Jason sensed chaos as he cleaned up after a Cru event. He’d brought pizza for Crawford High School students, hoping to share the gospel as they ate. But rambunctious middle schoolers grabbed most slices. The high schoolers rushed through the conversation to get free pizza.

He was disappointed, but then he saw Kimheng, a Cambodian refugee. Kimheng was the only student who had engaged in conversation earlier. As the two spoke once again, Jason learned that Kimheng’s family was Buddhist, but that the young man was learning about Jesus on social media.

Jason shared the gospel with Kimheng right there. Two days later, Kimheng attended Cru’s on-campus club and brought along a friend.

I don’t know if Kimheng’s online search for God included any of our Cru sites or social media accounts. But we know that last year, more than a million people encounter the gospel and Christian growth information through our digital resources.

Like Jason, we’re grateful that we can use our skills and experiences to share God’s love online through Cru Storylines and Cru.org. For Cru.org, I’m assisting with three projects, including a new Discipleship Pathway that we hope to have ready for Cru staff members to use by the coming summer. Our social media team is connecting with people through Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram and other platforms. The goal is to help each person take a step of spiritual growth.

And I continue to plan and manage Cru Storylines work. We’re currently working on stories from Jacksonville, Florida, from Paris, France, and from rural northwest Thailand.

Anne Marie edited our most recently published Cru Storylines article, “Let Me Tell You a Story: How Bible Stories Open Conversations.” It tells about a group of six students, including Rose, a student involved with Cru’s ministry at New Mexico State University.

Rose attended Cru’s Winter Conference in Dallas, Texas. There she learned about Story-Runners, Cru’s oral-learning ministry, which teaches Christians to share their faith using culturally relevant Bible stories. Rose signed up for StoryRunners’ two-week summer mission in Orlando.

By the end of the summer, Rose and the other summer mission students had initiated 240 conversations, told 96 Bible stories to 150 people leading to 88 deeper spiritual conversations. At least two people placed their faith in Christ.

“Now, my best friend regularly asks me for a bedtime story from the Bible,” Rose said of a friend who’d been resistant when she’d shared the gospel in other ways.

In 2025, I look forward to continuing to help tell stories like Rose’s and to play a role in providing online resources for people like Kimheng who look for faith-building resources online. 

Thanks so much for your generosity and prayers. I’m so thankful that I get to help make disciples around the world through our online outreaches.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark

P.S. We’re grateful for your prayers and interest in our ministry. At the end of each year, God provides a significant percentage of our salary and ministry expenses for the coming year through people’s year-end giving. If you’d like help with that effort, you can do so here.

Not long after I placed my faith in Christ as a 7^th grader, I sensed that I should tell others about Jesus’ love for them. After a few awkward tries, I gave up and decided that professional pastors and evangelists were better equipped for that work. I still tried from time to time, but didn’t know what to say.

Shortly after I arrived on the campus in Kearny as a college student, I began attending Cru meetings and a small group Bible study. There, the students and staff members talked about sharing the gospel as a part of life that every believer could be involved in.

After some training, I began to talk about Jesus with people in the dorm and at my part-time job in a grocery store. It still didn’t come naturally. But I finally knew what to say to start that conversation. One highlight was leading two coworkers to Christ in the store break room during the summer between my last two years of college. We started a Bible study to learn more together.

Over the years, I’ve relied on that training to tell people about Christ in different situations. As a college student, I shared that message on beaches in the U.S. and Croatia, in neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., and in summer camps in Poland. As a Cru staff member, I shared the message on a plane on the way to the Philippines for my first full-time role with Cru, on a campus in Baguio where I lived for most of five years, in churches there and here in Orlando, and in daily life.

To many Christians, the idea of being an evangelist can seem intimidating. But evangelism is simply telling someone how much Jesus loves them.

Bill Bright, Cru’s co-founder, said, “Success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God.” How they respond isn’t our responsibility. Few things have brought me as much joy as introducing someone else to Christ.

This year, our digital communications team at Cru’s headquarters created a resource for anyone who wants to tell others about Jesus. We titled it “Know Your Story. Share His Story.” You can find out more at cru.org/evangelism, or by using the QR code below. I invite you to take a look and to find new ways to tell others around you about Jesus.

Please pray that many people who come to our site will join in talking about Jesus in their daily lives.

As Anne Marie and I think about Thanksgiving later this month, we have much to be grateful for, including Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us, the opportunity to share that message and opportunities to help others meet Him and grow in faith. And we’re grateful to you for your prayers, friendship and generosity.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark

I planned to write to you 10 days ago, but I was distracted. We watched as Hurricane Milton approached Florida. Thank you for your prayers and concern last week. We were fine last Thursday as the storm passed overnight and are now back to normal life.

This is how the week unfolded for us.

• Sunday, we checked our long-term preparations (as outlined in the General Hurricane Information note below) and planned meals to use up perishable foods.
• Monday, we filled our cars with gas, organized the garage and bought a few last-minute items.
• Tuesday, we put plywood over some windows, moved our gas grill to our garage and secured our patio furniture and trash cans.
• Wednesday, we moved both cars into the garage, covered one more window and moved food for a few meals from the refrigerator to a cooler.
• Late Wednesday afternoon we spent an hour in our most secure room during a tornado warning. Hurricane Milton caused 47 tornados in Florida as it approached.
• Wednesday at 11 p.m. we lost electrical power. We slept fitfully as the storm passed about 30 miles south of us. Wind gusts of 87 m.p.h. were reported at the Orlando International Airport, five miles from us.
• Thursday, we used our camping gear and gas grill to make coffee and then read by window light until power returned at 2 p.m. We also started cleaning the yard.
• Over the weekend, we did more yard work and put everything else back where it belonged.
• This week, we’re back to normal.

Oh, and ten days ago, I was going to tell you about our October 1 day of prayer at Cru, one of two such days we set aside each year. This year, each of us was asked to use the information at the EveryCampus.com website to “virtually prayer walk” a campus in our home state. I chose Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Nebraska. It was a good reminder that Cru started by reaching college students so they would go on to reach the world.

Please join us in praying for those who were affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Along with other organizations, Cru’s disaster relief ministry, Unto, is helping with aid. If you’d like to help with those efforts, go online to Hurricane Milton Relief or Hurricane Helene Relief.

Thank you for your prayers, friendship and generosity.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark, for the Winz family

General Hurricane Information

We’re grateful for your prayers and concern when you hear about storms approaching Florida.

After multiple storms have passed near us, here are five things we’ve concluded.

• Storms are worse on the coasts. Storms lose power as they travel over land. People who live near the coasts come to Orlando to be safe. When you hear dire predictions, those typically apply to the coasts and less so inland.
• We feel safe in our home. It was built in 1958 and has survived at least two major hurricanes, including Charly in 2004. It hasn’t flooded in the 31 years we’ve lived here, and we’ve never had water on even the lowest point of our lawn. We have plywood window covers that we put up if the storm appears serious. We don’t evacuate as those routes are needed by people who live in low areas or the coasts.
• We prepare each hurricane season and for each storm. The season runs from June through November. Every June, we stash food that doesn’t need refrigeration, get fresh batteries for flashlights and lanterns, and fill propane tanks for our gas grill. We fill any empty freezer space with ice so our food will be safe if we lose power for hours or a couple of days and we don’t open the doors.
• The storm often changes as it moves. While the forecasting is very good, the path and strength of a storm is constantly adjusted. We watch and stay flexible. 
• The path of the storm affects our experience. There’s usually more rain on the left side and more wind, including possible tornados, on the right side. We prepare accordingly.  

It usually takes a long time — typically seven or eight months — to plan, gather, report and produce an article for Cru Storylines. The process starts with planning and ends with the article live on our website and distributed by email.

But some articles take longer than others. Last week, a story I edited was finally published after almost 18 months from when we began to plan it. “Practical Kindness at World Youth Day” (top story on the photo on the right) required more planning than many stories, and then the editing process took extra time, too.

First, we heard that Cru’s Jesus Film Project^® would have a significant presence at 2023’s World Youth Day event. More than a million people went to Lisbon, Portugal, for that event last August. Being at such a large event required making sure our writer and photographer had transportation and lodging amidst the crowds.

Once our team was back in the U.S., we needed to coordinate the story with Cru’s leaders in Europe, who hosted the event, and with the participants from the Jesus Film Project Office who took part. That process was more complex than we anticipated. 

While we worked on that story, our team developed two stories about Cru’s Campus Ministry. The article “Redirection Happening Within a Central Florida Campus” (third story on the image above) developed from an idea Anne Marie suggested to our editorial team. That article tells about a Cru intern, and the challenges he faced. For example, when his team arrived at the room they had reserved for the first meeting of a semester, they found another group meeting there. They moved to the roof of a nearby parking garage and began notifying people of the change. That evening, 260 people joined — more than would have fit in the originally scheduled room.

As you think of us over the next few weeks, would you pray for these things?

• Please pray that our team will finish the last article that Anne Marie edited, about Cru’s Orlando Summer Mission. Her part is done, and others are taking the last several steps to produce it.   
• Please pray for Mark and his team as our whole department sets our plans and goals for the coming year. Since our work coordinates with so many campuses, our plans run from September to August instead of by calendar year.  
• Thank you for praying for Anne Marie’s health. Please pray for complete health for both of us especially during September 12-21 as we take a long-planned trip.

Thank you for your prayers, friendship and generosity.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark, for the Winz family

This month marks a milestone for me. I became a Cru staff member 40 years ago. As I reflect on those years, I invite you to reminisce along with me.

I could write a book about what I’ve seen God do, but I’m not sure you’d want to read it. So, in the spirit of a picture being worth 1,000 words, I’ll save you 11,000 words of reading by showing you 11 photos (with brief descriptions). That seems appropriate since I studied journalism in college with hopes of becoming a photojournalist. And I’ve used my journalism training and interest in photography throughout my career.

Thanks for being part of my 40 years serving God with Cru. We’re grateful for your prayers and generosity.

Sincerely in Christ, —Mark, for the Winz family

Shortly after we started distributing our stories via email instead of by a print magazine, someone asked me how many people would read the emails as opposed to reading the magazine.

That made me recognize an important difference — we only knew how many copies of the magazine we mailed. Now, we can find out how many people read each story and the average time they spend with each article. We know much more than we did with print.

I recalled that conversation last month as we reviewed the progress our communications teams have made since last August. The Cru email newsletter, where we distribute Cru Storylines articles, has 10,443 new subscribers, bringing the total to 75,687. That’s more than our magazine had when it ended.

Of our last four Cru Storylines stories (right), Anne Marie edited one, “Experiencing God’s Extravagant Love,” and I edited another, “A Legacy of Changed Lives in San Diego.” I’m now in the final steps of editing a story about an outreach to last year’s World Youth Day using the “JESUS” Film. Last week Anne Marie began working with a writer and photographer for a story about one of Cru’s summer missions that she will edit.

Beyond Cru Storylines, our main website, Cru.org, had 3,419,910 visitors from 235 countries. We saw 37,742 people sign up for our Advent and Easter devotionals on our website and the YouVersion Bible app. I served as the project manager for both of those. Now, Anne Marie is editing a series of devotionals that we have used in the past to bring those up to date for future use.

As you think of us over the next few weeks, would you pray for these things?

• Please pray that Anne Marie will work well with Mike and Tom to complete the summer mission story. Pray that the story will encourage other students to take part in future mission opportunities.  
• Please pray for Mark’s work with the project management team during the current focused planning time to set goals and priorities for our teams for the next few months.
• Thank you for praying for Anne Marie’s health. She continues to feel better but is still dealing with an autoimmune disease and an infection.

We’re grateful for your prayers and generosity.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark, for the Winz family

I find joy in praying with others, learning new things, and helping people who are less fortunate than I am. Yes, I’m an extrovert. Last month, I had a chance to do all three things during the same week.

On that Tuesday, our digital strategies team prayed together for the World Cup outreaches in 2026. The Jesus Film Project is creating a new animated version of the “JESUS” film that can be easily translated into any language. We long for God to use that tool to bring people to Christ.

On that Wednesday, we attended four classes. In one, I learned something new about Gen Z, part of our target audience. It’s hardly astonishing that most Gen Zers don’t go to church. But I was surprised that many of them want to learn more about Jesus and the Bible. Those who read their Bibles prefer a paper Bible instead of using an app on their phones. I laughed as I thought about our Sunday school class of people over 60 whipping out their smartphones and opening their Bible apps to read Scripture.

On that Thursday, my heart was gripped when I learned there are children in Orlando who don’t have a bed to sleep in every night. I know about homelessness and hunger in our city, but I never thought about children who have a roof over them, but who must sleep on the floor.

Mark and I joined our team in a bed-building project for a charity called Sleep in Heavenly Peace. While other people measured, cut and drilled boards to make the beds, I worked with one of the other writers to sand the boards. As I sanded every board, I prayed that the child sleeping in that bed would grow up to know and love Jesus.

Our group measured, cut, drilled and sanded enough wood in three hours to make 45 beds. The following Saturday, another group would assemble the beds. Afterward, the charity would deliver the beds along with mattresses, pillows and bedding.

As Mark and I see God at work around us in Orlando, we think of you and thank the Lord for your faithful prayers and gifts that allow us to do the work we’re doing.

Thank you for praying for my health. I’m feeling much better, and I firmly believe it’s an answer to your prayers. Please pray for us this month to be faithful to do the work God puts in front of us. And please let us know how we can pray for you.

— Anne Marie, for the Winzes

I faced a flood of memories during last week’s editorial team meeting for Cru Storylines. We’re planning a story that that will take place in rural Thailand. We hope to send a writer and photographer there to gather the story in September and to publish it around the end of the year.

More than thirty years ago, Anne Marie and I lived in the Philippines and reported about the countries in Central Asia and the Pacific. I often recall highlights from the Philippines and several of the countries we visited.

We visited Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Each had its charms, and each was interesting to visit. Seeing God at work in places where Christianity is the faith of a minority of residents was always exciting. Jesus’ love was clear in the lives of His followers as they shared the gospel with their neighbors.

Thailand holds a special place in my memory for several reasons. Much of Cru’s ministry there in those days took place in the northeast part of the country. Most of the church members and leaders were rice farmers.

I sensed similarities with the farmers near where I grew up. Reporting how God was drawing people to Christ in a primarily Buddhist society brought me joy. As a photographer, I found Thailand colorful and visually appealing. The memories were so compelling that I pulled out some photos from Thailand.

One highlight of having been Cru staff members for more than 30 years is we can look back on so much. We’ve seen people in Asia, Europe, South America, and the U.S. meet Jesus.

As you think of us over the next few weeks:

• Please pray that we’ll leverage both past experiences and new opportunities to help people around the world grow closer to God.
• Please continue to pray for Anne Marie’s health. She’s still dealing with an autoimmune disease but is much stronger and has more capacity that she did last time we wrote.

We’re grateful for your prayers and partnership over the years.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark, for the Winz family

Being able to reuse articles we’ve produced in the past is one advantage of publishing online. In print, we rarely used an article more than once because readers might still have the past issue. Online, we can showcase an article when it’s timely.

This week, we sent out an issue of Cru’s email newsletter. It included links to six articles. The first is a Cru Storylines article our team just produced.

The third and fourth articles in that newsletter are both by Anne Marie. It was the right time to share those. March 8 is International Women’s Day. Last year, Anne Marie wrote “5 Examples of Women God Honored in the Bible,” so we featured it in this week’s issue of the newsletter.

During the season of Lent, many people consider fasting. Several years ago, Anne Marie wrote an article titled “Why Would a Christian Fast?” The article has often appeared on our lists of Cru’s most-read articles. This issue of the newsletter featured it once again.

“Good News Goes Global through Guatemalan Soccer” focuses on Cristobal, a staff member with Athletes in Action, Cru’s sports ministry. He leads an outreach to professional athletes across Central and South America. Several players he’s mentored have become coaches. You can read it by going online to “Storylines.Cru.org.”

You can sign up for the newsletter by entering your information on this page.

As you think of us over the next few weeks:

• Please pray that people will read the articles our team produces and will grow spiritually as a result.
• Pray specifically that people who choose to fast will draw closer to God, and that women who read the Women’s Day article will learn how much Jesus loves them.
• Please continue to pray for Anne Marie’s health. She’s had success battling an autoimmune disease since the start of the year, but the disease remains a concern.

We’re grateful for your prayers and partnership.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark, for the Winz family

This Wednesday is the first day of Lent. I’ll tell you what our team is doing to help people celebrate Lent and Easter below. But first, I invite you to thank God with us for what He’s done recently.

Our 2023 Advent devotional series, covering the Gospel of John, featured work by 17 writers from multiple countries. Anne Marie wrote six of the daily devotionals. We used various methods to distribute them — including email, text, social media, and apps like YouVersion and Whatsapp. More than 15,000 subscribers from nearly 40 countries signed up, including countries “closed” to missionaries. (The image above shows some ways the series was distributed.)

The Cru newsletter, which goes out by email three times each month, has 65,000 subscribers. They see our Cru Storylines feature articles along with other information from several Cru ministries to encourage them and help them grow in faith. And our main website, Cru.org, had more than 6 million visitors in the past year. Our team creates and edits articles and resources for the site. The site reaches people from nearly every country in the world.

As we praise God for those successes, we’re trying a new tactic this spring. Instead of daily emails for Lent, we’re offering pages with links to articles — some new and some that already exist — which will let the reader learn about the season on their own.

We’ve found that over Lent’s 40 days, the closer we get to Easter, fewer and fewer people open emails we send. With this plan, each person can work through the lessons at his or her own pace.

You can find those materials by going to Cru.org and clicking on some of the links in the gold “Easter Truth & Reflections” bar at the top of the page (as shown in the second image).

We’re grateful for your prayers and partnership. As you think of us this month, please continue to pray for Anne Marie’s health. She’s still battling an autoimmune disease. Pray that some new medications will be more effective, and for the symptoms and constant pain to recede.

Sincerely in Christ, — Mark, for the Winz family