Spring time on college campuses often means two things: nicer weather and more conversations about Jesus! Our students took advantage of this by giving away free cups of milk tea and inviting students to talk about Easter/Jesus.  

Epic Movement (our ministry to Asian-American students at Sac State) gave away gallons of tea during Easter week (pictured above). One of the cups went to a Filipino student named Zoilo, with a quick conversation before he headed off to his next commitment.

The following week, Zoilo ran into two of our staff who got to sit down with him and share the whole gospel message. After talking a while, Zoilo decided to pray to receive Christ!  

Praise God for how he pursues students like Zoilo! Pray for him as he connects with our students in Epic and learns how to walk in his new relationship with God. 

Our Cru movement at American River College hosted a similar table this month. One student we met, Nikhil, grew up with Hindu parents, but he now calls himself an atheist. While chatting over a cup of tea, he shared about his studies and the stress/anxiety he feels. 

Two of our students took the opportunity to share with him about why Jesus is such good news and how he can give peace. Nikhil wasn’t ready to trust in Jesus, but after talking, he gave us his number and was interested in talking more! 

Pray that God would help us to continue these gospel conversations with students like Zoilo and Nikhil! Pray that He would continue to draw them to himself. 

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for His continual work in students’ lives! 

Pray for Zoilo and Nikhil to get connected with other believers in our Cru and Epic Movements and to learn how Jesus can be their source of life and truth! 

Pray for our time with students to be fruitful as we wrap up the semester. Pray for God to use ours and our students summers for His glory! 

Pray for us to point our children daily to the Lord and pray for him to give them faith in Him! 

Joaquin grew up in a nominally Catholic home, but his family didn’t really go to church or talk about faith.  It wasn’t until college, through his science classes, that he saw how creation points to a Creator, and he began to wonder what God might be like. However, at this point, these were just unanswered questions in his mind. 

This fall, some of our Cru staff ran into Joaquin during our weekly evangelism hour. They shared with him about who this Creator God is, and even more importantly, how we can know him through Christ. Joaquin decided then and there that he wanted to follow Jesus and begin a new relationship with this God!

Since then, Joaquin has been participating in our Sac State small group on Tuesday nights, learning more about the amazing good news of Jesus through the book of Ephesians. He meets up regularly with our staff to learn how to grow in his new faith through prayer, reading the Word, confessing sin, and sharing his faith. 

Recently, Joaquin shared his faith for the first time, helping to pass on that same good new to others! Praise God for his work in Joaquin’s life, and this example of how God takes lost students and turns them in into multiplying disciples! Pray for more students in Davis and Sacramento to come to know God and be sent out into the harvest fields!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for Joaquin’s new faith and growth in Christ! 
• Pray for our students to draw closer to the Lord over Winter Break. 
• Pray for our Winter Conference in January. Pray that many students will come and encounter the love, truth, and power of the gospel for themselves and others around them! 
• Pray for our family to depend fully on Christ and seek him!  Please pray for our kids to grow up knowing the grace and truth of Jesus. 
• Please pray for Jeff and Cam both to be learners in their roles as they navigate new technology, strategies, generations, and cultures to see the gospel go forth. 

Lidiya (above left), a student at American River College (ARC) describes herself as a seeker.  She is a first-year engineering student, and has entered into her college life full of questions. She wants to learn what is true and what life is all about.  

Lidiya first learned about Cru during one of our days tabling on campus.  She came up and began asking Juan (above right), on of our student leaders, why he became a Christian in high school, how he knows that the gospel is true, and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.

After that initial conversation, and over the past month, Lidiya has joined Juan, Steven (Cameron’s co-leader) and several other students on Mondays to study the life of Jesus in the gospel of Luke.  

Some of the students attending the Monday lunch group are solid in their faith while others are just coming back to the Lord after a season of wandering in high school. But each, like Lidiya, is interested in who Jesus is, and it is evident that God is stirring in these students’ hearts.  

Thank you for helping create spaces and opportunities for students like Lidiya to ask questions and get answers! We are grateful for your prayers and investment in these students’ lives! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for Lidiya!  Pray that God would open her heart to trust Him with her life.  
• Praise God for the Monday small group at ARC and pray for them as they study the gospel of Luke and seek Jesus. 
• Pray for our movements at Sac State and Davis, that God would give our students boldness as they invite others to come and see who Jesus is. 
• Pray for Cameron’s on-going conversations with Kendra, a student at Sac State who also has big questions about faith and the Bible.  
• Pray for our family to abide in Jesus daily and walk with Him in all areas and seasons of our lives. 

A new school year is upon us, and with it, thousands of new students flooding campuses across the greater Sacramento area and at UC Davis. There is so much opportunity for the gospel to be heard, but how does it happen?

The start of every school year means hours and hours spent talking to hundreds of students across our five Sacramento campuses. We talk to as many freshmen and junior transfers as possible to welcome them to campus and to look for spiritually-open students. Jaden is one of those students. 

On the first day of class at Sac State, Jaden (above, right) walked by our Cru table near the dorms. He is a freshman whose family moved to the U.S. from overseas five years ago. He eagerly filled out a spiritual-interest survey and met up with my teammate, Conor, the next day! 

Jaden had attended a Christian high school and had a lot of head knowledge about Christianity, but it wasn’t until his meeting with Conor that his head knowledge became heart knowledge. Conor shared with Jaden the significance of our sin, our need for Jesus, and how Christ’s death and resurrection is actually an invitation into a reconciled relationship with God.  

For the first time, the meaning of the gospel clicked for Jaden and made sense. He decided right then and there to place his faith in Christ and prayed with Conor to start this new life with God!

We are praising God for Jaden’s new life in Christ, and for the many others who have taken steps of faith to learn more about Jesus! Your prayers and partnership are making a difference, and we are so grateful for the ways you come alongside us!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise the Lord for his work in Jaden’s life!  Pray that he would be aware of God’s presence and love daily! 
• Please pray for our Fall Retreat (Sept 22-24).  We are gathering with 80+ students from Chico, San Francisco, and our schools in Sac and Davis. Pray for students to connect deeply with each other and the Lord! 
• Pray for our Welcome Week at UC Davis (Sept 23-27). Our team is excited to meet new students and hoping that many would hear about Jesus.
• Please pray for energy, health, and grace for our family and staff teams as we get into our fall routines. Pray that we would love God and each other well! 

In May and June, campuses in Sacramento and Davis wrapped up their terms, and with the close of another school year, our team spent time reflecting on God’s work in our midst and celebrating together. Thank you for investing in these students and partnering with us in all that God did this year! Here are some highlights:

Aurora and Jade: Aurora, a freshman student at Sac State (pictured above in orange next to Cam), found us during a Welcome Week event in August when she and her boyfriend, Javin, were walking by. Both of them got involved in our Monday night small group and started learning how to share Christ with others. 

Beyond just getting into spiritual conversations with other students on campus, Aurora began initiating with her friend, Jade, to talk about Jesus. All year long, Aurora asked the Monday night group to pray for Jade and to pray for wisdom in how to answer Jade’s questions about Christianity. Talking with friends about the gospel is often more nerve-racking than with strangers at school! 

This spring, God’s work in Jade’s heart became evident, as she spiritually opened up more and more. She started asking deeper questions and wanting to understand why Jesus’ life and message are such good news. At the beginning of April, the week before Easter, she finally accepted Aurora’s invitation to come with her to church.  Through that service and her many talks with Aurora, Jade decided to place her faith in Christ!  

Since then, Jade has been regularly going to church with Aurora and learning about her new life in Jesus! Pray for Jade as she continues in her new relationship with the Lord, learning and growing in him. 

Students taking steps in evangelism. Most of our students learned how to share their faith and had opportunities to put it into practice. A dozen of them shared Christ for the first time this year!

5 new brothers and sisters in Christ! Aside from Jade, we saw other students indicate decisions for Christ through the evangelistic efforts of our students. Pray for these students to also grow in their new relationships with the Lord. 

2 new launched ministries. In our goals to reach every student on every campus, we try to launch multiple groups on campuses to focus on reaching different pockets of students. This year, the Lord brought together leaders to start Epic (a ministry to Asian-American students) at Sac State and Destino (a ministry to Latino students and faculty) at UC Davis. Pray that God would reach every student with the good news of Jesus and overcome cultural barriers! 

Students discipling students. As a result of rebuilding post-COVID, this year the Lord raised up student leaders who can disciple and lead other students, helping them walk with God and share their faith.  He is multiplying our impact! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for all that He did this year!
• Pray for our students to grow in their relationships with God over summer break.   
• Pray for God to be working in the hearts of students we will meet this year!
• Pray for our family to daily draw close to the Lord and be shaped by Him. Pray that we would be refreshed!

During the week prior to Easter, I (Cameron) got to take Kaitlyn, a Sac State student to UC Davis for an Easter outreach (pictured above). The Davis Cru staff and students hid Easter eggs with candy all over campus, and students who found the eggs could enter in a raffle. When the egg finders visited the table we asked about what Easter meant to them. The answers we heard varied: Easter is “a time to eat candy,”  “the Easter bunny,” “a time to be with family,” “go to church,” etc.  

When Jade approached the table and answered that she’s not religious, I wanted to know more. Jade’s parents are atheists and her only exposure to Christianity was when she went to a friend’s youth group without her parents knowing. Jade went on to explain that she believes in some sort of higher connection and power, but one that comes from within and is self-discovered.  

After sharing my own journey of spiritually seeking and encountering Jesus, I was able share how through belief in Jesus, I also believe in a power within me—the Holy Spirit. This common ground gave me the opportunity to share how an all powerful and good God that is far outside us could make His home in our hearts. 

Jade’s views of God didn’t change in that moment, but she shared that her view of Christians did. Having an honest, loving, open conversation about faith altered some of her previous negative views of Christians. It is a great joy to see someone place their trust in Christ, but we also celebrate each little step closer someone takes to being able to believe the good news.

Please pray for Jade and others like her, that God would put believers in their lives who will share the good news in grace and truth. Pray they would hear and respond!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for those who participated in the Easter outreach, that many students at Davis would hear the good news of Jesus and turn to Him.
• Pray for God to use our student leaders’ steps of faith, especially in sharing the gospel. 
• Pray that we finish the school year well and send students equipped for summer break!
• Please pray for our family to get and stay healthy! Pray for us and our kids to draw closer to Jesus every day!  

“I want to share my faith more.  Specifically, I want to talk with my parents about the gospel.  I’ve been avoiding it until now, but I really want them to know Jesus!” 

Juan (above left), a student at American River College (ARC), shared that takeaway with Steven, a Cru staff member, after this year’s Winter Conference in SoCal. 

As the only student from his school who would attend, which meant he didn’t know anyone else, Juan took a huge step of faith even by simply going. God honored that faith, and for Juan it was a weekend full of learning, challenges, and growth!

God used the speakers to remind him of the good news of Jesus and challenge him to live a life on mission. He got to experience a Day of Outreach by going out into the community to share his faith alongside other students from Sacramento, San Jose, and the Inland Empire. And he soaked up as much as he could from all the seminars and break out times!

Juan is coming back from the conference and starting the semester encouraged in his faith and excited to share the gospel with others! As a result of the conference, he is also applying to join a summer mission trip this year and wants to see more students come to know Jesus back at ARC. 

Pray for Juan and all the students who went to Winter Conference, that the ripples of what they learned and the steps of faith they take as a result would impact families, campuses, workplaces, and nations for eternity!  

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for His continual work in students’ lives! 

Pray for Juan, that God would use him to bring the gospel to his family and campus. Pray that his parents would hear the good news of Jesus and turn to Him! 

Pray for our upcoming outreach at Sac State, March 6-9.

Pray for our family to get into some normal rhythms as a family of 6!

here’s something about getting away that makes space for the Lord to work in our lives! Our fall retreat last month was no different. Cru students from Sacramento and Davis “roughed it” in Georgetown with no wifi or cell signal, spending the weekend in community and in the Word. 

Through extended time with the Lord, enjoying God’s creation, fellowshipping together, and learning about our identities in Christ, God used the few days away to impact the lives of our students!

Cherish is a freshman at Sacramento State that got involved with Cru this semester through one of our student leaders, Kaitlyn. She came with us to fall retreat and really connected with the main speaker’s talks that weekend! An international missions director within Cru spoke about how Christ transforms our lives in terms of Belonging, Believing, Becoming, and Blessing.  

Cherish was struck by what the gospel says about who we are in Christ and how we are called to live for God and bless others. She was further encouraged by our Saturday afternoon session on how to share her faith using Cru’s GodTools app (available for free on iOS/Android). For many students these messages were a springboard into God’s mission, locally and internationally. 

Flowing out of the weekend, we are running 3-week evangelism workshops at Sac State for students (including Cherish) who want to learn how to engage others with the gospel! Pray that God uses the training to open doors for many Jesus-focused conversations in the upcoming Christmas season!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for using fall retreat in the lives of Cherish and others! 
• Pray for the evangelism workshops on campus and that they would lead to students having more fruitful gospel conversations.

“I think Jesus can be whoever we want him to be.”  

Brielle’s sorority sisters each chimed in with who they thought Jesus is or was. Each of these women had come from different spiritual backgrounds. But they all had something in common— Brielle, a friend who invited them to talk about Jesus. 

A senior at Sac State, Brielle approached our Cru table last semester asking how she could get involved. Her mom had been involved with Cru when she was in college, and Brielle recognized our name right away! She immediately joined our training times and learned how to share her faith with others.  

Brielle is also involved in a sorority on campus, Delta Gamma. Through her involvement in Cru, God has grown her desire to share Jesus with her sisters and others in the Greek system before she graduates.  

So, this semester Brielle took a step to faith to start a seeker’s Bible study on Sunday evenings. Sisters from Delta Gamma and other sororities have been gathering together for a meal and exploring topics of faith such as, “What is the meaning and purpose of life?” and, “Who is Jesus?”.

While many of these women come from unchurched backgrounds and have very little Bible knowledge, it is our prayer that those who come would find a safe place to explore Jesus and the Bible. We are also praying that the seeds planted through Brielle’s faith steps would turn into greater ministry opportunities in the Greek system in years to come. 

Thank you for partnering with us and the work God is doing in and through students like Brielle!   

You are a gift to us and these students! 

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for Brielle and how God is leading her!  Pray that God would use her final months on campus in big ways! 

Pray for the DG women and others who are coming to the seeker’s study. Pray that Jesus would captivate the with his truth and love.

Pray that the Lord would raise up more followers of Jesus in the Greek system, and for the gospel to impact each person there. 

Please pray for all of our students to take faith steps to share Jesus with their friends and classmates during the next few weeks leading to Easter. 

Thanks for praying for Winter Conference! We will share more about it in our next update.