I'm home from spending 10 days in beautiful Ft. Collins, CO for our US Staff Conference. About 5,000 staff from all over the United States came to be refreshed and encouraged by the leaders of our ministry as well as other well known Christian leaders. I felt challenged a lot over the past week and a half, and have been thinking a lot about how I live out my faith. Is Jesus really my life? Am I willing to do anything and go anywhere for the sake of people hearing about the scandalous love of Jesus? Over the past two years, the organization I work for has been asking themselves the same questions. Are we doing everything we can as a movement to connect people to the abundant life Jesus promises?
While I was in Colorado, it was announced that we will be changing our name from Campus Crusade for Christ to
Cru. In speaking with people who do not know Christ but would be interested in hearing more about how they could begin a relationship with Him, 20% said they would no longer be interested in talking with us about Jesus if they knew our name was Campus Crusade for Christ. Most organizations would say 2% is considered a very high percentage of people to negatively respond toward a name. Wow. We are committed to doing
anything we need to do in order for others to hear about the saving love and grace of Jesus. With overwhelming feedback from countless individuals that our name was actually hindering us from connecting with others about Christ, we have changed the name of our US ministry to Cru. I personally could not love the name more. I think it will draw people in to the organization, causing people to ask "What are you about?" We are passionate about connecting others to Jesus. Since the leadership of our organization has done such a great job at explaining the name change, I will let them speak instead of me repeating what they have already said so well. Below are two videos that explain more behind the heart of the name change.
It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead,
that this man stands before you healed.
Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:10-12
A couple of weeks ago, Cru had their annual Winter Conference in Fort Worth, TX. During the conference students packed meals to be sent to our long term team in Ethiopia, who will be delivering them to the poorest of the unreached people groups in their scope. Students from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana raised $19,000 before the conference to make this effort a reality. It was by far one of the most fun outreach experiences of all the Winter Conference's I've attended. 
