Jesus said to them, “Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people.

Mark 16:15

A year ago, Cru closed our headquarters to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. Like most of the rest of the country, we adjusted to working from home. This was not too disruptive as we worked from our computers already. One month became two, then six, and now we are a full year into the pandemic. We thank God for protecting us from the virus. We hope this was true for you as well.

Cru had to “pivot” from face-to-face evangelism and discipleship to relying on the Internet to spread the gospel and meet with disciples. Last summer, our student ministries could not send more than 2000 staff and students who had signed up for summer mission trips. These trips involve key outreach opportunities both in the U.S. and overseas. They help our students grow significantly in their faith. Calling off these trips and losing the opportunity for ministry was unprecedented. In the summer of 2019, 176 teams of Cru students had over 100,000 spiritual conversations. Almost 4,000 people made a decision to follow Christ in some way.

Our ministry leaders began to think how we could launch our summer mission trips for 2021. They chose to recruit students even though some trips might be canceled if the pandemic didn’t subside.

Our Campus ministry held a special “virtual” conference in February. Over 6000 students learned about more than 100 mission trips planned for this summer. Students began to apply. Normally, the students raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund their trips. The problem was how to refund this money to so many donors if Cru needed to cancel any trips.

Mike joined a task force with others from our Campus Ministry, our Finance Team, and Digital Products. They devised and put a solution in place for people to “invest” in the students’ trip expenses. This special technology would keep this money separate from our normal donations and sales. We had about two months to design, build, and test our new “investment” module.

Praise the Lord we were able to overcome many obstacles along the way. We completed this special software at the time the Campus Ministry needed it!

Mike felt like he helped play a key role in the ministry for “such a time as this.” His systems expertise has an eternal impact because of your faith, financial investments, and prayers. We pray the Lord gives you great joy in knowing you have a part in making disciples of all nations.