“Before coming to America I never knew that God was someone I could have a personal relationship with.” Lara (name changed for privacy), an international college student from Switzerland, is one of the most popular students on her campus. She got involved with Cru after coming to a Cru outreach at NYU in November. Lara began meeting on a regular basis with Brittany, one of our Cru coworkers. They discussed grace and a personal relationship with God and during one of those sessions Lara made the above statement.
Lara heard that students from NYC were going to Big Break, Cru’s spring break conference in Panama City Beach (PCB). (Robin and I used to lead this conference when we served on Cru’s National Conference Team.) Lara was excited to go with the group to Big Break until she learned that they would be sharing the gospel with spring breakers in PCB. Brittany talked to her about her fears and Lara decided to register for Big Break.
Lara planned to only be an observer at Big Break, but God had other plans. The first day, Lara and Brittany approached two girls on the beach to have a spiritual conversation. Brittany was planning to do all the talking, but the girls spoke mostly Spanish. Since Spanish is one of several languages Lara speaks, she ended up being the one to explain concepts like sin, grace, and a personal relationship with Jesus, all of which she had learned about in just the past few months! At the end of the conversation, both girls prayed the prayer to surrender their lives to Christ.
Lara was filled with so much joy and excitement that she exclaimed: “I want to do it again!” Big Break was truly a life changing week for Lara. She prayed out loud for the first time, shared her faith story with others, saw people enter into a personal relationship with Christ, and even completely surrendered her own life to Christ! Since returning to NYC, Lara has already shared about her experience with her friends, roommates, and family.
The whole week in PCB was filled with moments where all the students from NYC (photo on right) took huge leaps of faith and trusted God to do the unimaginable. They were excited to share the gospel with the other spring break students. Please pray that they will continue to have this enthusiasm for evangelism now that they are back on campus.
Pray also for our Cru ministry at one of the fashion colleges in NYC. The Christian students are coming under attack from the other students and the faculty for their beliefs and moral values, which are so unusual on their campus. They recently said that the Cru meeting is the only place on campus where they feel safe. Please pray that they will stand strong in the face of adversity.
Thank you for partnering with us so that college students in NYC have the chance to grow in their faith and hear the life-changing news of the gospel!
Yours in Christ,
Steve & Robin
