CSU 2011!

CSU 2011, the huge staff conference began this past Tuesday, bringing over 5,000 Cru staff to Ft. Collins. Our class sizes have more than doubled in number of children and I have had a blast this week with the jump from 8 to 19 kids. They are a ton of fun and really impressed me. Kid’s Camp has been raising money this week to buy a piece of land in Burkina Faso, Africa. Eventually a large medical clinic is going to be built on this piece of land to help the many adults and children who have no place to go for medical attention. The kids in my class were very moved by the discussion of Burkina Faso and what we could do for them. They decided to plan a bake sale, which I thought would be very difficult since almost all of their families are staying in hotels, but the parents were able to bring in some store bought goods that sold just as well! The kids ended up raising $80 toward buying the land and they were so excited! All together, Kid’s Camp has raised over $1,000 this week and we sent a few older girls to a conference session to take an offering and we have now raised over $45,000 dollars! The land costs about $52,000 so we have raised a very large portion and are hoping to bring in some more donations this week! It has been so cool to watch God work in the children’s lives and give them such an excitement for reaching other people at such a young age!

As a project, we have been able to participate in some of the evening sessions of the conference. I was able to attend a 10^th Avenue North Concert (one of my favorite bands!) on Wednesday and last night I was able to attend Cru’s 60^th anniversary celebration and listen to Steve Douglas (President of Cru) speak on using the circumstances we have been given to share the love of Christ. During the celebration, the emcee interviewed Vonette Bright, wife of founder Bill Bright and Nancy Moore, the first person to come to Christ through the ministry of Campus Crusade For Christ. It was such an honor to see how God has been moving in the ministry from the very beginning. They also touched on many other highlights of the ministry in the past 60 years. It was amazing to see how the ministry has evolved and how many people have been reached with the Gospel over the years. It has given me a much stronger appreciation for all aspects of Cru’s ministry and how much love all of the staff have for the Gospel. Following all of this, I went to a Tim Hawkins concert and he was hilarious! We have also been here for the big name change! Campus Crusade for Christ will now be known as Cru Global! The sole purpose of the name change is to be more effective in reaching people for Christ. It has been exciting to be around during this big change and has been awesome to see how the change is being handled by all of the Cru staff.

We now have one week left of project. I have experienced so much of God’s love being here amidst all of the Cru staff this past week and I am really looking forward to my last week in Colorado and what God may surprise us with!

Thank you for all of your support, I have been blessed beyond words!

Time is Flying!

I have been meaning to update for a while, but our schedule has gotten more busy as the weeks go by. A lot of things have happened since my last update so I will try to fill you in quickly and effectively.

Our staff left this past weekend and the project is now fully under the leadership of students. Before they left, my current Bible study leader asked if I would take on her position. This consists of leading the weekly Bible study with the five other girls and discipling them each once a week. We have only met once for both so far, but I absolutely loved my time with them. I felt awkward at first, but became comfortable quickly and I am eager to see what God teaches me through leadership. Each of the girls is so eager to learn and excited about growing in their walks with the Lord and speaking with them really challenges and encourages me as well.

I have been learning quite a bit about both God and myself while I’ve been here. We are studying Ephesians in our Bible studies and I have been overwhelmed with the reminder of the riches of God’s grace and all of the blessings we have in Christ. The renewed knowledge of all of this has convicted my heart and challenged me to share these great truths with more people. I don’t want to hoard God’s gifts all for myself! I have been praying for more boldness in relational evangelism. Even at school, this is always a difficult area as I am easily intimidated by bringing up spiritual conversations in classes. I want to become more comfortable and bold to share the gospel and all that God is doing in my life with friends and family back at home. I have learned that I tend to “play it safe” in evangelism and in life and I am learning to put myself in more situations in which I have no choice, but to rely on God. He is big enough to cover my mistakes either way!

During our evangelism time I have had a couple really good conversations. One in particular sticks out in my mind. I with two other students spoke with a girl named Chelsea a couple of weeks ago. We ran into her at the city park as we were challenged to use a new evangelism tool we had been given (Perspective Cards). I honestly do not think I have ever spoken with someone who was at such a vulnerable point in their life and were truly seeking for truth. She has been through many trials and wants to find a way to God, I had the opportunity to share that way through trusting in Jesus and her exact words were “That sounds so beautiful, I have never heard that before.” She asked for prayer and wanted to learn more about our beliefs as she processed what she heard. I was amazed at how God was clearly at work in her life and I am really praying that we have another chance to talk with her and explain more about what God has done for us and the desire he has for us to know him.

I have had SO much fun at Kid’s Camp. My kids are fantastic and I love spending time with them. They have been learning Bible stories and verses, but the most compelling thing I have found in them is their zest for life and their strong faith in Jesus. Jesus asks that we come to him like children (Matthew 18:3-4) and I have learned the value of that request in the past few weeks. They are so trusting, yet so eager to learn more about the word of God. In my time with them, I have also learned a lot about my own strengths and weaknesses in working with children (one of my goals for the summer). I have gained a better understanding of disciplining children, relating to each child personally, seeing the positive attributes in each child, and showing them grace and love. The kids have taught me a whole lot about myself and I can’t wait to see what else I learn through them in the last couple of weeks.

There are two weeks left of project and I can't wait to see all God does in and through me during this time! I will update for the last 2 weeks, I promise!

*Favorite Kiddo Comment*

One of the girls could not do the monkey bars during recess due to the blisters she gained from them the day before and this was her comment to me, "Miss Lainey, I wish I were in Heaven so I could do the monkey bars without getting blisters." Cutest comment ever.

The children are finally here!

This past week has flown by. It always seems to do that on project. We don’t have a whole lot of free time, but this past weekend we had the opportunity to go white water rafting in the canyons of the Rocky Mountains! It was so beautiful! I am being constantly reminded of God’s amazing beauty through his creation.

We finished all of our training for work last Friday and the children showed up on Monday! I have eight kids in my second grade class and I absolutely love my job. One goal of our summer is to teach the students the Bible in short stories from Genesis to Revelations. They have already mastered telling the story of creation and today started learning the fall and disobedience of Adam and Eve. The kids are literally like little sponges. They soak up all of the information given to them and are always intrigued and ask questions. We also want them to really understand God’s deep love for them and his desire to know them and have them know him. We give them a period each day for their own prayer and personal time of worship. I am so excited to see how these kids grow in their understanding of the gospel this summer! Please pray for these stories and time of worship to penetrate their hearts this summer!

On project we have many opportunities for evangelism. On Tuesday nights, I am learning to rock climb, along with a few other girls. God has already opened the door for relationships with non-believers there and I am excited to see where he leads me! Please, keep praying for this time of “intentional relational evangelism!” Plus, the rock climbing is tons of fun! They have climbing walls right in CSU’s rec center!

I have really enjoyed the community built here, especially in my Bible Study. I am learning a lot from the other girls and have been encouraged by their desires to grow in their relationships with Christ this summer. As I am teaching the kids about God’s desire to know them and also reading a few books and the Bible, I too am learning about God’s pursuit of my heart. I am beginning to experience a depth in my relationship with the Lord that has not been reached before as I take the opportunity to let God in and respond to his request for fellowship.

Kids say the darndest things!
As we are learning the creation story...
"Did God make Adam and Eve come to earth as babies?"
"How did Adam and Eve have children without a hospital?"
They have said some more funny things, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I am going to write them down from now on!

Blessings,
Lainey

Address!

We are staying in the Kappa Delta Sorority House on CSU's campus, which is really great! If you are interested, my address while I am here is:
Lainey Birkhead
Campus Crusade for Christ
412 W Laurel St
Ft Collins, CO 80521

Living in Legoland!

This first week of project has been amazing! It is definitely a lot different than the international project I went on, but great just the same! They have a really strong focus on building us up as followers of Christ through small group Bible studies, discipleship, and evangelism training so that in turn we will have a deeper passion for God and seek to spread the Gospel everyday. We have had a lot going on since we arrived Friday! On Saturday we did a scavenger hunt around Ft Collins to discover our surroundings and break the first sound barrier of evangelism by initiating conversations. We met some really neat people and everyone in the city was really eager to help us win! We didn't claim first place, but we had a blast! In our small groups this week, we shared our (long) life stories and God definitely used that time of vulnerability to build authentic community within our respective small groups. I have been so blessed with the community here and I am looking forward to getting to know all the girls over the course of the summer!

This week at work, we have been trained in CPR and First Aid as well as been taught all of the policies and procedures of Kid's Camp. We have been preparing for the arrival of all the kids by training and decorating. I found out that I will have a 2nd grade class all summer and I cannot wait to finally meet them on Monday! The Kid's Camp has an "Olympics" theme. Each classroom is taking on a country, which could be real or fictional. Our team (all of the 2nd grade classes) chose to represent fictional countries and my classroom is going to be transformed into Legoland by Friday, thus the title. I feel like I fell into a pile of legos! The anticipation of the kids coming is making me really excited for all the the Lord will do in and through me while sharing his love with them! By this time next week, I am sure I will have some fun stories about the kiddos!

Blessings,
Lainey

On the Road to Colorado!

I decided that I would go ahead and use the same blog from my Summer Project last summer to save time on trying to figure out how to set up a new one.

Most of you probably know this if you are interested in reading my blog, but I am on my way to Fort Collins, CO for the Foot of the Rockies Summer Project. I will arrive tomorrow and be there until July 30th. Every two years Campus Crusade (CRU) holds staff development training for 6 weeks in Ft Collins for CRU staff across the country. While I am in there, I will be working as a camp counselor for all of the staff children in what we will call Colorado Kid's Camp (CKC). I am really excited for all that the Lord will teach me this summer.

Throughout the past year, I have grown more passionate about reaching college students with the Gospel. I have learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses in this area of ministry through leading a Bible Study and being more involved in evangelism and discipleship. I have also grown more passionate about loving children with Christ's love as I have been more involved in a classroom setting this year as an elementary education major. With that said, I am really looking to forward to learning more about my strengths and weaknesses in ministering to children. I also hope to gain a better understanding of how to use my talents and strengths to bring God the most glory after graduation (which is only a year away)!

We just completed our second day of traveling we have successfully crossed through, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. Tomorrow, we will hit Wyoming and then finally Colorado! Cydney and I rode with two girls from Purdue University, Kc and Stacy. I was nervous about riding with girls I didn't know in a car for three days, but it has been a blast! God has already blessed us with new friendships and I cannot wait for the community we will be a part of in Colorado!

Fun Facts:
Iowa is home to the world's largest truck stop, which we made a stop at of course!
Nebraska is home to some of the "best looking gas station cashiers"(according to a flashing sign out front), we also made a stop there to take a picture with the cashier!
Chicago is not in Ohio.

Lovers Tell

So we have less than a week left, the Summer has flown by and God has been doing some really amazing things here. Last week our team went on a safari in the bush lands and it was pretty darn cool. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any Lions or Hyenas but we did see some Elephants, Giraffe, Zebras, Cape Buffalo and some other stuff. I think the Giraffes and Zebras were my favorite. They were so close to our truck I could touch them if it were allowed.

I've learned the best way to love people is telling them about Christ.

I spent Monday through Friday ministering on the University of Kwa-Zula Natal, Howard Campus. Their Campus Crusade movement is just starting so we basically did a bunch of sharing gathering contacts and telling people about the first big meeting of the term (their spring term started monday). God has brought a bunch of students to Christ this week through initiative evangelism and it has been awesome to see him working in the hearts of other students as we share with them. It is culturally common among the black studetns to be a christian, but probably close to 90% of them have no idea what that even means so it has been so cool to explain to them the true meaning of Christianity. Along with the black students there are equally as many indian students who are Hindu. It has been awesome sharing the Gospel with these students who've never heard before. Basically, God is moving in huge ways. We had the meeting yesterday and we had at least a 100 students show up. They are eager to hear about Jesus and I am so excited for how the Lord is going to use CRU on Howard's campus to bring people to Him. We have two days left on campus before we head back so keep our team in your prayers! We are planning to finish "fourth quarter strong!"

We're off to do a canopy tour today which I'm so excited for. It's like a 45 minute zip line tour above the canopy of the trees in the mountains! Last weekend here in Durban, I am sure going to miss this place!