August Prayer Letter

The First Six Weeks

6,000 freshman students walked onto campuses in Southwest MO the past two weeks. They were presented with opportunities to go whatever direction they desired, to attend a host of functions, clubs, or parties. 330 of those freshman and upperclassmen walked into our first Thursday night weekly meeting(pictured above). They heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in their first week at college. 

What these students will encounter in the coming weeks can rattle even the strongest foundations. Many professors will shake their faith with postmodern teaching. Studies show that in the first six weeks of their freshman year, students will align themselves with what will shape their entire college experiences, which in turn will set the trajectory for their entire life. Please pray for this critical window.

"Exactly what I needed"

Spencer was burned by the church. Condemned and cast out, he was resistant to Christians. However, he encountered a Cru staff member at MO State and heard the gospel during our initial outreach. He found the community and grace Jesus offers in the midst of our sin. Spencer was so thankful our team invited him with open arms to attend the meeting. Our hope for him is to restore a right outlook on the church. Pray with us.

Small Groups

Cru small groups started this week. The goal of these groups is for students to get involved in a smaller community where they can grow in their faith and reach out to their friends. We have small groups in all areas of campus: fraternity and sororities, athletic teams, international students, residence halls, off campus, and faculty. Here are a few stories from this past week. 

Are you familiar with the lifestyles of college athletes? Often busy, tired, and the source of the party life on campus--- ministry in this arena is tough. Which is why we are so excited 60 of MSU’s athletes showed up for our kick-off BBQ last week! The entire men’s and women’s basketball teams attended and several of the guys even said, “we’ll come back next week for the preaching too.” Imagine if these campus social leaders (as athletes often are) began pointing their peers to Christ. The whole culture would change! 

Residence hall Bible studies are often a place where students, especially freshman, make lasting friendships and experience life change. This past week one of the halls "Freddy" had 50 students attend (pictured above). Another hall "Hammons" had almost 30. This is the most we've seen in the years we've been involved at Missouri State. Jordan, the small group leader in Freddy said."My heart was so happy tonight to find over 50 kids in Freddy come to our CRU 'small' group. I am so stoked to get to be a part of leading so such eager students. Watch out, God is doing big things at Mo State!"

This is Brandon. Last spring Brandon led Sebastian to the Lord. Sebastian went on a summer mission trip, is now an RA in one of the dorms, brought 10 of his students to the weekly meeting, and is beginning to disciple a freshman guy- Tucker. Praise God for students coming to the Lord and taking it to the world. 

Most international students will never step foot in an American home. This is our first group meeting of the year and the students had a ton of fun making friends and playing games!

What's Next?

Fall Getaway is coming up September 26-28. This retreat is a great time for students to develop friendships, get away from the demands of school, and really focus on the Lord. Pray many students sign up and bring their friends.

Prayer Requests

• We are at 45% of our monthly financial support goal. Join in praying we reach 100% in 100 days. 

• Pray God would raise up student leaders among the athletic teams to lead Bible studies and be a light to their teammates; especially for Christian freshman.

• Pray for our staff team. They are tired from a busy start of the year and meeting many new students.

• We just celebrated three months of marriage! We have slept in 13 beds since being married. It’s been great and a lot of fun, but continue to pray we love each other well in the transitions.

HOW CAN WE PRAY FOR YOU? CLICK THE EMAIL ICON TO THE RIGHT UNDER "CONNECT WITH US" AND LET US KNOW HOW. 

Please pray with us

Here is a calendar with some ways that you can be praying for the staff and students of Cru in Southwest Missouri. We would be honored if you would pray with us this next month or so. We realize that nothing good happens on campus unless the Spirit moves which is why prayer is so important. We are excited to see how God moves these next few weeks on campus. 

This calendar is by no means an exhaustive list of things to be praying for, but it does serve as a guide. And we know that we even when we fail to pray for what we should Romans 8:26 is true: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR US

If you'd like to download the calendar so you can print it out please click the email icon under the "connect with us" section to the right and request a PDF. I'd love to hear from you.

for the display of His splendor

For those of you who frequent this blog, you'll notice things look a little different. If you're new here, welcome! I figured since this blog isn't just about me now it could use an update. New life stage, new look. But really things haven't changed too much. I'll still post life updates, pictures, and ministry updates. Hopefully you are encouraged and blessed by God's grace in our lives and the lives of others.

As I was changing this blog around I stared at that old banner at the top of the blog. An artist's rendition of a crooked tree and the title of this blog: "for the display of His splendor." A few of you may have read the post explaining why I named this blog that way back in July of 2012 (I re-posted it below if you care to take a look). Many of you have not. I look back to that post and realize how God has fleshed out this idea of being a display of His splendor the past 2 years. The concept is based on Isaiah 61:1-3 which says:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

In the beginning what resonated with me was the idea that the Lord had called me. I was sent. I was anointed. That thought was exciting to me. And of course that is still true today. But what I've realized these past two years is that I was also the poor, the brokenhearted, the captive, the prisoner, the mourner, the despairing. I know Christ, but I am still a sinner and I am just as broken as the people I have been sent to. I as a Christian need Jesus just as much as a lost person. That is what makes this so beautiful. I often picture those oaks of righteousness in verse 3 as the tree in my former header and the tree in my new header: falling down, crooked, and a messy. It's easy to believe that when we come to Christ, we should get it all together. We shouldn't be needy or messy. We should grow straight and tall, no bumps or ugly places. But we know better than that,don't we? My life certainly doesn't look like a mighty, tall, and straight oak tree and I'd guess yours doesn't either. We may not look like mighty oaks, but we are beautiful. We may not look strong and powerful, but our God is. To the world we may look broken, but to those who see as God sees we are displays of His splendor. We are all beautiful messes. The reason those broken falling down oak trees display the Lord's splendor is because they are a picture of the Gospel. We are messed up, broken people and in the midst of that Jesus loves us more than we could ever imagine.

I'm thankful for these past few years. I have learned to see beauty in the brokenness. It gives God all the more glory. Davy and I are broken, needy people leading other broken, needy people to the feet of Jesus. It's that simple. While the look of the blog has changed, the title remains the same because we, together, are all about the display of God's splendor. Until the whole world knows.

Isaiah 61:1-3

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."

Some of you are realizing now that this is where the name of my blog has come from! This is a passage I have fallen in love with. God has been teaching me this one very important thing lately: my life and my actions should be to glorify him. That is all that matters! My hope is that at the end of my life when I stand face to face with my savior he will say to me: "Well done good and faithful servant! You were an oak of righteousness, a planting for me that displayed my splendor." 

I think Psalm 115:1 sums it up nicely: "Not to us O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness."

May God get ALL the glory as I embark on this adventure in ministry. Much, much more to come in the near future.

With love,
Melissa

July Newsletter

MARRIAGE IS GREAT

We have been married for over two months now and the time has gone so fast. We are enjoying the married life and look forward to the years to come! Thanks for your prayers. We spent the majority of our first two months together in Orlando, Florida with 180 young men and women being trained as new missionaries with Cru.

The history of the organization, seminary courses, and vision for the future comprised our six weeks of training and we are now headed into a season of full-time prayer and financial partner development. Thank you for your support over the years. We look forward to now connecting with you as husband and wife rather than just individuals! 

If you'd like to see more photos of our wedding click here: WEDDING PHOTOS

AN UNLIKELY CONVERT

”I guess I had to travel around the world to find Jesus.”

This summer three MSU athletes who lead Bible studies in Cru traveled to Uganda for a two week mission trip serving orphans and widows and sharing the good news of the Gospel.

Karly, an MSU basketball player, took her dad with her on the trip. Karly and Melissa have spent the last year praying for her dad during their weekly discipleship meetings. Karly was so excited that God was working on her dad’s heart by sending him to Uganda.

One Sunday, the group attended a local church service. At the end of the sermon the pastor invited people to enter into a personal relationship with Christ. Karly’s dad realized he had never made that commitment himself. He came forward that day and surrendered his life to Christ. He traveled halfway across the world to discover his need for Jesus.

We are so thankful for students like Karly, who have understood the vision of reaching the world: both near and far. This is our hope for all our students involved with Cru in Southwest MO. 

Tyler, Karly, and Kinsey in Uganda

NEW STAFF TRAINING CLASS
Cru hosts four trainings throughout the year for new field staff.This summer’s group was one of the largest they’ve had. Praise God for more laborers!

SUMMER IN THE IVORY COAST
We were sad we couldn’t be with the mission team in West Africa this summer, but were encouraged to hear 80 Ivorian students accepted Christ in six weeks!!

PRAYER REQUESTS

We are embarking on a journey to find partners who will join with us financially over the next several months. Pray the funds come quickly so we can return to campus soon!

Married Life Update

Hi friends!

Well, we've been married for 3 weeks. It's been a fun ride so far. Literally. We've driven over 1,300 miles since getting married. Good thing we're used to spending a lot of travel time together. This summer pales in comparison to last summer's travel adventures. Last summer. we drove from Springfield to Houston then flew to Africa then flew to Turkey then flew back to Houston then drove to Tulsa where I flew home for a few weeks. Apparently that wasn't enough because we then proceeded to take a 3,000 mile road trip from Oregon back to Springfield with my best friend Lizzy, stopping at all the sites along the way (Redwood forest, San Francisco, Vegas, Grand Canyon, etc). Needless to say, we're used to traveling together.

And the reason we drove 1,300 miles in our first 3 weeks of marriage is because we are in Florida! We got to spend our honeymoon in beautiful Sarasota, Florida (rated the USA's #1 beach). We enjoyed relaxing, salt water, sand between our toes, and gorgeous sunsets. And if all that isn't great enough we saw a manatee when we were in the ocean. He swam close enough touch. Unfortunately, I'm a baby. I got scared and jumped behind Davy. In my defense, a large black figure coming toward you in the water is a little bit intimidating... I don't care who you are.

The good news: we don't have to leave sunny Florida just yet. After leaving Sarasota, we headed to Orlando for Cru training. This is sometimes very confusing to explain to people, but I will try my best. Three years ago, Davy joined staff with Cru. He has been working in full-time ministry at Missouri State ever since. Two years ago I decided to do a one year internship with Cru. I also worked in full-time ministry at Missouri State (you've probably put two and two together and realized that is where we met). After my one year internship was up, I decided to do another. I loved my job! And just like that my second internship year was up. Sometime in that second year, I started dating Davy, got engaged, and married him which leads us to right now. Over the last two years, I felt God calling me to join staff with Cru full-time. My job won't be that different than my internship. I'll still share the Gospel with college students, lead Bible studies, disciple girls, and attempt to launch movements where none exist. The main difference is the time commitment. Rather than a year to year commitment with an internship, I'm committing at least the next 3-5 years to working for Cru. It may be longer, but will see what God does.

So, this summer I get to attend a 4 week training in Orlando. This will prepare me to raise support and better equip me to lead students. I will be taking 2 seminary courses in addition to learning more about Cru. Since Davy already joined staff 3 years ago he doesn't have to redo the training. However, he's here with me taking a higher level seminary course and helping run the New Staff Training conference. We're really excited for what the summer holds and wanted to keep everyone updated. We'll attempt to keep updating you on our experiences this summer.

Here are some pictures from the last 3 weeks:

A sneak peek of our wedding photos. We can't wait to see the rest of them!

Here we are on our road trip. On our way through Georgia we found this fun cow statue at a gas station. Random, so we decided to take a picture in front of it. 

In case you're not sure what you're looking at, this is our tent from our stop halfway to Florida.  We did not read the directions and therefore did not "verify package content." Which means we ended up with only one tent pole. We improvised. Thankfully, that campground had tall posts to mark each campsite. Also, it was dark when we set up camps. Oh, and there was a hole in the tent (fails all around). Davy found a frog in the tent when we were packing up to leave. Good thing we're pretty chill.
 

We set up our tent in the dark, but woke up to this beautiful sight. Totally worth it. 

After our camping debacle we finally made it to Sarasota. The beaches there are GORGEOUS. Here's a sunset we enjoyed.

Enjoying a walk on the beach.

May Newsletter

My last newsletter as an unmarried woman! From now on you'll get to hear from me and my soon to be husband, Davy.

Fresh Bread

Recently I read the book of Esther. I love the drama of that story and the faithfulness of God in the midst of persecution and evil. What struck me the most, however, was how personal our God is, how he can change the course of history through one person. He can   alter the course of our life so drastically for His glory and our good. As you know Esther was chosen to be the new queen and her identity as a Jew was kept a secret. All the seemingly random and strange events that took place were part of a bigger plan.

As I read in my study Bible I learned that when Haman wanted to destroy the Jews, it would have been every single Jew that remained in exile under King Xerxes. At first I didn’t  realize the magnitude of that fact. But as I read my notes I realized that had the Jews been destroyed so would the lineage that led to the birth of Jesus. Queen Esther had no idea that her brave actions would someday bring salvation to the world. I think back to last summer when I read the book of Ruth. She too, could have no idea that her actions would be directly linked to bringing Jesus to earth. In the midst of her suffering, God reached down and intervened. He met her personally and used her life for good.

The stories of Esther and Ruth are not isolated accounts. I see evidence of God’s hand all over the Bible and all over my life. When I think about the “random” events that led me where I am today I’m in awe that God would see me. Of all the billions of people in the world, he knows me by name. Isaiah 43:1 brings such peace to my heart: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” I pray that we experience the overwhelming peace and security that comes from knowing that God is personal; knowing that he sees me and knows me and loves me deeply. 

 

We can't wait to get married! It's only a week away.

From Campus

Our semester is coming to a close and summer is fast approaching. The reason I love summer is because students get time off of school and many of our Cru students choose to go all over the world to serve God. They could do anything with their summers and they choose to bring the gospel to the nations and comfort to the hurting. Please pray for the girls I disciple this summer as they serve God.

• Kiley is heading to Juneau, Alaska for her second summer project. She will be on student leadership,   helping fellow students grow in their faith and teaching them how to communicate the gospel to their co-workers.


• Jess will be in Seattle, Washington working for a ministry that serves disturbed youth through outdoor therapy. She will be leading them in Bible studies and taking them on hikes, rafting trips, and other outdoor adventures


• Alaina and Olivia are traveling to Vail, Colorado on summer project. They will be sharing their faith daily and learning what it means to live on mission in their workplace.


• Karly and Kinsey are going to Uganda to serve orphans and widows. They will share the love of Christ with the hopeless and encourage local communities to care for the less fortunate.


• Ruth is heading to South Africa to work in a children’s hospital. She is looking forward to providing comfort to hurting children and taking opportunities to share the gospel with the girls that are on the trip with her.

Be encouraged! College students have had their lives changed by Jesus and are taking the message of grace to places at home and all around the world. 

 

 

Ways You Can Pray

• Please pray that God will provide support for Davy and I as we head off to New Staff training in June. The training will cost $5,500.


• I’m still on the hunt for an affordable computer. Please pray God provides for that need.


• Please pray for our wedding. We want Christ to be honored and the gospel to be preached. Please pray that unbelievers are impacted by our ceremony.