by Alicia Losier — 17 May 2016
Last year, Grace and Kiersten spent their summer with Cru®. The girls found themselves stretched beyond what they expected, serving with Cru Inner City on their annual Summer in the City® mission project for college students. Each weekend the students would go somewhere in the city to share the gospel. Sometimes this was overwhelming for Grace, but she said every time God came through and strengthened her, even when she didn't "feel" like it…
On the 3rd of July, their team held an outreach by the busy Lake Michigan. They planned to go out in pairs and start up conversations in hopes of sharing about Jesus. But before they left for the lake, Grace told her roommate Kiersten she was feeling tired. So they decided to pray together before they would set out. They asked God to speak through them and give them strength in spite of their weariness.
As their day progressed, the friends felt a bit discouraged. They couldn't seem to make a good connections with anyone. With every attempt at conversation, it seemed no one wanted to listen to what they had to say. Everyone appeared distracted or uninterested. It was disheartening. So they stopped and prayed, asking God to connect them with someone whose heart and mind were ready to hear. But as they kept walking, Kiersten and Grace felt as if God wasn't listening because nothing had changed.
They walked toward their team who was gathering up to leave. That's when they saw two women watching their children play, so they decided to give it one more shot. As they all introduced themselves the women, Sam and Victoria, told the students they were actually sisters.
The conversation was different right from the start — they seemed to open up so easily! The women shared candidly about growing up in the projects in Chicago, how they'd felt so unsafe and vulnerable and that their lives had been full of pain. They explained they grew up going to church, but only because a van came around to pick them up and take them every Sunday. However, they said they didn't really feel loved. It also seemed to the students that the women hadn't ever taken the step to entrust their lives to Jesus.
Sam and Victoria kept asking questions about their faith, so Grace and Kiersten asked if they could share a booklet with them called Knowing God Personally. They agreed. As the students walked the sisters through the book, page by page, they could tell that the messages of the gospel's hope and freedom were resonating. At the end of the book, both the sisters realized they didn't have life with Christ yet, but they wanted to! Kiersten and Grace were elated.
Kiersten read a prayer from the book, explaining that the sisters could use it to express faith in Christ and begin a relationship with Him. As Sam and Victoria listened, tears welled up in both sisters' eyes. They said it matched their hearts' desire and then bowed their heads to pray together.
Even when they were weary, God worked through Grace and Kiersten to invite two new sisters into His family! Grace was amazed at the ways God worked all throughout that summer. Kiersten, too, was impacted by the experiences engaging with the urban poor, so much so, she moved to Milwaukee! She's been living in the city for about eight months and working for a non-profit that resources low-income families and shares the gospel with them.
In just a short time, dozens of students will be embarking on their own Summer in the City projects in locations across the country! Pray with us that God will use this special time to enrich students' faith in Christ and draw many to Himself!
Previous Posts:
• More Than Candy
• Farewell, Dear Friend
• Confronting Powerlessness
• More Than a Summer Job
• The Ministry of Reconciliation
Alicia Losier serves as the Communications Specialist for Cru's inner-city ministry.
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