• than my pride and fears. I lay my life down to God, that He may use me as a light in this dark world.
• than my sin and any feelings of being incapable of either being in the workforce or called to minister in any way
• than my parents resistance to Christianity. I will shine the Light He gives me. You must become more and I must become less.
• than my desires and my sin, my inability to trust. You have control.
• than my security and comfort of things familiar to me.
• than spreading the Gospel to all of Cleveland.
• than my struggles against my past abuse and against homosexuality!!
• than the relationship between my boyfriend and I.
• than all my fears and insecurities.
• then my depression and anxiety that has lead me to the hospital and back
• than the lost in Slovenia. He promised he will reach the lost there & I know he will!
• than my future, my failures or my fears. It’s time to live my life for God and break the connection to things that keep me from that.
• than my job security. Risking relevance in my career for a year of service to the Lord.
• than my future plans of interning, marriage and wherever the Lord will take me.
• than my financial worries concerning a summer project
• than my relationship with my girlfriend, my future plans of ministry, and controlling my life
• than all that money I have longed for in my future.
• than what i think is right for my life, my ‘control’. I will trust God to guide me on a path that’s good, prosperous to the kingdom and His.

Now imagine being with 2400 others finishing that sentence—it’s incredible! And everyone says something different. Can you hear the resolve in their voices as they declare it?

• God is greater than my future.
• God is greater than my circumstances.
• God is greater than my past.
• God is greater than my sin.
• God is greater than my present.
• God is greater than the harm done to me, than my fears, my failures, …

God has used our annual winter conference, IndyCC, as a trail marker of believing God for greater things every year.

Each of the four days of this conference saw resolute commitments of yielding to Christ—mending a broken friendship, reading the Bible, breaking up with a boyfriend, choosing purity, deferring to parents, applying for a summer missions project, or committing to give a year to missions (below).

You would have loved seeing them learn to share their faith for the first time (below) and then doing it out in the community! Or trusting God to overcome a barrier in their lives. Then seeking and trusting him with their future plans. And literally “text in” with how they believe God is greater.

You and I, together, have the privilege of seeing God at work in these lives as well as ours. You share in these eternal rewards—this is lasting fruit.

Thank you for journeying with Kristin and I as we help show our students a clearer picture of who God is and what His Kingdom is all about.

We are thankful for each one of you and the role you play in our ministry. Blessings to you and your family this Christmas!
Kristin & John

In my own life, I have found that it is challenging to engage with God and offer thanks for his provision and blessings. This is often due to my own self-sufficiency as I go through my daily routine. When I take the time to engage with God, I am led down the path of recognizing my own depravity and realizing my own shortcomings. Out of this grows recognition of my need for dependence on Him. It is in these moments where my heart can engage and offer thanks for all that God has provided for me, as well as offer praise to God for who He is.

As the Psalmist writes, we are commanded to enter his gates with thanksgiving and praise.

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he, who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”  —Psalm 100

Let us give thanks together and offer praise to our God as our provider.
What are you thankful for today?

Creating the “Let’s Go” 2012 Summer Project Booklet was a huge undertaking. The creative process can be a daunting one. We spent months thinking and talking about the design before we had anything very concrete to show. (Click on each image to view larger.)

Mood Boards:

We started with looking at other designs—looking for the styles, feelings and moods we wanted to convey.

Sketches:

From the mood boards, we came up with sketches to portray the concepts of the booklet. We also created an outline of the text.

Page Mock-ups:

Once the sketches were approved, we began to come up with color schemes and page mock-ups. Even at this stage, you can begin to see hints or more than hints of the final document. If you have a copy of the booklet, compare these to what you see!

From these mock-ups and feedback, we deepened the color scheme, chose the typefaces, combined ideas from all three styles which resulted in the final design. These designs also fully influenced the website: gosummerproject.com

It was a great privilege to work with Lauren, Ann and Andrew. 100s of hours were well spent and I am excited for God to keep the project going as students read and spend time with it. We’ll share the stories with you too!

Thanks for making this possible and for helping to send students around the world to share the gospel.

The most important thing to know is that we are not changing our mission or vision. We are still all about Jesus Christ and proclaiming him to others so that they can experience his love and grace.

Here are some links to find out more:

• FAQ from CCCi.
• Video of Vice President Steve Sellers on Fox & Friends, from July 23, 2011.
• We love this video of Vonette Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade with her husband Bill, and her thoughts about the name change.
• Excellent perspective from Phil Cooke, known for thoughts on media and the church.
• Photos Kristin took at the announcement in Colorado.

You can also email us with your questions: John.Madeja (at) uscm.org or Kristin.Madeja (at) uscm.org.

As I have shared in previous posts, I am not sure as to why these medical hiccups have occurred and why my body is experience these difficulties. At times I am frustrated. However, I have experienced a lot of peace as I rest in the Lord and watch him work on my character, patience and understanding of Him. In the end, I think that is a great trade-off—a growing heart focused on Christ in light of momentary struggles.

Thank you for your care! I have received a number of notes, emails and facebook messages. I am grateful for your encouragement and prayers.

It makes for interesting conversations with our neighbors and friends at church. It is such an odd job requirement, yet it is so valuable! Since college students are traditionally not in school during the summer, our jobs need to change. Taking the summer “off” isn’t an option.

One option is summer mission projects. They are the bread and butter of our ministry. Staff will take 6 weeks and move to a beach or resort area here in the US, or go overseas with students to do ministry. Students will be mentored by our staff, grow in their faith and share the gospel. Over the years, we have spent a few summers this way. We’ve been in resort areas and had students come work in our office, using their media and design skills to create innovative ministry tools. Either place results in students lives transformed by the gospel.

Another option is to participate in leadership development. Theological classes are available to keep us grounded in God’s word. Training and coaching are a great way for us to take the next step in our ministries.

This summer, John and I will be concentrating on this second option. I will be participating in 4 weeks of team leader training. I am especially excited for how this will help me be a better coach and lead the folks on my media team well. I want to see God use our team in amazing ways to reach students. John will be cracking the books to study church history and parts of systematic theology including God, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. He is a bit nervous since he has not taken a class in 14 years.

The training and classes will be held in Colorado. We will live in an apartment across the street from Colorado State University in Fort Collins. After the 4 weeks of training is complete, we will stay for an additional 10 days for Campus Crusade’s National Staff Conference. 6000 staff from the US will be joining us there on the CSU campus. The conference is a significant time to connect, worship, hear what God is doing through the ministry around the world, and look ahead to where he is leading the ministry as a whole.

Would you consider helping us cover the $6000 in additional expenses with a gift that is significant to you?

As you can imagine, packing up and moving to another city to live for 6 weeks is not a cheap endeavor. The costs of getting to Colorado and for the training and classes are above what we normally raise for our salary and regular ministry expenses. But I am sure you will agree that it is worth it! How would your work and ministry change if you had 4 weeks set aside for leadership development!?!

There are a couple ways you can give. The easiest is online: http://give.ccci.org. Or you can send us a check payable to Campus Crusade for Christ.

We are grateful for your ongoing partnership with us. We are definitely in this ministry together and couldn’t do it without you.

I want to grow in my faith – I want to be bold and rely fully on God.

I hope to be able to trust in God more & gain more experience sharing my faith.

I realize that a lot of my actions and decisions are made out of fear, fear of what could happen, and these fears are very real to me. I desire to be loved, and to make decisions that are based on trust, and hope knowing that the Lord is going to provide.

I hope to grow in ways I never thought possible. I hope to learn how to share my faith in a way that I haven’t experienced.

Learning more about God and myself, developing more skills to equip me back on campus to share my faith.

I would like to see myself have a better prayer life as well as be more studious about reading my bible and spending time with God. I would also like to be better about sharing my faith with people around me.

I want to gain maturity as a believer by being encouraged and shown how to boldly share my faith, not just told to “go sharing”. I want to gain maturity as a believer by learning how to start spiritual conversations at work. I want to gain closeness and more trust in my relationship with God. I want to gain a security in my identity in Christ.

Chicago is such a great city! It is the heart of the mid-west and critical to seeing new movements of students launched as student-leaders are raised up to share the gospel. We hope this video gives you a picture of how the Lord is using Campus Crusade to impact the lives of students, not only in Chicago, but around the world. This video was shown at our most recent conference where we challenged students to consider the call God has on their lives. Perhaps they will consider Chicago.