About Levi and Katie

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Levi, a machinist, has never taken a college class. Yet in his spare time, he and his wife, Katie, lead a Cru ministry that helps about 70 students on four Kansas campuses—Butler, Hutchinson, WichitaState and Emporia—grow as disciples of Jesus.

How do they do it? Of course they rely on God’s strength and on the Holy Spirit. They lean on each other, and Levi’s brother, a former Cru staff member, can offer advice.

Beyond that, Levi spends an hour or so on the phone every week with Ben, a friend of ours.Ben and others on his team coach partners like Levi as they make disciples on campuses across the United States. The coaches have served on campuses, and recognize that their experience can be multiplied this way.

I heard about Levi and Katie as we planned upcoming issues of Worldwide Challenge magazine. Their story could be a good fit for our magazine. Our purpose is to show how God is at work through Cru staff members and partners—people like Ben and Levi and Katie—and to challenge our readers to help make Christ known. Maybe Levi and Katie will serve as an example for some our readers. They might begin to make disciples on campuses or other places where they live and work.

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Beyond the magazine, we’re helping people from many parts of Cru tell stories like this one for their audiences. Anne Marie is preparing to train staff members with our athletic and inner city ministries in Ohio when we travel back there for four days in March. (In the photo above, Anne Marie stops on her way to our one-day training in Ohio last October.) In the meantime, she’s been invited to train a group of women leaders at our headquarters and to help some members of the JESUS Film Project communicate better.

We’re grateful for your prayers as we continue to see God meet our needs and open new doors of ministry opportunities for us. As you think of us this month, please pray for wise planning and clear communication as we continue to train writers. Also, please pray that we will find more great stories like Levi and Katie’s so people can see God’s glory as He shows His love for people on campuses in Kansas and everywhere around the world.

Subha Shini and the ABCDEs

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At the time, she was six months pregnant. I was amazed that she could sit through the training in a language that isn’t the first one she speaks, understand us and take our words to heart.

While we were in India, we taught a very simple format to write stories: We call it ABCDE

A–Action–start in the middle of the action to grab your reader’s attention.

B–Background–supply enough background to make your reader want to care about the person you’re writing about.

C–Conflict: Include a problem to be solved or an obstacle to overcome that leads to a heart change in the life of the person you are writing about.

D–Develop the story by telling your reader how the person you are writing about overcame their obstacle.

E–End the story: Choose a way to wrap up the details. Tell what happened, or pick a quote that shows heart change.

Recently, Subha Shini had her baby, and now, she is starting to write again. Here’s what she sent me. Can you identify each of the elements?

Even when a pastor prayed and deliveried her mother from demon possession; Manjula a 1st PUC student was not serious about her relationship with Christ.
A few months later Manjula attended a camp conducted by Campus Crusade; unlike her initial response to Christ; she shared about Christ to Pavithra a Hindu girl . ‘since we both belong to the same religion and  community I could relate well with her’ says Manjula.
This change took place when Manjula met our staff Mrs.Kumari in her neighborhood conducting Bible studies for youths; Manjula started attending the group regularly and the truth that she learnt from the Word of God helped her to grow in her relationship with Christ. 
During the training in Evangelism and Discipleship camp Manjula says ‘I had a desire to share Gospel with others and I am glad I could do that during this camp; I realize it is my responsibility to let my friends know that Jesus is the true living God. 
I think she did a nice job identifying a story worth telling and including the elements we discussed. She shows us three events: A pastor prays for her mother to be delivered from demons, she attends an evangelism and discipleship camp, and she attends classes in her neighborhood.
While she covers a lot of ground in one short story, each event is necessary to show life change. What changed about Manjula’s life? Manjula switched from not being serious about her faith to taking her faith seriously enough to tell others about it. So, how would Subha Shini best show that change taking place?
She has the right elements, but are they in the right order? In the next blog post, let’s take a look at what I suggested she do and at what she sent back to me.

Celebrating the New Year in Nebraska

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Happy New Year! How did you celebrate the entry of 2014? With a party? With the family in the comfort of your home?

We welcomed in the New Year playing Uno using an ironing board as a table and then drinking sparkling juice out of paper cups at midnight at a motel in Holdrege, Neb. My parents have seen enough years start and don’t stay up until midnight anymore.

We were in my hometown the week after Christmas to be part of a wedding reception for my brother. Although it was a great family time, the cold and snow reminded us why we prefer Orlando’s winter weather.

Now we’re back home. Michael is at the University of Central Florida and Bethany is at Trevecca Nazarene University. They have both started their new semesters, and we’re both back at work. In addition to our ongoing roles, Anne Marie and I are tackling two major projects.

We continue to work on the next training events to help our fellow Cru staff members become better writers, and Anne Marie met with two staff members here at our headquarters to coach them in writing. This is the result of Anne Marie’s six years of developing Writing For Life. I’m glad that our magazine team benefits from the training and that this gives us a chance to work together to help others become better communicators.

We’re also working to meet with friends in Florida to talk about our ministry with Cru. We are praying that about 20 more families will join our team of ministry partners.

Please pray for us as we tackle both of these projects. Specifically,
• Please ask God to give us wisdom as we set the dates for the upcoming training, plan the conference contents and invite people from across the United States.
• Ask God to help us connect with people, whom He is calling to join our ministry team.
• Continue to pray for Bethany and Michael—especially that they will develop strong, beneficial relationships with people around them on their respective campuses.

Thanks for your prayers, generosity and role in our lives in this new year.

Writing for Life, Xenia, Ohio

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Earlier this fall, Mark and I traveled to Xenia, Ohio, home to Athletes in Action, Cru’s ministry to student and professional athletes and their fans. We helped train their communications team to tell better stories. But as usual, we gained every bit as much as we gave from spending time with them.

Bruce, one of their free-lance writers, drove seven hours from his home in Wisconsin to spend the day with us. He interviews baseball players who have a faith-based testimony. He easily moves from one interview to the next. When asked for his secret to getting great interviews, he told us he asks for them. We smiled. He explained further.

When he interviews an athlete he asks for the name of a teammate who can answer questions about that players faith. During the second interview, he asks that player if he can tell his story, too. Of course, they all agree. He continues, in this way, to interview athletes and write their stories. His work is posted at beyondtheultimate.com. You can read his work here:  http://www.beyondtheultimate.com/athlete/Ben-Zobrist

While we were in Xenia, I taught one of my favorite seminars. I call it Sort. It’s step two of the writing process. Can you finish the sentence: This piece is about…. Once a writer clearly states in a sentence or two what the piece is really about, then that writer can pick the details that most closely fit that statement. I call this the focus statement. Not every detail can be included in every piece. By picking and choosing which details to include, the author helps the reader more easily understand the point of the story.

We had a spirited discussion among writers and editors in the room. Writers want to include everything. They usually think they need more words. I know this. I’m a writer. Editors want to tighten up what’s already been written and think the writers could write their stories using less words. I know this. I’m an editor. As they talked to each other, I smiled because I have been on both sides of that discussion.

Mark and I were grateful for the time we could spend with our new friends in Ohio. We’re going back again this spring for a longer conference. We’ll invite other staff members from the region to join us. Already, we’re planning content for that conference. We’ll keep you posted about our progress.

Marriage, the Empty Nest and Ministry Together Again

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Winz onlyMy thoughts have turned to marriage several times over the last few months. Anne Marie and I are planning to celebrate 25 years of wedded bliss—well, mostly bliss—in April.

We’ve been working on a story for Worldwide Challenge that tells about a couple in North Carolina whose marriage came apart, but later was renewed by God’s grace. Now they’re helping other couples.

Then last month, as we traveled to to Nebraska, I saw how my parents remain committed to each other after more than 55 years. We met my brother Rex’s new wife. He “finally” got married, reminding me that it’s better to wait for the right match at the right time than to rush things. We also spent time with my cousin, a widow after her first husband’s tragic death, now happy with her second husband of two years.

In Ephesians 5:21, Paul addresses marriage and offers a basic instruction: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This references a voluntary act of yielding in love, not a submission that is forced by one side or the other.

Early in our marriage someone advised Anne Marie that sometimes you can chose to be right or you can chose to be loved. We joke that she prefers to be loved and I prefer to be right, so we can both be happy. At least I hope it’s a joke. But the truth is, I often benefit from choosing to submit to her preferred direction.

We’re seeing more and richer opportunities to practice this idea now as we live in our empty nest. From November 13-16, we were in Xenia, Ohio, to teach writing and editing skills to some Cru staff members who work with our Athletes in Action ministry.

They recently started a magazine, and their team leader contacted me asking for help with writing. I knew where to send him. He and Anne Marie planned for what they need and landed on three writing topics and three editing topics.

We spent those days in November with their staff. That conference went so well, that we’re going back again in the Spring. Please pray for us as we plan the details of that conference. We’ll post more details as we have them.

Writing for Life, India

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Ministry leaders from came from India and Bangladesh to learn how to write and tell better stories.

Ministry leaders from came from India and Bangladesh to learn how to write and tell better stories.

 

Last May, a dream came true for me. The dream had been five years in the making. In partnership with some of my friends I had worked with in the Philippines, I developed training to help teach our national staff members how to tell better stories. That morphed into a five-step writing process, 50 pages of notes and two days worth of seminars.

We started and ended each of our days with prayer and praise. We experienced the presence of God in our midst, and wonderful things happened.

The writers in the group felt empowered to write better stories because they better understood each of the elements that makes up a story. They learned a process to work when they write. They took away some very practical tools they could begin using right away.

The leaders who use the stories to cast vision and raise money among the business community in India thanked us for giving them a practical way to evaluate the stories they receive from staff members doing the work of the ministry. Instead of saying, “I like it,” or, “I don’t like it,” they now look at a checklist of five elements every story contains. Based on that checklist they can make specific comments about each story.

Our national staff members now own the writing process. Wrap your mind around this: They are now writing stories in their second and third languages. Stunning.

But how do you measure the success of an event like this? Any of us can attend a conference and take good notes, but then what? Do we close the notebook, take it home with us, set it on a shelf and never look at it again? If so, then so what? The real proof is what happens six months later.

Since the conference, Siman, one of the students from Bangladesh, trained all of the Campus Crusade staff members in his city in the Writing for Life method of story writing. Last week, two of our leaders from the United States forwarded to me a multi-page report, complete with stories and pictures, that was ready to be sent on to donors who had helped fund an evangelism project in India. A year ago, this would have been unheard of.

There is much more progress to be made, but our India staff members are now feeling empowered to write better stories. It’s just a hunch, but I think experience bears me out, anyone who can write a better story can also begin living a better story.

Mark and I have a part in this story. As we teach the things we have learned about using media to write and tell stories, we’re finding th

Happy Thanksgiving

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Michael UCF crowd shot

 

Home. We’re home for Thanksgiving. It’s been 13 long weeks of the empty nest, and, now, everyone is home. Home for Thanksgiving. By everyone, I mean both Michael and Bethany. Bethany hasn’t seen her friends, or her parents or her bedroom since mid-August. In that span of time, she has met new people. learned new truth, and gained an appreciate for the fact that not everyone grew up the same way she did or holds the same values we do. “Mom, thank you for not being a jerk.” One of my favorite observations.

Michael is doing life, hanging on to his scholarships, holding down and job in the midst of his classwork, and finding time to train for a half marathon and attend home football games to watch his beloved Golden Knights of Central Florida. Did you know their football team is ranked this year? It’s a big deal. That’s Michael, on national TV, behind the row of people with the tee-shirt headbands. See him?

But today, on Thanksgiving, we’re all home, and it’s good. Everyone helped clean the house this morning, so I have time to write. The turkey is in the oven, the stuffing is made and ready to bake, the homemade cranberry sauce is in the refrigerator, waiting to be forgotten. The potatoes are peeled and soaking on the stove, waiting to be boiled and mashed. We’ll do the green beans at the last minute. Pretty standard fare. All family recipes.

We think of you today, thank God for your friendship, and hope you are enjoying time with those you love.

Worldwide Challenge magazine and Writing for Life

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Mark and I have been on staff with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) for 30 years. Our mission is to tell stories about what God is doing around the world and to invite our readers to join Him where He is at work. The adventure has led us overseas to countries like the Philippines, India, Nepal and Indonesia. We have also told stories from right here in the United States. We have written and edited for Worldwide Challenge and other ministry publications. We have also trained writers.

We have lived in Orlando for 20 years and we have raised our family here. This picture shows, our daughter, Bethany with us and our son, Michael, and my parents, Jim and Helen Larkins, on the night Bethany graduated from high school. Michael and Bethany are now college students, and Mark and I have more freedom to do ministry together. We especially enjoy teaching together.