Ministry Update:

The month of April is always jam-packed with events, keeping our students and staff extremely busy as the semester comes to a close. This month, our staff hosted the fifth annual Fellowship Dinner, and our students hosted the annual semi-formal dance.

The Fellowship Dinner is a time to celebrate what God has done over the past year in Cru and a time to share vision for the upcoming school year with local supporters. According to Jenny Smith, one of our staff members, this dinner “[Is] a chance for the JMU Cru community (pastors, parents, ministry partners, campus faculty/staff, alumni, community members, etc.) to come together to glorify God by sharing stories of what has happened in the lives of college students through Cru.” In addition to celebration, it is also a fundraiser dinner that helps raise money for the goals the staff and students have set for the next year. The staff invites the local JMU Cru community to partner with them as they raise funds to make their vision become a reality for the movement.

This year, they had a JMU Cru Alumni, Lindsey Spurlock come to speak about her time in JMU Cru. People came from all over to hear her speak and it became like an alumni reunion for those who knew Lindsey or were involved with Cru in the past. This, among other things, was a unique and special part of this year’s fellowship dinner.

Lastly, our very own student-led Community Team hosted our annual spring semi-formal. The event took place on campus and was a night of good music, dancing, and food. It is always an event that the whole Cru movement looks forward to, and this year did not disappoint!

 

Series update:

The spring semester is wrapping up and so is our series on the continuity of the gospel in the Bible. This month, Jerry spoke about the Garden, the Fall, and the Promise. During these talks, Jerry explained how sin affects every aspect of our lives but through Jesus, we are redeemed and able to have a relationship with God. The beginning of the series explained the relationship between Adam and Eve with God before they sinned. The next talk explained the consequences of their sin and how we are separated from God and unworthy of his grace. The final talk was about how God promised Abraham that his descendants would fulfill the promise of a savior to redeem the world and restore the relationship with God.   

The most recent talk featured two of our seniors, Robin and Cassidy. Robin focused her talk on going on global missions and how God’s work isn’t done until we fulfill the Great Commission. Cassidy followed up by reminding us to bring the gospel home and share it with our family and friends, no matter how hard it is to do so.

Cru-perlatives:

Our seniors are awesome and we’re so thankful for all the time and effort they put into leading this ministry! Thank you, Class of 2018 and good luck with your next steps! Please enjoy these superlatives nominated by students in JMU Cru and voted on by seniors.

Aaron Bryant: Most likely to never ever wear shoes

Abby Bennsky: Most likely to be one with the Brits

Aby Klansek: Most likely to avoid all responsibilities and lay and bed and eat skittles and claim “I’m getting my life together”

Callie Hughes: Most likely to rock red lipstick

Cassidy Fleming: Most likely to be screaming “Yassss”

Cassidy Limer: Most likely to own 15 dogs

Catie Broyles: Most likely to be a human Rosetta Stone

Christian Okada: Little Drummer Boi

Eli Butters: Most likely to win the lottery and lose the ticket

Erin Shively: Sweeter than a chocolate river

Megan Holland: Quietest but sassiest

Jessi Mongold: Most likely to own Disney World

Josh Legge: Most likely to be expert on all Rock Band songs

Julia Hutchens: Most likely to win Survivor

Kalen Bushong: Most likely to be huntin’, fishin’, and lovin’ everyday

Kelsey Terry: Most likely to have a laugh that could also be mistaken for a squeak toy

Kori Mayhugh: Most likely to make you laugh so hard you pee yourself

Lakin Simmons: Most likely to tell Aby Klansek to chill

Lauren Obaugh: Most likely to wear flip flops in snow

Lex Mazczak: Most likely to campaign for women’s rights

Mallie Ziglar: Most likely to brighten up your day

Mary-Kate Mulvaney: Most likely to be loved by every single person she meets

Natalie Wainner: Most likely to bench press more than the rest of the seniors combined

Nick Diaz: Most likely to pick a fight with Jerry

Robin: Most likely to cuss out the ref without cuss words

Sage Wright: Most likely to become a famous musician

Sydney Smith: Most likely to have an awkward story to tell you about her day

Tanner Clark: Most likely to be every freshman girls’ crush

Yasmine Vaughan: Most secretly savage

Zach Mullin: Most likely to be Christian Okada

 

Which JMU Cru staff member are you? 

Do you ever lie awake at night wondering which JMU Cru staff member you would be? Now you can find out! Take this quiz and post your results and tag @JMUCru!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyelizabetht413528f3f/which-jmu-cru-staff-member-are-you-3ekqt?utm_term=.neMDkqLn9w#.qkjlpYaLN4

Ministry Update:

What college student doesn’t love to hear the words “free food!”? JMU Cru was able to utilize free food to spread the gospel around campus. How did they do it? Text 4 Cookie. Text 4 Cookie is an outreach event that gives students incentive to ask questions about Christianity. Students in freshman dorms were given the opportunity to text in questions which were later answered by Cru students and staff members. The students were incentivized by receiving a small bag of cookies for texting in a question! The first Text 4 Cookie outreach was held on January 17th and then another was held on February 27th.

Not only does Cru focus on on-campus outreach, we also focus on equipping students to do God’s work all over the globe. JMU Cru is sending out two missions teams over spring break; one stateside and one international. The stateside group will be going to Philadelphia, PA to work with Mission Liberti. For the entire week, our students will be working in inner city Philly to show God’s love to the locals by serving in the surrounding area. This trip is also a “sneak preview” of what it’s like to go on a summer mission through Cru. The other team will be going to North Africa. This team will be exploring the culture of the area and getting a taste of what it would be like to serve with Cru for a year after they graduate.

 

Series Recap:

JMU Cru has started off the year with a bang! Coming directly out of the Baltimore Cru Winter Conference, JMU Cru began January with a large group series called “Go, Do, Say, Give”. This series encourages students to Go where God wants you to go, Do what God wants you to do, Say what God wants you to say, and Give what God wants you to give. Each of these can be applied to going on missions, giving money or time to the church or friends in need, telling a coworker about God, and many other actions.

In the month of February, we got to hear one of our staff members, Grace speak on the idea of rest. She did an excellent job describing that we need to give ourselves a “sabbath” even if it is not in the exact same meaning as in the Old Testament. Take a nap, watch a couple of your favorite episodes of Friends or The Office, or get some coffee with some friends. Make sure you take some time out of your schedule to breathe and spend time with the Lord.

Also, the day after Valentine’s Day JMU Cru had an a guest speaker. We welcomed none other than Cru Staff member Shelby Abbott. Shelby spoke on sex and dating, but with a unique focus. The main topic was not sex and purity (though, those ARE important), instead he focused his time on speaking about technology and how it is affecting today’s relationships. Ladies and fellas, get off of those devices and talk to one another FACE TO FACE.

 

Staff Spotlight: Sara Beth Scaife

Sara Beth Scaife is the Ministry Team Leader of Cru here at JMU. 

She is also a wife and mother of an adorable daughter. In case you have not met her, she is pretty awesome. Here are some facts about her so that you can get to know more about her time at Cru and her background.

How long have you been on staff with Cru?

This is my 8th year on staff with Cru. I joined in April 2010 as an Intern.

How much of that time has been with JMU Cru?

I started on staff at Radford University and then was asked to come to JMU. I started on campus at JMU in November 2012, right after my honeymoon. Kyle and I got married in late October 2012.

Why did you join the staff?

I had several job offers graduating college, one of them being Cru. I considered my strengths and the things I enjoyed most. During college, leading a small group and discipling women was my favorite thing to do. A job that allowed me to do that full time seemed like a really fun job! I love developing Christian leaders and seeing students grow in their faith!

What is your favorite thing about being on staff with Cru?

I love the mission and seeing God change the lives of college students. I love seeing students learn how to share their faith, allowing their friends and classmates to come to know Jesus. I love answering students questions about God, life, and what their purpose in life is.

Where did you go to college? What did you initially study in college?

Radford University, I was a student there for five years getting a double degree in Accounting and Business Finance.

Were you involved in Cru as a student? If so, for how long and how did you get involved?

I got kind of involved my Fall semester Freshman year, by joining a small group. But I didn’t take it seriously until Spring my freshman year when an upperclassmen asked me to join their Servant Team.

 

Meet the 2018 Servant Team!

The Servant Team provides students with the opportunity to utilize their passions to serve God and the JMU community. In January, Cru staff chose the new Servant Team for the 2018 Spring/Fall semesters. Within Servant Team there are six sub teams led by students.  According to Robert VanGee, the servant team director, the vision this year is, “to grow and maintain a healthy, effective, and spirit-led leadership team by equipping individual leaders and the Servant Team as a group both spiritually and practically.”

Meet the leaders:

Top: Jake Austin- Community Team, Robert Vangee- Servant Team Director

Left to right: Haley Conner- Conferences Team, Cassie Raymo- Outreach Team, Adriana Nicely- Prayer Team

Bottom: Gabby Santiago- Community Team, Allison Gooden- Communications Team, Peyton Moore- Productions Team

 

Welcome to part two of our series on the history of Cru at JMU. In this post we have the privilege of hearing about the experience of Shelby Abbott who was on staff with Cru at JMU from 2000 until 2007.

If you have any connection to Cru, Shelby doesn’t really need an introduction; he is the definition of a “cru-lebrity”. When I was a freshman at Virginia Tech way back in 2005, I knew Shelby as the loveable and hysterical emcee of the two biggest conferences I went to that year: Cru Winter Conference and Big Break. Twelve years later, he is still faithfully playing both of those roles. Shelby is the author of Jacked, I am a Tool, and I’m Awkward, You’re Awkward. Shelby currently works for Cru’s publishing arm, Cru Press. You can find Shelby’s Blog, as well as more information about his books here.

I asked Shelby how God was using Cru to reach the campus of JMU during his time. Here was his reply:

God did a lot in those years at JMU. There were a lot of specific strategies that both staff and students came up with to reach the campus—some good, and some not-so-good. We did an “I agree with Russ” campaign, which worked out really well, and what the students called a “door holding ministry” where we positioned ourselves around buildings on campus and held open doors for people…which was not so effective. People shared the gospel a lot in those days, and many people were trusting Christ on campus.

Ok, so if you’re not super familiar with both Cru and JMU, a couple of things won’t make sense. First of all, the “I agree with” campaign was a big deal back in the day. This was an evangelistic outreach where you would flood a campus with the slogan “I agree with… (fill in the blank of a particular student. For this example, we will say Russ)”. You’d put up posters, put an add in the school newspaper, and most importantly, wear t-shirts. Lots and lots of t-shirts. Everyone’s t-shirts would say “I agree with Russ”, except for one t-shirt which would say “I am Russ.” Then, at the end of the campaign, there would be a big event in which Russ would share the Gospel. The other thing you need to know is that students at JMU pride themselves on holding doors. I know… you just have to accept it.

Next I asked Shelby how God was using JMU Cru to reach the nations. Here is his reply:

We sent a lot of students overseas, both for summer missions and for Stints. I led a team of all JMU students and staff to Central Asia for a summer mission. There were 4 staff (myself included) and 14 JMU students. There was a lot of momentum for reaching the world in that time.

Eighteen JMU representatives on a single international summer mission? Incredible! But what was Cru’s weekly large group meeting like? After all, that is the face of the movement. Shelby’s response to this question was so unbelievable that I am still having trouble believing his answer. Shelby says that when he arrived there were about 75 students attending the meeting in 2000. By 2005, there were over 700. That is nearly a growth of 10 fold in just five years. During this time, God blessed the movement with incredibly talented speakers, band members, and emcees. All of this together created an environment where people were attracted to the community and heard the Gospel proclaimed boldly.

Ok, one last thing you need to know about Shelby’s time at JMU. His Bible study guys started the White House. The White House is a “Cru House” where 12 JMU Cru men live in semi-peace every year. The White House is still going strong today and remains a center of JMU Cru social life.

 

Contributed by Jerry Riendeau