weeks tend to be broken up into each category, praying, caring and sharing often overlap as students engage with their friends.  

So, when Tyler’s roommate asked him for a Bible during the “prayer” portion, Tyler was eager and prepared to engage more! After handing over his Bible, Tyler suggested that Josue start reading in the book of John. When Tyler got back and asked him about his time, Josue mentioned that the passage he read related to his life and he felt a conviction to turn away from sin. Tyler has since been able to have more conversations about how to read the Bible and about what it means to follow Jesus with Josue. Pray for Josue, Tyler and all of our students engaging in Prayer, Care, Share! 

We are praising God for how he is working to reach the students at Sac State and our surrounding campuses. THANK YOU for your being a part of what God is doing in Sacramento and around the world. We are grateful for you!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for pursuing Josue and for the interest he is showing in reading the Bible! 
• Pray for all of our students to be bold and full of love as they enter the share portion of this outreach! Praise God for growing the hearts of students like Tyler who long for others to know Jesus.
• Pray for our “What’s Your Story, Prof?” event on March 13th at noon.
• Pray for our family’s health. We’ve had some random illnesses that have left us tired. 

“So why did you fill out our survey?” I (Cameron) asked. “For the Otter Pop!” responded Ava with a smile.

At the end of August, a couple thousand students moved into the residence halls at Sac State for the new school year. These dorms house mostly freshmen or junior transfers who are new to the area. While their primary reason for coming to Sac State is to learn academically, they are also looking for friends, community, and purpose in life.  

Each day during the first week of school as students passed by on their way to class, Cru staff, students, and volunteers gave out Otter Pops (popsicles) to students who took our spiritual interest survey. Some of the students we met were already Christians and are looking for a place to continue to grow in their faith while in college. Many students, like Ava, don’t yet know Jesus and are interested in exploring faith.  

After that first week, we got in touch with interested students and invited them to check out our weekly Bible studies (like Cam’s study above) at Sac State. We also do this at other colleges in the area, like Folsom Lake College, Consumes River College, and Sierra College. Praise God for Otter Pops and the opportunities that are opened up because of them!  

The culmination of our Fall Launch season is a weekend getaway where students can grow in their relationships with the Lord and community as they hear from a speaker, worship together, and meet students from other campuses. The first weekend of October, 75+ students from our Sacramento campuses (below), Chico, and San Fransisco gathered for Fall Retreat in Redding. 

During a reflection time, Ainslie, a Sac State freshman, shared with our group that she realized that God is always pursuing us, and she just needed to pursue Him back! Another Sac State student, Tyler, is excited to return to campus and share his faith with his friends and classmates! We are excited to come alongside these students as they walk with Jesus, and grow in living out their faith! Thank you for partnering with us and praying for students like Ava, Ainslie, and Tyler as they take the next step in their faith journeys with Jesus!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for a great start to fall! It’s been so encouraging and fun to meet lots of new and interested students! 
• Pray for students to want to learn how to read the Bible and follow Jesus with their whole lives. Pray for them to connect to a Bible study. 
• Pray for evangelism trainings starting this week. 
• Pray for our family as we steward our schedules and energy levels. Pray for our health as we get further into fall. 

successful evangelism noun

1. taking the initiative to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. 

Our family spent 3 beautiful days in Tahoe last month while I (Cameron) got to train 47 students from all over the U.S. in how to love your neighbor and live missionally after college. While attending the Lake Tahoe Summer Mission, students get jobs locally or take classes at the community college, and use their evenings and weekends to participate in trainings, outreaches, community, and discipleship geared towards growing them in their walks with Jesus during and after college. Essentially, students are given opportunities to see how God can use their everyday moments for His glory! This summer, students and staff in Tahoe were able to share the gospel with 328 people (co-workers, locals, tourists, etc), and saw 17 people place their faith in Jesus through their outreaches and the relationships students built with co-workers.

After finishing one of my trainings, Suzannah (left of Cameron above), who had just finished her freshman year at Boise State, asked me to get coffee. Suzannah shared how God had been working in her life this summer and showing her that He has been leading her, even through disappointments and struggles, to a place of knowing His love more deeply and trusting Him with her future. Being a part of a community of so many different types of people collectively desiring to know Jesus and make Him known has made her eager to keep growing when she returns to her campus. Also, participating in successful evangelism (see definition above) has grown her in her intentionally and authenticity in sharing Jesus with others. This summer has confirmed in her a desire to return to Idaho and eventually Germany (where she recently studied abroad), to share the grace, joy, and peace of the gospel with her friends.

Praise God for Suzannah and the other 46 students from all over the U.S. (Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Montana, California, etc.) who took the initiative to use their summers in this way! Pray that God would bless and use them to share His love as they return to their campuses. Thank you for praying for and investing in these students’ lives and partnering with us in this ministry! We’re grateful for you! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for the start of the school year!  All of our Sacramento campuses begin the week of August 26!  Pray for Cameron and the staff to have energy as they meet students and have spiritual conversations during fall launch.
• Pray for all of the students stepping on campus! Pray they would see their need for Jesus and experience the good news of hope and life in the gospel. 
• Pray for the start of Cameron’s dorm Bible Study. Pray that many students would come and learn to study God’s word and discover Jesus. 
• Please pray for energy, health, and grace for our family! Pray for each of us as we settle into rhythms of work, play, and rest Pray that we would point each other to Jesus daily! 

Kaitlyn (fourth from the left in front row, and shown with Cam below) didn’t expect to go back overseas with Cru. She had gone to Central Asia in 2022 for a summer mission, but the rest of her summers have been slotted for taking classes and nursing school applications. However, at Cru’s Winter Conference this January, Kaitlyn felt like God was calling her to go again this summer.

In May, Kaitlyn joined with 13 other college students from around the US to go to Kyoto, Japan for 5 weeks.  While there, Kaitlyn’s team went to Japanese Universities, built friendships with students, and had intentional spiritual conversations with them. Below is Kaitlyn’s description of one such conversation: 

“I had sukiyaki for dinner with another friend this week! Even though her English was not as advanced, we had a fun time getting to know each other through broken English and Google translate. We had a great conversation as to what the true meaning of Christmas and Easter is and I was able to share the gospel with her!! She became super curious to learn more and wanted to come visit Student Impact [Cru’s name in Japan], but she is scared to become a believer because of persecution here in Japan.”

Kaitlyn has returned already, but she is continuing to learn from her experience: 

“My trip to Japan has been such an amazing experience where I saw God work in the hearts of Japanese students along with transforming my heart to grow more compassionate for the unreached. I was reminded that He is a God of all nations and that He isn’t just working in the lives of people in America but also in the lives of people in Japan. Though there are few Christians in Japan He is still working to open their eyes to see who He is and I hope that He continues to send me out into the plentiful harvest. It has been so inspiring to see how Christians in Japan are ministering to students and it has encouraged me to be more bold and courageous to spread the gospel to people in America.”

I am so grateful for Kaitlyn and the privilege it is to walk alongside her during her college years.  She has helped lead Bible studies at Sac State, helped launch Epic (a Cru ministry to Asian-American students), gone on mission trips, and learned to share her faith.

Thank you for investing in students like her and the impact she will make for Christ at Sac State and beyond!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for Kaitlyn and the other students who went to Japan this summer. Pray God would continue to work in and through them as they return to their campuses!
• Pray for the students they met, that God would water the seeds planted!
• Pray for Jeff and his team as they do the hard work necessary to make Cru’s apps, websites, and platforms function well.  
• Pray for our family to savor the summer and the change in rhythms.  
• Pray for Cameron’s trainings at the Lake Tahoe Summer Mission. She will be training around 50 students July 18-19.

“ I enjoy making a difference in the lives of the students who will be the spiritual leaders of tomorrow, whether that be within their families, in the workplace, at their church, or perhaps even in ministries like Cru.” — Michael (third from the right above)

Preparing students to live life on mission wherever God leads them is one of our greatest joys as Cru staff. Michael got involved with Cru at UC Berkeley while studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. After graduating last year, he went on a summer mission with Cru before returning home to Folsom. During the summer, God put it on Michael’s heart to find ways to continue to minister to college students in his free time. 

Michael joined our team as a volunteer in the fall and jumped in to help lead students in our Epic Movement at Sac State (a ministry focused on reaching Asian-American students) and our newly re-started movement at Folsom Lake College.  

Last month, Michael took two students, Maclainey and Gabe, out on the FLC campus and modeled how to ask questions, listen, and walk someone through the gospel message.  When they finished, Maclainey and Gabe grabbed their friends, Emily, Judah, and Sarah, and showed them how to do what Michael had just taught them! This group ended up sharing the message of Jesus with 6 students that afternoon! 

After seeing these gospel conversations modeled and put into practice, the students came away confident that God could use them and excited to engage with more people! 

Thank you for partnering in this ministry of multiplying faith!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for working in Michael’s life while at UC Berkeley, and using him to reach this generation of college students with the gospel! 

Praise God for the students who are being equipped to have spiritual conversations wherever they are! Pray that God would use them!

Pray for students as they transition to their summers. Pray that God would use them in their homes and workplaces. Pray for students who are going on summer missions to be used mightily as they share the gospel. 

Pray for Cameron’s preparation as she gets to spend a couple of days training the 47 students at the Lake Tahoe Summer Mission.

Pray for our family to enjoy the change of pace over summer and to use our time well!