Video Testimony

Students across the United States traveled on mission trips, called "Summer Project", through Cru this past summer. The students at Hampton Beach, NH made videos to share with friends about God changed their lives. Here is one from a young woman at the University of Pittsburgh! I hope you enjoy the video and are encouraged by this junior's step of faith to share her story. 

Washington, D.C.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I absolutely LOVE Pittsburgh. The people. The city. Even the not so favorable rainy days. It is a city with so much character and has truly made beauty from the ashes of the steel making factory days. And while I think the city itself is great, it is people filling it that get me excited to return after leaving for short times. It has been my home for the past 6 years and I am so grateful. 

However, I am now beginning a new journey. Though their is still a passion for the Gospel to be spread in Pittsburgh and a vision for one day every student on the campuses in Pittsburgh to have the opportunity to hear about Jesus, it is time for me to focus on another place. It will be difficult to leave but I am also really excited for what is next. Really, it's a sweet peace from God reassuring me of His leading that is carrying me forward. 

So, once my ministry is fully funded, I will be joining the Cru staff team in Washington, D.C. to see the Gospel transform lives, so that every student knows someone on their campus who truly follows Jesus. These next couple months will be a time of transitioning from Pittsburgh to D.C. There are a lot of unknowns but I'm thankful for another opportunity to wait on the Lord's timing and trust in Him. 

Take the Initiative to Go

I grew up going to church every Sunday. I went to a private grade school and high school. I was involved in every way possible in serving in the church and had mastered the outward actions of faith, but I was not actively learning about Jesus. When I came to college a group of girls stepped out and took the initiative with me and I now have a relationship with Jesus and am experiencing the blessings of it daily. Towards the beginning of freshman year one of the girls on my floor invited me to hang out with her and some others. I had no idea I was going to spend my night with Christians, but in the middle of dinner they began talking about churches and invited me to check out one with them that weekend. They talked to me about what they were learning, invited me to a bible study and church hangouts. They got to know me and built a friendship with me. I think if you asked any of these girls today if they knew during that time the impact they were having in my life, they would say no. They had no idea what they were doing, but God used their tiny steps of faith to make a big difference in my life and draw me into relationship with Him.

So when I heard about taking the “initiative” in sharing my faith, I always thought that was my time to tune out. I was simply here to hear and absorb the message of Jesus.  Never in my wildest imagination did I think I was going to be someone going and taking the initiative myself. But God used other people taking a step of faith in my life to bring me to Him and He is daily changing my heart to desire to do the same for others. So, my prayer is for all of you to realize that God is ready to use you and will when you make yourself available! God, in His grace and love, has called us to go and be a part of what He is doing.

Why Do We Share?

• ·      Romans 10:8-15—“ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
• ·      Our hope for others to experience hope in Christ and eternal life with Him
• ·      God has designed the gospel to be spread through us. Paul leads us through 4 logical points that show this…

1) People will call on Jesus to save them only if they believe He can do so.

2) Belief in Jesus only comes when people have knowledge about Him.

3) Knowledge only comes when someone shares the good news!

4) To share the news, we need to be sent.

à You’ve already been sent. Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So if we proclaim Jesus to be our Savior and love Him and as an overflow of that love, serve Him, how is it that this command to share is often forgotten?

Why keeps us from sharing?

1) We aren’t qualified

• ·      “I won’t know what to say. I won’t know how to answer their questions. I don’t have that kind of personality. I could never be bold enough. I’m not gifted in evangelism. I still have my own questions and doubts, how can I share with someone else?”
• ·      This puts the focus on YOU and your abilities—but it is Christ that is working! Not us.
• ·      When Jesus sent us, He promised to be with us always so we do not need to fear about our strength not being enough
• ·      The woman at the well went and told people about Jesus immediately. She was not qualified but Jesus was so great that people were drawn to Him. (John 4:1-42)

2) We have a misunderstanding of our purpose in life

• ·      Think our purpose is success in school, work, family, etc… but our purpose is to glorify the Lord in all we do. The purpose is the gospel!
• ·      We take initiatives in other completing other goals in life, so why is it taboo to take initiative to complete our purpose to glorify Christ by sharing Him?

3) We do not understand the importance or urgency of sharing the gospel

• ·      Do you believe in a heaven and a hell?
• ·      Do you believe that you and others are sinners and need someone who is perfect and flawless to mend our brokenness?
• ·      Do you believe Jesus is the perfect and flawless one who took God’s wrath that we deserved?
• ·      And do you believe it is by His grace and faith in Jesus that you can confidently live your life in the freedom of knowing you have eternal life with God in heaven?
• ·      If your answer is “yes” to the above questions, you have the GIFT of eternity to share with others—life is fragile. Don’t wait.  

Once we understand our purpose and motive for sharing, how do we reach out to others?

Tips for Sharing

1) Walk daily with the Lord

• ·      We can only lead others as deep as we have gone.
• ·      Take it one step further and talk about your faith with Christians around you too. If you can’t talk about faith with other believers, how can you talk about it with someone who does not know Jesus?
•  

2) Reach out as a community

• ·      Christian community is a gift God has given us and we can use it to reach out to others
• ·      What if we were so invested as a community in seeing our friends come to Christ that you could walk into Cru, see someone and ask, “hey how’s your friend Sussie? Have you had any opportunities to talk to her about her faith lately?”

3) Use opportunities Cru offers

• ·      Go out and do soularium or perspective cards—it’s the easiest way! If all you are comfortable with is watching, then you don’t need to say a word. Come and observe
• ·      It will give you the opportunity to observe conversations and pick up ways to explain the gospel or ask questions
• ·      Share everystudent.com

4) Understand you have the responsibility to share the gospel and the capability to do it because of the Holy Spirit living in you!

I am far from perfect. I know I have so much learning to do for sharing my faith with people around me and I think about the opportunities God has given me in the past to do so, it doesn’t even make sense! But I’m praying that one day Cru would be known as that group of people that love Jesus so much they can’t stop talking about him. We could walk in to cru and expect to meet someone who is hearing about Jesus for the first time and being encouraged by a group to pursue Him. Wouldn’t it be sweet if there were more new believers in cru than people who have walked with Jesus their whole life? I’m going to keep praying and trying my best to walk in the spirit to do my part. I invite you to do the same and I think God will do some incredible things if we join this effort together. 

For more information check out the book, “The Finishers” by Roger Hershy and Jason Wiemer. Also, check out this video for a neat perspective on the urgency of the gospel.  

Outreach posters

"Do you feel like you have to choose between science
and religion? If so, why?"

Occasionally we have not been able to meet in our regular meeting place Wednesday nights for Cru this semester. At first we didn't know how to use the time or where to go but it has turned out to be a huge blessing! We used the time to be on various campuses and get students talking about faith and Jesus. The beginning of November we went out with these posters and asked students passing by if they would answer the questions. If they wanted to talk more, than we would dive deeper into conversation with them and the results were incredible. Cru students stepped out in faith to start conversations and others passing by were given an opportunity to think about what they believe is truth.

"What is love?"

I think there are two things that always surprise me about doing these types of things. The first is that students want to talk. Religion is often classified as a taboo topic, but ultimately students want to be able to tell their opinions and be heard, no matter what the topic. We aren't trying to force our opinions on them, rather let them be heard and be there to boldly speak truth when the Holy Spirit opens their hearts. The second thing that always surprises me is how apathetic people are towards faith. If heaven and hell are real, isn't understanding faith the most important thing? It's eternity, not a few years, that are at stake. It's not the decision students make that surprises me, but that so many have not even thought about what happens after this life. 

"Who is/was Jesus?"

Overall, it is really neat to see students share their faith and for there to be a real excitement among them to do it! 


"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18
Check out this link to learn more about the question,  Who was Jesus?

The Millers Wedding

The Atwood Apartment--Me, Cookie, Kayla, and Elise

This past month has gone so quickly. Work has been challenging but incredible to see God reveal Himself to students and myself. It is crazy how working in ministry makes me so much more aware of my shortfalls; but, the blessing with that is I also understand God's immense patience and love for His children much more too.

Along with my responsibilities for work, this past month has been full of adventures. Fall retreat and staff retreat filled part of my time along with a visit to Chicago to see my brother run the marathon and surprise my parents too. The month ended then with the celebration of my roommate's wedding! Living with her this past year, we got to witness the planning and preparation for their marriage so it was a true blessing to then be a part of it too! Her and her husband both love the Lord so much and when they are together, that passion overflows to everyone around them. I'm excited for where God takes them.

A wedding feast.

On August 6th, my cousin Aaron married his beautiful bride Kao Kalia in the park! Even though the Hokanson clan is small, Kalia has a huge family so they rented a pavilon and decorated it with tons of flowers. The day was one big party with a mix of traditions from Kalia's Hmong heritage and traditional Christian wedding traditions. There was delicious food, songs, speeches, and dances to honor the new couple!

If you're looking for a good book to read, Kalia Yang is the author of "The Latehomecomer". It's an incredible story of her family and their journey. Definitely worth the read!

Be Utterly Amazed.

This past month has been a whirlwind. I knew my focus had to be on building my ministry team and raising all of my funding, but I was also trying to balance other responsibilities and spend time with my parents and extended family while home in Wisconsin. I'll be honest-- I was stressed for a good part of the month. In the moment, I always know logically that stress isn't going to do any good, but it's hard to shake the feelings and emotions that go along with it. Inevitably though, I look back and see that God had everything in control the whole time and my "stress"(a.k.a. attempt to control the situation) was energy lost...

On June 14^th, I wrote in my journal that I was at 16% of my support goal and had no idea how I could possibly be at 100% by August 1^st. I then scribbled down a verse I read that day, Habakkuk 1:5—“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” By July 1st I was at 50% of my goal. Truthfully, I was brought to my knees in awe of how God brought that all together but even then I had no idea how I could reach 100%. I had made arrangements to be in Pittsburgh to move the first 2 weeks of July and though I tried to set up appointments and get contacts, only one appointment worked out. I return home to Wisconsin in the middle of July and raising support consumed every one of my thoughts. I knew there was no way for it finish except for God bringing it together, but I was still trying to work out the details for Him. Did you read that closely? I was trying to work out the details for Him. Well, had I realized that in the moment, maybe I would have let go and acknowledged the ridiculousness of it. But I thought if I couldn't see how the plans would unfold, then meeting my goal wasn't going to happen. Well, I owe God all the glory for being able to say that I am at 100% today and can honestly say I never predicted the way it would end. I also understand that verse I scribbled down in June so much more now. I wrote it down thinking I love that God can do something that surprises us and is beyond our imagination but I never thought of that verse applying to me. When I finished building my ministry team, I looked back through my journal and I was floored to see I had written this down. How did I miss God speaking to me in this verse? He didn't tell me to work and solve the mystery of how He was going to bring in 100% of my finances. He told me to look, watch, and be amazed. All very hands-off commands. Then God even politely told me I was never going to figure it out. So why did I spend so much time and energy trying to tell a story the Creator hadn't finished writing for me yet? Who knows. This seems to be a lesson I've learned over and over again from all different angles. I hope and pray that one day I'll really be able to just "watch—and be utterly amazed."

So, I am officially hired and while I thought this past month was crazy, August is going to be even more full of adventures. This weekend I will be traveling to Minnesota for one cousin's wedding, then going to training in Pennsylvania all of next week, before coming back home to be the maid of honor for my other cousin's wedding. She'll get married on a saturday and then it's off to Pittsburgh to begin work that Monday, August 15th. Yikes! Well, I'm looking forward to all of the things God has planned this week, month, year, etc. and I now truly know I will never be able to tell the story for it till God writes it.