by Bryan Knedgen | Jun 14, 2015 | Prayer Letters
Summer Missions 2015: Cru Knows Students. Cru Knows Missions. Our summer mission trips are a place where students can grow in their relationship with God while taking steps of faith, while being guided, trained and encouraged by staff from campuses all over the U.S. Staff and students leave their local campuses during the summer for several weeks to go to places where our ministry may not be during the school year. In tourist destinations in the U.S. and abroad we partner with local churches to bring the gospel to people who may not otherwise have a chance to hear it. Our stateside students work during the day and organize events like outreaches, bible studies, and ministry training in the evenings. They share the gospel with co-workers, beach goers and neighbors as they develop life-long friendships with each other and those they meet in the community. Through outreaches, prayer nights, bible studies and leadership training workshops all students on summer mission can grow in skills they will use back on their campuses and local churches. Megan Henley, one of our Cru graduates from St. Louis pictured to the right with friends from East Asia Summer Mission, said this about her experience: “Seeing God raise up believers by using our team in East Asia, encouraged me to share more on campus back home. People readily receiving Jesus in a closed country like East Asia reminded me that there are people ready to hear the gospel and wanting to know about the hope of God on a campus in America that is hostile to the gospel. We learned to be a team on...
by Angela Knedgen | May 14, 2015 | Prayer Letters
University of Michigan Cru We recently took a break from Ministry Partner Development (Cru’s fundraising term) to attend four days of planning with our staff team. We started off the planning days with are refreshing time of sharing about the ways God has been at work through our Campus ministry and in each of the staff members lives. Here are some highlights from that time: 260 students were involved in bible studies, engaged in discipleship with staff and attending our weekly meeting- the All Campus Gathering (ACG) Students are engaging in ministry and owning our mission of win,build, and send Discipleship from staff to students and students to students Students sharing the gospel with classmates and dormmates Students leading the ACG with little staff oversight A handful of students led their friends to Christ and plugged them into our ministry Several students are going on mission trips (Cru Summer MIssion) in the states and abroad Students are heading to our partnership city in South Asia to work with Cru in ministry for a year following their graduation Knedgen’s at Home and on the Road We’ve been traveling throughout our time of ministry partner development. Florida, Indiana, Missouri and West Michigan have been kind to us. We’re encouraged by so many people desiring to partner with us in our calling to connect students at the University of Michigan to Jesus Christ. During the past eight months, despite health challenges and Army Reserve assignments, Bryan and I have seen many new people join with us monthly and we are thankful to the Lord for the 27% in new monthly giving commitments...
by Angela Knedgen | Dec 14, 2014 | Prayer Letters
Men’s and Women’s Night Each day students at the University of Michigan make decisions that effect the rest of their lives. A few weeks ago men and women from all over campus set aside a Friday night to learn more about biblical masculinity and femininity. During that night, two panels of Cru staff, one composed of men and one of women, took turns answering questions from the students. Questions like, “Should women initiate dating relationships?” and “What does submission mean in dating and married relationships?” were answered by each panel separately. It gave each group an opportunity to ask questions about faith and relationships to the panels of staff members, of the opposite sex and then the same sex, that they may not otherwise feel comfortable asking in a co-ed environment. Following the staff women fielding questions from the female students, one young woman pulled a staff woman aside and asked, “How do you break up with someone?” Students like her are wrestling with how to walk with the Lord and let the gospel shine into every area of their lives. It’s encouraging to see them understand the breadth of the gospel. Jesus reign isn’t just over their church attendance or the words they speak; it’s over every facet of their lives. It’s our joy to guide students toward a Christ-centered orientation that empowers them to live lives that bring glory to God and hurting friends, families and strangers to Christ. Here’s a story from a Michigan Cru staff guy, Eric, about that: “You looked like crap earlier! You doing okay?” Chris asked Alex when Alex stopped by to invite...
by Angela Knedgen | Nov 14, 2014 | Prayer Letters
There are things in our lives that we never expect to happen. On some level, conceiving Martel was one of those things for me (Angela). I’ve suffered from polycystic ovarian syndrome all of my life. It’s a condition where chronic small cysts form within a woman’s ovaries hindering normal functioning. Sometimes these cysts subside on their own, other times they become bigger and rupture. This happened to me in 2005 during my senior year of college. Afterwards my doctors assured me that I would have no problems conceiving a child, but some fear remained. Fear of the same thing happening to my other ovary and losing the ability to have children bubbled under the surface for the last 9 years. A few years into our marriage, I experienced another painful flare up that concerned us. During a follow up appointment, our doctor encouraged us to trust the Lord and start trying to conceive: not the treatment plan I was expecting my doctor to recommend! To our amazement we conceived Martel the first month we started trying to conceive. This changed my life! Martel is the most tangible gift of the Lord’s goodness to our family and to me personally I’ve been given. We are so thankful for the joy and lightheartedness Martel brings to our lives. He loves life and others with intensity and reminds us of God’s love for us each day. For all of these reasons we looked forward to expanding our family in the near future. We thought, “If the Lord, gave us Martel, He will provide more.” Though I previously struggled to believe the Lord...
by Angela Knedgen | Oct 2, 2014 | Prayer Letters
Start of the School Year Thirteen years ago, I (Angela) started my first day of classes at the University of Michigan. Like many other students, the first six days on campus were full of exhilarating and anxiety producing moments of meeting friends, scouting out classrooms, buying books, and going to Meijer for the first time. During that week and the next few weeks of the school year, students make decisions that affect the rest of their lives. Who will be my go to friends? What if I fail all my classes? Will I get along with my roommates? Am I gonna be a book worm or a party goer? These questions ran through our minds and are running through the minds of students right now… Through God’s gracious work in my life, I got involved with Cru the second day I was at Michigan. After meeting my dorm bible study leader, who introduced me to the rest of the Bursley Cru community, I invited three friends from my hall to visit Cru’s first event of the year where we sang, prayed, and met more friends. This established the foundation for friendships that continue to this day. The Cru community welcomed us in as family and we found a place to grow in our love for God and each other. In a different way, 10 years ago Bryan, an atheist at the time, went into college seeking to reinvent himself by pursuing girls and grades. Like him, a very different trajectory is playing itself out in the lives of other students. Those who don’t know God, are questioning God, or...
by Angela Knedgen | Jun 24, 2014 | Prayer Letters
2014 Year in Review Webster University Another school year has passed and we find ourselves thankful for the many ways God worked through our ministry to continue to build his kingdom. Putting the gospel in arms reach of students at Webster University led us to students like Myra, Anna, Jaylen, Brandon, and Ronnie. Though regular meetings with Angela, studying the “gospel centered life,” Myra came to understand the gospel in a way that is fueling her to love and extend grace to h er classmates. In Cru, Anna found a community where she feels accepted and is excited to continue to grow and help others do the same. Hesitant to talk about her faith, Jaylen learned to take steps of faith empowered by the Holy to engage friends in Spiritual conversations. During Big Break, Brandon found joy in sharing his faith instead of the guilty drudgery he so often felt before. In discipleship with Josh, a student leader Bryan has helped become more deeply grounded in his identity in Christ, Ronnie learned to study the word in a practical way. During training times with Angela, Agnes, an international student from Ghana, learned to share her faith. Half way through the semester, Agnes and Angela led Olivia to Christ during a spiritual conversation on campus. Next year, Myra will be discipling Olivia and leading the ministry with Josh, Ronnie, and Anna. We’re thankful for the time we had at Webster and are encouraged for the future of the ministry we left in the hands of these students. Graduation From Covenant After five and a half years of school, we’re...
