The Gospel Message is Really Simple from Josh Holowell on Vimeo.

The Gospel message really is quite simple. Jesus Loves Me. Its so simple that we are able to train Tyko to start sharing the gospel by using the Knowing God Personally booklet. Next week I might just take him to campus with me to share the gospel with students!

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of preaching at our home church New Life Presbyterian on Mark 2. Here is the audio for the sermon: Jesus Calls Sinners to Follow Him.  Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or critiques. I am always looking to improve my communication of God's word.

STAFF CONFERENCE:
At the end of July, we went to Fort Collins, CO for the all-US staff conference. We were sad to leave the boys behind especially the day after Finny's birthday, but we entrusted them to the wonderful care of our parents and enjoyed a week of refreshment, encouragement, and training. We heard from Pastor Alistair Begg, our President Steve Douglass, and our national leadership. It was a great reminder that "we are missionaries!" This was a constant theme and we were so encouraged for another fall at Ball State going hard to preach the good news of the gospel to lost students. Thank you for all of your prayers and support which gives us the ability to go to staff conference and to preach the gospel at Ball State and beyond! Please continue to pray that God would root deeply in us that we are missionaries, ambassadors of the King of Glory!

You can check out more info from Staff Conference here: Cru @CSU

 

HERE WE GO!

Well, its the start of our first fall on campus since finishing our initial support raising and we could not be more excited! Over the past two weeks we have collected almost 2,400 questionnaires from new students on campus and have begun to follow each one up individually and hopefully share the gospel with as many of them as we can. Please pray for all those who indicated that they wanted to explore more about God while at Ball State. Pray that they would get connected with our ministry and that God would open many hearts and allow them to trust in Jesus Christ. Also, pray for us, our fellow staff, and our student leaders as we go hard over the next few weeks to follow up with as many students as possible.

IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS:

God's grace that is, is all in the details. During the past two weeks we have put on 2 big events that had a lot of details involved. One was our annual kickoff cookout- the Bar-B-Cru! This year we had live music, tons of donated food, and over 1,000 students! By God's grace all the details came together and student leaders stepped up and it happened. The second event was our first Cru (our weekly meeting). While we are short of a few staff I (Josh) have stepped in to help lead the weekly meeting and I was so overwhelmed by the details of it but more overwhelmed by God's provision. Students volunteered for tech setup, we had a live-stream for the first time, and almost 600 students! Please pray that Jesus would be glorified as we continue this ever-important weekly meeting.

 

Chicago Summer Project Picture Slideshow

ENJOYING JESUS:
Thank you so much for your prayers and support of our summer in Chicago. We were able to experience so many wonderful things, but chiefly, one magnificent Jesus. The Lord really met us both in Chicago as we were able to enjoy him through time in the word, fellowship with other staff and students, and in the midst of proclaiming this magnificent Jesus to a dying and lost world. God was faithful to answer our prayers for the summer that we would be refreshed in our walk with Him and energized for ministry in the fall at Ball State. Both of these things were hallmarks of our summer. We both feel so refreshed and were able to just be flabbergasted afresh at the magnificence of the gospel message. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) What a magnificent God we serve!

ENTERING COMMUNITY:
One of the biggest life transforming agents in our lives is the community we enter into and allow to surround us. On project we try to create a biblical community that is authentic, open about sin, forgiving, and full of love. By God's grace, this was achieved both among the staff and the students. The 49 students on project from throughout the US and Canada loved one anther well and created an atmosphere of spurring one another on in godliness. The effect of this community will reach far beyond this summer as these students take what they learned here back to their campuses and from there to there churches and communities of faith when they graduate. The Holy Spirit used this community to root out deep sin, bring healing and point people to worship. Thanks for your support which made this possible!

ENGAGING THE LOST WITH THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL:
3 days a week our staff and students were out on campuses in Chicago engaging with students with the message of the gospel. I (Josh) got to lead a team with another staff woman of 12 students and 2 other staff to engage the University of Chicago with the message of the gospel. This is one of the most prestigious schools in the country, and one of the spiritually darkest schools I have ever experienced. Our main strategy for the summer was to engage with students using a worldview survey called Perspectives. We hosted an event where we gave out free baked goods and asked students to answer this question "What is the meaning and purpose of Life?" We got a great deal of interesting responses and were able to engage in conversations that the students will be following up with for the remainder of the summer. Praise God for allowing us to "till up" the hard soil of the hearts on this campus!

So what is a summer project? What were we doing for 6 weeks in Chicago? What is happening now?

Well, here is a quick overview of what a summer project is, what we were doing and what is happening now.

A summer project is an intensive mission trip/ leadership training opportunity for students to engage with the gospel and the DNA of Cru: evangelism and discipleship. In Chicago this summer we had 38 Cru Staff, 30 staff kids, and 49 students from all around the US and even 1 from Canada. We all lived together in some student apartments just south of the Loop in downtown Chicago. It was and awesome view! Students got jobs throughout the city (every student got a job- praise God!) and we learned both evangelism and discipleship. Every week we had two large group meetings- the first to train us and set us up for the week and the second to teach us from the word. Three days a week we spend doing evangelism on various campuses throughout the city in an effort to both train our students in how to share their faith and to see God work throughout this powerful and influential city. We spent time together in bible studies and each student was discipled by a staff person.

Halfway through the summer (July 5th) us staff left the project. But before we did, we helped assign all the students to various jobs and leadership positions as the project will continue for another 5 weeks. Students will continue to work their jobs, disciple one-another in a biblical community, and share the gospel throughout the city of Chicago.

We talk about US summer projects a lot as staff and encourage our students to attend. Whitney and I had never attended a project like this (Josh was overseas as a student in East Asia on summer project) and now we know why we talk about it a lot. It changes lives! We were able to experience Christ in a fresh way, disciple students and see them take steps of faith in their lives as they reached out with the gospel to others on campuses throughout the city. It was a magnificent summer!

SNAPSHOT OF CHICAGO SUMMER PROJECT
2013
321 SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS
158 GOSPEL PRESENTATIONS
12 PEOPLE TRUSTED IN JESUS
4 WEEKS LEFT FOR STUDENTS

This is such a wonderful student made video of how God is using Cru at Ball State.

Indycc12 Recap from Indy CC on Vimeo.
Overview of Indycc 2012

This got me so excited today as I looked through what God is doing around the world through the ministry of Cru. Such a humbling honor to be a part of this great organization that God is using. And even more humbling that Cru is only a small part of what God is doing in and through his people across this globe that he owns and reigns over! Come quickly Lord Jesus! 

Cruvision.org

A simple question. And the most important question we can ask. Here is a link to my answer from our Christmas Eve service on Philippians 2:4-11. How can we know God?

The book of Esther is a remarkable story full of drama, depth, character development, plot, and a wonderful picture of God's sovereign rule over the earth. I recently had the privilege of preaching on Missions Sunday at our church and I looked at how Esther's picture of God's sovereignty fuels us into being used by God to complete the great commission. I have been processing and meditating on the ideas since and just keep thinking about Esther 4:14 when Esther is challenged that maybe she was raised up "for such a time as this" ("this" meaning an instrument in God's deliverance of his people). In what ways have we been raised up to be instruments of God's deliverance?

You can check out the sermon here: An All-Consuming Passion for Making Disciples Among All Nations

Cru's global missions team recently put together this video that captures well the vision for impacting the world with the message of Jesus through students. Sometimes I think to myself, why is it that reaching students is so critical? Why is it worth support raising and difficult secular campus cultures? Why is that we do what we do?

This video answers that so well for us.

Cru Global Missions Vision from Global Missions on Vimeo.