“I just don’t see what’s so good about this God,” Jon said to me (Jeff).

Jon’s view of God has changed greatly in the past year!

I met Jon his first week at UC Davis, about a year and a half ago.  He had come to our first weekly meeting of the year, and then to our first bible study.  He told me that he had gone to church for all 18 years of his life and that his parents were involved in Cru in college.  Jon was sure to be a Christian, right?

Nevertheless, we make it a habit of sharing the gospel with all of our incoming freshmen.  So, I asked Jon to meet up for about 30 minutes later in the week.  As we began our conversation, I asked him the question that I ask every freshman when we meet up for the first time: “So what’s your spiritual background?”

Jon answered, “I guess I would consider myself an agnostic.”

That definitely wasn’t what I expected.

I listened to Jon as he shared his doubts.  Among others, he didn’t trust that God is good.

I told Jon that I’m glad he’s in our group, that it’s okay if he has doubts, and that he can ask any questions that he wants.  I also asked if we could meet up again.

Jon became a frequent attendee to our bible study, weekly meetings, and social events.  He began to make friends and genuinely enjoy himself within our community.  He had a safe place to which to belong and explore his questions.

As Jon and I would continue to meet up, however, I would ask the question, “Can you say that God is good?”  He could never answer yes wholeheartedly.

I met with Jon once again last month at In-N-Out.  It had been awhile since we had hung out.  Just by talking with him, I could see that he had grown a ton.  I also asked the recurring question, “Can you say that God is good?”

Without hesitation, Jon said, “Yes.”

Praise God!  I’m so thankful that God is working in Jon’s life, that he is revealing more of His character to Jon, and that Jon has found a safe community to which to belong.

Thank you for being part of Jon’s spiritual journey and helping to allow students like him to have a safe place to explore their questions.

Prayer Requests

Thank God for revealing more of His character to Jon.  Thank Him for the growth in Jon’s life.

Thank God for the impact that he made in the lives of our students attending our annual Winter Conference.

Pray for students to apply to our summer missions opportunities.  Application deadlines are coming up soon.  These make such an impact both to the places that students go and in the lives of the students themselves.

Jason recently decided to follow Jesus!

“I’m tired of making excuses,” Jason told me last week.

I met Jason over a year ago, during the second week of his freshman year at UC Davis.  After following up numerous freshmen who indicated they were interested in getting involved in a bible study or talking more about spiritual things, Jason was one of the more intriguing people I met with.  He had hardly any spiritual background and new hardly anything about Jesus.  However, he realized something was missing in his life.  He had decided that when he got to college, he would investigate a religion, and somehow decided that that religion would be Christianity.  As I met with Jason, I realized he was essentially saying, “Educate me!”  While Jason and I continued to meet up frequently to talk over his questions, he also started attending numerous Christian events on campus with different college ministries.

Jason and his family had placed a big emphasis on academics.  His main goal was to do well in school.  So, while he was thoroughly investigating Jesus and the nuances of Christianity in his spare time, his search would take a backseat when there was a homework assignment to do or when exams came up.  He had to do well at school.  He definitely had his priorities.  It continued this way all throughout his freshman year.  Yet, and the end of the school year, he had a fairly good understanding of who Jesus is.  He still wasn’t ready, however, to fully place his trust in Jesus and surrender; he felt he needed to do more research.

Jason began to see how his academic drive and his need to do more research were both excuses that kept him from placing his trust in Jesus.  He saw this theme of making excuses come up again and again in his life.  “I’m tired of making excuses,” he told me.  At last, he had decided to take the plunge.  After a year of investigating and still not knowing everything, a few weeks ago Jason finally decided to surrender his life to Jesus at a fall retreat!

Jason is now learning what it means to follow Jesus daily.  He desires to be grounded in his faith and consistently walk with God.  Yet, he has a fear that he will repeat his tendency to make excuses and somehow fall away from Jesus.  I’m thankful that God has the power to keep those who belong tom him.  I showed Jason the following verse and am praying it for him:

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…” – Jude 24

Thank you for your partnership in reaching students like Jason with the gospel!

Prayer Requests

Thank God for his work in Jason over the past year.  Thank him for placing within Jason the desire to seek out truth.  Pray that Jason is grounded in his faith and continues to place following Jesus above everything else.

Thank God for working in the lives of our juniors and seniors at our recent Crossroads conference.  They were challenged to live fully for God wherever they go after they graduate and were given practical tools to make an impact.  Pray for discernment in their upcoming life decisions.

Pray for our upcoming Winter Conference (Dec 28 – Jan 1).  Every year, God uses this conference in so many ways in the lives of our students.  Pray that God would place it on the heart of freshmen to attend.

Pray for Carmen, the searching student that Cameron was meeting with this summer, who is currently in Rome.

Mirei, a second-year student who just surrendered her life to Christ

It was just a year ago that I (Cameron) met Mirei.  Like thousands of other freshmen, Mirei (pronounced Meer-ay) stood in line to register her bike on campus.  While waiting, she was given a Cru water bottle in exchange for filling out a spiritual interest survey. On that survey, Mirei marked a box indicating that she was interested in a Bible discussion group as well as talking about spiritual things.

As I met with Mirei to follow up her interest, I noticed that she is very sweet and soft-spoken. She is driven and has big goals. And, she likes to be in control. Because of this, despite growing up in a Christian home, Mirei hadn’t yet made a decision to follow Jesus.

During that first meeting, I had the chance to share the gospel with her, as well as invite her to a Bible study that I helped lead in her dorm area.

She immediately began to attend. She was extremely quiet but faithful to come and learn what it means to be a follower of Christ. However, as she finished her freshman year, Mirei left for summer break without having surrendered her life to Jesus.

On September 27, Mirei started her sophomore year at UC Davis. At the end of her first day of classes, she attended Cru’s first weekly meeting of the year, which she had rarely attended the year before. Encouraged by Mirei’s interest, my co-leader, Amanda, offered her a ride to church the following Sunday. Mirei accepted.

On the car ride home from church, Amanda asked Mirei a question that we had asked her many times before: “Have you made any decisions about placing your trust in Christ?” Mirei simply said, “Yes, I’m ready.” Right then and there in the car, she prayed with Amanda that Jesus would be her Lord and Savior. Despite being unsure for a whole year, God had brought Mirei to a point that she could finally give up control and surrender to Him.

Pray for Mirei as she grows in her faith and relationship with Jesus. Thank you for partnering with us to give students like Mirei the opportunity to know and follow Christ!

Prayer Requests

Praise God that Mirei surrendered her life to Jesus. Pray that she would get connected to a Bible study and grow in her faith.

Continue to pray for Carmen while she is in Rome and searching for God.

We are currently following up students that filled out spiritual interest surveys this year. Pray that these new students, whether followers of Jesus or not, would continue to get connected to Bible studies and fall in love with Christ.

Carmen, a third year student at UC Davis, has tons of questions.

Jeff and I were recently asked to share about our ministry with Cru in front of our home church. We shared about our desire to see students encounter Jesus and grow in their faith.

Immediately following the morning service, a tearful, but beautiful young woman approached me (Cameron). She pulled me aside and said “You have a heart for college students, and I’m a college student.” I didn’t really know how to respond, so I introduced myself and found out her name is Carmen and that she is a third year student at UC Davis. She then asked if I would meet with her to talk about God.  I said “OF COURSE!”

Carmen and I started meeting on Wednesdays to talk about Jesus, her experiences with church and religion, and the things keeping her from trusting in God.  Carmen grew up in a Christian home, but over the last year, her faith has wavered. She has very real and tough questions that keep her from fully surrendering to God, like “why does God let bad things happen to good people (despite how much I pray)?” and “what does it mean to follow God but live in the world?”

In response to these questions, I have tried to continually point Carmen back to the cross. More than once, I have come home from our meetings worried that Carmen was on the verge of giving up. And also more than once, I was amazed to see how the Lord had worked in her life the previous week. She is now at the point of wanting to surrender but hesitant to give up her sense of control.

Carmen just left to study abroad in Rome for four months. I am trusting that God will continue to show her that there is no place better for her than in a relationship with Him. Please pray with us.

Prayer Requests

Pray that Carmen would surrender to the Lord and that her time in Rome would lead her closer to Him.

Praise God that we saw 24 students place their trust in Christ through our South Africa Summer Team.  3 new campuses were pioneered.

Pray for this year’s freshman class, arriving on campus on September 22^nd. Pray for Christians to get involved in a Christian community and many gospel conversations with non-Christians.

Pray for our staff team as we transition with new members.

Lisa (right) has seen so much growth!

Meet Lisa. She has been one of my (Cameron’s) greatest sources of encouragement in ministry.

I met Lisa at the beginning of the 2010 school year. An incoming freshman at UC Davis, she lived in the dorm area where I led a Bible study. Lisa was fun, had lots to talk about, and never failed to have a smile on her face! And, as we all do, there were still many areas where Lisa had room to grow.

As I got to know Lisa, I found that she was eager to learn more about God and His Word, but her relationship with her boyfriend of more than two years was keeping her from moving forward. I mentioned seeing unhealthy patterns in their relationship; Lisa agreed. She then decided to surrender the relationship to the Lord, and they broke up soon afterward.

I not only got to be a shoulder for Lisa to cry on, but also consistently remind her of God’s truth and love for her. As she worked through the emotions of ending such a long relationship, I saw her fervor for the Lord grow.

Lisa soon decided to go to Santa Monica Summer Project, the same project that Jeff and I attended. Because of this faith stretching summer, I saw her grow in her understanding of the Gospel and God’s heart for the world.

After summer, Lisa returned to campus with a desire to reach the lost students of UC Davis with the Gospel of Jesus. And, for the last seven months, she has been helping lead a freshman Bible study. After being poured into so much for a year, she is now the one pouring into the younger girls! I have no doubt that God is using Lisa to touch the lives of every girl in her study.

Over my last three years of leading freshman girls, I’ve had some great moments of seeing how God has used me, but being a part of Lisa’s journey has been one of the sweetest. In fact, a huge blessing is that Lisa is going on the South Africa Summer Project this year with three other girls that I have led in Bible studies. I’m so excited to see her continue to grow, watch God use her to impact lives on campus, and to send her out equipped to touch more lives with the Gospel after she graduates.

I’m so thankful that God has given me the privilege of working with girls like Lisa! Thank you for partnering with us as we see Him transform lives! 🙂

Prayer Requests

–   Thank the Lord for Lisa!  Pray for her summer in South Africa and her remaining two years at UC Davis.

–   Thank the Lord for providing a reliable car.  We are super blessed.

–   Pray for our upcoming leadership retreat (May 4-6) with new and returning student leaders.  It is here that we’ll plan our outreach for fall quarter.

–   Pray for Cameron, who is finishing her last quarter as a student at UC Davis.  On top of ministry, she is taking four classes.  Pray for endurance and strength.

Shin, a freshman from Glendora, CA

“I’ve made my decision,” Shin said with a huge smile as he walked up to me (Jeff).

I had met Shin for the first time back in September.  In middle of his first few days of college, he told me that he didn’t have much of a spiritual background, but that he could see himself becoming a Christian in college.  Yet, he knew hardly anything about Jesus.  After sharing the Gospel with Shin, I recommended that he read the book of John.  While he was reading, I told him to ask if Jesus was someone who he thought he could trust.

Shin and I began to meet up a few times per quarter.  On top of our meetings, he was involved with a church’s college group, where he attended bible studies and church on Sunday.
Every time we would meet, Shin would come with a ton of questions for us to walk though.  At the end of most of our meetings, I would ask where he was at in making a decision of giving his life to Jesus.  Although he was having his questions answered, he still couldn’t make the leap to entrust himself to Christ.  I understood and even admired his hesitance about jumping into something quickly.  After all, if you’re going to give your whole life to someone, you probably want to know the person to whom you’re giving it.  However, committing to Jesus, I told him, is kind of like saying “I do” at a wedding.  When you say those words, you don’t know everything about the person you’re marrying.  From what you do know, however, you’ve decided that this person is trustworthy, and you enter into a covenant relationship based on that knowledge.

At one point along the way, Shin had made a decision that Jesus wasn’t for him.  Yet, by the grace of God, Christians around him kept pursuing him, and his investigation resumed.
A few weeks ago, Shin asked me to meet up.  This was unusual, because I was usually the one to initiate.  He didn’t specify what he wanted to talk about.  But, it became obvious the moment he saw me.

“I’ve made my decision,” he told me as he approached me.  “I decided to become a Christian!”  Shin told me he went to his church’s retreat the past weekend.  From listening to the sermons, for the first time he understood at a deep level that he was a sinner who needed to be rescued by Jesus.  It was then that Shin decided to trust him.

I am so thankful for God’s pursuit of Shin!  It is so evident that he was stirring in him from the moment he got to UC Davis in September.  I am also thankful that Shin is being followed-up through intentional discipleship in his church.

Thanks so much for being part of what God is doing at UC Davis!!

Prayer Requests

As I (Jeff) stood at the altar with my groomsmen by my side, I looked out and saw so many people gathered to support Cameron and me.  How surreal!  The moment was finally here.

The bridesmaids made their way down the aisle one by one.  Then I saw her.  Outside, Cameron was walking arm in arm with her father, about to walk down the aisle to meet me at the altar.  I gasped.  Then tears started to flow down my cheeks.  I looked longingly at her as she made her way down the aisle, where her father gave her to me.  After a beautiful ceremony, we were pronounced man and wife, and I was allowed to kiss my bride.

We made our way to Kauai the next day for our honeymoon, a gift from many of the people who attended the wedding.  It was so wonderful!

As I write this today, Cameron and I have been married for four weeks.  We’re enjoying settling in together in our new apartment and living life together.

A Rocky Return

While the honeymoon went off nearly without a hiccup, the return home definitely didn’t.

We flew in to San Jose from Kauai late at night.  We picked up our car and made a quick stop to get something to eat.  We went over a speed bump a little too fast, and within a minute the car died and began to smoke.  There were flames under the hood!  Worst of all, we had no water to put the flames out.  Luckily, after about 3 or 4 minutes, someone rescued us with a fire extinguisher.  He put the flames out, but not before a lot of parts were completely fried, including the electrical wiring.  The car was totaled.

Not the best way to return from your honeymoon!

Thankfully, Cameron has a car that we can use in the meantime, but it’s not a car that we would trust for the many trips we make down to Southern California for ministry conferences.  As a result, we’re in the market for a car!

Winter Conference

The week before our wedding, over 800 students gathered in San Diego for a four-day conference.  Over 70 Davis students came and were received training on how to walk with God for a lifetime and equipped in how to do evangelism in the relationships they already have.  Additionally, one student from Davis named Shengxi (pronounced Shung-Zee) decided to give his life to Jesus!

Thanks so much for continuing to invest in our lives and ministry!  We are blessed!

–   Pray for God to provide a reliable car within the next month or so.

–   Thank God for a beautiful wedding and wonderful honeymoon!

–   Pray for us as we are learning to do life and ministry as a married couple.  It’s definitely fun, but full of adjustments!

–   Praise God for Shengxi’s decision!

–   Deeper knowledge of the gospel in the hearts of our students.

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