Extreme Makeover: CruPress Edition

Since we launched CruPressGreen.com (our free ministry resource website) a few years ago, we have somewhat neglected our store site, CruPress.com. The design and functionality (how it looks and how it works) has remained the same since 2007, which is an eternity in the online world.

BEFORE

Realizing that we needed to provide people with a better online experience, we spent several months redesigning the website. After countless hours of tedious work by us and our friends at Vision Video Interactive, we re-launched CruPress.com on April 26th. (Go ahead, visit the site and see what’s new.)

AFTER

The new store site is more simple, organized, and intuitive than before. This will make it easier for everyone – Cru staff, students, faculty, volunteers, etc. – to find and use resources for winning, building, and sending. These materials include all the insightful books, relevant devotionals, and effective evangelism tools that we have published for years. And by mid-May, we’ll feature our most popular resources as eBooks. Soon Kindle, Nook, and iPad users can have an entire CruPress library on one device.

Why do we share this news? Because we are still motivated to provide tools that help people encounter Jesus, experience the gospel, and embrace the mission. The changes we’ve made to our website allow us to do that more effectively, resulting in more changed lives.

Praises

• For a successful re-launch of CruPress.com

• For the potential to impact thousand of lives

Please Pray

• For the upcoming addition of eBooks to our collection of ministry resources, including Neil’s new book (details in next month’s Dispatch)

• For students worldwide to become disciples as a result of encountering CruPress tools

Partnering with you,

Neil and Jenny

CruPress Green (Red & Yellow, Black & White)

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Revelation 7:9

The campus is changing. In the late 1970s, 83 percent of US college students were Caucasian. Today, that number is only 60 percent, meaning that over 8 million college students are ethnic: primarily Asian, Latino, Black, or Native American – bringing their own unique cultural backgrounds and worldviews to campus.

Cru has responded to this shift by developing contextualized ministries through a strategy called Ethnic Field Ministry (EFM). EFM exists to help ethnic staff and students communicate and live out the Gospel in a culturally relevant manner. Through the ministries of Epic, Destino, Impact, and Nations, we’re seeing God build powerful spiritual movements on campuses nationwide.

Some of the most popular items on CruPressGreen.com (the Campus Ministry website that Neil manages) are those created by and for ethnic movements. Here’s one incredible story from Texas A&M:

God has been doing great things through our local Destino movement. Over the past few years, we’ve seen more than 100 students and family members place their faith in Christ. Last fall one of our undocumented students personally saw more people trust Christ than some entire Cru movement in 6 regions of the country! And God hasn’t just been working among Latinos. It is easy for us to think that EFM movements are limited to one ethnicity. We’ve actually seen quite the opposite. Because Latinos are often marginalized on campus as minorities, they relate to other minorities in a unique way.

But Destino is not just a minority ministry: God is using Hispanic students to reach the entire campus. We’ve actually seen more Anglo students trust Christ this year through Destino than most Cru movements in our region.

By sharing stories like this through articles, videos, sermons, bible studies, and other ministry resources, CruPressGreen gives a voice to ethnic staff and students involved in Cru. And we help to equip and encourage believers to make disciples of all people – red and yellow, black and white.

Praises

• For God’s work in the hearts of ethnic students 
• For the development of fruitful ethnic movements on campus 
• For the opportunity to give ethnic staff & students a voice through CruPressGreen.com

Please Pray

• That we’d give all 8 million ethnic students in the US a chance to hear the Gospel
• That we would learn to appreciate cultural difference while remaining united in Christ
• That ethnic new believers would mature into passionate followers of Jesus

The World is Watching

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5

When we launched our ministry website (CruPressGreen.com) in July 2010, our goal was to provide free ministry resources to staff and students in Cru’s US Campus Ministry. As word spread and we developed more content, our scope grew significantly. We quickly became an equipping site for Cru staff in many other countries. This fall, we expanded our efforts beyond Cru, making our content available to any church or parachurch who needs it. So now, many churches use our Bible Studies and training material for ministry.

But in the last couple of months, we’ve noticed an exciting trend. People outside the realm of evangelical Christianity are paying attention to CruPressGreen, resulting in some very positive interactions. Here are a few:

· A professor from Louisiana (John) contacted me about citing our training articles in his academic research. John, who teaches Theatre History, is writing a book comparing evangelism techniques. Through email, John and I had a very encouraging conversation about his own spiritual journey, the essence of the gospel, the purpose of evangelism, and the nature of civil discourse in America. Over the course of a few days of correspondence, John and I developed a level of mutual respect and understanding, and he now considers Cru a leading innovator in developing diverse, relational approaches to spiritual dialogue.

· A member of the LGBT community at a campus in the Pacific Southwest used one of our articles to outline Cru’s “anti-gay stance.” When this was brought to our attention, the local Cru campus director met with this student and had a positive conversation, remaining true to the Scriptures but treating the person with dignity and respect. We’re praying that this leads to more spiritual conversations between Cru and LGBT students.

· Last week, in a blog entry written by a Jewish PhD, The Huffington Post quoted an article from CruPressGreen. Known as the most influential liberal political blog in the world, Huff Po used two paragraphs from our article to explain how evangelicals are concerned with both evangelism and serving the poor. (Read the post here: http://huff.to/WvGyXD)


These interactions serve as a great reminder for us – as followers of Jesus and ambassadors of the gospel – to be wise in what we say and do… because the world is watching.

Praises

• For the amazing growth of CruPressGreen.com
• For the wide range of people we’re reaching
• For the positive interactions we’ve had with non-believers

Please Pray

• That we would be wise in our interactions with all people
• For continued opportunities to influence our culture with the Gospel
• That the website would continue to help make disciples
• For our family to diligently read God’s Word (we’re trying to memorize scripture together)

Partnering with you,

Neil and Jenny