Staff and Volunteers

We love our volunteers! As a small staff team of three, we continually are so grateful for the 20+ volunteers that work alongside us. And it's probably safe to say that Cru Omaha would not be able to exist without the dedicated volunteers God has blessed us with. 

These two photos (above and below) were taken at one of our volunteer training sessions. We met in March at Cups Cafe in Omaha for a great sharing and training time. Our volunteers who were present represented our Cru groups at Omaha North, Omaha Central, Accelere Alternative School, Blair Otte Middle School, and Marrs Middle School. It was a valuable time together.

Also, as a staff team of three (Gary, Jake, and Cherry who is taking the photo below), we value input from our regional leaders. 

We are grateful for our visit from Scott (left in photo above) in early May, as he met with us for encouragement and advice as we evaluated the school year 2018-2019, and gave input for the new school year coming up.

As we step into summer ministry, we are grateful for recently graduated students who step up, and desire to come alongside our other volunteers. 

The photo above shows a few of our recently graduated student leaders from Fort Calhoun HS and also Omaha Central HS as they met with us as staff and other volunteers. It was a great time making plans together for our Cru Summer program. 

Cru Staff Visit in October

It was a beautiful fall day to pick up two Cru staff friends from the airport. Scott flew in from Denver, and Nicole from Dallas. The next day we were joined by Bill from Orlando. It was a special few days together. We love how our Cru leaders like to stay in close touch with staff around the country, visiting when they can, and always, bringing encouragement and helpful ideas. Scott, and also Nicole are our new regional Mission Directors, overseeing and also offering their help to our staff team here in Omaha. Bill is from our Cru headquarters in Orlando, and gives oversight (along with others) to our team here, as well.

A stop after the airport, to prayer walk and meet students on an Omaha college campus,
assisting the vision of Cru staff in our region who work on college campuses.

A treat to also meet up with a former student from one of our Cru High campuses.

A fun gathering at Scooter's with staff, a volunteer, and a few high school students.

Nicole, getting to know Shar and Quisha, two Cru Central student leaders.

Our home was the gathering place for our two days together. From there we drove into Omaha to view the five campuses where we meet regularly with high school and middle students. Also our visiting staff were able to visit two of our Washington County student gatherings.

We're thankful for leadership from Orlando, Denver, and Dallas who encourage and pray for us in Omaha. Our meetings were centered on sharing from God's Word, prayer, giving input on our plans for this school year, helping us with staff development and team development, as well as visiting some of our campuses. One of our biggest prayers is for more staff to join our Cru Omaha team of three, and for more volunteers to join with our nearly 25 volunteers who are an integral part of our team.

Cru Volunteer Gathering

We love our volunteers! And it is always such a treat when we can gather them together in one place. They are busy people, many with full-time jobs or full-time college classes, while also volunteering of their time to reach high school and middle school students for Jesus! Cru Omaha could not exist without them; they are an integral part of what God is doing in the lives of students here in our area.

The group above (a portion of our volunteers) met with us recently in our home. We shared hopes, dreams, ideas, and plans for the various campuses we each work with this school year. We then prayed together for God to anoint movements for Christ among students at each of these campuses.

Please join us in these prayers! Pray for all our volunteers. They are such a dedicated group. They love teenagers so much and passionately want them to know the joy of following Christ! 

Please pray also for more volunteers. There are some campuses where volunteers led ministries last year but where we won't be able to have Cru groups this year unless we find willing capable volunteers!

Cru Summer College Volunteers

The summer is quickly drawing to a close, with many high schools and middle schools starting up in the next few weeks.

And with the close of another summer, comes the completion of another summer of "Cru Summer". Our part-time guy, Jake, did an amazing job of leading our college volunteers (pictured above), who in turn, led our summer ministry with high school students here in the Omaha area. (Jake is to the right in this photo, third from the front, with the gray t-shirt.)

Jake, Andy (affiliate staff), and Gary met with these college volunteers each Sunday evening throughout the summer, building into their lives, and coaching them to lead the high school "Cru Summer" Monday events.

These college volunteers did an incredible job! We are so proud of them, and thank God for their hearts for Him, and for high school students. They gathered for final time together this summer ... starting out at Aroma's coffee shop, then moved to Five Guys (photo above), and then to a late-night bowling activity together. 

Cru Summer

Cru Omaha continues to function during the summer months, but it takes on a different form. Instead of the students meeting as groups on their own school campuses, they gather together in two different locations. Five of our campuses are in Omaha, and five are in Washington County. So during the summer months the students meet once each week at these two locations. 

May 22nd was the big day to transition! And everyone met all together at a location mid-way between Omaha and the hub of Washington County. Todd & Angela's beautiful acreage was the perfect place for students to come together for some fun activities, some food (of course), some inspiration, and to hear the scoop of the summer plan.

Our part-time staff guy, Jake, does an amazing job of leading Cru Summer. He starts months ahead, and carefully gathers a group of college students, many who have been discipled through their high school years by Cru. Jake coaches them and trains them to disciple the high school students throughout the summer. 

In the photo above, you see one of the college student gatherings. As volunteers they meet together with Jake and Gary each Sunday evening. Then they divide up into two teams to lead the student meetings on Monday evenings. They are on mission, and are being equipped to lead and disciple high school students. And they are also experiencing discipleship and lasting connections between their own peer group of college students. It's a win-win situation for these capable and amazing college kids, and we are incredibly thankful for their hearts to love on and to draw high school students to Jesus.

Cru Summer

Student meetings take on a different look during the summer months. Taking advantage of the great outdoors, and also of some of our college student volunteers who are often back in their home towns during the summer, we gather high school students together for what we call "Cru Summer".

We're grateful for Jake, our part-time staff guy, who works with these college student volunteers (some of our students who have been in Cru during their high school years) to put on Cru Summer. Jake does a great job training them, and leading them ... as they, in turn, lead the summer meetings for students.

Jake and college volunteers preparing for another Cru Summer meeting at the Depot in Blair

Jake says, "They have been leading the youth of Blair and Fort Calhoun in a series called 'Can I Ask That?' It has been very encouraging to see God work in the lives of students as we ask hard questions about cultural issues and faith. This has been a great opportunity to start conversations about questions that many times go unaddressed.  Our goal is to talk about these issues because, 'Doubt isn't toxic to faith. Silence is.'"

Mid-summer the students met for a fun evening at a beautiful acreage between Blair and Fort Calhoun. It was an awesome night with water games, other fun activities, an outdoor movie, and inspiration.

Please pray for high school students to continue to be challenged to grow in their faith these remaining weeks of summer, and then, as our regular Cru meetings start up again next month on each of our campuses. 

Staff and Volunteers with Cru Omaha

We had a very special treat the beginning of May when two out-of-state Cru staff traveled to our area to spend some time with us and our Cru Omaha team. A huge blessing to have Benton (from Dallas), and Kevin (from NYC) here in our area from May 4-6!

Our time with them started with a staff and volunteer gathering in our home the evening of May 4th. It's always hard to get all of our volunteers together, as they are scattered around the area, helping with Cru at nine different schools ... while also being involved in their own full-time jobs. But what a special evening to have a portion of them together in our home for the evening, sharing and interacting together and with our visiting Cru staff. Our volunteers are an integral part of what God is doing on each of our campuses - they are an amazing group of people with a passion for reaching students.

Benton and Kevin gave us valuable input during their visit, and were able to be part of several campus meetings. And the insight they gained from being here will reap benefits in the months to come, as they assist with advice and input from a distance. 

Cru Fort Calhoun Jr-Hi Girls

Most Monday evenings during the school year you'll find two amazing Cru volunteers pouring their lives into junior high girls in Fort Calhoun. Donna and Diane have been serving as volunteers with us for quite a few years now, and even though their own children are grown and on their own, they continue to give of their time and energy to love students. They make a great team as they share with these girls about God's love for them, using fun, interactive ways to communicate God's Word.

Donna and Diane and their girls on a movie night to see "Son of God"

A few of their activities this school year: a fun fall party ... "cleaning out the yuck in the pumpkins like God cleans out the yuck in our hearts, so our lights can shine brightly for Him", serving as bell ringers for the Salvation Army, participating in a special Easter focus "Journey to the Cross", and many more.

And the main focus, as always, has been to help these girls come to know Jesus personally and follow Him in every area of their lives. Early this school year they celebrated together as one of the girls made the most-important decision to follow Jesus as her Savior and Lord. It has been a year of growth for her, as well as for the other girls who meet together.

They recently held their last Monday night meeting for this school year, and Donna and Diane are praying that they "might be able to stay in touch with the girls over the summer and that they will continue to walk with God while they are away". It has been a fruitful year as girls have come to know Christ and have grown in their faith. Donna shares, "The girls have opened up their hearts to us this year in beautiful ways and they have been there for each other during difficult/trying times."

Do you remember your junior high years? 

How thankful we are for all the impact and encouragement that these girls are finding during these junior high years that can be difficult years in many ways for students. And decisions made at this time can impact them for the rest of their lives. Please pray for Donna and Diane, and for the girls that God is leading to them ... for their connections over the summer, and for more girls to come to know and follow Jesus during the next school year. 

Summer Venture Planning

Our Cru High meetings will look different during the summer months than they have during the school year. For a number of years now, we have held a different format for our student meetings during the summer - something we have called "Summer Venture". Our first planning meeting for Summer Venture was held on March 18.

Jake, our amazing part-time staff guy, called together a few of our young adult and college volunteers, as well as a few student leaders, to begin planning for this coming summer. Instead of holding separate student meetings for each of our Cru campuses, we will be holding one joint area meeting for all the students together during the summer months. Pulling students together from the various campuses for encouragement, inspiration, and fun. Jake has done a great job during the past few summers, as he has equipped and coached our college volunteers to have a major role in leading our summer meetings.

Please pray for Jake as he heads this up, and also for our college volunteers who will be taking a major leadership role during the summer months. It's the perfect opportunity for them to gain more experience in leadership, and it's a great help for us as staff for them to help in this way while they are on summer break from their college classes.

Cru Central Volunteers

Volunteers are an essential part of Cru Omaha! We are grateful and blessed to have nearly thirty volunteers helping with Cru movements on campuses in our Omaha area. These amazing adults give of their time amidst their own work or college schedules, as they love and serve the high school students in our Cru High groups.

The photos above are of the group of young adult volunteers who run the Cru Central High meetings and events. We all go to the same church, Citylight, and meet as one of Citylight's City Groups, with the focus of reaching students at Central High for Jesus. Several times a month we meet for encouragement, inspiration, and fun. And food, of course! 

These volunteers, together with a Central High staff person, and a few gifted student leaders make up a great team. And it takes a team to reach out to a campus. We are so grateful for these who are following God's direction and giving their time and energies to be part of what God is doing in the lives of high school students. 

Tomorrow will be a big event for Cru Central High in Omaha - our first on-campus meeting will be held! Our student leaders recently gained permission for Cru to be a school club on their campus! We will hold a special event meeting on campus one week each month, in addition to the regular meetings held off campus on the other weeks. 

If you know students at Central High, please invite them to come to the Central High Courtyard tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 27, 6-8 pm. There will be GAMES & PIZZA, and an opportunity to interact with a special speaker from Belarus, and hear of his culture & his faith in God.

Middle School - Key Time for Impact

Most of our Cru High groups center around senior high students, but a few are focused on middle school students. Our newest middle school group started up this past school year, focusing on students from Blair Otte Middle School.

Joy Curry, a mom of a middle school student herself, approached one of our staff members about a year ago, sharing her desire to be a volunteer with Cru High. This past school year she has faithfully and passionately been leading a group of Blair Otte Middle School students. These students are being encouraged and challenged in their faith, and have chosen to even continue meeting throughout the summer. We thank God for Joy and her love and leadership of these students.

Please pray for each student who has been part of this Cru group, and for many more to be drawn to Jesus through this coming school year. The middle school years are very impactful years. 

This past spring these students joined our senior high students at the Blair YMCA to hear our National Director, Darryl Smith, share from his heart about how each of them, as students, can make an impact on their campuses. One of the middle school students was in tears at the end of Darryl's talk - and shared with one of our staff members how he was broken for his peers, and desired for God to use him to make on impact on their lives. Please pray for this student, and for many others who are growing in their faith, and are wanting to make a difference.

Omaha Accelere Launch

Earlier this calendar year we were invited to launch Cru (formerly Student Venture) on Accelere Alternative school in Omaha. Accelere is a unique school set up to help students who did not complete their high school studies in the traditional setting, but then have returned with a new focus to finish. This school for 17-21 year olds has a three-week cycle of classes, helping students to be able to plug in and complete each course in a concentrated form.

An incredible opportunity has been opened for us to go into the school and engage with students, helping them with various life skills, as well as with the most important life lessons of connecting with God. In order for this to happen, we need a team of volunteers who have a passion for the students who attend Accelere.

Please pray with us as we solidify our team of volunteers. Gary felt led to call together a special prayer time for this school, and our need of volunteers, last month. In addition to some of the staff of Accelere and some of our staff & volunteers, we were also blessed to have a group of people from the north Omaha area join us, some of them associated with ABIDE Ministries. This group meets often, early in the morning, to pray for this whole area, and it was a blessing in many ways to have them join us for our prayer gathering.

As Gary shared about our need for volunteers with those gathered for prayer, several of those present came up and volunteered right at that time! Since then he has been connecting with several of those who volunteered - assisting them in filling out their volunteer application forms with Cru, and also meeting with them to continue in prayer for Accelere.

Would you pray for these volunteers, and for Accelere, as well? We depend on God alone to be able to reach out to the students at Accelere. It is not an easy road for these students, as many have come from rough backgrounds, but now have made the decision to continue on with their schooling. And it is not an easy road for our volunteers, giving of their time to reach out to these students. Our new volunteers (several of them with ABIDE Ministries), are well-equipped to reach out to them. And we need to support them in prayer for this needy mission field. Please pray especially for our volunteers at this time as they are completing their application forms to serve together with Cru.

Summer Venture Debriefing

Keeping high school students connected, and challenging them to grow in their faith through the summer has been a focus of our team. It has been exciting for us to see college volunteers come alongside us as staff in leading our Summer Venture program. 

Michaela, Debi, Jake, Abbie, Paul, Ali, Andy, Jon, Andrew (missing: Garrett, Otis)

A group of college students (most of them, former Student Venture students themselves) helped with our first Summer Venture program during the summer of 2011. And this summer these college students have returned to help head up Summer Venture again! They are an amazing group of volunteers and have done a great job!

Summer Venture met once each week throughout the summer, drawing high school students from the area together for teaching, worship, and fun. The college volunteer leaders met each week, as well, to plan and prepare for the lessons and activities.

It was a great summer for the high school students who gathered each week, and also for our college volunteers. They were coached by Andy, our part-time staff guy, and he did an amazing job of encouraging them, and also of letting them take major leadership throughout the summer. We thank God for Andy's capable leadership, as well as that of Debi and Jake. And we are so grateful for our college volunteers, and for their desire to minister to high school students.

In the photo above, you see Andy (and Debi, and Jake) leading our college volunteers in a valuable debriefing time. All of them wanting to stay on board, and already planning for another great Summer Venture in 2013!

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!