And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14

I used to buy them compulsively and wear them often. I think I had six or seven t-shirts, all of them with big, bold letters and bigger, bolder messages.

Instead of Reebok’s Life is short; play hard, my Christian t-shirt said, Life is short; pray hard. Over a cute Play-Do’ logo on a white tee, some clever, Jesus-loving marketers had written Pray-Mo’ instead.

I was taken in by all the wordplay and by the chance to “share my faith” in such an easy manner. I was fourteen. A skinny, unsure freshman with a shirt that shouted, Go Against the Flow!

Around my neck, I wore a delicate Jesus fish on a chain. On my wrist, I was rocking the frayed, black WWJD bracelet.

We were very concerned, in those days, with not being ashamed of our faith. It was, arguably the most poignant undercurrent of the evangelical youth culture in the 90s. If you loved God, you shouted it from the rooftops. You said it whenever you could, to whoever was around. Instead of answering the questions on your biology quiz on evolution, you wrote your faith into the blanks.

You said it, said it, said it, and if that failed, you wore it.

I wore the shirts so everyone would know that I was His and would come to me if they had questions. I wore the shirt because I believed my life was a Statement.

I think a little different about faith now. This is mostly because mine has been through the wringer, and it has come out a little stretched and crushed and different.

I never “walked away from my faith” entirely, but I held it far from my heart. I looked at it as though it were a found object that I could not make sense of. One by one, Church People had hurt me in their own unintentional ways. Bit by bit, the loneliness grew bigger and the darkness consumed.

Once upon a time, in my darkest place, I went to a coffee shop after I’d poured four vodka-cranberries overtop my depression. I was teetering drunk and sobbing and messy.

The boy who worked there did not wear a Christian shirt or a cross or a WWJD bracelet, but he came out from behind his post at the counter. He brought me dark-roast, and he sat with me while I drank it.

He didn’t say much, just listened, but when I asked him if he went to church, he nodded. When I asked why, he shrugged. “Sometimes people suck,” he said. “But sometimes, they get it. Sometimes they love you without a thought.”

And here is what I want to say to you about all this: a hurting world does not care who you are until you love them.

True love, life-changing, agape love, does not try to draw attention to itself, even for the most noble of reasons. It looks, instead, for the pain and goes to it. It is aware of the lonely person, the hurting person, the one who is trying so hard to pretend that she’s not about to fall apart.

The Message is not something you can print on a t-shirt; it’s something you communicate in your smallest actions. It’s not a statement you are making, but a dialogue in which you are fully engaged.

Eventually, it will all come out on its own. In some cases it will happen quickly; in others, it will take a while. The flame inside of you dances and glows, and we are, all of us, drawn to the Light.

In the end, it isn’t about the clothes or the necklaces or the accessories or the words. We prove that we are “not ashamed of the Gospel” not by wearing it emblazoned on a shirt, but by living it out. By taking that seat that no one else will sit in. By loving with reckless, beautiful grace.

Addie Zierman is a writer, mom and Diet Coke enthusiast. She blogs at How To Talk Evangelical, re-imagining faith one tired cliche at a time. You can also keep up with her on Twitter at @addiezierman.

So many words come to mind when I think of that word.  Fun.  Messy.  Life-giving. Trying. Intimate.  Lasting.  Commitment.  Refining.  Giving.  Taking.  Laughter. Understanding.  Support.

The older I get, the more I value my girlfriends. The more I see the need for them. The more I love them!  And as I listen to those around me, I see that so many women and men DON’T have deep relationships in their lives. We NEED friends. Not mere acquaintances. Deep, lasting, committed friends. I’m talking the kind of friend that you can rely on. The kind of friend that will walk with you through ANYTHING.

My friends have seen the deepest, darkest, silliest, most annoying, parts of me. They have also experienced some of my best moments with me.

I have 3 friends that I would refer to as “LIFE-LONG” friends. By life-long, I don’t mean that I’ve known them all of my life. I mean that they will be in my life for the REST of my life. Of the three, I’ve actually had verbal conversations with two of them where we’ve committed to be friends for life. No matter what, forever, weather the storms kind of relationships. No relationship on this earth will rival that of the marriage covenant, but the commitment I have to these friends would at least shadow the covenant I have with my husband.

Two of my life-long friends lived next door to me at LSU. The third, I got to know after joining staff with Cru.

The following things are true of all or at least one of my life-long friends. They have:

▪ been with me in loneliness
▪ known the intricacies of my relationship with Christ
▪ prayed with me and for me (on their knees at times)
▪ stood in my wedding
▪ traveled overseas with me
▪ asked me hard questions to hold me accountable
▪ laughed so hard with me that we’ve peed our pants
▪ known that I accidentally peed in the bathtub while bathing (give me some grace, I was 9 months pregnant and just forgot what I was doing)
▪ slammed the door on me
▪ studied God’s word with me
▪ asked for forgiveness
▪ granted forgiveness
▪ given me a good reason to end the friendship
▪ has been given a good reason (by something I’ve done) to end the friendship
▪ cried to me over a miscarriage
▪ had me cry to them over a miscarriage
▪ called me out
▪ been angry at me (let’s be honest…ALL of them have had reason for this one)
▪ confided in me that their hearts are full of hate toward someone
▪ rejoiced with me in my marriage (even when they are lonely)
▪ rejoiced with me over a pregnancy (even when they long for children)
▪ made fun of my question-asking, never satisfied with the answer personality
▪ confessed to me that they are so jealous of someone that they can’t see straight
▪ encouraged me to remain faithful to the Lord
▪ stood up for me
▪ stood by me

I can truly say that I have three friends that know me and have been known by me. Our friendships have ebbed and flowed. I’m closer to each of them during different seasons. They each bring something very different to the table in our relationships.

I’ve learned that we grow with one another. We have to, because if we don’t allow room for one another to grow and change, we will grow apart. We honor one another by honoring what God is doing in one another’s lives.

As I’ve thought about my friends (and the fact that so many people I meet don’t seem to have deep friendships), I’ve come up with some tips, some things that seem valuable.

Things to look for in a potential life-long friend, as well as things to do with your friends to continue to deepen the relationship:

▪ look for someone who can accept your weaknesses and idiosyncrasies yet is still willing to help you grow
▪ look for someone who you can laugh with
▪ look for someone who shares your same values
▪ look for someone who will keep their word
▪ look for someone who has capacity to listen and not just talk
▪ allow one another to change; the friend you start with should not look the same as the friend you end with years down the road
▪ encourage each other to have other friends
▪ pray together and for one another
▪ be intentional to spend time together

That’s my 2 cents, but I don’t know that much. But, I know of someone who knew much about true friendship. The beloved Jonathan, son of King Saul of Israel. Jonathan and David had a beautiful friendship. And I believe much of what made it so special was Jonathan’s ability to look beyond himself and his circumstances and embrace God’s plan. Ever thought about the fact that Jonathan SHOULD have been the next in line for the throne?  And yet God himself chooses his best bud to have that high seat. Ouch. Ouch times a bunch.

Isn’t that reality? Friendship can put us in some sticky spots. When you’re BFF gets asked out by the guy you’ve been crushing on….when your friend gets engaged first even thought you’ve been dating your boyfriend for WAY longer….when you are really struggling financially and your friend gets a killer job making a bizillion dollars….when you struggle with your weight and your bestie is as stunning as a supermodel…..

I’m well aware that these are all female issues! But I’m not a man, so insert something equally as gut-wrenching and manly and you guys can get the picture. There will ALWAYS be things we long for that our friends get and we don’t. But rather than allowing jealousy and entitlement ruin the friendship, Jonathan remains faithful to the covenant he made to David. He stands by him. He serves him. He allows room for David to become who he needs to be. And even at the end of their story, David shows his honor for his friend Jonathan by extending great kindness to dear friend’s family.

My encouragement would be to overcome the fear of rejection and go there. Invest well in your friends.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, 
two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

What is your team planning for next fall? Starting a movement? Working on a private college? Reaching out to your campus through small groups?

As you think about planning for next fall, consider the new Campus Alpha course. Even though Cru has a couple of investigative Bible studies for seekers, not much has really caught on.

Campus Alpha is an evangelistic 8-week course that covers some foundational elements of Christianity. Each week, students gather for an informal meal, listen to a message and discuss what they’ve listened to.

Matching funds are available for the first 50 courses!

“I am very impressed at how God uses this approach to evangelism.  At Harvard I have never seen God use any form of evangelism as powerfully as I have seen God use Alpha.  I am very bullish on Alpha and have appropriated its format and ministry philosophy in our own weekly meeting now at Harvard.” - Pat McLeod

Watch the first message: HERE

Find out more: HERE

I’ve just been asked to be part of team that is trying to discover how to leverage social media to do ministry. The technology of social media is as revolutionary as the printing press or the television. When those tools were invented, someone had to figure out how to use them for ministry. In my experience, most of us Cru staff use social media like a telephone for one to one messages or like a television for one to many communication.  I don’t know of anyone with Cru who is fully leveraging social media for many to many communication.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Watch this video to understand the power of social media: Many to Many Communication by Clay Shirky

2. Tell me how you are using social media for real time, many-to-many ministry strategies.

3. Tell me who you know who is effectively using social media for ministry.

4. Follow me on Twitter to hear real time updates on our progress: @mcryanmac

Our team will be working on this throughout the summer but I couldn’t resist using social media to hear your ideas and input. If we are successful, with your help we will empower all of our staff and volunteers (students, etc.) to fulfill the Great Commission more effectively. In principle we are trying to repeat what happened in John Chapter 4 with the woman at the well: whole communities believing in Jesus because of multi-person, high bandwidth, relational communication. Show us how to use social media to connect with every tribe, every tongue, every nation.

Turns out, they had.  It was the New York Marathon of 2010.

That Sunday several years ago I traveled from a church women’s retreat in upstate New York down to a girlfriend’s house in New Jersey.  While waiting for a train to take me to my next destination, a westbound train arrived at the station from New York City filled with marathoners and their supporters.  I can’t imagine what the odor on that train was like, but once those people hit the station, the air around me changed. 

Yes, I’m making a thinly veiled reference to the body odor and the stench of physical exertion, but I’m also talking about the air of energy, hope, accomplishment, pride, and dreams fulfilled.  Those people were tired and worn out, many limped or staggered to their next train.  But the handful of us who were waiting in the station when that stinky train arrived stood up to applaud the race finishers.  I teared up and my heart felt full as I watched the accomplished strangers grimace with pain and pride at each step closer to their home, shower and sleep.

Marathoners.  There’s nothing tidy or pristine about them.  They run for hours, pacing and pushing themselves to their limits and enduring hardship so they can achieve their goal.

You know where I’m going with this analogy, right?

Walking with God for a lifetime is like a marathon, and let’s be honest: there’s nothing tidy or pristine about enduring hardship, maintaining hope, persevering in faith and accomplishing the goal of hearing “Well done, Good and Faithful Servant.”

What will happen to our students after they leave the safety net of our (hopefully) healthy movements and are launched into the next phase of life?  When our beloved students lack a vision of the value and worth of God and His good Kingdom, a supportive community to cheer them on, a plan to stay connected to the heart of God, opportunities to continually grow and learn, and a mentor in faith, then they are not set up to endure the race and reach the Christian finish line.

Need some resources to help you help equip our dear ones before they reach their graduation date?  Sign into AllCallings.com and check out the updates and new partnerships.  Some of our new national partners include:

1.  Apartment Life, a business geared towards creating community in apartment complexes in order to increase retention rates (talk about living missionally and in community!)

2.  Exponential, a church planting network

3.  Student Venture

4.  Cru in the City

Our graduates can connect with people in their new city to ease the transition and plug into a Gospel-centric community.  They can search by city, ministry interest or even “Cru Grads” to find people eager to run the Gospel race together.

Tons of printable resources, videos, and audio talks are available by searching NLC 2012 on AllCallings.com or clicking here.

Here’s to helping our students reach the finish line: “No reserve! No regrets! No Retreat!”

Holy: separate, consecrated, set apart

God has called us to “be holy as I am holy.”  So what makes this week more holy than others?  Should we really set this week apart as special and unique? If so, how?

I come from a church background with little to no liturgy or ritual.  I didn’t ever “give anything up” for Lent and I certainly never experienced the whole “ash on the forehead” thing.  As a zealous evangelical college student, I rejected anything that I viewed as a “tradition of men” or that I judged as being done out of compulsion, legalism, or guilt.  But now, as I’ve grown significantly older and slightly wiser, I’ve come to appreciate the Lenten season, especially this “Holy Week.”  Taking the time to reflect on Christ’s suffering and his sacrificial death makes me appreciate and love my Savior all the more.

Here are a few things I’m doing this week (some individually and some with my family) in order to make Holy Week, well, holy.

1.  Experiential Learning. 

a.  Resurrection Eggs. Cheesy? Yes.  Effective? Absolutely.  By providing a visual reminder of the significant objects and events from Jesus’ last few hours on earth, anticipation for Easter Sunday builds.  My kids actually look forward to reading passages of scripture that correspond to each egg. And, I’ll admit, it’s pretty experiential to pop open a plastic egg and find a vinegar-soaked sponge inside (see John 19:28-29).

b.  Bible Reading Plan. Mark’s gospel walks us through the last week of Jesus’ life, day by day. 

Sunday: “When they were approaching Jerusalem” (11:1)
Monday: “On the following day” (11:12)
Tuesday: “In the morning” (11:20)
Wednesday: “It was two days before the Passover” (14:1)
Thursday: “On the first day of Unleavened Bread” (14:12)
Friday: “As soon as it was morning” (15:1)
Saturday: “the Sabbath” (15:42 & 16:1))
Sunday: “Very early on the first day of the week” (16:2)

By reading these passages, while viewing a map of Jerusalem, I can more easily picture where these events and conversations happened. (It helps to have visited Israel recently.  Make sure you put that in your schedule soon.)

2.  Limiting Distractions.  My usual routine involves me constantly replying to email, checking headlines, listening to Sports Radio or Pandora, and keeping up with the latest happenings on social media.  But this week, I’m making an effort to minimize the noise and spend some extra time with God.  Reflecting on the scriptures, listening to what he wants me to hear, and renewing my spirit.

3. Making the Most of Opportunities.  Yes, I know I’m supposed to be alert and open to how God will use me in people’s lives 24/7/365.  But what I’m talking about here is taking advantage of the Easter Season to engage with people about spiritual things.  This time of year, folks are willing to talk about Easter traditions, which can lead to significant spiritual conversations.  I’m praying that the Lord will orchestrate several of these timely encounters with people who are open to discussing the Gospel: who Jesus is, what he did, and why it’s important.

What about you? What makes Holy Week holy for you?

After a few days of conversation, lots of coffee, and a battery of questionnaires and interviews with folks the results were in: stay the course, God is in fact leading us to where we thought he was. After talking through our gifts and abilities, strengths as a couple and my strengths as a leader, my friend pulled out another list and said, “Here are where your weaknesses lie.”

Gulp. Weaknesses? “Surely I didn’t have any weaknesses,” I thought to myself, “not after the glowing report you just gave me.”

“You’re arrogant,” he said. Not “a hint of arrogance.” Not even “people think you’re arrogant.” You ARE arrogant. Gee, thanks. But I knew he was right: it was a spot-on observation.

Leaders exude confidence. You know them right from the start. That confident freshman who wants to lead everything, the junior small group leader who is the best teacher in your movement on campus and everyone knows it, including her. That all-star staff member where everything they touch turns to gold, and they too know it. Confidence is not at all a bad thing, but what can happen(and apparently happened with me) is that my confidence is coupled with a hint, an air, a strong whiff of stinky, smelly arrogance. So what’s a leader to do?

Here are three things I need to remember:

1. Jesus never had that sense of arrogance. It says that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” The son of God, God himself took on humility so that he might be the greatest leader of all. Which brings me to my second point.

2. Humble yourself. Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” At the right time, God will bear fruit through you so, don’t be so cocky, humble yourself, give others the credit, and wait on God to exalt you.

3. Finally, channel that confidence into continuing the good works God has for you. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

God is using you. And he will bring the work to completion. Your confidence in him is well founded. He’s wired you to be a leader, you need to lead. But walk in humility, give God the credit, and continually ask God to help you walk in the power of the Holy Spirit so that unlike me, arrogance doesn’t get in the way of people following you towards Jesus.

In our walks with God, at times we may find that in the worries and concerns of every day life we have taken our eyes off of the Lord and fixed them on ourselves. In doing so, we are setting ourselves up for trouble.

How I’ve seen this displayed over and over and over again in my life is in the area of singleness. I’ve decided to actually go there and to address an area that I know many women on our staff and even students struggle with during different seasons.

I’ve been the staff girl that on a slice survey from Cru I’ve vented frustrations of our organization not valuing singles and valuing families more. I’ve felt left out, hurt, angry, bitter. I’ve asked the question, why at a staff conference at age 30, am I packed like sardines into housing with multiple other women and a 25 year old married woman gets a cabin with just her husband? I’ve been the staff girl that has asked the question, why we have to celebrate every new marriage and birth at a staff conference when all that does for me is bring to the surface the deep hurt and questions of whether or not I’ll ever get to experience those things?

I’ve been the staff girl that questions why when a husband mentions “the family has plans already” for why he can’t be at something, it’s viewed and valued differently than when a single “has plans already”. I’ve been the staff girl in her 30’s and single that can hear a 20 year old student voice frustration of her singleness and vocalize her deep concern and question of why she has to wait so long to find “the one” and ask the Lord to make me feel like I’m confined in a straightjacket so I don’t feel the overwhelming urge to shake the 20 year old to the point of whiplash. I’ve been the staff girl that gets a shower invitation in the mail and I sit in my little pity party and stew about how if I’d take all the $ I spent on shower gifts this year, I would have been able to buy myself the coveted Kitchen Aid mixer that every single girl longs for.

I’ve felt many emotions in regard to singleness, but over the past year, what I’ve most felt has been a deep contentment. I’ve experienced that kind of contentment that I can’t produce or manifest on my own. True contentment. No meltdowns. Joy in others blessings. A deep sense of truly knowing and believing that God knows what He is doing. What’s changed? In a nutshell- what I’ve focused on has changed.

Contentment is a deep trust in the sovereignty of God and we see it all over in 1st Corinthians 7.

We must TRUST that God is in control of our lives. HE has not forgotten about us. He is a FATHER that KNOWS what is BEST in our lives.

Our contentment can’t be based on a destination that lays out there in the future. Our contentment was not designed to be fulfilled in external circumstances. Our contentment was designed to be fulfilled through the internal reality of Jesus.

Our identity is not found in marital status or a relationship status, but rather our identity is found in Christ. I’m a daughter of the King of Kings, His princess. There really is no other status that tops that.

I need to trust that God knows what He is doing and if I’m single, then God has a purpose in my singleness that I must be careful not to waste. It’s easy for me to find myself becoming to focused inward to the point of taking my eyes off Christ. I’m a melancholy. (Translate: think things to death and over analyze and become too self-focused).

What saddens me is when I see women become so bitter toward God and others in their singleness that they blame their singleness on ministry. While I do think many singles need to learn to have some margins to allow for time to have peer relationships (could be a blog post in and of itself!), but I’d be cautious of bitterness being the drive behind leaving full time ministry.

As Christians, our desire should be to walk closer to the Lord, but in our trying to achieve this, sometimes we find ourselves looking only at the sin in our lives. Our focus should not be solely inward, but on Christ. If our focus is only inward, we find ourselves striving in our flesh to get rid of sin. When we are looking inward, we find ourselves without peace or joy and bring upon ourselves guilt and condemnation. Jesus said the Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin so if we keep our minds focused on Christ and allow God’s Spirit to do His work within us, He will convict us of our sins and He will bring us to repentance and He will bring about the changes in our lives.

I may have to still live like sardines with other women at conferences or witness others celebrate their new marriages or births at conferences, but when my eyes are on Christ and not on myself and my circumstances, it makes a WORLD of difference in my response and how I feel in those situations.

So my encouragement to you, singles, is to take your eyes off of yourself and focus on Christ. As I’ve done that, I truly find myself more content and able to enjoy other’s blessings. I’m not drowning in my own sorrows and I’m able to see needs of others and want to serve. I’m freed up from feeling defined by the reality that there is no hardware on my left finger.

What about you—-how do you, practically speaking, “focus on Christ” so that you can take your eyes off of yourself?

This spring we decided to just meet every other week (I know many of you gather all your leaders once a month or less so our move may not seem revolutionary. But it was a BIG change for us).

Our fear in changing it: that in losing that weekly touch point student leaders would
1) Feel less connected with each other
2) Lose vision for reaching the campus

One thing we did to bridge the gap and to keep communication/vision going in that space, we created a “Cru Leadership” private Facebook group where students could share stories of what God is doing and communicate with one another.

An amazing thing happened:
Students started filling that “open week” and the Facebook Wall with incredible student-initiated efforts.

A few examples:

• A group of students started meeting on the off week to “discuss how to spread the gospel across this campus and learn how to and practice telling the good news of what Jesus has done for us to everyone we meet”

• One week a group of guy leaders got together to challenge younger guys to deal seriously with fighting pornography addiction

• Another group started meeting to pray together for the campus

• One week a freshmen got students together to organize a 5k run to raise awareness and support for sex-trafficking.

The Facebook Group has also taken off with students casting vision to each other and challenging each other. Some quotes from students’ posts:

• This Friday we are having a girls night to reach out to international girls and all girls are invited!! 

We will be making cute crafts, maybe something from pinterest. Our goal is for all the CRU girls who come to get the phone number of one or two international girls so we can invite them to hang out again ( :

• Hey guys. The Quads pizza party went very well last night! We have lots of spiritual interest cards that need following up so if you lead a Bible study there let me know and I can get the contacts to you! Thanks!

• Hey everyone!! I have a huge praise!! So a student athlete that I had sent a fb message during the social media thing at Winter Conference and started a convo and set up a time to meet with her . . . well long story short she is applying for a Athletes in Action summer project!!!!! It has been so awesome to see the change in her life in just a month! The Lord is working in athletes on campus and this is just one story.

• Great opportunity to get involved with international students next year! Click the link to apply now to be a cross cultural mentor (=

• Hey all my cru leadership sistas!
 THIS Saturday morning, we are having Mug and Muffin discipleship training at Hannah’s house! Bring girls in your bible study, bring girls you know interested in discipling others, but..don’t bring any boys.

• If there is any Community Group leader that needs help with snacks for their bible studies I am the one to call! I love to bake sweets so I am open to help you out. I know leading a bible study is stressful sometimes so maybe some of you all could use the help! [I LOVE this one - love that she’s using her gifting to benefit the body!]

• Hey guys, as you well know Arkansas Cru is going on project in Thailand this summer! Our biggest need right now is for a few ladies to step up and say, “I’ll go.” If you have ANY amount of interest at all feel free to contact me!
  [And a few weeks later] I shared a few weeks ago about how desperately we needed girls to go on the Thailand summer project! Well, currently the women outnumber the men 9 to 2! Think about it boys.. There are 9 girls going!!! contact me if you are interested! Girls, feel free to inquire further as well!

• Dear Community Group leaders, you will be getting a phone call from me sometime today or tomorrow about challenging your CG to go to summer project.
  We are praying for about 40 more people to apply. If anyone in your CG is interested, message me their name and we can follow up with them. Thanks for your help!

It seems that the less staff-organized stuff we do, the more students step up to lead in bigger and better ways than we could have ever planned.

I would love to hear from you: what is working on your campus? What are some ways you have created space (and platforms) for students to lead?

Yeah. It’s happened to me too.

This can lead to the false conclusion that people are uninterested in Jesus. That’s impossible. Jesus is a lot of things, but boring is not one of them.

The negative reaction to our approach could be the result of the fact that, in this age of the interwebs and global transportation:

• people are overwhelmed with more relationships, opportunities, ideas and entertainment than they could ever give attention to; 
• people have more control over where and when they engage their attention; 
• and most importantly, people have more control than ever over what they will give their attention to. 

The value of attention or “the attention economy” is not a brand new concept. However, we in campus ministry probably haven’t fully considered how this changes the ways people respond to what we do. I believe that the obvious fatigue that we observe in others when we approach them with our “new thing” is a result of the altered expectations people have in light of the demands on their attention.

People say time is money. If time is money, attention is gold.

How will you earn the attention of people who know they don’t have to pay attention to you, even when you impose on them?

One possibility is earning attention through inbound valuing.

What is inbound valuing?

Valuing: I would like to drop the use of the word marketing in the non-profit/social sector; at least with regard to this non-profit: Cru. Marketing is a word that derives from commerce and markets specifically where items are bought and sold. That’s not what we do. We don’t carry cash registers on campus. We don’t have stores. What we do is value Jesus. The Christian word for value is worship but value is more broadly and easily understood. We value Jesus, therefore we value grace and truth, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, mercy, etc. When we approach a student to “tell them about Jesus,” we aren’t simply trying to convey information. We are trying to express the value of Jesus and all that is valuable because of him. It’s not marketing, it’s valuing.

Inbound: This graphic shows the difference between inbound vs. outbound marketing. This is an important response to the “attention economy” and the ability for anyone to force themselves into the attention of others. “Inbound marketing” is “any marketing tactic that relies on earning people’s interest” instead of using money to demand or intrude on their interest through traditional advertising.

So, what is inbound valuing? It is earning the interest of others by revealing the value of Jesus in an activity or place.

Some examples:

Lifelines: revealing how the value of Jesus improves the outdoor experience. Lifelines interests anyone who loves the outdoors. Lifelines reveals how the outdoors can be a place to experience grace and truth, boundaries, justice and mercy. These experiences are all expressions of what Jesus values and how his values heighten the experience of the outdoors. People often find Lifelines, asking how they can go on a trip with Lifelines to experience the outdoors. In the process they experience Jesus.

Haiti Relief: When CCC mobilized to bring help to the devastated country of Haiti, we created a valuable opportunity for people to help their fellow man. Many who don’t love Jesus joined in because they love to help others. The brave CCC staff who went to Haiti had the opportunity to show and tell the value of Jesus as the source of love.

Athletes in Action: AIA is a ministry by athletes for athletes. Through events and conversation, AIA invites athletes to see the value of sport and experience Jesus as the ultimate victor.

Many other examples could be offered to illustrate the point. What are you doing to add value, educate, and entertain your fellow human? How does Jesus add value to that endeavor?

That advice arrived in response to a prayer letter I sent out as a wide-eyed new staff gal in New Jersey. It was my second semester on campus and I had recently discovered that my job was hard. I was discouraged. This piece of advice from my dear friends who have walked with God for more than twice the number of years I’ve been alive has guided me through the depressing (though short!) dark month of February for the last 15 years of campus ministry.

An interesting observation, isn’t it? And yet we can’t avoid inviting people to make major life decisions during this month.  Big Break registration requires full payment to reserve your spot at the Edgewater.  Summer project applications need to be filled out, as do stint and internship applications because the briefings are in two months.  On top of that, our students are making weighty decisions about majors, careers, jobs, roommates, and relationships.  Avoiding major life decisions in February just isn’t realistic, especially this year: its a leap year so February has a bonus day.

If my octogenarian mentors are right, then this month people tend towards the lament side of life. Using the Five Things to evaluate options can mitigate the emotional pull towards a specific decision by adding a little more of a judicious and deliberate perspective.

Need other ideas to keep February fresh or just want to freshen your vision? Start following Sending 100 on twitter, the 100% Sent team’s social media account geared towards “mobilizing every graduate from every university to live missionally for a lifetime regardless of vocation, location or perceived qualification.”

From a media perspective he has come out of nowhere—but in reality he has worked tremendously hard at his character and his skills to make it.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”

Faith is visible actions taken in light of invisible realities. You can actually work on your faith by taking more actions that demonstrate your belief in Jesus, heaven and hell, and the absolute truth of the Bible. This has nothing to do with earning your salvation, but everything to do with living out the tremendous generosity of Christ.

As a campus minister for seven years I saw many students want the benefits of faith, but not the responsibilities. They complained when they were not selected to lead a bible study, they caused dissension when evangelism was encouraged, they liked the idea of being spiritual but disliked the discipline of reading the Bible.

The video below illustrates Lin’s work ethic—none of the things he does are easy, and the skills shown took a significant amount to develop. Take a look back at the last two weeks of your life—how many faith steps have you taken? Compare that to the spiritual fruit in your life. This is not a formula but hopefully will provide a glimpse of what it might take to see significant growth in your life.

The confidence Lin shows on the court is not arrogance—it’s the confidence that comes from discipline and faithfulness over time.

Let’s all get Lin-sane!

I was home visiting my parents recently and brought my 11 and a half-year-old yellow lab, Beignet, with me. My parents like to spoil her so Beignet usually gets some kind of new toy when she visits Grammie and Grampie’s house. This trip was no different and Beignet was quite pleased with Grammie’s choice of new toy for her: a giraffe looking stuffed animal that you shove an empty water bottle into. She LOVES the crunch sound that water bottles make and she was off in no time playing and wagging her tail with joyous bliss.

Beignet was like a puppy and full of energy and delight. I got distracted with something and then remember walking from one side of the den to the other when I noticed one of my mom’s rugs was shredded at the corner. (Apparently, as Beignet was playing, a piece of the rug was in her mouth and she kept chewing on this new toy…..causing the rug to unravel pretty significantly in the corner).

My immediate reaction was to yell, “Beignet-Marie, what have you done?!” (I often put the “Marie” in there when I’m trying to discipline, like any parent feeling the need to include a middle name when a child is in trouble!) Well, as I did that my mom came scurrying out from her bedroom saying, “What happened? What did she do?” As my mom’s eyes caught sight of the rug, she also began to dish out her own discipline.

At this point, I was already on the hunt for Beignet in the house. I found her in my bedroom at my parent’s house, hunched down on all 4 legs, head down, guarding her new toy, and occasionally staring at me with her big brown eyes as if to say, “I know I was wrong, please mommy, don’t be mad at me.”

My heart melted. There was no way I could continue to be angry with her after how I found Beignet. I could still hear my mom’s voice elevated and I turned to walk out of my room, stopping my mom from her discipline, and telling her, “She knows she was wrong, she doesn’t need us to continue to be angry with her.”

As my mom walked into my room, her heart melted as well and we both got down on our knees and gently told Beignet it was okay. I scratched her ears and her tail began to wag. Restoration at its finest!

In that moment, I told my mom, “If it would only be this easy with PEOPLE!”

We have such a hard time owning when we are wrong, or when we mess up. We don’t like to own our sin. And even when we can start to apologize, we feel the need to give an explanation, to justify in a sense.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the more I mature in my faith, the more I repent. You would think it would be the opposite, but instead, as we get to know Jesus more and more, we see our own sin more clearly.  I’ve learned that repentance has less to do with me or the people I’ve wronged and more to do with God and the fact that I’ve wronged Him.

One of my favorite studies, “Gospel Centered Life” has a great section on “Repentance”. The study reminds us:

“Sin is a condition, not just a behavior, so true repentance is a lifestyle, not just an occasional practice.”

The study also challenges you to be sure your repentance is “true repentance”:
• Is it oriented toward God and not me? Psalm 51:4, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…..”
• Is it motivated by true Godly sorrow and not just selfish regret? 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly sorrow produces death.”
• Is it concerned with the heart and not just with external actions? Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
• Does it look to Jesus for deliverance from the penalty and power of sin? Acts 3:19-20, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ who has been appointed for you—-even Jesus.”

How are you doing in repenting? Is there something you need to go before the Father with? Someone you need to have a conversation with without justifying your actions involved? I’d encourage you to take that step and enjoy the freedom that comes with making things right.

Please note—-I don’t really believe my yellow lab, Beignet, knows how to repent, but I’m thankful that she often stirs my affections for Jesus and helps me to see my own ridiculous ways I try to earn righteousness.

You can click this link for more info on the Gospel Centered Life study that I mentioned: http://www.whm.org/gcl

We’d all been asked to do it. To figure out in advance how we would share the story of our faith journey to Christ if we had only 2-3 minutes to tell it.

But Joe* couldn’t be bothered, figuring he knew his story, so didn’t need to do this silly step of preparation.

And then there we were, Joe and I, in a conversation with a German atheist student who was asking a genuine question of Joe: “So why are you a Christian?”

The next 30 minutes were exceedingly painful to watch as Joe rambled through his story like a trek through a corn maze of mistaken pathways and dead ends. He lost the attention of the German guy in the first 3 minutes. You could just see his eyes glaze over. He really had no chance of understanding the gospel from such a story. I couldn’t even follow it.

As Christ’s spokespersons, (2 Cor. 5:20) we owe it to people to be prepared to share our story genuinely and clearly. (1 Peter 3:15) What God has done to restore us to himself is the most amazing story and it deserves to be told in a way that reflects that.
Most of us are not naturally gifted communicators. We actually need to practice. But even though we know that, we never seem to get around to doing the simple steps we need to be prepared to communicate well. Why is that?

Years ago, a church decided to provide its congregation with no more excuses for putting things off. They handed out small wooden discs with the letters TUIT written on them. If people were simply waiting until they got around to it, they now had one. Corny, yes, but we humans are hopeless procrastinators until someone gives us a hard and fast deadline.

The number one expressed need of Soularium users is how to transition to deeper spiritual conversations after they’ve completed the five Soularium questions.
We all want some easy preparation-free method. But, if you really want to be effective in communicating your story and God’s story to another person, you need to take some time to practice a few simple steps BEFORE using Soularium.

“Going Deeper,” the new Soularium training video, leads you through a few simple steps so you can be ready for any conversation. If you follow the steps it advises, you’ll be ready to transition beyond the five questions into deeper gospel conversations.

So here’s what you can do to be prepared:

1. Watch the video “Soularium: Going Deeper” with a friend, mentor or small group. Download video discussion guide tips here.

2. When you finish, set a date on your calendars by which you will have accomplished the preparation steps.

3. Meet back together to share and practice what you’ve done.

Don’t be caught unprepared like Joe was. Consider this your virtual “round Tuit” reminder.

*Joe’s name has been changed to preserve his anonymity.

Perhaps as you look at your teaching, training and discipleship over the past semester, you realize that the ministry of the Spirit hasn’t been a hallmark of your movement. Perhaps you’ve forgotten Him. So, what can you do to really make Him central to your ministry? Here are a couple ideas:

1. Talk about Him a lot. Dan Hayes (author of “Fireseeds of Spiritual Awakening”) used to say that he could tell things were going well on a campus when staff and student leaders were talking about the Holy Spirit. It sounds simple, but do you talk about Him and His work in your life with your disciples? Does He often come up in conversation?

2. It takes more than one weekly meeting talk for people to get it. True confessions: I don’t think I understood the ministry of the Spirit until my second year on staff. Now, granted I am a little thick-headed, but I don’t think that one Cru meeting where we talk about His work in our lives will cut it. And, simply adding a small group lesson won’t do it either. I am convinced that we need to teach on the Spirit multiple times and in multiple ways for people to really get it. That’s why, a couple years ago on our summer project, we decided to take the first 6 weeks and emphasize the Holy Spirit. So, I created a 5 part talk series on Him and His role. In addition we use the Thirsty devotional (available right here on CPG) in our small groups each week. We also train our staff and students how to use the Satisfied Booklet and ask each disciple to have a conversation using Satisfied in one of their discipleship times. I think it takes at least that many touch points for it to sink in.

3. Become an expert in using the Satisfied booklet. Satisfied was designed to help make conversations about the Spirit Filled life easy and frequent. In fact, I would tell my staff team that in the first few weeks of campus they ought to be sharing the Knowing God Personally booklet like crazy (we usually had a goal of 50 conversations in the first 6 weeks). Then, once you have surfaced a few students who want to grow, I would tell them they need to be sharing the Satisfied booklet like crazy. But I knew they wouldn’t unless they were very comfortable using it. Have you trained your staff and students to use Satisfied? Have you sat down with each of your disciples and gone over it with them? Have you observed them using it with the people they work with? My guess is that it will take using it 25-30 times before you really feel like an expert. If you’d like to see my presentation of the Satisfied booklet, it’s available here.

There are lots of things you can emphasize in your movement-evangelism, men’s issues, social justice, community-but those are all secondary to an emphasis on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I’d love to hear your comments on this. Specifically, what do you think keeps us from making the ministry of the Spirit more of an emphasis? And, what ideas do you have for making Him more of an issue?

Timeline, Facebook’s new profile, allows you to go beyond the here and now and tell your story through photos, friendships and personal milestones like graduating or traveling to new places. Imagine the multiplied impact if many of the Christians within someone’s Facebook sphere updated their Timeline to include their faith journey! Facebook’s new Timeline is a great opportunity to share your life’s story along the themes that really matter to you and your friends. Here’s how:

1.  Think through your themes. What is your story really about? From LifeMap, consider your:

A.  History – big milestones (e.g. birth, ethnicity, family, where you grew up, went to school, etc.)
B.  Highlights – memorable people or events in your life (e.g. giving your life to Christ, conversations, retreats, trips)
C.  Heartaches – these shape who you are (e.g. parents split, girlfriend breaks up with you, close friend dies)
D.  Heroes – personal heroes who have touched your life (e.g. uncle, grandmother, schoolteacher, youth pastor)
E.  Hand of God – events where you can see (in hindsight) God was guiding you, drawing you closer to Him.

2.  Add significant events that fit your theme into your Timeline, using pictures and video whenever possible. If you don’t have pictures, consider taking a digital pic of a photo from your scrapbook, photo albums. If you don’t have video of a significant event, consider narrating a simple web-cam video.

3.  Paint the events in full color. We tend to minimize our failures. As Christians, we want to do the opposite–to lift up our weaknesses and failures. By including our imperfections and poor choices, we put the gospel on display. Your honesty adds power to your story and shows off the Good News.

4.  Be genuine. Let the events of your story tell your story. You don’t need to pose as someone you’re not. Your story is powerful as is.

5.  Include more than just the Christian stuff. Be sure to add your first crush, your first roller coaster, your fam’s last road trip together. Let the reader see the themes come out in the context of your whole life. Otherwise, it will not feel genuine, but rather like you have an agenda.

6. Read and comment on your friends’ Timelines. What’s their story? Surprisingly, this may be the most important step! Note the themes in their stories. There’s nothing more honoring than spending time on their story. And sometimes, you’ll be able to show them where God has already been at work in their lives.

Jesse has special needs. He struggles with what’s called Global Dyspraxia, which is a fancy way of saying he has a hard time planning how to move and manipulate his body. This has kept him from being able to speak clearly or walk and run very well. He just doesn’t do some of the things that other five year-old boys can do when they are, well, five. But while Jesse does struggle with these developmental delays, you wouldn’t know it just to look at him. He has some fantastic traits that people fall instantly in love with. He’s a celeb most everywhere we go.

About a week after this injury, our family went to the local YMCA for a swim. As Jesse fearfully and carefully tried to walk across the lobby, I struggled to keep my patience as we walked. Looking around, feeling like all eyes were on me and my boy, I noticed people were looking at Jesse in a different way than I was used to. As I saw the staff who knew Jesse at the Y view us from a distance, I saw their puzzled looks. People around me who were eager to pass by gave us a look of pity, an awkward smile, and some even a look of frustration. For the first time in my life, I truly felt like a loner, the Dad with a handicapped son, and it felt horrible.

It felt horrible because I don’t want to be the Dad with a handicapped son. I’ve gotten so used to my son’s disability that, quite frankly, I sometimes forget (or at least choose not to believe) that he is handicapped. He’s got challenges. He’s a child with special needs. He’s different than the rest. Only now, it felt amplified. It was obvious to everyone that Jesse, my child, my son, is handicapped. There was no hiding it or masking it and I felt embarrassed.

In that moment struggling to keep it all together, I felt sad, embarrassed, frustrated. But, most of all, I felt a deep compassion for my son. I didn’t want anyone to associate my son with a disability, a special need, or any physical abnormality. In that moment, in a very tangible way, I felt the desperate need for Jesus.

Being associated with sorrow or pain or weakness is something we all struggle with. It’s part of being a human in a fallen and broken world. We want to be strong. We put up this front that we’re someone who is whole and fully functional. But the reality is, we’re not all whole, and we don’t all have it together, and our life is not at all fully functional.

Now imagine that God, perfect in every single way, Creator of the universe and not in need of anyone or anything, willingly putting himself in a position where he is associated with weakness, brokenness, and imperfection. Imagine Him choosing to absorb the most despicable looks and comments, as well as the treatment that even a common criminal doesn’t even deserve. Well He did. Jesus knows what it feels like to live in the midst of grief and suffering, rejection and heartache.

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hid their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”  Is. 53:3

It’s always my weakness that brings out my need for Jesus. It’s also when I am involved with the need of others around me (in this instance it was my son) whose weaknesses bring out my compassion and desire for them to know and to be loved by Jesus.

Jesus gives us hope because, in his association with our weakness, he is able to comfort and give us the promise of a new life, a whole life, an abundant life. Our hope isn’t in this world but in the world to come. God has secured for us an eternity of wholeness because his son was broken on our behalf.

I need to remember that when I either don’t want to be associated with those who are considered broken or, when I forget that I am broken myself.

Whoa. I’m guessing A LOT of commitments were made recently. Wonder how you’re doing? Have the temptations set in, yet? Has the every day “stuff” crept back in to your world and that awesome time of connecting with the Lord and others is evaporating into a distant memory?

What I am reminding myself of and hope to spur others towards is this: how do I keep my heart from being distracted by everything BUT intimacy and devotion to the Lord?

Many of us heard incredible teaching at various winter conferences. Many made commitments of surrender. Many purposed to make changes in their lives. So what do we do to keep our hearts fully committed to the Lord and live with undistracted devotion to intimacy with Him?

I think we have to ask the question, “Why do we allow our hearts to become so easily distracted?” Why do we allow idols(little gods) to take the place we so earnestly gave to the Lord during a time of elation?

“The sin of unbelief lies at the heart of all other sins and especially at the heart of idolatry…It’s easy to see why. When we fail to believe the truth about who Jesus is and miss the impact of His astounding work in suffering and dying for our sin, it will be impossible to resist the allurement of the gods of this earth as they whisper their promised pleasures to us.” Elyse Fitzpatrick Idols of the Heart

So when you’re feeling particularly distracted, ask yourself a few questions:
o When I allow my focus on Jesus to be distracted, what am I NOT believing about God?
o What lies am I believing?
o How can I replace those with the truth about who Jesus is and what He did for me on the cross? 

I want this year to be one in which I don’t allow my heart to dwell in distraction.
This year I want my prayer to be like David’s in Psalm 86:11,
“Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.”

Hang in there through the blahs! (after all, there’s always another conference right around the corner!).

Many of you can recount a similar experience:

Last fall I was teaching a one hour training session on the role of the Holy Spirit. This is content that has probably been shared literally thousands of times by Cru staff. But a search on the Cru Wiki turned up 3,000 results with nothing helpful. So I spent 4 hours prepping a lesson that sits on hundreds of staff’s hard drives across the country. Really frustrating.

I know many of us wish there was more resource sharing in Cru.

For a while I put the blame on Cru (whoever Cru is): “If only we had better systems for sharing!”

But as I’ve thought about it over the last couple years I have realized that the bottleneck in Cru is that we don’t have enough producers.

We are all consumers wishing more people would share good resources with us.

We need more sharers.

Our Cru movement at the University of Arkansas has been the recipient of incredible sharing.

Nothing we do on our campus is original. Our ministry has seen tremendous growth in the past few years as a result of importing (and adapting to our setting) the best practices of campuses across the U.S.

In the past few years we’ve implemented ideas from Cru movements at:

University of Arizona - Chico State - Ohio University - Penn State - NC State - Portland Metro - Ontario, Canada - University of Oklahoma - Texas Tech - Montana State - University of Florida - St. Louis Metro - Cal Poly SLO - Miami, Ohio - Michigan State – Northwestern

But until recently it has been a one-way street – receiving great ideas but not reciprocating.

For me it came down to cost/benefit in regard to time. I didn’t do much about idea sharing because I wasn’t sure the time invested would be worth the pay off: if I start blogging, not many people would see it or be helped by it (i.e - it will take me 4 hours to write a post and 4 people will read it).”

But here’s what convinced me (among other things):

In the excellent post “Tithing your Time Online” CCC Canada staff, Russ Martin, states:

“By spending five minutes to upload the presentation from your last small group leader training you could save someone hours.”

There’s probably someone who knows a lot more about reaching students than you.

There’s probably someone who could really benefit from what you know about reaching students.”

Like all good investments, a minimal investment can have multiplying effects. It costs me some time on the front end but I can save literally hundreds of hours for a multitude of staff to get on campus and spend time with students (instead of re-writing a talk someone has already given)

Let’s create a culture of sharing. Think of it as an investment in Movements Everywhere. We need, what Keith Seabourn dubbbed, an “ecosystem of innovative movement-building.” And that ecosystem is built by you and I being willing to take a little extra time to share.

I truly believe that we can reach thousands more college students in 2012 as we

Free up staff to not reinvent the wheel

Share best practices and resources to more effectively reach students for Christ.

So let’s start with this:

• Share your Twitter username in the comments (to start creating a network of Cru staff on Twitter)
• And if you’d like, share in the comments:

What keeps us from sharing more resources/ideas in Cru?

What steps can we take to do better in this area?

Listed below are a few concrete steps to better idea sharing using existing platforms:

(in order or difficulty from very little time investment to higher time commitment)

1) Join Twitter and start following as many staff as possible

I think, just by using Twitter, we can create a vibrant culture of sharing what we’re currently working on, what seems to be working on our campus

Recent example:

Back in early fall, prolific Tweeter DJ Jenkins tweeted that they’d seen great success with a Reason for God study for atheists. In December one of my staff mentioned that they wanted to do a study for skeptics and I immediately connected him with DJ to see what had worked at Arizona.

Leave your Twitter username in the comments so I (and everyone else) can follow you!

Here’s a short list of helpful Cru staff Twitter accounts to follow to get you started

• @TimCasteel
• @brianbarela
• @matt_mccomas
• @destinoeric
• @BVirtue
• @DJjenkins
• @pablonunez
• @stephnannen
• @jameswood1218
• @mattwill22
• @ryansather
• @BobFuhs
• @milldub
• @ChristieLSmith1
• @JeffdNorris
• @airpez
• @DRobb_Robbins
• @Ali_Enos
• @darrenaholland
• @rasoolberry
• @edienst

2) Set up a Dropbox account

• Have a dating talk you’d like to share?
• Drag it over to your Dropbox folder. Right Click “Copy Public link”
• Share that link on Twitter so everyone can use it.
• It’s that easy.

3) Start commenting on college ministry blogs

• Step 1: Start reading good college ministry blogs

Some good college ministry blogs to start reading:

InConversation – an aggregate of a bunch of Cru blogs

Brian Barela

Matt McComas

Tim Casteel

Stephen Lutz

StaffHacker.com

Benson Hines

• Step 2: Join the discussion. Leave a comment as often as you can so others can learn from you and hear your input.

4) Start a blog and share what you are learning and resources you are using in ministry

photo courtesy of Konabish

We’ve heard about what our purpose is: to glorify God with our whole lives. But devoid of a grander story arc for history, the way in which we do this will be limited to the likes of not cheating on tests, not embezzling money from other businesses, and volunteering at the local homeless shelter once a month. All wonderful things, mind you, but a life lacking a plot tends to lack urgency and passion. So we settle. We may glorify God in the ways we think and act and live, but we miss the larger narrative within which we were meant to glorify Him.

Thankfully, history does have such a plot, and in it we find the scope of our ultimate purpose. The plot is God’s grand plan to redeem people of every tribe, tongue, language, and nation to Himself – to be glorified in all the earth by all its people. To bring humanity back to its purpose of glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever. It’s a story with everything at stake – the eternal destinies of the nations, the redemption of the world’s people to their Creator. And it’s a story in which we know the end. Revelation chapters 5 and 7 make clear that people of every nation will be before the throne of God at the end of time. Astoundingly, God’s design includes us, His people. We get to participate and affect the outcome of this global story. God’s rescued become His rescuers.

At this point in this story that stretches back millennia, we’re governed by a simple command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) It’s the Great Commission, given by Jesus, the heroic centerpiece of God’s redemptive work, just before He left Earth. Like a relay race with thousands of legs, this baton of world evangelism and discipleship has been passed from generation to generation, each taking it closer to its inexorable finish. Yet one generation will serve as the anchor leg, the one carrying the baton across the finishing tape. If this generation embraces both the purpose of glorifying God and the plot of God seeking to redeem the nations through Christ, it could be the anchor leg, the Finishers of this great race.

The Finishers seeks to help this generation embrace God’s global purposes and live as actors in His story, and perhaps be part of the most privileged generation since Jesus walked the Earth.  To purchase copies, go to the CruPress store.  For more Great Commission vision, go to The Finishers official site.