Like many others, we’ve adjusted to working from home. This was not too disruptive as we do much of our ministry work on computers and through online meetings. Let’s take a look at three software products that Mike manages for Cru’s field ministries.
Mike serves in the Digital Products and Services Department at Cru’s headquarters. He’s the Product Manager for three key products used by our field staff. He oversees any software enhancements to SMT, ERT, and OneApp.
The Summer Mission Tool (SMT)
Cru’s summer mission trips give staff and students opportunities to reach thousands of people with the gospel. In the summer of 2019, 176 teams of Cru staff and students served both in the U.S and globally. They had over 100,000 spiritual conversations. Almost 4,000 people decided to follow Christ in some way.
Due to travel restrictions from Covid-19 in 2020, mission trips had to be canceled. (Cru responded by initiating digital mission trips.) Restarting trips in 2021, over 1,000 staff and students joined with 41 stateside and 24 international teams.
During this last year, Mike worked with our field ministries to expand the SMT to support shorter trips throughout the year. Recently, Mike has been working with our Family Life ministry to adapt the tool to help launch new “family-oriented” mission trips this fall.
The Event Registration Tool (ERT)
Cru is well-known for our mission’s opportunities and also for our events. The year before Covid, Cru hosted over 700 conferences and retreats with over 65,000 individuals participating. The ERT is Cru’s tool to help event planners post information for the conference, register participants, and manage the finances. He and his team are working on adapting the ERT tool for international currencies and addresses. Sometimes our U.S. ministries hold events overseas or invite international staff or students to U.S. conferences.
The One Application Tool (OneApp)
Every year, hundreds of Christians show an interest in joining the ministries of Cru. Some individuals or couples want to join our missionary staff (like Sus and Mike did). Some want to become full-time international field staff or serve as an intern for one to two years overseas. Some may also be students applying for U.S. internships or part-time field positions. To handle this variety of applications, we created a tool called One App.
Currently, Mike is working with a team of software engineers to upgrade this tool to also handle applications for volunteers. For example, people might be interested in helping reach students through their local Cru High School or Campus ministry. We hope hundreds of volunteers will join our ministries all across the country every year. The OneApp tool will help them connect with Cru and our ministries.
Praise God with Us
Praise the Lord, we were prepared to handle the various difficulties the pandemic brought using these three products. Figuring out these challenges have made the tools even more useful. (God is sovereign!) We also thank God for the qualified technical staff He has brought to Cru to make these tools possible.
How God Works through You
Mike’s systems expertise has an eternal impact because of your faith, financial investments, and prayers. (If you want to know more about missions trips, events, or volunteering, see the links in the NOTES.)
You are vital to our ministry. We pray that the Lord gives you great joy in knowing you have a part in making disciples of all nations.
We thank God for YOU!
NOTES:
For additional information check out:
- Cru Summer Mission website
- Cru events page
- Cru volunteer page
- More opportunities are available, too
Mike and Sus Schmitt 