Every three months, the editors, writers and photographers who work on Cru Storylines gather together to plan upcoming stories. Like many publications, it starts with team members — usually the writers — pitching story ideas.

In our pitch meeting last week, we heard story ideas from three continents.

• In Canada, a Cru staff member who has a passion for cooking organizes events where people gather for a gourmet meal and also hear the gospel.
• In Kenya, a woman began helping girls and young women get feminine sanitary products through a school program. The girls asked her about self-esteem, sexuality and relationships. She realized they needed much more than sanitary towels. She began using a Cru program called the Priceless Project to offer answers.
• In Hungary, an event called the Crescendo Summer Institute brings classical musicians from all over the world together. Some professors and students are followers of Jesus, and some are not. The Christians share their testimonies and lead spiritual discussion groups.

We briefly brainstormed each idea together. Then, the editorial team reviewed the ideas and decided which ones to pursue. From our previous pitch meeting in February, we’ve already started work on a story from not too far away for us in Tampa, one from Guatemala and one from Portugal.

Anne Marie recently pitched two stories that we plan to work on in the near future, one about Cru’s outreach to grad students at Clemson University and one about the JESUS Film’s 2000th translation — the Zo language, spoken by people in and from Myanmar. In the photo above, Zo speakers watch the film.

Over the next few weeks, would you please pray for Anne Marie as she finishes editing a Cru Storylines article about a Cru staff member here in Orlando who trained to become a spiritual director so she could help people make sense of their spiritual journeys. We hope that story will be complete by the end of this month.

Also, please pray for wisdom for me and the other editors to plan well as we consider the story ideas above. Pray that we’ll chose and tell stories that encourage people in their faith. We’re grateful for your prayers and generosity, which allow us to tell these stories and do much more.

— Mark, for the Winz family