Isn’t it incredible that the God of the universe and of your heart has chosen to use YOU for this mission through prayer and giving? That’s huge! Jesus is using YOU to make Christ fully known on every NJ campus. THANK YOU!

Let’s move into our prayer needs for this semester. Officially, the Jersey Metro ministry is on about 30 colleges and universities across the Garden State. We work as one united team, but we have specific assignments year by year.

Jenn and I are thrilled for our schools: New Jersey City University, Montclair State, Stevens Institute of Technology and Seton Hall. Of course, there is overlap with other schools, but this is where most of attention will go. Here’s the scoop on each campus movement. Please pray with us!

Sitting in the highly diverse Jersey City, NJCU (below) has over 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students combined. At a Cru meeting, it’s not unusual to have over 10 nations represented!

Our first prayer is that Cru students would be in love with Jesus, doing ministry from the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray this results in a large harvest of souls. Pray also for my one-on-one discipleship with Samir (student president) and Efrain (a rapidly maturing new Christian).  Thank the Lord for favor, as many Cru students are now student government officials, who will partner with us in strategic outreach. Our main connection is Jonathan, an awesome and bold soldier of Christ.

Nestled in suburban-ish Montclair, MSU (below) boasts over 18,000 students and is Jersey Metro’s “hub” in North Jersey. If you were a fly on the wall at one of MSU’s meetings, you’d notice that the group is all ladies. In the last two years all of our men graduated, and it’s unfortunate that other men are not stepping up.

Although this is difficult (since any guy who walks in usually never comes back), the MSU team of ladies has trusted in the Greater Man, Jesus Christ, and has plowed forward with the gospel. They pray and evangelize regularly by whatever means necessary.

Pray for them. They realize that it is a setback to not have men in their movement. They’ve grown weary and are in need of Christ’s living water to refresh them! Specifically, I and another staff guy will be sparking spiritual conversations with the male population. Pray the men we share the gospel with realize Jesus is the greatest man! And that they aid in the Cru movement to see even more come to Christ at MSU. Also, pray my presence at MSU’s meetings would attract more dudes as well—not with my wit or charm—but with my God’s wit and charm! Pray also that our ladies never feel like Jesus alone is inadequate, as if he is held back by the lack of men. Some of the names of our key student leaders are Julia, Melissa, Caitlin and Sam.

Stevens has had its own independent Stevens Christian Fellowship for decades now. The movement is highly effective in outreach and community. As Cru staff, our heart is to resource the students at Stevens with materials, vision casting and conferences—like Jersey Cru, fall retreat and others. I’ll be working with our director Mark Scott at the school, and I hope to serve wherever the greatest needs are. So pray that the Lord would clearly reveal what my role should be at the school!

Seton Hall is a whole other mission. We have no Cru movement there. Historically, students have tried to launch one but were rejected. Recently, the SHU director of campus ministry emailed me, saying that the ministries that are already at SHU are adequate in “serving the pastoral needs of the students.”

While I’m thankful a school is engaging the spiritual needs of its students, the reality is we have students who feel these movements are insufficient and would prefer a Cru movement that is centered on Christ, community and outreach. While we cannot move forward immediately with a recognized group, the Holy Spirit has encouraged us to plow ahead informally. Pray for our key contact, Josh. I’ll be meeting with him every other Thursday at noon for discipleship and evangelism. Josh will also be gathering the 10 or so Christian students he knows to begin a weekly evangelistic Bible study. He will be sharing at our next “Jersey Cru,” our monthly, statewide worship gathering. Over 200 students and staff will back the SHU initiative in prayer!

Finally, pray for freshmen across the state. It’s said that in the first two weeks on campus they’ll establish their routine and won’t break it. Pray Jesus breaks it! Pray also that our students catch vision and excitement through our statewide opportunities like the Summit – a prayer and planning gathering for leaders — (below) and Jersey Cru (below).