For every staff person summer looks different. Because of Covid19, all in-person summer missions were canceled, but thankfully Cru rolled out some great opportunities for us as staff and our students.

For staff, our internal Institute of Biblical Studies (un-accredited seminary classes) rolled out several online classes! We love that Cru focuses on our intellectual growth in Christ through these classes!

Already I (Joey) have taken Old Testament Survey and another class called Humanity/Christ/Salvation. We also will have two more online classes. In all these will all take about 8-12 weeks of reading and studying. For your encouragement, I wanted to share some of my biggest takeaway from these classes.

In Old Testament Survey, one of the most beautiful lessons was just how close God was to Israel. We often think that God was further away in the Old Testament and then came closer through Jesus in the New Testament. While that is true in part, in the days of old, God made it a point to draw near. Whether it was in the Garden, or through the Tabernacle or the Temple or through the Kings, Prophets and Priests – God wanted to be close to his people! Thankfully we can now respond in Christ with the same closeness, for he has made repentance and forgiveness possible through his shed blood!

In my Humanity/Christ/Salvation class one of the biggest takeaway was just how involved the entire Trinity was in the work of salvation. We often think that it is only Christ the son who accomplished salvation but this simply isn’t the case. Although each person of the Trinity do have distinct roles, they all planned, executed and finished salvation for us. Praise the Lord that our Triune God has made a relationship possible through the work on his hands.

Overall these classes have been super invigorating and I’m excited by how they will help me in ministry with college students. Pray we’re able to continue balancing all our summer responsibilities well!

Speaking of college students, we wanted to make you aware of a weekly video series that our students from all over the state will study together via Zoom chat! No matter where they are and no matter what school they go to, they can join Wednesdays at 8:00. Check it out on www.Jerseymetro.com/summer