Day 1,459

August 1st, 2010 was my initial hire date with Campus Crusade for Christ International.  My first "real job" out of college.

Tomorrow, I start my 5th year... day 1,460.

As a college student, my plan was always to work hard, maybe climb the corporate ladder, have a family and support full-time missionaries. Little did I know, GOD's plan all along was for me to actually be a full-time missionary - at least for this season of life.

Most of my STINT team

 Looking back on these 4 years, (it's enjoyable to reminisce and start to see reasons for various life events or experiences), there were many seasons. Seasons of adventure, hardship and tears, packing and moving, cultures and languages, forever friendships built, and many pioneering endeavors I would have never could have imagined or thought I'd get to be apart of...

The National Campus Office conference team.                                                                             Jesus Film Media teammate Nifer and I on a conference call.

 Recently, I was in Denver, Colorado to speak at a conference. My overall purpose was to cast vision to the leaders of the intern teams serving overseas (STINT), about ways their teams could partner and be digitally trained and coached using Jesus Film products and strategies on campus overseas. As I prepared for this presentation, I also took time to reflect how this project came to be:

2010 - Pioneering STINT in France to resource Christian minorities.
2011 - Intern with the Cru National Campus Office conference team.
2012 - Join staff with Jesus Film Media and raise financial support.
2013 - Report full time and develop the STINT Partnership project.
2014 - Continue to develop the STINT Partnership project, training a new team in the partnership process, and possibly model partnerships for other ministries from it.

During my time on STINT, I met several influential leaders in the Global Missions world. While working on the conference team, I built rapport with some really fun people who orchestrate a wide variety of Cru conferences - including ones for STINTers. And during both of my internship years, through various circumstances, I learned more about Jesus Film and their desire to "go digital" in ministry and wanted someone with a marketing/networking background on this new team.

Representing Jesus Film Media at the 2013 STINT Briefing

The combination of these timely life experiences could only be put together by the Creator of all things. I don't think I'll ever realized how blessed I am to have been apart each of these ministries, but I am thankful to have been able to take time to see how they all have come together. I am excited and trusting the LORD to continue to grow and develop this STINT Partnership in the coming years to magnify HIS Name to the nations!

Marketing with Jesus Film

Hindsight is always 20/20 right?

As I have continued to process and reflect on my STINT year, I have remembered specific situations and life events which have led me to applying to join staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

In high school, I had heard of Cru and considered trying it out once I was in college.

Once in college, I tried it out and heard about Christmas Conference, Big Break and Summer Project. Check, check, check.

At Christmas Conference, I learned about STINT - working internationally for one year.

Last year on STINT, I served the 40/10 Window, resourcing Christian minorities in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. In May 2011, I helped administer a conference for Virtual Ministry in North Africa. It was probably one of my favorite conferences all year. Leaders from 30+ countries were represented, sharing their strategies and plans for using the media in ministry.

During one of the main meetings, (through random events), I ended up sharing a 10 minute presentation on Search Engine Optimization Marketing. The summer of 2009, I had a marketing internship where I learned lots of new ideas and concepts, which I was able to share with these national leadership teams.

Among those attending, leaders from Jesus Film, based in Orlando, Florida, were at this conference also. After my presentation, they pursued me to talk about working with Jesus Film in the fall. Their dream was to start up a new marketing department, focused on digital media. As interested as I was, I had already committed to my current internship, Year One, and felt I needed to fulfill my commitment to them.

Fast forward to November 2011. My friend, Nifer - who had recently joined the newly formed Digital Media Distribution team with Jesus Film, gave me a call. After a meeting with her supervisor, Matt (whom I met back in May), they wanted to meet with me to share their new vision for this newly established department. This being my second and final year of interning (you can only intern twice), I was considering my options for the future.

During our lunch meeting, the vision they shared with me sounded so exciting and right up my alley. I would be able to use my Marketing degree, utilize social media (I like social media :) ) and share the gospel with the nations. Basically what it boils down to: Jesus Film is creating a digital platform anyone can easily access. On this platform, they have the capacity to upload the Jesus Film in 1,100+ languages, Magdelena - a women's focused film, Rivka - a women's bible study, Jesus Film for kids and short films. People from every nation will have the ability to hear the gospel with the click of a button!

Around this time, God also was orchestrating other conversations in my life to relieve my fears and doubts about joining staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. Talking about the eternal perspective, receiving financial support for the Mid Year Conference and prayer -- God seemed to make it clear to me this is where He was leading me. When my mom said "This is a great organization and a great opportunity - you should do it", I started thinking more seriously about this offer.

It wasn't until Christmas Conference, at a breakfast appointment, that I said it out loud "I'm joining staff." It started sinking in! What am I doing?! Is this real life? (I felt a little like David Goes To The Dentist).

So, now it is March 15th at 1:52 p.m. and I am sitting in the "Tech Cave" at Big Break, realizing in a few short months, I will officially be on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. It's nuts!

But as my pastor back home often says, "If you can explain it, God didn't do it."

New Staff Training

As I type this, about 90 new staff are walking through registration (that I am in charge of!) to start a 5 week training in joining staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Filing paperwork.

When you read this, could you say a prayer for them (God is outside of time, so even if this is a week later, please pray!)? These people have decided to take a huge step of faith and ultimately, their daily tasks in investing in the lives of students, staff and others will help transform lives for eternity!