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.

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.

Week 1: Christ, the Anointed One

At the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus stood in the temple and read from the scroll of Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus, God’s chosen Son, the anointed one, came filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, announcing good news to the poor, freedom for those trapped in slavery, sight to those who were blind, relief for those carrying heavy burdens. God’s favor rested on Him.

Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin which spread to all men. Through another man, Christ, came an abundance of grace, the undeserved gift of having our sins forgiven, of being made right with God.

As we prepare to light the first Advent candle and prepare our hearts to receive our king, let’s take a moment to remember Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, who came as flesh and blood to live among us. He not only paid the price for our sins on the cross, he gave us the power to overcome sin and death.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank you for sending Christ, the anointed one, chosen and set apart to live among us and become the payment for our sins, to set us free from slavery, to open our eyes when we were blind, to provide relief from our heavy burdens. Prepare our hearts to receive our coming king as we wait for his arrival.

(These are scripts read at church during the lighting of the Advent wreath).

A lot of history and experience came together for us in our ministry this year. We’re looking back on 2014, and beginning to plan 2015, with gratitude to God.

Anne Marie returned to the office as a writer last winter. In June, on short notice she made a trip to Korea to report about how our staff members are using short films to share the gospel. Stories from that trip have already appeared online at Cru.org, and more will appear in the next issue of Worldwide Challenge magazine.

She also continued to build Writing for Life, teaching 25 staff members in Orlando and going on the road twice to teach 24 others. Writing for Life gives us a chance to help a growing number of people use the written word in print and online to proclaim Christ’s love. That is Cru’s focus, and the reason we have both served as staff members for more than 30 years.

I continue serving as editor in chief of Worldwide Challenge. My work on the magazine increased this year as one of our editors took a leave. I did much more editing this year and I enjoy the process of working on stories with our team of writers, making each story better and helping the writers increase their skill.

What are your highlights from this year as it comes to an end? And what do you look forward to in 2015? Let us know in the comments below.

We’re excited about the coming year. Anne Marie will continue to write for the magazine and our websites. And she plans to continue offering Writing for Life training. She’s been invited to teach a session here in Orlando, and has tentative invitations to teach in Texas, Colorado and Ohio. Two of those trips would be to train more Cru staff members, and the other would take the training beyond Cru staff members, as it will be offered to communicators with a wide array of ministries.

Her next magazine story is designed to help our more than 50,000 readers learn how they can share the gospel with their friends and others they know.

My work with the magazine will continue. And in May I’ll become the president of the Evangelical Press Association, which serves the staff members of about 300 Christian publications. It is a volunteer position that has to be added to my other work, so I’ll be busy.

We also look forward to family events this year. Michael plans to graduate with an engineering degree from the University of Central Florida next December. Bethany is in her junior year at Trevecca Nazarene University, and she plans to be done with an internship.

Mark and I just returned from a second Writing for Life three-day training on the Athletes in Action campus near Dayton, Ohio. Our students learned to write articles that will help readers grow spiritually. Their finished pieces will be published at various Cru online platforms.

We connected with Cru staff members from around the country who are budding writers looking for ways to sharpen their writing skills. We present content, leave time for students to write during workshops, and then offer feedback.

As much fun as the time is, the real success of what we do happens after the event ends. Seven months ago, we held our first training at Athletes in Action. Afterward, I kept coaching several of the people who attended. Since then, six of our students published stories in six different places, including Worldwide Challenge magazine, Cru.org and Athletesinaction.org.

Shannon published my favorite piece, a first-person article at Cru.org called “When You’re not a Mom on Mother’s Day.” The responses Shannon received indicated that she helped her readers grow spiritually. Courtney, another student who attended the training, has published three pieces at Cru.org. One of those articles will also appear in an upcoming issue of Worldwide Challenge.

This training ended less than a week ago. Three students have written strong pieces that will be posted on their ministries’ websites or at Cru.org.  We also have invitations from two Cru ministries to train their teams in 2015. Can’t wait. We equip writers so they can skillfully tell glorious stories of how God is at work around the world.

As you think of us over the next month, please pray for me as I follow up with staff members who attended our event. Pray that we can create content that will cause our readers to grow spiritually. Pray, too, for Mark and I as we continue writing and editing for Worldwide Challenge and Cru.org.

Thank you for the crucial role you play. We are grateful for your prayers and your gifts, which allow us to do the work God has called us to do. Please let us know how we can pray for you.

We celebrated in a small way last week as Cru reached its 63^rd anniversary. Campus Crusade for Christ started in 1951 with only Bill and Vonette Bright on the campus at UCLA. Now, we get to tell stories from all over the world as that movement has spread.

I’ve been reflecting on Psalm 145, and what it says about our role. Verses 4-7 say:

 One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of Your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

 While I often think of God’s majesty when I see mountain scenery or the stars in the night sky, His mighty acts are continually carried out in people’s lives. Declaring God’s greatness by telling stories of changed lives is a privilege for us.

In June, we told you about Anne Marie’s trip to Korea where she saw Yura share the gospel with Seojung. That story is written and edited, and our designers are adding the photos. Below are two paragraphs from what she wrote, illustrated by this photo:

The two women watch Sand Art together. As Yura cues up the film, the air conditioning unit in the courtyard kicks on. Dishes and silverware clink in the background. Yura plugs in her headphones and gently places them in Seojung’s ears so she can hear the video. Toward the end of the film, Seojung says she wants to invite Christ into her life. “Previously I was self-centered,” she says. “Now I want to be Jesus-centered.” 

Yura wills herself not to cry. She had prayed for the entire training period that she would see someone move from not believing in God to trusting Christ to forgive her sins. Today is that day. Yura explains how Seojung can know that Christ is in her life. 

This month, would you pray for safe travel as we plan two trips?

• October 12-16, I plan to go to Virginia with three coworkers. We’ll visit two companies—one that designs our magazine and another that prints it. Pray for productive meetings as we plan our future work together.

• October 27-November 1, Anne Marie and I are preparing to travel to Xenia, Ohio, for a third Writing for Life training event. So far, a dozen other staff members are coming to be trained, and several more are considering joining us. Please pray for wisdom as we prepare our lesson plans so we can equip them to continue to “commend [God’s] mighty works” to still more generations.

Thank you for your gifts, prayers and friendship. We’re grateful.

I’ve been thinking about Christian discipleship. What does it look like for a follower of Christ in America today? What is and is not part of discipleship? When does it start?  

As a college student I thought I understood discipleship. It would start when someone made a commitment to Christ. A more mature Christian would meet regularly with a few younger believers. They would study the Bible, pray and take part in evangelism and outreach activities together. If all went well, the younger believers would mature and start leading others.

When I moved into adult life, I tried to replicate that model. I met with three other young men when I lived in the Philippines. Together we studied The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman. I saw that the model from college was a start, but would not be sufficient for adult life.

Over the years, I’ve continued to consider how discipleship should work. I recognize that in a community or a church, many people are involved in discipling any one person. It isn’t a matter of me making a few disciples, but my influence and example will influence many people. But they all also need to be influenced by others in order to be discipled fully.

About a year ago we began discussing discipleship in our local church. We asked some of the same questions from my first paragraph, above. We recognized that discipleship begins before someone makes a commitment to Christ. It did for me. I was raised going to church, and what I learned early on led me toward Christ.

Recently, I attended Creating Options Together, sponsored by the Inner City ministry of Cru. There I heard more about discipleship. Adam Edgerly, a pastor from Los Angeles, said, “We think we make converts, then the Holy Spirit makes disciples. We have that backward.” We need to begin discipling people to help them move toward faith in Christ. Then at some point in that process, the Holy Spirit will draw them to a personal response to Jesus.

As you think of us this month, please pray that we will be effective in making disciples in our church and community. (In the photo above, Bethany, Michael, our friend Gala, and Anne Marie enjoy a moment during our multi-generational Sunday school class, one way we are making disciples.)

Also, please pray for Michael and Bethany as they return to college. Michael will begin his senior year at the University of Central Florida. Please specifically pray he’ll find an internship. And this week, as we send this letter, we are preparing to drive to Nashville to take Bethany to Trevecca Nazarene University for her junior year.

As always, we’re grateful for your partnership in our ministry. We thank God for you.

Last week, while I was editing a story for an upcoming issue of Worldwide Challenge magazine, I recalled an event from several years ago.

 I had been praying for a way to explain the gospel to an acquaintance. We talked often as his company printed our magazine. Our conversations focused on the work—what paper should we print on, how well was the ink on the page replicating the images, and what was all of this going to cost. In the midst of these discussions, a transition to eternal questions eluded me.

 Then he asked for advice that allowed a connection. He hoped his teenage son would willingly join the family in attending church. Since I worked for Cru, he expected me to have a persuasive answer. If only it were that easy.

 I asked why church attendance was important. I don’t recall his words, but it amounted to his saying, “Going to church is a good thing, right?”

 I asked, “Would you say you or your son have a relationship with God?” To explain what I meant, I used an analogy. As a teen, I occasionally visited nursing homes. Youth group Christmas caroling, a newspaper route my brother and I shared and a Boy Scout project took me to such places. Every visit made me uncomfortable.

 The sight of people in pain or with limited mobility was troubling, as were some of the sounds and aromas of so many lives sharing limited space.

Then something changed. My grandmother moved into the place where I’d delivered papers. Suddenly, visiting was enjoyable. I had a relationship with someone there. I wasn’t going because I should—I was going to visit Grandma Winz.

 The environment hadn’t changed, but the motivation had.

 I then shared with my friend how he could have a real relationship with Christ, and how his son could as well. I asked if he thought that might change going to church from a duty to a delight.

 I was reminded of that conversation as we edited a story about Carrielyn Lund. She shows Christ’s love to people overlooked by most of us, in places we avoid. One of those places is a long-term care home. When I go to church, I do so because I have a relationship with God. When I visit a nursing home, I do so to enjoy and build relationships. Carrielynn has a lot to teach our readers.

 As you think of us this month, please pray for Anne Marie’s continued adjustment to working in the office. Much has changed in the twenty years since she was last a full-time writer.

Thank you for your generosity and prayers. You play an important part in our lives. And please let us know how we can pray for you.

It’s 1:00 p.m., and we’ve just finished lunch in the cafeteria of a Kyung Hee University in Southeast Seoul. The students who earlier filled the tables have left to go to class and study for exams.

Photographer Tom Mills is taking pictures of Yura meeting with one of her disciples. They watch the short films, the Black Hole and Falling Plates together. Yura asks her disciple what she thinks the film is about. She transitions into a discussion about how Jesus is unlike any other person in history.

Earlier this morning, she and her teammate Rachel showed The Black Hole to two students sitting together outside of the library, a stone building with turrets on the top. Great architecture on campus.

Here’s a link to The Black Hole. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

After watching the Black Hole, Yura and Rachel each started a conversation with the students by asking what they thought the film was about. Correct answer: Greed. Some great questions followed.

Q: What would you do if you had this kind of paper?

A: I don’t want it. I’m afraid of what might happen.

Q: Would you want to throw it away?

A: No, I want to keep it, just in case.

Q: What if everyone had this kind of paper?

A: There would be chaos.

Q: What if people used it for a good purpose?

A: People are evil.

Q: How can people solve the greed problem?

A: They can think within themselves and try to control themselves.

Q: Is there some other approach to solve this problem?

A: I don’t know.

Q: There is a film that explains where greed came from and how it can be solved. Would you like to watch it?

A: Not right now.

So, Yura was disappointed that she didn’t have a chance to show the second film called Falling Plates, but I was excited for her because she started a spiritual conversation.

Rachel had a similar experience. She ventured into questions about faith.

Q: Do you go to church?

A: My parents attend church. I attended when I was younger, but I don’t go anymore.

Q: Why do you think people go to church?

A: Some go to have relationships with people, but others go so they can meet people they can network with during the week. Maybe there are people who go to grow in their faith.

They carried on a conversation about how believing in Jesus can solve the greed problem. She asked if she could show him the second film. He also said, no thank you.

In the past, when our staff members used a printed presentation of the gospel, these conversations would have been much shorter, and students would not have answered as many questions. For now, the short films strategy is opening doors for both students and staff members on campus to start conversations.

Our staff are absolutely energized. One of the leaders told me that previously he explained his faith to other people because it was his duty. Now, he enjoys starting conversations and he finds himself more easily caring about the person he’s talking to as he’s asking questions and listening to their answers.

We’re off to a great start. Can’t wait to see what happens next. More to come.