“Thank you so much Cru Conference! You saved me from the destructive lifestyle I have set for myself. Without this event I don’t know where I’d be. Please tell all the staff about this. I am the reason you guys do what you do, I am the reason you CAN’T ever stop. God is so great to ME I can’t than you enough. I have changed my life around and set in motion a life I want want to live for God!”  – Riley, Univ. of Idaho

“I first came to God because of all sorts of pain. After a while, I started to give up on God to heal all of my pain from the past. I used ultimate Frisbee to escape from it all and fill my time. After Holly’s talk, instead of giving up, I want to surrender the pain. Instead of escaping, I want to rest in Him.” – Andy, PSU

“I gained confidence in sharing the gospel, and I loved being reminded to listen when I share. I gained new perspective on how sharing is not out of obligation, but out of a need for others to hear.” – Bekah, Univ. of Portland

“I was reminded that everyone is on a spiritual journey, and that people want to talk about deeper things. I want to continue to scatter all the seed because who know what will grow. I’m praying for big things to happen at PSU.” -Renee, PSU

“I gained confidence in my walk with God and facing the lies about sharing my faith.” (In reference to how people don’t want to talk about spiritual things”. – Amanda, Univ. of Portland

“I spirituality is the most important thing in our lives, why isn’t it the most talked about? With the 80 students we have involved at UP, I be collectively we know everyone on campus. We literally could give every student at UP, all 3300, and opportunity to hear the gospel. We could reach our entire campus!” – Zach, Univ. of Portland

Campus Crusade for Christ — Christmas Thank You from Masterworks on Vimeo.

By the numbers, here is a picture of what God did:

Students Sent: 3297
Total Projects: 224

Personal Evangelism: 40,817
Decisions: 2722

Group Evangelism: 28,388
Decisions: 2966

Media Evangelism: 50,505
Decisions: 2490

The first ever Fiji Summer Project (photo) saw 168 Fijians receive Christ!

What the numbers don’t say…

“From Day 1 I was immersed in the most loving community I’ve ever had” San Diego Summer Project

“I am excited to reach out to freshmen and show them what it looks like to have a flourishing relationship with God and what it looks like to be women of God.” Grand Traverse Bay

“We shared with Diana on project, and she met with us for all ten follow ups! Before we left project, she was sharing the Gospel with her friends and leading one of them through the follow ups. I mean you hear all the time about God using you if you let Him, but I actually saw it and experienced it and it was so cool to know that the Holy Spirit was working through me!” Guayaquil, Equador.

• Pray for the 100 plus contacts we already have from freshman orientations. Pray for open hearts to the message of Jesus.
• Pray for Move-In day this saturday (Sept 17th). Our staff team, student leaders and volunteers will be moving students in on campus.
• Pray for Cru promotional activities Mon-Wed. Pray for hundreds of conversations. Pray for new students to get involved. Pray for favor among the administration.
• Pray for our Cru Party on Tuesday night (Sept 20th). Pray for 50 freshman to attend!
• Pray for our first Downtown Cru meeting on Wednesday (Sept 21st). Pray for tons of new faces and that they would be captured by the vision of loving God and helping others to know him!
• Pray for our Beach trip on Saturday (Sept 24th), that new students would connect and get more plugged in to Christ centered community.

Thanks for praying for us and our team. We covet your prayers as we labor to make Christ known here!

We’re currently at our biannual national staff conference where it was just announced that the name of Campus Crusade for Christ will be officially changed to Cru. It’s an intriguing process that is weighty and has a huge impact on lowering the barrier for us to talk about Jesus in the Portland area. We’re cautiously optimistic about the name change. You can read more about the decision here!

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask us. Rest assured that we will still be taking the message of Christ to the heart of the campuses of Portland on the way to reaching the world for Christ!

More than one-third of the students on project this summer gave their life to the Lord within the past year. Now for the first time, many of them are experiencing Biblical community and the joy of communicating to others what God has done in their life. Within the first two weeks we’ve already seen students making drastic changes to their lives and take huge steps of faith!

The best is yet to come with an ice cream slip and slide, the fourth of July outreach and project turnover right around the corner. We’re dreaming that this summer would launch students on a new trajectory of serving the Lord for the next 50 years of their lives! Maybe some of these students will be on your staff team in the future!

Our April Newsletter is freshly baked! Get a glimpse of what went on during spring break, hear about our Lake Tahoe plans and please pray for us for key events!

We love our ministry partners! Thanks so much for investing in the lives of college students. It’s worth it! Please let us know you’re reading this and comment on this post. We love to hear from you.