Photo: At Scott’s Bluff National Monument in Nebraska on our way to Colorado.

This summer, at Cru 15, our staff conference in Colorado, I met a dear staff couple. They came to BAM, a bloggers and authors meet-up. “We’ve been through a traumatic situation,” they said.” We think God wants us to write a book. Can you help us?” They are parents of a son who suffered a brain injury while playing football.

My friend Sus Schmitt and I hosted the gathering, providing a forum for staff authors, bloggers, readers and writer “wannabes” to talk and trade advice.

More than 160 people gathered to ask for and give advice. The buzz of conversation filled the room. Staff members connected with other staff members, talking about how to write and publish everything from books to blog posts. No structured program; only conversations.

When the couple approached me, I pointed them to Ney Bailey, one of our staff members who wrote a memoir called Faith is Not a Feeling. She sat with them, listened to their story and offered insight from her own writing and speaking experience. During their 30-minute conversation, she wrote out her best thoughts so they could take the notes with them.

Of course they thanked her for spending time with them and she thanked them for telling her their story. Later, she told me how very much it had meant to her to hear their story.

My favorite conversation? For more than a year, I had been coaching Leslie via email as she wrote monthly devotions for mothers of preschoolers. She found me at BAM. What a thrill to give her a hug and tell her how much I enjoy reading what she writes.

God has given each of us a story to live and to tell. Together, Sus and I are using our expertise to help our staff members tell their stories online and in print so that people will come to Christ.

Throughout the conference, I had 15 conversations in which I coached our staff members to become better communicators. Most of them want to write on websites or social media.

A lot of outreach and discipleship now happens in this digital realm. Through the website www.everystudent.com, for example, thousands of people have indicated decisions for Christ.

Thank you for the valuable part you play in our lives. We’re grateful for your prayers and support. God uses you to allow us to continue doing the work He has called us to do.

Please let us know how we can pray for you.

– Anne Marie –

I have the twelfth version of a story for a future issue of Worldwide Challenge on my desk. Most articles don’t go through this many editing steps.

Over the last few years, our writers have taken on increasingly complex stories as Cru finds ways to take the gospel to groups of people who need a specialized approach.

Our May/June issue featured a story about the Nations branch of our campus ministry. We tell of a couple, both Native Americans, who purposefully present the gospel in meaningful ways to other Native Americans. For over 400 years, missionary activity has been focused on this group, yet only five percent have come to Christ. Now, this couple and other Native American believers are adjusting their approach without changing the core message of the gospel.

Our July/August issue reports about a campus outreach to Deaf students at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Did you know the Deaf don’t consider themselves people with a disability, but rather a distinct culture? They have their own language, American Sign Language, and ways of doing things usually not understood by outsiders.

Now, in version 12 on my desk, is a story about veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Cru Military seeks to assist those who have served the country. Coming to Christ does not solve the problems of PTSD, but He can offer hope to many men, and increasingly, women, who have been damaged in ways a hospital stay cannot address.

As Cru changes tactics to proclaim the gospel, those of us who tell the Cru story need to stay informed. This summer we’ll have a chance to learn about more new tactics.

Next month, Anne Marie and I plan to attend our staff conference, Cru ’15, in Colorado. We’ll hear from Cru ministry leaders and from leading Christian speakers about the issues facing us in society. On the way back we’ll visit family and friends in Nebraska.

Over the next few weeks would you pray about for our travel plans?

• First, please pray that we would complete the work we need to finish before we leave on July 9. Anne Marie and I both have multiple deadlines in that time.
• Second, would you pray for good health as we work hard now and then as we travel?
• And third, please pray that we could get our schedule set up as we try to visit people in Nebraska, and for appointments in Colorado as Anne Marie meets with fellow staff members to plan upcoming Writing for Life training events. (The photo above shows Anne Marie during our last trip to Colorado for a training event.)

Thanks so much for praying for us. And please let us know how we can pray for you.

I recently moved into a new office and onto a new team. I am working full-time with Writing for Life, training and coaching communicators at Cru.

Now I report to Judy Douglass, the wife of Cru’s president and my friend, with whom I have worked for the past five years. She’s thrilled, and so am I.

While I train and coach the three writers in her office, I will also develop new material to train and coach other communicators throughout Cru. You can see what I’m up to at www.writingforlife.org.

A year and a half ago, I took a position on the writers team to write for Worldwide Challenge and Cru.org, reaching more than 50,000 readers.

I traveled overseas and wrote two international features. I also wrote about how to share your faith as well as a personal experience piece about fasting. In so many ways, it was a great time. But it came with a cost.

While meeting writing deadlines, I also trained communicators on other teams throughout the ministry as part of Writing for Life. As the year progressed, the training opportunities outstripped the amount of time I could give to them.

In an attempt to balance my time, I thought I would step away from some of the training I had done. When I tried to scale back, people like Tim, the leader for the communications team at Athletes inAction and Larry, one of the editors from the Campus ministry, asked me to please keep trainingtheir teams.

Finally, when I missed a writing deadline, we knew something needed to change. I had to pick writing or training. I couldn’t keep doing both. While I miss my companions from the writers team, it’s a relief to have one job description instead of two. And I hope Judy’s influence will help open some doors for me to train teams internationally as well.

Thank you for your prayers and support of the work Mark and I do for Cru. We are grateful for your involvement in our lives. We can’t do what we do without your help.

As a grade school and junior high student, I looked forward to getting report cards. My personality and learning style worked well in the classroom, and the grades almost always looked pretty good.

My grades in high school and the first year of college didn’t hold up so well. General studies classes, like math and economics, didn’t play to my strengths. Even in those downyears, I liked the feedback. Knowing where I stood compared to a set standard and knowing what I might do to bring those grades back up was comforting.

When my student days ended, I learned that getting such feedback in “real life” wasn’t as common or as clear. But in our work on Worldwide Challenge, we get specific feedback twice a year through two contests we enter.

This month, the Evangelical Press Association awards were announced at the association’s convention. We won three photo awards and we earned an Award of Merit for the magazine as a whole. The judge’s summary said, “This magazine’s strengths are its strong writing, editorial mix and pacing, and the crisp, contemporary feel of its inside pages.”

Anne Marie and I also got great feedback from our 14 students on the Writing for Life training we did during the convention (shown in this photo). We even led two additional sessions that we hadn’t planned when time slots opened for them. And as the association’s new president I led the annual business meeting and a board meeting.

Thanks for your prayers for those two parts of the EPA convention. And thanks for your prayers for Bethany. She is still looking for answers regarding her mix of health concerns.

Over the next few weeks would you pray for Anne Marie and in our communication roles at Cru? We’re finishing writing and editing an upcoming issue of the magazine that includes two of Anne Marie’s articles. And we’ve started planning our first few 2016 issues. International travel requires long lead times so our writers and photographers can arrive at the right time of year. Please pray, too, for Michael and Bethany as they finish their semesters, with finals April 29-May 5.

As always, we’re grateful for your role in our lives and ministry.

We’re no longer the parents of teenagers. Last week, Bethany turned 20. It was spring break, and both she and Michael were home so we could celebrate as a family. (In the photo below, she’s getting ready to blow out candles on her cake.)

This is just one more landmark we’re passing, with more to come. Both of our children—yes, even in their 20s they are our children—finished high school. Both moved out of the house and entered college. This December, we expect to celebrate Michael’s college graduation, and next May we expect to celebrate Bethany’s completion of college.

As the landmarks pass at home, new ones come at work. Each of Anne Marie’s trips for magazine stories and training opportunities is a new step. She is preparing for training events in Colorado, Texas and Ohio.

While my job situation has remained steady, new opportunities have come my way as well. Over the past year, I’ve been doing more editing than I have in the past. And in about three weeks, I officially take on the added role of president of the Evangelical Press Association. This volunteer position allows me to help serve the association’s 300 member publications as each takes the gospel and discipleship training to different audiences.

How about you? What landmarks have you passed recently? What new ones are you preparing for in the near future?

As you think of us in the next few weeks, would you pray for three things? First, Anne Marie and I plan to lead the next Writing for Life training event in Colorado, April 7 and 8, for members of the EPA. Please pray for success as we prepare six lessons, and pray that between 15 and 20 participants will come. Second, pray for me as I help lead the EPA’s convention that week. Third, pray for Bethany as she makes a major adjustment. She will finish her semester at home due to an ongoing illness. Pray for her to find a diagnosis and treatment for her health problems. She plans to return to school in Nashville in August.

Thank you so much for your partnership in our ministry and in the life of our family.

On January 10, after we watched the taillights of the car taking Bethany back to college recede into the distance, Mark turned to me and asked if I was ready for my next adventure. I was hoping he would be taking me out to breakfast. Instead, he asked if I’d like to go to Ecuador. On Tuesday.

Of course the answer was, “Yes!” Four days later, I landed in Quito, Ecuador, at midnight, along with Worldwide Challenge photographer Tom Mills.

The next day, we met Javi Guaman and his wife, Andi. Javi is Cru’s city director in Quito. They took us to a newly constructed high school where we watched volunteers in five different classrooms present “How to Get Better Grades and Have More Fun.”

More than 500 middle- and high-school students heard the gospel-based content. The following week when we returned, the volunteers clearly explained the gospel during a second assembly. More than 200 students prayed and received Christ.

Javi works with a team of dedicated volunteers who help him increase his reach to more high school students. One of those volunteers, Jeff, spends 20 hours a week on various campuses helping high school students grow in their faith.

At one school we visited, a group of six-year-olds approached me. The leader of the group squared her shoulders, stepped forward and in her very best English said, “Hello.” She stole my heart. We told each other our names, worked on our colors in both English and Spanish, and played the “What is this?” game. They told me the Spanish name. I told them the English name. The bell rang, and they disappeared. They returned and each handed me a flower picked from the perfectly manicured landscape on the edge of the playground. We traded hugs and they ran to class.

Whenever I travel, I realize just how small the world is. Jesus commanded his disciples to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. What I would consider my ends of the earth will always be someone else’s Jerusalem. It was so encouraging for me to see the gospel advancing in Quito through the work of Javi and Andi and their team.

As you think of us in the next couple weeks, please pray this story as I write it and, then Mark and I edit it. We want God to be glorified as He brings students to Christ and works through Javi and his team of volunteers.

I’m grateful for opportunities to travel to places like Quito so I can tell everyone about God’s marvelous work. Thank you for playing such an important part in this work. Please let us know how we can pray for you.

I sat in our living room yesterday, writing and listening to a gentle rain on our windows as it starts, then stops, then starts again. The sky has been gray for the last two days. And it matches my mood.

A few days ago I got the sad, but not unexpected news of the death of my mother, Joy. Sad, obviously. Not unexpected, as she’s had health problems during the last several years. The day after Thanksgiving, she got the flu and never recovered. A few days ago she told my dad that she was ready to go, and that wasn’t a surprise. She lived a full life and her love for Christ and hope of heaven stayed strong to the end.

She was raised in the faith. Her grandfather was a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. He immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and settled on a farm in south-central Nebraska. I visited that farm often as a child, and still have Homestead Certificate no. 4932, signed by President Chester A. Arthur, as a memento.

Her dad took over the farm, leaving school after sixth grade when his father died early. Still, church was the center of life. He eagerly taught a Sunday school class for high school students, even with his limited education.

Then, at a Methodist Youth Fellowship, event my mom met Ross Winz. They carried the faith tradition into marriage and parenting, and I’m a beneficiary of that.

When I first joined Cru, I though back to the stories of three generations of people who chose to follow Christ. I hope and trust I have carried on that legacy.

As darkness swallows the gray sky, and the rain seems to have ended, I’m making preparations to go back “home” to Holdrege for mom’s memorial service. Dad chose to wait several days for the service, so we’ll gather on January 26. Anne Marie and I plan to be there, and Bethany hopes to join us. Michael’s schedule doesn’t permit him to come along.

At times like this, we’re especially grateful for the role you play in our lives. We treasure your prayers for us as we walk though these days, and for my dad, Ross, and my brother, Rex. Thanks so much.

(The photo below, from a few years back shows my parents with Michel and Bethany.)

Happy Birthday, Jesus. Tonight we remember that you are Immanuel, God with us, the reason we celebrate.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, under the law, to redeem those of us who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Tonight is that night.

Jesus, the Son of God, who possessed both the power to create and the power to redeem, laid aside His rights as God, humbled himself and took on the role as a servant. Emmanuel, God with us.

He called Himself the Son of God, saying that He and the Father were one, and He could do nothing apart from His Father. He was God, coming in the flesh, to live among us, to model a life fully surrendered to His Father, to rescue us from our sins, to give us the power to do even greater works than He did.

This evening, as we light the final candle on the Advent wreath, we celebrate the babe in the manger. Emmanuel, God with us, the one who will save us from our sins. When we welcome Christ, the Son of God, into our lives, we are no longer slaves to sin. Instead we become God’s children, sons and daughters, ready to receive an eternal inheritance. Finally, the wait is over. Our king has arrived.

Let’s pray: Thank you Jesus, the Son of God, for coming to earth to save us from our sins. We can do nothing apart from you. Tonight, after waiting imperfectly and impatiently, we gladly surrender ourselves to you and invite you to take your rightful place in our lives. Thank you that we can become your children, sons and daughters who are no longer slaves to sin. At long last, You are here, with us.

When did life become so complex? Sweet Mary did everything her mother told her to do. Kind Joseph planned to marry her so she could support him at home while he supported her with his trade.

And then Mary announced she was pregnant. Suddenly their perfectly planned lives were thrown into chaos. Grieving Joseph planned to divorce the woman he loved. Frightened Mary understood he had no choice.

But then, an angel of the Lord appeared to unravel the mystery. “Fear not,” he said. “The child growing in Mary is from the Holy Spirit.” So Joseph, placing faith in what he couldn’t see, continued his engagement to Mary. He took care of Mary while Mary took care of the baby. They raised him from childhood and He raised them from the dead.

They trusted the Holy Spirit, who engineered the events of their lives, the third person of the trinity, the one who convicted them of sin and led them into truth. The one who promised to be with them, and who promises to be with us, too, even to the end of the age.

Today, as we light the fourth candle of Advent, let’s thank God that He is Emmanuel, God with us, the one who sees us through the events of our lives even when they seem unmanageable. Let’s prepare our hearts to receive Him as we wait impatiently for His coming.

Let’s pray: Thank you, Father, for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has promised to be with us, to convict us of sin, and to lead us into truth, even in the midst of our troubles. Prepare us as we wait impatiently for His coming so we can give him His rightful place in our lives.

Advent means waiting. We wait for the day when we will celebrate our Savior, coming among us as one of us to pay for our sins and give us power over sin and death through the Holy Spirit.  

May you know Immanuel, God with us, the Son of God, this Christmas season.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  (Luke 2: 13, 14 ESV)

On the night Christ was born, the angels announced peace. Peace to Mary who gave birth to a child conceived by the Holy Spirit. Peace to Joseph who married his pregnant bride and walked beside her throughout her journey.

Peace to the shepherds watching their flocks on just another ordinary night. Peace to those who were near and those who were far away. At long last, the unfettered reign of sin was about to expire. Emmanuel, God with us, was on his way, providing a pathway to peace with God.

Today, as we light the second candle of the Advent Wreath, that same Jesus, the one we wait for, has broken down the dividing wall of race, gender and privilege. In these heated days of division, while our culture screams for war, and the injustice in our midst astounds us, we wait impatiently and imperfectly for Jesus, the Prince of Peace to join us in the flesh and be Emmanuel, God with us.

Let’s pray: Jesus, as we wait impatiently for your coming, break down the dividing walls in our lives and in our cities. Prepare our hearts to receive you as our Prince of Peace.