School Year 2018-2019

It has been an eventful year and a busy year as staff and volunteers with Cru Omaha! So much so, that we have not even been able to take the time to post very often here! We'll share a few photos here to capture some of what has been happening this year, along with a collection of quotes from students during this past school year. 

(The quotes shared will be a random selection from students at our various campuses, not necessarily related to the specific photos themselves.)

"Cru has helped me strengthen my relationship with God. Before I joined Cru, I was sad, lost, and lonely. But now I have found love in God and in a family with the Cru members."

"Listening to Ron (Cru volunteer) makes me feel like there's hope ... helps me understand life."

"Cru helps me get involved with other students and come closer to God in a place where He is not always welcome."

"I am taking my first steps into Christianity, and being a part of Cru has unlocked realizations I do not think I will find elsewhere."

"I like Cru because it's an opportunity to be a light to my peers, and it reminds me how great God is."

"Cru has been an amazing opportunity to access the gospel on my high school campus. It allows students to grow through deeper connections with believers and nonbelievers and start gospel centered conversations at our school."

"I learn about God at Cru and I can talk to people here."

"School doesn't teach about Christ. Cru let's you talk about Christ with your peers on campus."

"Cru helps me to come near to the Lord and to trust that He's always there for me."

"I like Cru because it gives the youth a chance to learn about God and the Bible."

"Cru has helped me understand and apply the Bible to my life."

"When I first started coming to Cru I didn't have much of an understanding of what Christianity was and

"Cru has been huge in developing me as a leader and in my faith."

"Cru has helped me by teaching me about God. Thank you."

"Coming to Cru enriches my knowledge and understanding of God's Word. I'm glad to have Christian friends who have the same passion for Jesus as I do who are my age."

"Cru has shown me what my place is in God."

Please pray for the students in these photos, and those represented by the quotes that we have collected from this past school year. We are so grateful for all that God has done in students' lives! 

So Many Blessings This School Year!

Snapshots from three of our four urban Omaha campuses ...

A first 'hayride' for international students from Omaha Central High ...

S'mores, singing, and personal sharing of a 'changed-life' story ...

Weekly Lunch and Gospel Talk with Omaha Accelere students every Friday ...

A powerful half hour in the middle of an otherwise typical school day...

Maybe 40 Omaha Marrs middle school boys at this Cru after-school club, with as many girls in another room...

It can get a little crazy :)  Pray for the faithful volunteers!

Middle School Cru Movements

It has been another great fall season as middle school students have started meeting together again for another year of Cru. Most of our Cru groups are focused on high school students, but we are blessed to have two middle school groups, as well!

Our amazing Cru volunteers at Marrs Middle School in Omaha started up another school year of weekly meetings with students in mid-October. Forty (and even up to seventy) students flood into a classroom after school once each week for fun, snacks, and the opportunity to learn gospel truth and how the love of Christ can be real, personal, and life-changing. 

Some days it can be chaotic corralling them, but other days the students are really listening and absorbing truth that impacts the way they look at life. These Hispanic and Latino students are a delightful blend of sweetness, laughter, and mischief, with hearts hungry to know how to make sense of a world where things don't always make sense. 

Three Marrs teachers are our Cru volunteers who passionately work to feed that hunger with the life-giving message of the Gospel.  God has called them to this very unique opportunity which they are fully embracing. Please pray for energy, passion, and love for them as they minister to these students after a full day of teaching in their classrooms.

Middle school is such a perfect time for students to be impacted for eternity. Fort Calhoun Junior High girls get special focus at an all-girls Cru group filled with the creativity and love of two local moms and a college coed. Though a much smaller group than at Marrs Middle School, the impact on these girls is huge.

This group was created by moms years ago when their daughters at the time begged for a Cru group of their own because they saw how cool it was for the high school students who were part of high school Cru.

The momentum that was created has carried over year after year as girls from each new crop of Junior Highers want to be a apart of a group where the life of faith is shared in ways specifically molded just for them.

Growth at Marrs Middle School

Cru after-school club at Marrs Middle School is growing every week!

More than 55 students filled the classroom at a recent meeting. It took every ounce of my (Gary's) energy to keep their attention as I shared the Gospel with them. But God was obviously at work because they stayed with me ... even asking good questions along the way!

Many of them raised their hands saying they wanted to believe in Jesus! We then asked those students to pray along as I led a prayer to receive Christ. Although we didn't get a count, the level of interest and understanding was high, so we believe that many were genuinely praying to believe and follow Jesus!

Please pray for these students to continue to grow in Christ as Heidi and Nathanael continue to lead them week after week. We thank God for these volunteers. 

Please pray also for more volunteers as the group is growing fast!

Snapshots of Students

The school year is flying by, and here are some photos from a few of our Cru campuses ... snapshots of students as they are part of Cru in our area.

Accelere Alternative in Omaha ... students gather each week over their Friday lunch hour. In this photo Ron, one of our Cru volunteers, shares the Gospel with the students.

Bellevue East in Bellevue ... still in the beginning stages, Cru volunteers are gathering students together in their home while seeking permission to meet on campus.

Central High in Omaha - besides their weekly student gathering on Monday evenings at their high school, other gatherings occur as well. Here Gary meets with two students to connect and build into each other's lives.

Marrs Middle in Omaha - two of our new volunteers, a teacher at Marrs together with a UNO student volunteer, have started up student meetings this spring at this multi-racial middle school. 

South High in Omaha - students gather each Monday after school to learn and grow in their walk with God. The two students in front are key student leaders.

Please pray for these students, and the students in our other Cru campuses in the Omaha area.

Summer Venture Finale

It was a great summer for our Cru students ...

Weekly Summer Venture meeting with Omaha South students

Student ministry during the summer looks a bit different than during the school year. Many of the Cru High ministries across the nation do not meet regularly during the summer months, but several years ago we began what we call Summer Venture in our Omaha area. 

Under the leadership and coaching of our two part-time staff guys, Andy & Jake, eleven college volunteers played an active part in our Summer Venture program these past few months. Andy & Jake met with the college students (most of them former Cru High students) each Monday night, and then the following evening the college students divided up into teams to lead groups of high school students - in Blair, Fort Calhoun, Logan View, and at Marrs in Omaha. 

These four Summer Venture groups, as well as the Omaha South group (which was led by adult volunteers) all went through the study The Gospel Centered Life. It was a time of growth for the students, as well as the leaders. 

And on August 6th, the three groups that were in more close proximity to each other (Blair, Fort Calhoun, and Logan View) gathered for a fun Summer Venture finale evening. They started off their time together by dividing into four teams for some competitive games ...

Four teams ready for crazy, fun competition!

After the games, they gathered back indoors for a time of worship ...

And to hear one of the college volunteers share his story of coming to Jesus ...

It was a summer of incredible opportunity ... for students, as well for our college volunteers. The students were challenged as they studied and shared together, and our college volunteers had a great opportunity to grow in leadership as they led the meetings. And Jake & Andy did an amazing job of coaching our college volunteers. 

Marrs Middle

Students having fun with the knot game before the lesson ...

Marrs Middle started up another school year with their every-other-week Cru meetings on campus early this month, and it has been a very memorable year for them so far. Debi (full-time Cru staff), together with Rylee and Abbie (college volunteers with Cru) make a great team as they love and serve the middle school students at Marrs in Omaha.

They meet right on campus as a school club, and for their first meeting of the school year, four eighth grade students showed up. Most of their students from the previous year moved on to high school, so it was basically a year of starting fresh again.

These four students connected well with Debi, Rylee, Abbie, and also the school sponsor - and they responded to the challenge of inviting their friends to the next meeting. The following meeting sixteen students showed up!

These sixteen middle school students listened intently as Debi shared the Gospel, and her own story of finding God's love and forgiveness. And thirteen of the students responded, wanting the same for their own lives. Praise God for His Spirit at work in the lives of these students! The following meeting, two weeks later, many of these students returned, full of questions, wanting to learn and grow in their new faith.

Please join us in praying for the students at Marrs Middle School. They are at such an important, impressionable time in their lives. Please pray that they will grow strong in their faith, and that God's love would shine through them to their own peers, and also to their families.

And please pray for Debi, Rylee, Abbie, and also Allen (a South High student volunteering to help with Cru at Marrs Middle). And also for the teachers at Marrs who sponsor Cru as a school club.

Education Majors Project

Staff and participants at the Education Majors Project - Debi is on the far right

Debi, full-time staff with Cru Omaha, had an amazing opportunity this past summer to help with an Education Majors Project in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This project was for Education Major students who have a desire to share Christ as teachers in the public schools.

The Education Majors Project was a four-day conference to "train, inform, and cast vision for future teachers to impact students for Jesus Christ." Debi was privileged to lead her group of college students through a "24 Hour Challenge" where they were given the "assignment" of launching a Cru movement on a middle or high school campus. In the process of brain-storming and learning from the material they were given, making phone calls with present Cru (Student Venture) leaders around the country, they learned much about how to run a successful Cru ministry in a public school setting.

After the four days together, the Education Majors college students then took on leadership as 250 high school students, staff, and volunteers arrived for the five-day Myrtle Beach Getaway Conference. This hands-on time impacting middle and high school students was also a valuable learning experience for the Education Majors college students.

Debi, Rylee, and Abbie

Debi was a great asset to both the Education Majors Project and the following Myrtle Beach Getaway. She loved helping with both of these events, and also is so great at connecting one-on-one with the girls. Two of the college gals on the project were from here in our Omaha area. And an amazing result of their summer project is that they have now offered to help as volunteers on our Cru Omaha team during this coming school year! Debi is actively working together with them in preparation for running Cru (Student Venture) at Marrs Middle School in Omaha!

A special thanks to Debi for sharing these photos, and also much of this information with us!