4.27.2007

Liz Duncan

In the summer of 2002, I (Anne) held the position of Associate Project Director for the Lake Tahoe Summer Project. What that means is, I gave leadership to the 41 student women who descended upon Lake Tahoe for the summer in order to develop in their leadership and ministry skills. One of those women was Liz Duncan.

In 2002, Liz was a senior, and a star soccer player at Washington State University. She had a passion to reach athletes with the gospel and launched a ministry to athletes at WSU which is still vibrant today. Following her graduation, she went on to serve full-time with Athletes in Action, a branch of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Last Saturday, while Liz was out running, she was hit by an oncoming car and killed. She was 26. You can read more about the accident and Liz's life here and here. There is also an article on the AIA website (link above).
Whereas this is sad, sad news, what encourages me is how Liz's life impacted so many others because of her faith in Christ. If you read the local newspaper articles, you will see that even her death is having quite an impact also. As I reflect on this, so recently after the Virgina Tech tragedy, I am still hit with one thought......College students really do have the ability to change the world!

Allison's Heaven

Anne: "Allison, tell Dad who you told me the other day we will see in Heaven."

Allison: "Ummm...Millie [our friend's recently deceased Golden Retriever], dead ponies, Sabretooth tigers, God...and T-Rex, but they won't bite you!!"

Me: "And what will Jesus say to you when you get to Heaven?"

Allison: "Let's have cake and ice cream!"

4.25.2007

More from Africa

As I mentioned yesterday, I have just returned from a visit to South Africa with Campus Crusade. I will be posting more over the next few days, but here is the overview of my trip.

In the United States Campus Ministry of CCC (the "USCM"), one of our great values is raising up and sending students to other countries around the world. We do this not only to help other countries have the gospel, but also to cultivate in our students a mindset of reaching the lost wherever God calls the students to be.

For many years, Africa as a whole has not been a location to which we in the USCM have sent many students. There are many reasons for this, most of which are too technical to go into. But one major reason is that in years past, the African CCC leaders have not generally placed major importance on campus ministry, choosing instead to invest time and money in other strategies such as the Jesus Film. What this has meant for the USCM is that there have been few opportunities for us to send US students to African locations that are willing and able to receive them. A partnership of this type requires two willing parties.

That is changing, though, and that is why the team I went with was in Africa in the first place. African CCC is realizing more and more that if they really want to reach their nations and their continent for Christ, than they will have to invest more resources in reaching their campuses, where their future people of influence are gathered. So, they are becoming more willing to look at receiving teams of American students to help with evangelism on their campuses.

I travelled with eight other CCC staff from various places around the US to Cape Town, South Africa, for the meetings. We met with three African campus ministry leaders, each responsible for campus ministries in 13 or more countries, to talk about the issues of past histories and to begin exploring if partnering together is the right thing to do at this time. We had many hours of good, open talks about many things. We talked about differences between ministry in the US and Africa. We listened to these three men talk about the realities they faced every single day in their own lives, as well as the lives of their students (I will write more about this later - you won't even believe what you'll hear). We asked many questions about what we heard from them, and tried to see things through their grid. Most importantly, we "let them come to us," in regards to partnership, rather than assuming that they needed or wanted us to do so. With the still-looming shadow of colonialsim all over Africa, it is very dangerous to assume that they need or want our help. If they ask for it we can pursue relationship, and even then it will need to be on their terms, not ours.

Overall, it was a very productive time. It felt like in one week we took several months of steps toward working together. I am still processing what I saw and heard there, and will do my best to share some of that with you all. Getting to know the three African ministers, and hearing about their lives and ministries, will remain one of the highlights of my ministry career.

More to come...

4.24.2007

Back from Africa

Hello everyone! I am back home after a nine-day trip to South Africa with Campus Crusade. My journey home took 42 hours door-to-door, but I will be sharing my experiences and pictures here over the next few days. It was an amazing time and I can't wait for you to hear about it!

4.18.2007

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Many of you have asked about the Campus Crusade movement at Virginia Tech, and how they are responding to the recent tragedy. On the VT campus we have a staff team of 10 members, and there are over 500 students involved in the CCC ministry. Four of the deceased were students who happened to be involved with Campus Crusade. To read more about how to pray specifically for this campus, as well as testimonies from current students and CCC staff, please click here. To read about one of the students who was involved in the ministry, please click here.

Mark Gauthier, our National Director of the Campus Ministry writes this, "...the tragic events and great losses that occurred at Virginia Tech have left us grieving and clinging to the Lord in this difficult time. Though our understanding is limited, it is in these desperate times that we are reminded that we have a great High Priest who has gone before us, who loves us, and prepares a place for us. And because He stands at the right hand of the Father even now, we pray. "

Thank you for praying for those at Virginia Tech.

4.13.2007

Easter Sunday




They move so quickly when they are hunting for eggs that it is hard to take a good picture....