Preview Weekend

We long to have our lives count for Christ and bring great glory to God. The students invited to this conference are those we have seen aligned with that vision in their own life.

This conference (Preview Weekend) helps juniors and seniors slow down and get God’s perspective on decisions about life, career and calling.  They will hear from speakers that can give great wisdom and perspective from God’s word and their own experience.


We believe that God sends each of us out of college as laborers for Christ. That’s a huge part of why Campus Crusade exists on the college campuses. This conference is a key part of becoming a lifetime laborer.  I (Carra) am very excited that I get to be our campus representative for the Triad this year.  Last year, Zade was less than a month old, so a full-tilt weekend was not feasible.  This is one of the best conferences I have attended.  The students are passionately seeing what God would have them to do with their lives.  It is a privilege to spend an entire weekend with students whose hearts are so attuned to making their lives count in the eternal!

Students are registering now.  Staff are preparing for their time with these young people. This conference is next Friday (Jan 28-30).  Please pray for the students coming, for the staff who are preparing and that we would see God raise up laborers for His harvest!

Love, Carra

Sweet time with Christ

A part of my "job" with Campus Crusade for Christ is taking an extended time with the Lord on a monthly basis.  It is a wise requirement because ministry can easily become an overwhelming list of "to do's."  My monthly extended time with the Lord is always scheduled with Pete so he can watch the little ones and give me the freedom to go off to a coffee shop (or Chick fil A) for the mid-morning. I look forward to these "Dates with Jesus" and it is always filling to my soul.

For my regular life...I usually have at least 20 to 30 minutes of Bible reading and prayer each morning before the rest of the house wakes up.  God has been so gracious to meet me in these (almost daily) times with Him even though they are brief.  This morning while the rest of the house slumbered, I woke early and instead of  taking a half an hour and then quickly onto the laundry, breakfast, email, etc. ...I lingered....

...I didn't even mean to linger... I had glanced at a magazine article left in the bathroom.  The Holy Spirit used that one snippet of perspective to send me down a precious, convicting and encouraging time with Him.  I went to the Word, I lingered in my prayer journal.  I was drawn to listen to some worship music that I had never heard before.  I have just enjoyed some sweet "extended time" with Christ that was uncoordinated, unstructured (by me at least!) and unexpected.

What a gift this chilly January morning. I just wanted to share that with you!

Love, Carra

Listen in...

Encounter 2011

As the conference came to an end students were given the opportunity to share with others from their campus what they learned. An international student from EKU (Eastern Kentucky University) shared, “I am not a Christian. I am from Japan, and in my country we do not care about religion. I came to Encounter and now I have many friends. I feel such a strong connection with you all and I see how great God is. I want to continue to learn more about God and Christianity.”

 

Encounter 2011 culminated on New Year’s Eve with a time of prayer as students prayed to be “the finishers”, the generation that fulfills the Great Commission taking the gospel to ends of the earth. 

Listen to some of the talks from the conference that brought about these experiences...

http://www.encounteraudio.com/podcast/

Encounter Conference

Right now there are close to 1000 college students here in Greensboro for the encounter conference.  It is an amazing four-day event that began last night and will wrap up on Saturday night as the whole group prays in the New Year.

Seeing this many young people eagerly taking in the Word, taking the challenge to share their faith, worshiping God together - it is awe-inspiring sight.  Days like these remind me that God has power in this world.  HE is changing lives and what an awesome privilege it is to be on the front row.

Pete and I and the rest of our team are handling a chunk of local coordination (childcare for staff and the community outreach day).  Appreciate your prayers!

Love,
Pete and Carra

Thank you!!!

As we reflect on the ultimate gift Christ has given us, we just wanted to say thank you for your partnership!




Love, Pete and Carra

Fall Kickoff Monday!

Here are some of the students and staff praying for the outreaches and Gospel conversations we anticipate next week. Monday and Tuesday at UNCG students will be giving away tacky sunglasses (yes that is a desirable gift LOL!), sports bags and this year...even homemade cookies! Our church has partnered with UNCG to provide a little homemade love (cookies) to draw students over to our tables.

We just returned from a three day training retreat where UNCG students learned how to initiate Gospel conversations, lead Bible studies and trust in Christ for the movement. They have a huge passion for reaching their campus! We can hardly wait to see what God is going to do this fall!

On the campus, for the campus
Pete & Carra

BSaLT tomorrow

Well we love a good acronym don't we?

BSaLT is the name of our Bible Study (a) Leader Training.  It is of course a double meaning to subtly imply that our Bible study leaders be the salt and light that Christ calls us to be.  I (Carra) am currently preparing to lead a session on explaining the Gospel and how to follow up with a student who is interested in spiritual things.

If I could pick any topic to train right now, it would be that topic!  As I am preparing my session, one premise I am operating under is that they just don't know...... When we dialog with unbelieving students, they typically know a lot of peripheral information about Jesus.  But they most often do not know what it really means to follow Christ and give your life to Him.

So here I am - it's almost midnight and we leave at 9:00 a.m.  I've been pondering this topic for more than a week but just now getting down to the typing.  Please pray that our student leaders would be filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with passion to reach the lost and prepared for the battle that wages over the hearts of men and women.

That all would know Him,
Every campus, every person,
Carra