Passionate about tools.

We feel very fortunate. The positions that God has led us to over the years have overlapped well with our own skills and passions. One of those things for me (Jayson) is that people would use the available tools and resources to the fullest — especially in proclaiming the Gospel!

With the JESUS Film, that means that as we develop applications and tools, I want to make sure we’re creating things that people can actually use, not just flashy useless things.

Some things for you.

I also want our partners to also be able to make the best use of the resources out there. For those with an Android or Apple smartphone, search for an application called God Tools. This app puts great evangelism tools in your pocket — the tried-and-true Four Spiritual Laws in 3 forms, and one for struggling Christians on the power of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life.

If you don’t have a “smart phone”, let me suggest two Bible tools that do have phone apps, but are available on your computer alone: BlueLetterBible.org and ESVBible.org. Blue Letter Bible has just about everything one could want for personal study — 18 versions, word-by-word concordance, commentaries and more. The ESV Bible online offers a way to keep notes, free audio Bible, devotional readings and optional add-on Greek & Hebrew study tools.

About your church: it should be easy for people to find out inf
rmation — at very least service times, an address, and a way to reach leaders by phone or email. If someone searches your church’s name in your town the first result should be a page with its information on it. This is the contemporary equivalent of having a sign by your building.

The easiest way to get a website started is WordPress.com. Their basic pages are free and with plenty of tutorials to get you started. If your church wants their own “.com” site, it will cost a mere $27 a year. A pretty low hurdle!

We see our ministry as not only to our students, neighbors or people through the showing of the JESUS Film, but also to you who partner with us with prayer and/or finances. Please let us know if you ever have questions, how we can be praying for you, or other ways we can care for you!

Pray For

• We’ve set a moving-to-Florida date of March 15. Pray that we can find the right housing for our family.
• We need about $315 of monthly support before Jayson can report to his team. Pray that it would come quickly.
• Jayson is traveling to Austin for a tech- conference in March. Pray for safe travel and lots of learning!

Where: East Salem UMC (Routes 235 & 333 between McAlisterville & Thompsontown) When: Friday, February 10, 2012. Doors open at 6:30pm. Movie starts at 7:00pm. It’s completely free. Bring anyone you want. We will also play the JESUS Film for Children & we will talk briefly about our work.

"Born is the King of Israel."

I should have posted this about two weeks ago. Better late than never, right?

Click the picture to go to the PennStateCru site.

Every time there’s a scandal or tragedy on any college campus, I think that it hits a lot of Cru staff a differently and closer than many. When Virginia Tech lost students to an out-of-control gunman it hit us harder than most in Western PA because we know the staff team that mourned the death of some of their disciples. This morning the news carried reports of a gunman on campus in Wilmington, NC and my heart prayed for JP, my roommate from a Summer Project over a decade ago who now leads that campus’ team.

For this reason and because we’re temporarily living about an hour from the campus, our reactions to the disgusting Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State are deep indeed. Of the scores of Cru staff that we’re friends with, Penn State alumni make up a significant portion – indeed, most of our very closest friends cheered in Happy Valley for a time.

Thursday nights are when Penn State Cru has their large-group weekly meeting. At it Tim Henderson, the team leader and a friend of ours, broke away from their ongoing series to talk about how Christians at Penn State should be thinking about the situation.

When victim six returned home from a visit with Sandusky, his mom noticed he had wet hair. On the basis of that small detail alone she was concerned and learned that they had showered together. Immediately this mom called the police, cooperated in a wiretap, confronted Sandusky to his face…

What’s the difference between these cases?

The difference is the mom loved her son. She loved her little boy and was moved to outrage by the simple fact of his wet hair. She moved aggressively. She wasn’t fulfilling a legal obligation, and she wasn’t fulfilling a moral obligation. Obligation wasn’t the issue.

Love is the issue.

Last Tuesday (the night of the riots), I spoke with one of our Penn State friends who now lives in Orlando and he was deeply upset – “my home is self-destructing.” He spoke of a deep pain drawing him to pray for his alma mater – so that it would be a place of healing and joy. Somewhere over which “Jesus Christ would be King.”

Take some time to visit the PennStateCru.com/love page and take a look or listen at what our friend had to say. You can listen to the talk, or read the abridged or full transcript. I’d suggest listening to the entire talk – it’s powerful.

“Armed” for Battle

Daddy and Fia

One of the best things about this season of focused fundraising is the wealth of time we get to visit and worship with friends, and meet the folks who are important in your lives too. This month, one church we visited studied Exodus 17, with Moses’ upraised arms and staff bringing Israel to victory over Amalek.

Incredible as the miracle is, the glaring reality remains: even the mighty prophet Moses is human with arms prone to tiring out. I (Carrie) could immediately relate. The arms of pregnant women are often barred from lifting anything; the biceps of mothers (I am learning) must do battle with all manner of seats and strollers, never mind the dead weight of an eleven-pound sleeping child. That Sunday during the sermon, I thought of countless afternoons where, like the author of Hebrews, I long for the One greater than Moses whose arms never tire, our Messiah Jesus who “upholds the universe by the word of his power.” A later search turned up no shortage of verses reminding YHWH’s people of His “mighty hand and outstretched arm,” most of which allude to deliverance and strength in battle.

Holding Steady

All this to say that like any work, the work of finding partners for this ministry is not immune from the spiritual battle that we all face as believers.  While I praise God for how well things have been going, please join me in praying especially for Jayson, as he carries the bulk of the responsibility for our family during this time. Pray for our continued protection and endurance through the spiritual battles of fundraising. As we live in transition for an unknown length of time with so many details up in the air, pray that the LORD would be our rock of stability. As we visit churches and meet people, pray that we will rely on the Holy Spirit’s power to initiate even when we feel socially taxed, and for discipline to keep the Sabbath.  Pray for protection from the emotional ups and downs of “crunching numbers,” and from fears of disappointing friends and partners, losing financial support, and feeling unworthiness in ministry.

We praise God for the way He has provided for our needs, protected our marriage, and proven Himself so faithful during this time, but we know we aren’t immune from the enemy’s attacks. Please join us in calling on the One whose strong arms are mighty in battle. We would love to be heading back down to Orlando to The Jesus Film Project by January 1. Thank you again for the part you play in holding us up – we couldn’t do it without you!

Pray For:

• Our last newsletter had ‘mysterious’ prayer requests that were probably confusing. They weren’t secret codes – just filler-text that we forgot to replace. Pray for our organizational abilities as they seem to have taken a hit since somewhere around early June.
• Pray for the financial support that would allow for a report date in early January.

Sometimes I have to help mom and dad out.

Last week mom and dad did something silly. They sent out the September newsletter with a little bit of an error on it.

Usually there is a box at the bottom left where they share prayer requests, each month they tend to be different things but the general design of the newsletter stays just about the same each month. Well, the two old coots forgot to change the “filler text” into something meaningful. Unlike me they’re not trying to say something novel or sneaky when they babble unintelligible sentences at you guys.

Please forgive them and pray for their administrative abilities. They keep saying something about needing me to sleep so that they can “work” or “concentrate” or something… I have no idea what that means, all I know is that I’m hungry, or I’m tired or bored. I’m not sure, I’m going to let them figure it out…

“There’s no doubt in my mind that [Cru] will continue to proclaim Christ and seek to fulfill His Great Commission in taking the Gospel to every people group on earth…”

Brian Wright
President
Southern Baptist Convention

It’s been two months since Campus Crusade for Christ announced that our name in the US will be changing to “Cru” at some point next year. Almost immediately, some commentators – some who are Christians, some who are not – began to debate back and forth what our reasons were. What was missed in much of the commentary was what CCC’s leadership said the reasons were. With very little exception there were no quotes from our leaders, just soap-boxing and speculation.

Other, Trusted Voices

In the midst of it, many missed what trusted Christian leaders were saying about it as well, yet they were speaking – Tim Keller, Louie Giglio, John Piper, Ed Stetzer, as well as the presidents of YoungLife, the Southern Baptist Convention, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and The Navigators all wrote or spoke out supporting Campus Crusade through the process and into the future.

“How I thank God for you and all who serve our Lord Jesus Christ and His mission to reach the world with the Gospel at Cru! Whenever I think of you and your devotion to Christ I am encouraged and hopeful for our mutual task.”

Lon Allison
Billy Graham Center
Wheaton College

In light of this, I wanted to supply you all with something that’s been pulled together and a couple of links.

Firstly, Campus Crusade for Christ, International (still the name of the overarching organization) has put a lot of these quotes on their page addressing the name change. There are also a section of Frequently Asked Questions and some videos that our leadership have recorded to explain our decision. You can find that site at:

http://CCCI.org/Cru

Additionally, I’ve uploaded a PDF version of most of the quotes together on one page. You can download that here: Name Change PDF. You can also find them on the CCCI site, here.

Finally, I would like to suggest two articles by Christian leaders who have proven themselves time and time again to think things through in a cogent and clear manner – a powerful asset in this era of breathless and heavily-spun news bytes.

• First, John Piper, asks the question, “Should You Support Campus Crusade Staff Now That the Name Is Changing?”
  • His conclusion states, “Is the soldier faithful and fruitful? That is the decisive issue.”
• Then, Ed Stetzer just added his thoughts this past week, along with some poignant criticism for CCC.

Please Ask us if you have questions!

If you have more questions or concerns, you may also contact the two of us directly at (814) 218-0760 or by emailing jayson.whelpley@uscm.org.

We can assure you, if Cru were truly wavering from its core commitment to Jesus Christ or the Gospel, we would be among the first to tender our resignation.

Fia and mommy playing together yesterday.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

It’s enamoring to watch our daughter Fia grow. We’ve even tried “Peekaboo,” but it will be a while until she gets object permanence. For now, she doesn’t cry when I leave because no face and no voice mean no Mommy. Similarly, a book I read recently challenged me on how easily I forget the plight (physical and spiritual) of those without Christ. From my middle-class-American bubble, it is embarrassingly easy to lose myself in social obligations, consumer pursuits, and what a friend aptly calls “first-world problems.” From this groggy place, the realities of pain and hell can feel pretend.

New Life, New Hope

In some places, reality is harder to forget. As Jayson starts with the JESUS Film Project, I’ve picked up The Touch of Jesus by Paul Eschleman (JFP’s first director). Chapter 1 tells of Marie and Willie Erasmus who pioneered the film in a South African refugee camp that sounds much like Somalia today–civil war, government atrocities, famine, disease, and treks across perilous terrain. Eschleman recounts the details:

They had no water and little food. One meal a day from the meager relief rations barely staved off [starvation]. The fetid, striking odor of human excrement gagged the senses. And always the blank, staring eyes—beyond feeling.  A dress here or a blouse given there yielded no comment. What good is a dress when your baby is dying of malnutrition or diarrhea, and your husband is gone?

As the team set up [the film], curiosity began to build…But something was wrong…the team heard witch doctors chanting and saw them throwing bones on the ground in satanic rituals…For three hours [the JFP team] implored God to send His blessings, bind the power of the evil one, and open the eyes of the spiritually blind…They asked God to tear down the spiritual walls as He had destroyed the walls of Jericho…The witch doctors stopped their dancing… more than a thousand people crowded into a small dusty clearing.

“During [the crucifixion]” Marie said, “we sensed something unusual happening. Everyone began to cry—the women and the men—a mournful wailing that gradually rose from the crowd in a relentless crescendo.”…[The people] beat their breasts and cried out, “Oh, God! Oh, God!”…Everywhere people were confessing their sins. The film was forgotten… [The film team] couldn’t speak…One by one, the team members themselves fell to their knees confessing their own sins.

Willie went to the interpreter. “We need to finish the film so they will know the good news of the resurrection.”…They saw the burial of Christ, and then—the resurrection. The interpreter explained, “Jesus died to make the payment for our sins. But death could not hold Him.”…The crowd exploded as if a dam had burst. Everyone began cheering and dancing… An invitation was given for all of those who wanted to receive Christ…The following Sunday, five hundred new believers showed up trying to get into the forty-person church.

Wow! Praise God for the way his Spirit moves when his people pray!

Right now we’re working on what we’re going to be writing for our next newsletter. In the mean-time, here are some photos from the past few weeks to fill your appetite for cute baby pictures.

This Sunday, August 21, we’re going to be welcoming all of you to visit us to meet, re-meet, or just hang out with us. We’ll bring Sofia, too!

We’ll be at the Brick House Coffee Bar (3741 W 26th St) from about 12:30. We’ll try to be there for a couple of hours to visit and to sip on steeped beans.

If you’re going to be a bit later than 2, let us know that you’re going to come and we’ll make sure we stick around until we see you.