Ops: Order In The Chaos.

Do you ever watch those CSI type shows where the agents/scientists/detectives go to crime scenes and figure out who killed/abducted/stole something or someone?

Do you ever notice that in every one of those shows, there's a man/woman, (who is just a little bit nerdy), who stays behind in the lab to run experiments, do research, process paperwork, etc? At least once per show, the agents/scientists/detectives called the nerdy lab man/woman because they need help with finding someone or something. These lab people bring a little bit of order to the chaos of trying to solve a murder/abduction/robbery. They are incredibly important to the show - and so are the detectives. They couldn't exist in the way they do without each other.

The video below showcases The Ops team:  the nerdy lab men/women of Cru. :) Enjoy!

(Double click on it to make it full screen).

Vision Trip #1 :: East Asia

Every fall, my coworker Pete takes a group of businessmen/women to visit our teams in East Asia for a week long vision trip. They put together professional resumes, and prepare 20-30 minute presentations on topics like entrepreneurship, insurance, law, and many more. They will weave their faith stories in to conversations with students, sharing the truth of the Gospel with people who've never heard the name of Jesus.

The group leaves this Sunday. Here's a shot of them below, preparing for their trip at a briefing meeting that I ran last month. Please pray for safe travels, bold faith and divine appointments for this group!

East Asia Update.

"·      “We’ve been praying for you. Will you help us reach our campus?”

These are sweet words for any Cru staff member to hear, but when your goal is to reach 600,000 students on 67 campuses, it's got to be mind-blowing.

This is the goal of our partnership team in East Asia (the team I worked with this summer when I went there on project). God has given this team a great vision, to reach each one of the campuses in their area of the city - 67, to be exact. This equates to more than a half million college students to reach.

This team of 12 (9 Americans and 3 French) has been seeking to gain access to new campuses this fall. In a few weeks, 16 businessmen and women will travel to this city on a vision trip, to help this team develop more connections on more campuses. The in-country team is working hard to set up appointments in classrooms, where these men and women will present on business topics.

Throughout the team has been met with both opposition and invitation. Several campuses have denied the team entry onto campus (in this country, universities have only a few gated entrances, and are guarded by officials who may or may not allow foreigners in to the campus).

One day, a student came up to the team leader, Ben, and upon finding out he was a Christian, the student asked if Ben could help him reach his campus with the Gospel. One team member, Matt, was not allowed entrance into a university. So, he decided just to wait outside the gate and meet Asian students as they were walking in and out of the entrance.

Despite human opposition, God is using the faithfulness of the staff here to launch and grow spiritual movements all over the city. Pray that God would reward their steadfast faith and boldness in reaching Asians with the Gospel

Country Meets City.

What a week. It was exhausting (but good) due to lots of unpacking, sorting, and organizing. I moved to a new apartment, with a new roommate, in a new neighborhood this week. She and I have spent many hours getting settled in, arranging living room furniture, hanging pictures and paintings, re-arranging the living room furniture, washing dishes...and re-re-arranging the living room furniture, just one more time.

Contrasting all the new-ness is our old, old apartment in an old, old 4plex. We've got crooked doorways and creeky floors and radiator heat. My key sticks in the lock. The pipes make noises I haven't heard since I was a kid, growing up in our old peach and white house on the farm.

These things are oddly comforting. It's here that I see country meeting the city- and I think I'm going to like it. The longer I live in Minneapolis, the more I realize I really enjoy the city. And as that feeling grows, so does my love for country living.

It's the weirdest thing, feeling at home in both the country and city, two places at once. There are so many opportunities that exist in a big city. One of my favorite things has been experiencing other cultures through the friends I've made.

A big factor in this has been my church. Today we had another multi-cultural potluck, with Korean bulgogi, Cameroonian fried plantains, black beans and rice, African fry bread, Chicken Wings and German Potato Salad - to name just a few! My church is made up of people who grew up all over the world, who bring new perspectives to life and faith. Totally different from the hotdish and jello salads of rural church potlucks.

Yet...there's something about those rural potlucks that I love. Thick black coffee. Homemade dinner rolls, homemade pies, homemade everything.

Then there are the simple errands to the hardware store or checking fence line. Roaming gravel roads in a dust-covered truck. Taking in a sunset on a horizon of nothing but grass.

I can't get away from the country, even here in the city. I am cleaning up some old shed windows to hang in my bedroom. My duvet cover looks like it came from living room wallpaper in an old farm house. I've got a canvas photo of my dad's old orange chevy truck, and mason jars on almost every single bookcase in the apartment. I love these things. They feel like a piece of me, sitting on a shelf for everyone to see, a glimpse into country life.

These items are as much a part of me as my skinny jeans, road bike, and my affinity of Starbucks. It's a weird combo, country-meets-city, but I am learning to embrace it and enjoy it.