Senior Cru - Thursday 7:30pm Worsham Theater

Senior Cru is Thursday night 7:30pm in Worsham Theater. Come help us honor our Seniors!

And in case you didn't hear, the cutest little girl in whole wide world was born last Friday to Donny and Kim. Amelia Louise Friederichsen (Millie) was born on April 20. She weighed in at a cool 10lbs 3oz and 21 inches. For all you guys who don't have a clue about baby size...she was big.

Tangible Ways to Help

This just came in from our Regional Team. There is no expectation or obligation to give. Our first priority is still to pray. This is simply an outlet for those who want to give in a tangible manner.

Many have asked for tangible ways to help minister to students at VA Tech. Of course, the biggest way is via prayer. We have already seen prayers answered and continue to pray that God is and will be glorified through this horrible tragedy.

Another way to help is financial. An account has been set-up at our CCC HQs where you can send a donation. The staff team at Virginia Tech will be able to use these funds in the days and weeks ahead to help minister to students, faculty and the community of Blacksburg. No obligation of course, but a few people have asked if anything is needed. Of course, CCC is still determining how to best respond to the needs of those involved, but as plans are made in the weeks ahead, any donations received into this account will go towards helping to meet those needs. Thank you for your prayers and support!

How to contribute to the VT ministry by check:
Make check payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ”
Include note on memo line with this account number: 2798287
Mail to: Campus Crusade for Christ
VT Tragedy Ministry Response, desig 2798287
100 Lake Hart Drive, 24-00
Orlando, FL 32832

How to contribute to the VT ministry by credit card online:
Go to www.campuscrusadeforchrist.com – click on “Giving Opportunities” in the right-hand column
In the text box, put the account number – 2798287 – and click “Go”
Then click on “give a gift” and follow instructions

Local Coverage of UKCRU's Prayer Vigil of VT

Here some links to the local coverage of our prayer vigil for Virginia Tech.
A special thanks to all who helped make this happen. A very special thanks to Russell and Adam for their tireless work on Tuesday.

Kentucky Kernel article
Lexington Herald-Leader article
WKYT27 Lexington CBS affiliate - article
WKYT27 Lexington CBS affiliate - video
WLEX18 Lexington NBC affiliate - article
WAVE3 Louisville NBC affiliate - article
WHAS11 Louisville - article

VT Cru Update

I'm posting a link to Campus Crusade's Update page for those of you interested in what is going on with our Cru movement Va Tech.

You can click here for it.

Virginia Tech's Cru movement was hit very hard by this tragedy. Four of their students were killed. The freshman girl who lived next door to the first two victims is involved. She was the first person to see any of the victims on that sad day. Another student was in a classroom where everyone was killed or injured except for him. Their ministry is mourning in a way that I cannot understand.

In addition to an abbreviated normal meeting, we will have a special time of prayer tonight. We will be joining with literally thousands from around the globe by praying. Invite your Christian friends to come to Taylor Ed tonight at 7:30. There is a facebook group that Crusade has started called "Call to Prayer Thursday!" I encourage you to join it and leave a note. This will be send to the Va Tech CRU as a sign of encouragement from their Christian brothers and sisters from around the globe.

I will try to post some links to local news stories related to Va Tech and our Prayer Vigil soon.

Virginia Tech CRU Tragedy Update

This came today from Virginia Tech's Campus Crusade.
17.Apr.2007, 10:39 p.m. EST
By _______, staff member at Virginia Tech
We thought we’d send another update from Blacksburg--today has been much more quiet than yesterday, with the focus being on the convocation that took place at 2 p.m. where President Bush and the Virginia Governor spoke, and then also finding out who are actually amongst those killed yesterday.
An official list still has not been completely released, but by word of mouth and through other sources, here is how our students were touched by this tragedy:
4 students who were involved with Cru at Virginia Tech were killed in the classroom shootings.
The student who found the 2 bodies in the dorm room shooting was a student involved with Cru .
We have a student who was one of only 2 to be able to walk out of his classroom without being shot. As you can imagine, he is very shaken up after witnessing what he did.
We are trying to gather our students together in groups to help them talk this out, pray, cry, anything that will help them process what they are going through.
Classes have been cancelled here for the entire week, so some students may head home, but some may stay in order to be with friends who are going through this common experience.

How You Can Pray
We would ask that you would pray that students don’t isolate themselves. In times like this, it is a natural thing to try to do, but it is not helpful for them in the long run.

Please pray that they talk things through with their friends. Pray also for our staff--they are doing pretty well given the circumstances, but they are tired emotionally and physically.

Pray also for wisdom with dealing with the media--they are swarming any student who saw anything, and it may not be the best for students to get put in the spotlight right now.

Lastly, pray for our kids and the other children of Blacksburg. They were out of school today and will be tomorrow, and there were several professors who were parents who were killed or injured.

Virginia Tech Prayer Vigil

"Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told."

Habbakuk 1:5 (ESV)

Where is God in the midst of tragedy? I'm not going to pretend to say I have all the answers to a question like that. I do know that events like what happened at Virginia Tech do fall outside of God's power. Tragedy is no reason to jettison our belief in God. In fact, if there is no God...then there is only a material world. Injustice and suffering are just natural events. It would only be the survival of the fittest...yet, we all feel as if these things should not happen. Suffering cannot be a reason for abandoning God. Suffering is a problem for those who believe in God and those who do not. You cannot, however, be intellectually honest in ditching God because of tragedy.

This is how Habbakuk felt. He was questioning God in face of a difficult time. He questioned God's commitment to His people. He questioned God's faithfulness. And God responded, "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." From Creation, God has been at work unfolding a plan that will redeem His people from the grip of sin and death. This plan is for His glory. And everything in this plan points to his Redeemer, Jesus Christ. It points specifically to Jesus Christ and the suffering, injustice and tragedy of the cross.

God not only knows that we suffer. God knows what it means to suffer. John Stott wrote, "I could never believe in a God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who is immune to it?" God understands the pain of this world. He knows what it is like to suffer. When we wrestle with the question of "WHY" we can know that God understands.

As the Lord spoke to Habbakuk, the prophet's heart began to change. Habbakuk began to see that God was a work on something bigger than his present suffering. This didn't invalidate or remove his pain. It merely gave some perspective. The suffering still hurts. There is still injustice. Habbakuk, like us, still longs for iniquity, injustice, tragedy and suffering to be gone. But now he has some greater perspective. Habbakuk closes his book with these words:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield not food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places.

Amen

Prayer Vigil TONIGHT at the Memorial Hall Amphitheater

Please join us tonight, Tuesday, April 17, at 8:15 p.m. at the Memorial Hall Amphitheater for a prayer vigil to pray for the students, families, and others affected by the Virginia Tech shootings yesterday. All are invited. We hope to see as many of you as can possibly attend.

Bible Study for Week of 4.16.07

Here are the Bible Studies for next week.

If you want to do the Bible Study based on Acts 17, it is posted below.
An Unknown God
An Unknown God - Leader's Guide

I you would like to do the last Bible Study in the series, it is posted below.
God's Powerful Presence
God's Powerful Presence - Leader's Guide

Also, the End of the Year Picnic is April 21st 12-5 at the Crouse's Farm.
Click here for Mapquest Directions.

Senior CRU is April 26th 7:30pm at Worsham Theater. Come and honor all our graduating Seniors.

Bible Study for Week of 4.9.07

You can either do the Bible Study from last week's post or do something something totally on your own. Have fun with it.

Update from our Easter Outreach:

We made 1500+ exposures to our ministry
Through our Easter Egg Hunt the Gospel was clearly communicated 128 times.
A special thanks for everytone who participated. Join me in thanking the Lord for what he has done and looking forward to how he will use this!

Bible Study for Week of 4.2.07

Here ya go...

Paul's Strategy II
Paul's Strategy II - Leader's Guide

As usual, the login is "ukcru" and password is "gocats".

You can choose to either do this Bible Study this week or next.
We will be meeting at CSF this week on Thursday night for combined Easter Worship service.

Easter Outreach

When: Wednesday April 4th, 2007
This outreach has two different parts and we would love for you to be involved in as much as you can!
Part 1: Easter Surveys and Passing out flyers for the Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Service
Meet in the Library at 11:15am where we will equip you with the resources that you need, pray for the outreach, and get everyone on the same page.
From there we will disperse to different areas of the campus, we are going to try and hit the 11:50am rush.
If you can’t make it to the library, you can meet up with us somewhere on campus.
This part of the out reach is going to last until about 2:30pm. At this time we will meet in the library to collect the extra materials and get ready for the egg hunt.

Part 2: Easter Egg Hunt
Meet at the library at 2:30pm. There will be a hunt that goes on in South, Central, and North Campus. The actual Easter Egg Hunt will begin at 4:30pm. But we need your help to hide the eggs. We are going to need a lot of help since there are three locations.
At each location, someone has the chance to win an Ipod shuffle, so invite your friends. We will also have someone sharing their testimony and the gospel.
If you can’t make it at 2:30, you can still help just head to one of the areas. We will be outside somewhere.
If you have any questions about the Egg hunt contact Lynnessa at 859-816-3729.