Home!

Carrie and I love life inside the “beltway.” We’ve grown fond of our neighborhood (Waverly Hills) — employees at local shops know us

Student leaders at our place for a city-wide planning meeting before Spring Break.

by name, and neighbors invite us to dinner and visit regularly. We have served on our church’s hospitality team and have hosted a small group for Northern VA couples. We’ve even found a couple to mentor us and a marriage pastor willing to meet regularly. We really feel at home here.

We love the students and schools here too. Carrie adores mentoring several women around the city. I’ve enjoyed giving direction to the campus that is slowly evolving into an “anchor school” for the rest of our work in DC. Three students (and one of their sisters) are applying for summer project this year, alumni are sticking around to give lift to the movement, and one of our leaders is talking about interning with CCC here when she graduates. Even a student who has serious emotional and intellectual objections to the God of the Bible is continuing to come out to everything – including two identical Bible studies every week. God seems to be moving, and this is still where we hope to be.

Away!

But life and ministry have also been difficult. In keeping with what Washington’s reputation, God has used this time to dredge up lots of stuff in us – even more intensely since December. I have struggled in my job, and (since they’re so intertwined) my personal life and walk with the Lord. I say that I’ve struggled, not stumbled, because every turn feels like new growth. God has been speaking as clearly as I have ever experienced, calling me to do and not do things that have been uncomfortable, but undeniably sanctifying.

Meanwhile, as we approach our 7^th anniversary on staff (a time when many take a sabbatical from active ministry), We’ve wrestled through the where and what of God’s calling, with both short-term and long-term implications. Conversations with our leaders about both the health of the team and our own personal development have proved helpful (albeit nerve-wracking at times) as the best options were discussed.

In praying through them, it seemed that the best one for both our personal health and that of the DC Metro team long-term would be to follow our directors’ recommendations to move to Campus Crusade for Christ’s headquarters in Orlando for a year as part of a program called the “Lake Heart STINT.”

Lake Hart

The Lake Hart STINT is an 11-month commitment that lasts from this August through June 2011. In addition to serving in a position at headquarters, participants receive personal development through weekly time in large groups, small groups, one-on-one life coaching, and hearing from Campus Crusade’s top leaders. It’s a great time to step away from field ministry for a minute and have a hand in the essential behind-the-scenes work that makes the work on campuses possible. And as neither of us have had real experience in a 9 to 5 job, we’re looking forward to a more “normal” work environment for a time!

Lake Hart is the global headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ, over 900 staff work here to support local and area ministries.

Several friends have taken advantage of this opportunity and have benefited greatly both personally and professionally from a year “off the field” to be developed from angles that the pace of the campus ministry rarely allows for. It’s almost like a year-long summer project for staff, a time to “sharpen our axe” in community.

During the last couple of decades years Campus Crusade has seen significant growth worldwide.  There are now over sixty ministries within Campus Crusade for Christ.  These ministries share a common goal – to engage with a certain part of society in order to reach the world for Christ.  From students on college campuses, prisoners in cell blocks; refugees in Albania; businessmen and women in the corporate office; the homeless in the inner city to small far off villages known almost to no one, our staff members are there sharing the hope that can only be found in Jesus.

The growth of this ministry is made possible due to the talented staff serving behind the scenes. Whether it is in human resources, reimbursements, film production, graphic design, etc., there are needs to be met so the gospel can be advanced throughout the world. In order to sustain these advances and trust God for even more, we have a tremendous need to strengthen and enlarge the support structure that exists for our ministry at our World Headquarters. We are honored to help meet this need. The men and women who serve our ministry from Orlando not only enable us to be on the campus, but also reach just about every segment of society worldwide.

This is a chance for staff members like myself who have been on the campus long enough to learn core principles of ministry to take the next step in leadership and learn how to launch and sustain new ministries. Upon completion of the year, our hope is to return to the team in Washington, DC. Of course, we are learning as followers of a Holy Spirit who like the wind “blows where He will,” His people also hold their plans loosely.

Throughout this whole process, I am struck by the graciousness of our God to put us on the same page with our leaders – we’re expectant of how this will prepare us even more for a lifetime of loving our God and serving people! Thanks for your prayers and continued support that will allow us to stay focused on the mission – more details to come!

Grace & Peace,

Jayson (& Carrie)

Prayer Requests:

• That the transition would go well for us, students, and incoming staff.
• For student leaders who are taking new responsibilities seriously, that they would see much fruit in their own ministries and hearts. As we’ve passed off more to them, they’ve had great ideas and enthusiasm for prayer and evangelism.

• That we would be expectant and hopeful as we look to this season as a chance to see God’s provision. We really love DC and we’re going to miss our friends and church a whole lot.
• That we’d make the most of the 5 months until we move.

It’s a Miracle!

We are so glad to be back home. After a month on the road, and it feels so nice to sleep in our own bed, to read the mail the day it comes and, yes, even to look at the brick wall of the condos next door as I work at the dining room table.

The past month was wonderful though, as it was spent with family and with friends from around our region. We visited our families all over Pennsylvania, spent a week in Baltimore staffing a student conference (“RADIATE” – more details to come on our website) and trekked to Mississippi for an abnormally cold week with Carrie’s family and newborn niece. That’s a total of about 2,725 miles and 43 driving hours, and despite it all Carrie and I still love each other and life – it’s a miracle!

Families – I Like ‘em

I feel like I live life with two families. I’m not talking about mine and Carrie’s, but our biological-legal family and our Campus Crusade staff-family. I feel like each one teaches me how to live with and appreciate the other better.

Last week my step-sister wrote on her blog about a rabbi who spoke of God using our families to teach us how to live with people that we may or may not like but to whom we’re bound. (The irony is not lost on me that she and I didn’t get along very well when we were younger; we do now.) This holiday season was strange – I enjoyed our bio-legal family even more than usual, but due to some miscommunications had a harder time with our staff family which has almost always been easy and fun for me. Of course, no truly close family becomes so without some hard conversations, right?

Home Away From Home

As I write, it strikes me that my first evening back on campus included catching up with four students about their breaks only to hear of four uniquely difficult home stories revolving around fathers who have been various combinations of selfish, abusive, absent, withholding and unpredictable.

Given that talk of community and family metaphors find their way quite often into our conversations of faith, would you pray with us that this movement of students, staff and volunteers here in Washington, DC would be one that feels like a healthy family – full of those committed to be gracious and truthful to one another even as affections and annoyances come and go?  One of the students above has yet to publicly confess faith in Christ, but recently mentioned feeling more real community at Cru than any of the other groups he frequents, and that something “clicked” at our last dinner.

Pray that God uses this “family” not as an alternative or escape from realities at home, but as a glimpse of the restorative power of God that revives hope and trust where it’s been wounded, and as a practice ground that turns us all into family men and women for decades to come!

Pray for:

• Good follow-up to decisions made at RADIATE – of the ~900 attendees, 30 students around the region decided to make it official with following Jesus, and 149 wanted to dedicate at least one year of their lives to full-time mission work. Go ahead & say it. Wow.
• Upcoming spring break conference for students and our summer placement – our destination is currently uncertain, as we are waiting on a decision from our leadership.
• The 2 staff families in Haiti, as well as several “JESUS” film teams in Port Au Prince.

[View with PicLens]

Hi everyone! Carrie and I are both doing very well and we’re working on our January newsletter that will be out to you soon.

In the meantime we wanted to pass on some information about how you can join Campus Crusade’s response to the ongoing disaster in Haiti.

Even as the search to rescue people in the rubble turns into a recovery effort there are still hundreds of thousands of people now homeless, hungry, sick and possibly injured. Regardless of the reason WHY God allowed this to happen, our response needs to be filtered through the words of our Lord:

Matthew 25:40
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

You may or may not know about the Global Aid Network (GAiN), but it is the humanitarian aid arm of Campus Crusade. Currently there is already a group of GAiN staff in the suffering island nation as well as the campus ministry team that is there to reach their own college students (the last I heard, the national director still had not located one of his parents).

The need from this disaster creates a need that surpasses political and ideological barriers. Please join us in giving by going to http://GAiNusa.org and share as the Lord would lead you.

Thank you for reading and, we’ll be sharing with you again soon!

(I typed this up on my phone, so I apologised for any typos.)

“How’d it go?”

After a busy first 8 weeks, Fall Retreat, and 25 visiting staff ”blitzing” four DC campuses for 3 days, there’s never been a more reasonable question to ask.  And I’ve never felt less sure how to answer.  Can I let you eavesdrop a little while I think on it?

Carrie, do you love me?

Yes, Lord… Why do you ask?

More than your success?  More than a “well done”?  More than the Mission itself?  (It is not the end, I AM.)

Carrie, do you love me?

Uh…

Will you feed my lambs?  Even when you are wearied by their indecision?  Grieved by their idolatry?  Sickened by their sexual deviance? Annoyed by their immaturity?  Embarrassed by the family resemblance?  Feed my sheep. MY sheep. (They are not your trophy or widget.)

Carrie, do you love me?

Lord, you know…  But what about these other ministries? They have so many freshmen — students are leading, stuff is happening! They must get something we don’t…”

If it is my will that they remain fruitful, what is that to you? You follow me! In a city of competence and résumés, will you resolve to know nothing but Christ crucified? Will you pour out your precious time with the runaways, internationals, and non-traditionals who will interrupt, drop out, move away and never give back to the “success” of “your movement”?

So, how did it go?

All of us at Fall Retreat

Well, we went (with less students than last year) to Fall Retreat, where one of our sophomore leaders realized for the first time that “God wants all of me,” and has been repenting of hidden sin and trusting God to give up substance abuse.

Our small group Bible study at Georgetown (which has been averaging about 3 actual GU students) has collected an 18-year-old gay runaway we met during “Blitz Week” who wants nothing more than to love Jesus wholeheartedly and start learning the Bible.

And in the past week, God gave opportunities for me to discuss the good news of grace clearly with three people: a bright young man studying audio technology at the University of MD (not our school), a Georgetown non-traditional student who lives across the city and whose only class is during our only group time, and an exchange student (also a Blitz Week contact) who will move back to China in just over a month.  None of these dear folks are likely to be involved with the movement.

The Lord brings hurting people out of the woodwork to consider message of Jesus. These people need more one-on-one dialogue time than ever (years, it seems), and yet this city is such a transient place! Movements do not happen without qualified leaders, and qualified leaders do not happen apart from laboring in prayer and waiting on the Holy Spirit. So please continue to pray with us for patience, wisdom, and perseverance, as we follow a God who does not disappoint! Thanks again for being in this with us!

Pray for:

• Praise God for good health so far this year!
• Pray for the students mentioned above, and several other potential leaders.
• Pray for our slowly-forming volunteer army – their spiritual health & our practical wisdom in how to best fit them in.
• Pray for our staff team’s upcoming visit to the VA Beach area to give lift to friends and help with a cross-cultural movement launch.

Back!

“Where are you from? What’s your major? Where are you from…” This time of year, this is the sound that rings back when your head hits the pillow.  Classes in the District have officially started, along with all that goes with it — tables at club fairs, brightly colored fliers, free stuff, new faces and the ever-present aroma of cheap burgers from orientation events.  Today at Georgetown, the music on the quad from a huge beginning-of-the-year church service for freshman and a few lingering parents reminds last spring’s party ground that it is time to get serious again.

Georgetown, along with American University, will probably be one of our strongest movements this fall, as we have become part of the Campus Ministry communities there and have freedom to meet more students and hold events.  Please pray that these relationships with other groups will only grow and that God would show us how to contribute as team players to the good reputation of Jesus.  It is the body of Christ (not just Cru) that is able to reach the whole city.

Connecting the Dots

September is always stirring with transition, but this year even more.  Between the reality of a much smaller staff team and so many of last year’s students leaving town for various reasons, it is a perfect time to zoom out to focus on who is here.  Due partly to a national push within Campus Crusade to mobilize Cru alumni and partly to an accidental bunch of potential volunteers, we’ve been spending our time in between the club fairs trying to connect some of the dots here.

What could it look like if a city full of Type-A twenty-somethings caught a vision for reaching out to the students around them? If the graduating seniors from thriving Cru movements like Virginia Tech and James Madison University had a clear place to invest themselves when they moved back home to our doorstep? We’re praying to find out. By Fall Retreat (October 9-11), we hope to have a small army of 20 volunteers, trained and moving toward a clear vision.

In the Wings

One of the advantages of living in a high-profile city is that you can get more press — Washington, DC has been on a list of the Top 10 priority cities within our organization for several years now.  As a result, two other metro staff teams, one from Chicago and the other from St. Louis, have volunteered to come here for a few days this October just to give lift to what we’re doing.  You may remember our incoming spring breakers two years ago — this is a big deal! Pray for wisdom as we think through the best way to put them to use, and we’ll keep you posted!

Grace & Peace,
Jayson & Carrie

Pray for:

Praise God for a summer of excellent training and sufficient funding for it! Thanks everyone!

Pray that the several non-Christians who’ve been investigating our groups would stick around.

Pray that our team and students will stay in good health through the fall flu season & that the presence of the H1N1 virus here would not keep people from our Fall Retreat.

Pray that our two new staff would be able to return from fundraising quickly to turn our 3-person team into 5!