2013 08-27 prayer letter
1
Steve Pierce August 27, 2013 Volume 21 Issue 4 [email protected] 321-229-5702 10862 Norcross Circle Orlando FL 32825 If you are interested in watching or listening to the main talks for the conference, go to csu2013.cru.org . Alistair Begg was one of our main speakers and is well worth listening to. You would have been so encouraged if you’d been sitting in the arena with 5,000 Cru staff at this year’s staff conference. Of course, there is so much I could tell you about - worshipping God with 5,000 others, the challenges put to us by the Bible teachers, equipping times to help us be effective with this generation. But what I want to tell you about is two moments that caused me to pause and worship God. In the mid-90's the area leader in E. Asia said "Send us your people and we will send them back better." And we did send. Each of our 10 regions in the U.S. sent teams: summer teams, 1-2 year teams, long-term staff... and some did come back better; others have stayed to continue the work. One man was first shared with in 1999 and he trusted Christ in 2000. He is now taking over as the area leader! These two leaders stood on the stage together and we saw the baton of leadership pass from one to the other. What blew me away was when the young leader said they now have over 1,000 national staff and have begun sending to other nations. Isn't that amazing? Renee Begay, a Native American of the Zuni people, met Christ as a high school student at a Christian school. God does a lot more than forgive; He heals broken lives. As a college student in New Mexico she began reaching out to other Native Americans and is now on staff with Cru. All of us in Moby that morning were moved by her story. In her mild way she challenged us as we move forward in taking the gospel beyond the majority culture in America. This is just one of many video clips you can watch on the web site. Please check it out. I’m ever thankful for both your giving and prayers which allow me to continue ministering for Him. Cru’s U.S. Staff Conference went well. Those who helped run it were utterly exhausted afterward. We headed back to our “normal” ministry assignments or to a bit of time off within a week of it ending and packing up. Most of us probably thought “that was so so exhausting that I don’t want to ever do it again.” but we will mostly forget that by the time the next one comes around, due to the incredible team of like-minded people we worked with and the ability to be part of accomplishing so much. The largest childcare in the U.S. during the conference went well. Our new staff training, seminary classes, training for staff going overseas and new team leaders for campus ministries around the U.S. as well as debriefs for those coming back from overseas also went well. Over 400 students and graduates finished a training time and will join our international teams around the world to serve alongside them as short-term missionaries for 1-2 years. God kept our technology working. The database and servers performed well. We were able to stream the event to many thousands globally. We finished packing up all the office supplies and equipment, some of which headed back to Orlando and some stayed in storage in CO. We returned any excess supplies, rented photocopiers, etc. Our expansion of the IT help desk called the PowerBar was so successful that we had to double up on personnel. So many missionaries came by for help with all sorts of things that we kept it open way beyond the expected end time each day. We also did an online race of sorts, where people figure out how to do various tasks in Google Apps/Email and see how long it takes, then we awarded prizes. Many more came along wanting to participate after we’d run out of prizes. This helped expand the knowledge- base and efficiency of our staff using Google Apps and Email. As part of this we did a lot of advertising for many of our tools and apps for various things. Cru’s U.S. Staff Conference Part 2 Learning to reach people in countries with less than 15 mission workers via digital strategies My teammate Mike helping missionaries with their IT questions at our PowerBar help desk during the conference
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Transcript of 2013 08-27 prayer letter
Steve PierceAugust 27, 2013
Volume 21 Issue [email protected] 321-229-5702
10862 Norcross Circle Orlando FL 32825
If you are interested in watching or listening to the main talks for the conference, go to csu2013.cru.org. Alistair Begg was one of our main speakers and is well worth listening to.
You would have been so encouraged if you’d been sitting in the arena with 5,000 Cru staff at this year’s staff conference. Of course, there is so much I could tell you about - worshipping God with 5,000 others, the challenges put to us by the Bible teachers, equipping times to help us be effective with this generation. But what I want to tell you about is two moments that caused me to pause and worship God.
In the mid-90's the area leader in E. Asia said "Send us your people and we will send them back better." And we did send. Each of our 10 regions in the U.S. sent teams: summer teams, 1-2 year teams, long-term staff... and some did come back better; others have stayed to continue the work. One man was first shared with in 1999 and he trusted Christ in 2000. He is now taking over as the area leader! These two leaders stood on the stage together and we saw the baton of leadership pass from one to the other. What blew me away was when the young leader said they now have over 1,000 national staff and have begun sending to other nations. Isn't that amazing?
Renee Begay, a Native American of the Zuni people, met Christ as a high school student at a Christian school. God does a lot more than forgive; He heals broken lives. As a college student in New Mexico she began reaching out to other Native Americans and is now on staff with Cru. All of us in Moby that morning were moved by her story. In her mild way she challenged us as we move forward in taking the gospel beyond the majority culture in America. This is just one of many video clips you can watch on the web site. Please check it out.
I’m ever thankful for both your giving and prayers which allow me to continue ministering for Him.
Cru’s U.S. Staff Conference went well. Those who helped run it were utterly exhausted afterward. We headed back to our “normal” ministry assignments or to a bit of time off within a week of it ending and packing up. Most of us probably thought “that was so so exhausting that I don’t want to ever do it again.” but we will mostly forget that by the time the next one comes around, due to the incredible team of like-minded people we worked with and the ability to be part of accomplishing so much. The largest childcare in the U.S. during the conference went well. Our new staff training, seminary classes, training for staff going overseas and new team leaders for campus ministries around the U.S. as well as debriefs for those coming back from overseas also went well. Over 400 students and graduates finished a training time and will join our international teams around the world to serve alongside them as short-term missionaries for 1-2 years.
God kept our technology working. The database and servers performed well. We were able to stream the event to many thousands globally. We finished packing up all the office supplies and equipment, some of which headed back to Orlando and some stayed in storage in CO. We returned any excess supplies, rented photocopiers, etc.
Our expansion of the IT help desk called the PowerBar was so successful that we had to double up on personnel. So many missionaries came by for help with all sorts of things that we kept it open way beyond the expected end time each day. We also did an online race of sorts, where people figure out how to do various tasks in Google Apps/Email and see how long it takes, then we awarded prizes. Many more came along wanting to participate after we’d run out of prizes. This helped expand the knowledge-base and efficiency of our staff using Google Apps and Email. As part of this we did a lot of advertising for many of our tools and apps for various things.
Cru’s U.S. Staff Conference Part 2
Learning to reach people in countries with less than 15 mission workers via digital strategies
My teammate Mike helping missionaries with their IT questions at our PowerBar help desk during the conference
