Our Capital Region students lead out in Outreach efforts this week at Epicenter conference!
Our Capital Region students lead out in Outreach at the Epicenter 2012 conference
Kailee and Becca are two of our students involved in our movements at local campuses in the Capital Region who attended our Epicenter Experience conference in Albany this week. They both experienced some great opportunities to reach out to students and other people right here in the Capital Region with 288 other students at the conference on Wednesday afternoon of this week. Some students served at the Homeless Shelters and some looked for ways to start spiritual conversations on campuses and in downtown areas. Kailee and Becca share their stories below from the stage of the conference! We praise God for their steps of faith and especially for the young man who works at Dunkin Donuts who received Christ!
Thank you for praying for and financially supporting this ministry so that we, together with you, can be a part of investing in the lives of students for the King’s eternal purposes!
By His Grace each day,
The End of the Year and “I can’t find love because…”
…I’ve slept with too many people to know what love is” was what one student said when Ellen asked each of approximately 25 students to jot
down something we could pray for them for. Can you imagine being so broken and aware that you’re willing to ask a complete
stranger to pray for this area of your life?! This student isn’t alone… Read more in the newsletter below.
- October and November Newsletter
As we close out the End of the Year
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We are so grateful to all of you for praying for our ministry and giving financially to us this year. We have had some challenges financially and yet God has provided again and again. We know he will provide again this year as long as he calls us to serve him here. At the end of this year, our needs are greater than in years past. For many of you this may also be the case. We are confident that God continues to call us to work for the Gospel to grow in and through college students. As we move into 2012 we are praying for $10,000 in additional funding to make up for shortfalls. If you have already taken a new financial step of faith with us recently, thank you. If not, and you haven’t had a chance to do so yet: Would you make a gift of $50, $200 or $500 to help us contine to reach college students for Christ? To give online just click below the button below. All gifts made before December 31 at midnight are tax-deductible for the 2011 year.
Thank you again, and we wish you a very safe and Happy New Year! |
Merry Christmas!
We just wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude and continued thanks for all your faithful support and prayers for us on this very special day! We celebrate today Jesus coming to earth as a humble child born to a poor family, yet born to save us from our sin.
Merry Christmas! This video is for you from us at Campus Crusade for Christ.
Campus Crusade for Christ — Christmas Thank You from Masterworks on Vimeo.
“Dis-skype-leship” with students
John video chatting with a student
Lately it has been cool to use a new tool in ministry with college students: Skype, a video chat program that is very popular amongst college students. It often seems in our world of busy schedules and lots of travel that students can be really busy and carving out a half hour or more to get coached can be tough sometimes. Most people using email are already on Gmail, a popular email website, which automatically comes with video chat capability too, called Google Talk which is integrated right into the sidebar when you are checking email. These opportunities save time, gas, and are more fruitful than a simple phone call that doesn’t necessarily show the facial expressions we all use all the time when talking with people. Thus far, John has been using it more this semester than ever, video chatting with 3 or 4 students in a week, sometimes. Of course it will never rival the face to face experience, but it does get close! We are grateful to use technology to help us win build and send students for Christ!
“I never heard [the Gospel] like that before”
… were the words from one of many freshmen featured in our latest newsletter and that we have met this past fall in what has been a wild and exciting time of engaging the campuses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this not just in words, but in deeds. Read in our latest newsletter, by clicking on the image of the letter below, about our adventures this fall on campus.
Thank you for praying as we engage students spiritually on campuses of New York’s Capital Region like HVCC and RPI and beyond. You can download this newsletter by clicking on any of the images below. We hope it encourages you!
Our New and Improved Website!
We totally revamped our website with a new look and feel, with more connections to Facebook and the like! =) Check it out by clicking on the image below.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Please Pray for our Gospel Presentations today and tomorrow
Dear friends and family,
Just wanted to ask for your prayer today as both Ellen and I are presenting the Gospel at different opportunities this week. She will present some gospel truth to students at the College of St. Rose today. Also for John as he shares his heart tomorrow night in a presentation at our large monthly gathering of all the students in our ministry (we call it “City Wide”) here in the Capital Region. Thank you for your act of sacrifice in prayer and more!
God Speed!
A thank you from Cheeia to CRU
If you’ve ever wondered what Campus Crusade for Christ (soon to be called Cru) is all about, then Cheeia’s video of thanks expresses well what we are all about when it comes to college students:
Cheeia Lo Tells her story
Why we do what we do!
I hope you enjoy this video clip about our movement in Madison, Wisconsin. It is a great example of why we do what we do! =)
What a Summer of Changes it has Been!
We have already started into our fall on most campuses and yet so much has happened over this past summer!! After a fanastic experience at the Boston Operations Summer Project from the end of May until July 1, we headed home and prepared for the birth of our baby (more below). Before blasting you with all sorts of great pictures of our new baby, we want to share with you about what has been happening this past summer. This “Summer Edition” newsletter is lengthy, but features the announcement of the new name for our U.S. organization, a newsletter from our students at the Boston Operations Summer Project, and a couple great pictures and news of our baby. Please pray as we engage students in spiritual conversations on the campus of HVCC, and on the campus of RPI, and beyond. You can download this newsletter by clicking on any of the images below. We hope it encourages you!
New Name for U.S. Parent Ministry is now “Cru”!
As you may have seen in the news and online, our parent ministry in the U.S. has been renamed to “Cru”, which has actually been in use for some time since the 1990′s in many areas of the country but only this fall will it become official. We are happy about this name change not because of losing the “Christ” or even “Campus” so much, but because of losing the “Crusade” part. Our friend and coworker on staff with us posted some really great video and discussion about the name change. You can read about “Is Campus Crusade dropping Christ?” or “Responding to Fox News Spin of Cru” or “The “Business” of Cru” on his blog which we feel provide really great food for thought and exchange on the process of changing our ministry’s parent organization’s name and all the reasons for this. Of course our local ministry name is still Real Life, so locally it won’t make a big difference for those we have been serving or who have heard only of our local name.
What is does Cru mean?
Summer Project Videos to share from Boston
As promised, we wanted to share just a couple videos from some of our students who entirely produced them on their own.
The first is critical to watch as my brother Ed Fleming was one of our students on the project and illustrated all of it, while one of our local students, David Rice, from HVCC, whom i had the honor of discipling this summer:
The 5 Things from CCCNEHQ on Vimeo.
The second is a SILENT video made for the hearing impaired community. Many of our Cru students at RIT are apart of such a community and so this is a great tool for evangelism and ministry to their peers. This video was made by Emily Parker, another one of our project students we enjoyed getting to know and work with:
Baby Madeline Mae Fleming is here!
We are proud to announce the birth of our lovely daughter, and though you can read the details in our newsletter on her height and weight, here are some wonderful pictures for you to see! (click on the picture to see more pictures)
Thank you for your prayer and financial support that makes it possible to serve the Lord and these students! We appreciate all the extra meals and care we have been blessed with both directly from you and indirectly through prayer!
God Speed!
Looking back at 2008 (and Praising God!) – Newsletter for January 2009
Happy New Year!!!
We are just getting back from some AMAZING times at the Boston Winter Conference 2009, with the theme of ” Kingdom Come”. Jan 2-6, 2009
Check it out.. http://www.bwc2009.com
It was just an encouraging time for John and I as well as the students. There were hundreds of students from all over the north east, but from the Capital Region, three campuses were represented with students at this year’s conference and God was bringing Unity before our eyes!!! We wish you all could have heard the students share the last night of the conference! They aren’t just leaving the conference with a new passion for Jesus, but a passion to take back and share what they have learned to their campuses!
As we sat in a circle discussing the weeks events, students shared from their hearts what they were dreaming of on their campus! It was both exciting and scary! They will be battling for Jesus this next semester and they need your prayers!
Thank you so much for joining with us, as together we battle along side of these students spiritually in prayer! (and excited that we’re only 19% away from being physically present on Campuses!) Praise God!!!!
For those who use or understand “statuses” on Facebook: …one of our students changed their status on Facebook to read “Melissa* is home!! and soo excited for this new journey!! 
“…Talk about a conversation starter to tell friends about Jesus (all her friends see this status)!!
*(name changed)
In Christ Alone,
Ellen (and John) Fleming
Campus Crusade for Christ
Albany, NY
http://fleming.blogsite.org/
February 2009 Newsletter – Boston Winter Conference Edition
Hello Friends and Partners in Ministry!
It has been a very exciting month as we are nearing the end of our initial support process and gearing up for a commissioning service very soon for us at our church in New York! God has been doing great things in the students lives, most notably through the recent annual conference we attended and worked at in Boston last month. Please enjoy the stories highlighted in the attached newsletter. This month’s letter is a little special as it has 2 pages instead of the usual 1 page. You can click on each image to view the entire picture file.
Note to Facebook users: Soon we hope to start up a new group on facebook for those of you who are more prone to check facebook messages before you check your email. We’ll keep you posted!
God Speed,
John and Ellen
February 2009 Newsletter Page 2 of 2
Launched!!! – March 2009 Newsletter
Yes, it’s true, We have LAUNCHED onto the campuses, thanks to all of you who have given and prayed for this ministry! We appreciate you all so much! Thank you Thank you Thank you!
But the work is only about to begin. There are so many left to serve and save, to Love with the Truth. We need His continual strength and your help to be able to take part in what God is doing on these campuses. We are excited to be a part of the action on local campuses, but we know it will come with ups and downs, mountaintop experiences and low valleys. We will strive to trust Him in everything, and we look forward to doing it with all of you who are a part of this, and so many others who will come and join this work!
We are so blessed to be joining David and Megan Sheehan, and Joe and Jen Cassel on our team of full time staff here in the Capital Region to Win, Build, and Send students. We hope to share some exciting stories from our first month on campus for next time you hear from us in our newsletter!
A look at the University at Albany, one of our local campuses: April 2009 Newsletter from the Flemings
Hi Everyone,
We are pleased to present to you our April newsletter. We hope you notice that our email address has changed to fleming@johnandellenfleming.com along with our new website address. You can still use the old web address still but it is now at http://johnandellenfleming.com and the old one will eventually not work any longer. It is pretty easy to remember if you need to get to our site. It hasn’t changed much in the look of it all. Our latest newsletter is posted there today and is attached to this message as well!
We had an exciting first month on the local campuses and are excited about what God is doing in the lives of students ! We hope you enjoy the letter!
Exciting things Happening at the College of St. Rose! – May 2009 Newsletter from the Flemings
Dear Friends and Family,
We hope you enjoy our latest newsletter about our new sister in Christ at The College of St. Rose!! God has born this kind of spiritual fruit through our partnership with you!! After two exciting months on the field, we have finished our time on the campuses for the Spring Semester, but we have an exciting summer ahead!! This includes packing up our things to move into a new apartment and then we will be headed out to training for over a month as it is our summer assignment this year. We will come back and unpack not only our bags but also our many boxes! We are moving about 20 minutes away into the city of Albany from our current apartment in suburban Voorheesville. We are looking forward to being closer not only to the college campuses (1 mile to the College of St. Rose, a few miles to University at Albany and many others) but also to being more available to college students who want to get off campus into a welcoming home. Ellen (more so than I) has a hospitality gift with which we will be able to welcome students and others more easily in the city. We look forward to sharing more stories like this one that features St. Rose and our friends Natalie and Kathy.
God Speed,
John and Ellen
What is a Summer Project? – Newsletter for June 2009 from the Flemings
Friends and Family -
We hope that you are enjoying the beginning of this summer and all the warmth God is bringing through it! We made the long trek out to our summer assignment by car last weekend and have been in training since. It is an honor and a privilege to serve the Lord as we have the opportunity to do so with Campus Crusade for Christ. We have met so many God-followers and Christ-like people on our international and state-side staff team while here and have excited anticipation for what is to come both around the world and in Albany, New York, very soon! We hope you all will be as excited as we are to hear the story about our student leader named Stacey and her friends on her Summer Project in this month’s newsletter below!
God Speed,
John and Ellen 
June 2009-Summer projects
Unfortunately, our old website, http://fleming… has been taken over and must not be visited.
Hey Everyone,
We hope your summer is going well. We just received some very bad news. We are doing fine and healthy, however, we just found out that our old website has been taken over by an “adult service” with some of the most ungodly images and all attempts to get this changed with the customer service reps have been denied.
This was extremely upsetting and difficult to hear, as you may imagine, but some kind of bad policy at the internet company/domain service provider allowed this to happen without our knowledge.
For fear that someone might go to our old website by accident, I don’t even want to print it here in this email message, but PLEASE be sure to cross out our old website (that begins with “http://fleming…”) and update it with the new address (below) on all of our literature, namely ANY newsletter older than April 2009 back to November 2007, and ALL white tri-fold slim ministry brochures (website is on the inside page and some also have it on the back page).
We are so sorry that this happened and will be sure to keep the new site http://johnandellenfleming.com address secure going forward.
Fortunately, we have been using the new website now since March and it is working great with another provider and not the old one.
Please do NOT use or recommend anyone use any services from our former website provider: http://www.dyndns.com
This just goes to show something that we try to inform our students of: you must protect your self when going online by using the proper filter software and deal with trustworthy organizations.
We hope that you are doing well in our Lord Jesus and that God is revealing himself to you in new and exciting ways!
By His Grace Daily,
—————————
John and Ellen Fleming
fleming@johnandellenfleming.com
518-633-4743 (or 518-OFF-GRID)
http://johnandellenfleming.com
http://www.facebook.com/johnwilliamfleming
Summer 2009 in Colorado Training – Newsletter from the Flemings
Highly Esteemed Friends and Family,
It has been a speedy summer and we are excited to be back in Albany and setting up our new apartment in the city! We have missed all of you and hope that this little snippet update postcard will encourage you. We have more to share in the coming month. PLEASE PRAY for the events on the post card coming up on monday and tuesday of next week and the following Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor day! Thanks!
ANother update for tomorrow: Please pray real quick right now after you read this that doors would open up that are closed right now with administration at RPI such that we could fully launch on Monday. We need to settle this tomorrow in conversation with the “higher ups”. THank you so much! We hope you enjoy our short update below!
We appreciate you and have felt your prayers and support so much this summer!
September Newsletter – Hitting the Campuses
Dear Friends,
This month has been a crazy one and yet so exciting for our ministry. This month has been a whirlwind of activity and spiritual conversations. This month we highlight a conversation Ellen had with a UAlbany student, but also the Service project at the City Rescue Mission with St. Rose students and finally the results of surveys at RPI, UAlbany, and St. Rose… We are honored to partner with you to see these students impacted for the Kingdom!
PLEASE PRAY TODAY for our students and for us as we are now driving to the Fall Getaway (Retreat), that we would keep energized and that students would meet the Lord and those who know him would reconnect with Him to gain more passion to reach their campuses for His Glory! Thank you!
Just click on the image below to read our newsletter…
God Speed
—————————
John and Ellen Fleming
fleming@johnandellenfleming.com
518-966-2255 (or 518-966-CALL)
http://johnandellenfleming.com
http://www.facebook.com/johnwilliamfleming
October 2009 Newsletter: Lots of Great stories!
It is a privilege to do what we get the opportunity to do. This month we are excited to share with you some more great opportunities we had to see God work around us! Attached you will see our latest newsletter that you can read by clicking on it. It includes the good news about a new student coming to Christ who is a close friend of Nora, a student who came to Christ about a year ago who you may have heard about from us in the past! We are rejoicing!
By His Grace,
John and Ellen
November 2009: Crossing Cultures in New York City!
Dear Friends,
November was a really “crazy” busy month! We seemed to be somewhere different every weekend, or at least part of each weekend! With so much happening on campuses in our area in addition to our Fall Northeast Regional Staff Conference, The “Cross ’09″ event, and Thanksgiving weekend out of town visiting family and friends in New Hampshire, it made for an eventful month, to say the least! We are blessed and privileged to partner with you to see ministry happen to people in so many ways. This month’s update focuses on the Cross ’09 event where we received training and experienced a little more of what it means to cross into another culture that is quite different from our own. We ministered to students on two city campuses. We found out at our regional Staff Conference that we will be headed back to NYC for this summer for our summer project assignment! We are excited about that and all that God will be doing there. We hope you are enjoying this Christmas season leading up to the celebration of our Savior’s birth and God’s incarnation on Earth. We are so grateful he came to live among us!! We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter!
Merry Christmas to All!
John and Ellen
December 2009 Newsletter: What a Year!
Wow, so this year has flown by and so much has happened! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with loved ones and that your start to the New Year is even better! We will be headed out to our annual Boston Winter Conference for our North East region’s college students on New Year’s Day! We are looking forward to it big time! So what do we call the next decade anyway? the 2010′s? the Teens? who knows. Regardless, our newest update is attached below, which you can click on to see the full size. We hope you enjoy it!
God Speed,
John and Ellen
JUST Happened: God’s work doesn’t end at Boston Winter Conference; Rather it STARTS!
Friends, this is an update from Ellen from this past week! Enjoy!
-John
JUST Happened: God’s work doesn’t end at Boston Winter Conference; Rather it STARTS! 
I just had an exciting thing happen that I wanted to share with you.
As you may have read a couple weeks ago(in our December newsletter), we took about 25 students to Boston for the Boston Winter Conference. One student from SCCC named Susan came with us. She had been involved with me on the campus, but honestly I didn’t know how committed she was with what we were doing at the school. At the conference she shared how exciting it was to connect with God and with her peers.
Well when getting back she stepped out in faith to share with a student she knows at SCCC all about the conference.
The neat thing is that I received an email through Everystudent.com from a student named Sarah.
She also goes to SCCC. I just got back about an hour or so ago from meeting Sarah at panera!Sarah shared that she heard about Campus Crusade from Susan and she wanted to find out what it was about so started looking on the web. She sat across the table from me and shared how she didn’t know Jesus, but had some background in being brought to church when she was younger. The exciting part is that Sarah had never heard the true Gospel and had never known that God’s love is unconditional! I asked her how confident she is in a relationship with Jesus. She shared she wasn’t and that she wasn’t sure Jesus even heard her prayers! Long story short, I shared the Gospel with Sarah! Please pray she makes a decision to follow him. She shared how “scared and fearful she is to surrender”, but wants to see where this friendship leads!
I’m hopeful and excited! I also had the opportunity to call Susan on the way home and She shared that she didn’t realize that she had made an impact on Sarah but had been praying for Sarah and Susan said, ” Wow that’s so cool, God is so faithful! that made my night! Thanks so much for calling me!” And before hanging up we prayed for Sarah.
Would you please join us in prayer for Sarah? Please pray she ponders my words today at Panera and that she surrenders to Jesus tonight!
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers!
Ellen
Testimonies from BWC to follow…….. Stay Tuned!
“75% of Christian teens leave the church after high school”: AFA Webcast Tues 1/19, 7pm Eastern Time.
John (and Ellen)
Lately, the problem for parents isn’t getting kids to church–it’s keeping them there. The latest studies show that 75% of Christian teens leave the church after high school, creating a generational gap that could have devastating consequences for the future of faith in America . Tomorrow night, the American Family Association(AFA) is hosting an important webcast called, “Church Dropout: Overcoming the Youth Exodus” with some of the top Christian apologists in the world, including Josh McDowell, Dr. Frank Turek, Dr. William Lane Craig, Dr. Bill Dembski, and Dr. Mike Adams. During the show, they’ll keep you in the loop on some critical information that you need to keep your family grounded in the truth. Don’t miss this important simulcast on Tuesday, January 19 from 6:30-10:00 p.m. (Central Time). For a listing of the 200 radio stations carrying the program, click here. Or for the live webcast, visit AFA’s website.
What happened in January? The Boston Winter Conference
Boston Winter Conference 2010
What a beginning we had to the new year and to a new decade! It was amazing to see students experience God and get to know other students who have placed their faith in our Lord! The Boston Winter Conference this year was one of our favorites yet over the years we have been.
You can see our latest newsletter by clicking on the image below or you can view it in PDF format (which is best) by clicking this PDF link: BWC 2010 January Newsletter
“God is going to do great things this semester! I will do whatever it takes!”
… said Juan recently (via text), a new believer and new student to our movement at RPI. We had just shared our faith with a student he had just met recently in his dorm on campus using an innovative short film to begin asking questions of each other about faith and spirituality. I am excited to see Juan growing in his faith and putting into practice skills he is learning on how to create space in his friendships for spiritual conversations and for God to come up naturally. He and I readGodSpace over winter break, where Doug Pollock, a fellow Campus Crusade staff member, shares some great ideas for doing just this. We hope to bring you more stories and updates soon!
A New Look to our Email Updates
You may have noticed this email update looks different from previous emails we have sent out to you all. We hope it will make it easier for you to find your way around our website and to connect even easier to find out more about our ministry and what is happening on the campuses and in the lives of students we work with! On the right you will see links to some of the items on our website. Feel free to forward this email to friends who can subscribe automatically by clicking on links at the bottom of this email. Please enjoy and Thank you for your prayerful and financial support as we reach students together for Christ!
“One Year Later…” – February 2010 Newsletter
It has been one year since we “reported” to our assignment in the Capital Region of New York. There is so much to praise God for! New movements launched at many schools, movements growing in leaps and bounds (especially at RPI), and God continues to bless us with so many blessings along the way. This month features the story of Kelly who had first heard about Ellen’s spiritual journey about a year ago but recently, met Christ through Natalie, a student that Ellen has been discipling for the past year! You can download our newsletter by clicking on the image below. We hope you enjoy it!
February 2010 Newsletter
“So what do I need to do to ‘get back with God’?”
asked Will, a student from Tennessee on the beach in Panama City Beach, Florida yesterday. A student named Mark and I went out onto the beaches with more than 1100 other Campus Crusade students at Week 2 of the Big Break Conference to share our faith and listen to spring breaker’s spiritual stories as well. Please pray for Will as we think he is curious about a relationship with God and seems to know what he needs to do to get right with God but isn’t willing just yet.
Students sharing their faith near the Big Break Conference
We had 2 other great conversations after that one with Will as well in just a couple hours! Students who come down here to party and “live it up” are definitely seeking purpose and spiritual meaning in their lives, though some may not know it or admit it at times. Please PRAY as we continue to share our faith and also offer spring breakers the opportunity to serve the people of Haiti by helping us pack “One Million Meals” for Haiti at our conference center. You can read more about the conference and our service efforts by clicking on the links above.
“To Bid or not to Bid…” a personal update…
We thank you so much for praying for us with respect to our recent decision regarding placing an offer on the purchase of a house nearby where we live in Albany. We felt like it wasn’t the right time before we left for the Big Break conference to go forward with placing an offer. Of course things could change going forward but please keep this in prayer for us. We appreciate it very much!
God Speed!
Exciting news at UAlbany campus from the Flemings: Anthony is introduced to Christ!
Just a quick exciting story to share and a prayer request from yesterday at the University at Albany: I went out yesterday on campus with Dan*, one of the students in our movement there. Last week at Big Break I had the opportunity to use the Soularium spiritual conversation tool with some great conversations resulting from it…
The Soularium
…So I thought it would be a good time to go on campus and bring Dan along to see what spiritual conversations God might arrange for us to have with students there. We met Anthony who was simply sitting on a concrete step outside on the patio area. We asked him if he had 10 minutes or so to help give us feedback on the photos included in the Soularium and answer a few questions related to the photos and he said yes. That began a discovery process of finding out that Anthony was feeling broken in his life and lacking direction and purpose and that he wanted to know more about how to find his purpose in a personal relationship with Jesus. We told him how that could be possible through the Knowing God Personally booklet, a concise description and invitation to knowing Jesus personally through the gospel message. He prayed to receive Christ into his heart! We were really excited and asked him to join Dan at a small group on campus at 3 pm today! He said he knew God sent us to meet him yesterday and even earlier that day he spoke with his mother about getting a Bible! God was working in his life already and we were honored to be there to point him to our Savior and Lord!
Please take a moment to pray that our spiritual enemy and his minions would not have any sway in Anthony’s new life in Christ and that he would plug in to our ministry and a local church, as that seemed to also be missing in his life since he left home for college.
Praise God for all he is doing on local campuses like UAlbany!
God Speed!
*some names are changed from time to time in our updates
Jason and “God Space” on Big Break 2010
On Tuesday night Jason went out with some UCONN students to share the gospel. The group prayed a few times to connect with spring breakers and didn’t see anyone really respond.. a bit discouraged they went to the Waffle House and “hung out”; while hanging out.. God Space (relational space for spiritual content- also a great book we’ve read with students) was created as they sat and talked amongst themselves. One of the UCONN students named Becky had a ton of reservations about the week and even more specifically why things weren’t biblical.. like why is it really “wrong” to get drunk.. what’s the big deal? Jason came over for lunch on Thursday and he told us the story of creating space for God to uncover what it was in Becky’s heart.. she hadn’t really trusted Jesus with her life! What ended up happening was Jason and the other UCONN students went through the Knowing God Personally with Becky.. at first she was embarrassed and didn’t want to “do the prayer” with the group. But later that night she went on the balcony and cried.. and told Jesus she desired to know him and the following day read the prayer with one of her roommates! Jason engaged with someone who said “I’m a christian” and yet wasn’t completely surrendered.. and he used God Space to engage and see someone trust Christ! We’re so proud of him and the UCONN students with him!
Big Break: Really?! It Is And Can Be Natural To Talk About Jesus!
As we were playing ultimate Frisbee 2 guys named Jake and Joe were on the team with me(Ellen) and Amanda (and a couple UCONN students too). It was a close game but we won by 1 point! yay!
After the game Amanda, myself, 2 UCONN girls and these 2 guys Jake and Joe sat with us. I asked question about them and before we knew it I was talking through spiritual things.. I learned Jake’s parents are going through a divorce and that he was Lutheran until his parents stopped going when he was maybe 10.. Joe’s dad’s brother is a reverend and his aunt is budist! I mentioned how we were using tools to ask spring breakers questions about spiritual things and even asked if any of them had a chance to talk about sprititual things on campus during the year… they said no! I turn briefly and Amanda had already gone to her bag and whipped out the Soularium (to which the RPI students keep calling it a “game” .. haha.. we’re still working on that.. ) The guys engaged with us and when asked on a level of 0-10 what’s their desire to know God.. (after telling them they couldn’t pick 0 because they were already talking to us about spiritual things!) they both said 6 and 8! I told my story and presented the gospel! I did bring out the KGP (Knowing God Personally booklet)to ask which circle they were (the point of decision in the booklet) and Jake said he had been trying to get to the circle on the right (a life submitted to Christ) … after sharing he didn’t have to “work at it” the gospel was presented and I challenged them to make a decision for themselves!
The BIGGEST win for me was when Amanda and I were walking back to the van.. she said she learned something huge about this.. the guys STILL wanted to talk after presenting the Gospel.. she had thought it would have been awkward to just go back to talking after all that.. but it wasn’t and she realized how “natural” talking about Jesus can be! I’m so honored that I had this opportunity to see Amanda realize an important life lesson! When you’re a follower of Christ, it’s normal to talk about Jesus!
Big Break: Serving With Others For Haiti Relief
We were assigned to haiti meal packing on Wednesday afternoon. I had asked a few ppl on the beach to come help us and many seemed unwilling to come.. even thought the weather was poor and there weren’t that many out that day..
As we were walking back onto the property to just go help (they told us to try inviting spring breakers with us and then come back if you didn’t have anyone) I prayed asking God to show us IF there really was someone to come with us.. I even saw Amanda (a RPI student) run down the beach looking!
On our way in.. there were 4 guys trying to get in to the Edgewater(the hotel/resort where the conference was).. and being told no.. I quickly asked “Bro, we’re going to pack meals for haiti on Edgewater, wanta come with us?!” The first guy said wow that sounds like fun! the other 3 were less excited.. but When I told this guy Cypres he could still come just him the others were in! We all walked together to the conference center.. Standing there almost brought me to tears! there were people working to make meals and at the same time a guy asking who wanted aprons.. I watched as these 3 spring break girls (who came with UCONN girls) looked around embarrassed at first realizing that they were half dressed while many actually had clothes on! watching further you could see how they wanted to turn around and leave, but one of the UCONN girls smiled and said come on lets get hairnets and clean our hands.. the guy at the front “offered” an apron “IF they wanted it”.. which of course they did! .. just after this.. I realized I saw this so I could help our four spring break guys.. they put their beers down and looked around uncomfortably and I immediately grabbed the hand santi stuff and started putting it in their hands and passing hair nets.. John even offered them aprons!
We ended up letting Jason and John take on the guys and the girls all went together to work at one table.. There was pumpin music blasting and we all got super into screaming random things in excitement when we finished a box or 2! I was overwhelmed at the love these spring breakers experienced and the acceptance that I saw the body of christ displaying! This scene of the Big Breakers welcoming and loving on spring breakers while serving like Jesus is definitely one that I will not forget! I wish you all could have been with me to experience this!
March 2010 – Students serve and share their faith at Big Break 2010 in Florida
Dear Friends,
It has been a little while since our last update. So much has happened! We hope you enjoy our update on the exciting conference and service project we went to last month in Panama City Beach, Florida. What a faith building experience! Recent news not in our newsletter include a student at Hudson Valley Community College and another at the College of St. Rose where we were blessed to personally introduce students to Christ for the first time! Please pray for Mark* and Steve*, that they would plug into fellowship on campus and grow tremendously in their newfound faith in Christ!
We will be sending out an April update soon as well!
On a personal note, please pray for Ellen’s sister Jamie and her husband Joe who is still in the hospital for more than a week now with complications after losing their baby that Jamie carried for more than 7 months.
By God’s grace,
John and Ellen
Where can you combine great walking shoes, crowded and diversely populated streets, and spiritual conversations?
… CITY, that is.
Ellen and I will be leaving in two weeks for our summer assignment in New York City, where our Summer Mission Project will take place. Thirty or more students will join us from Campus Crusade student movements all over the country to minister to college students and people who live in New York City. We are excited to work and live in the city for 6 weeks, teaming up with people and churches who love the Lord Jesus and coming along side the spiritually lost and hurting. Attached is a 2-PAGE description of our Summer Mission Project and we know you will be excited about it as well. If you’d like to help us by praying that would be awesome. If you’d like to help us by supporting us to go financially, that would be awesome too! You can do so by going to http://johnandellenfleming.com/give/
God Speed,
New York City Summer Project 2010
Summer Projects
We have a number of students who are participating in Summer Projects sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. In addition to these students, we also have many students who will be involved with other missions and ministry opportunities. Here’s a story about one of our student leaders who has chosen to participate in a 2-week long opportunity in Boston:
“For so long I was envious of others that were able to go on summer projects(summer long missions trips with campus crusade) but I thought it impossible because of my lack of funding. Lets be honest these are really hard economic times. But I failed to see that EVERYTHING belongs to Jesus, EVERY single thing. The God of the universe is bigger than pieces of paper that fade away with time. With encouragement from staff from Albany campus crusade (who I would much rather refer to as my very dear friends and mentors), I decided that I would step out in faith and apply to a two week summer project in Boston. I almost bargained with God, which I highly suggest NOT doing. I said “Lord if you want me to go forward with this and trust you, please allow me to be accepted.” It wasn’t too long after, that I heard back and was indeed accepted to go on the mission trip/discipleship experience. Every day I am seeing God move mightily. Just when I feel like this goal of raising $1000 is insurmountable, God provides and I am one step closer to this goal. I am so thankful for this process, because even if it may seem like a small step, one small step is all it takes before you begin making strides.”
This makes me so proud! She’s seen God provide for the cost of her WHOLE trip in such a short amount of time!
1st FULL day in NYC
So.. we made it! Today was definitely a full day! We did a staff orientation and then broke up into groups and did some get familiar to the city stuff. The only sad part was that John and I split up into different groups, but we each made some new friends! You may remember that I’m a statistic person.. I thought I’d share some with you. First you should know We’re living in Manhattan at Herold Square, which is literally next door from the Gap and across the street from Macy’s and down the road from the Empire State building! Lots of things happening. To prove this, you may appreciate that I had to sleep with earplugs last night to actually get to sleep! It’s been an adjustment, but one we’re excited about. We have a few more days before the students arrive… which is nice; maybe by then I’ll figure out more of the city.. maybe not!? I did however right away find a Trader Joes- 2 stops on the metro! It’s the little things that make me SO happy!
Here are some statistics you may like:
Over 6.5 million people commute into Manhattan each work day, of which 4.9 million ride the Metro!
If 6.5 million people held hands end to end (without stretching out much!) it would take them all the way from Alaska to the southern tip of Florida!!
There are 468 subway stations and 31,180 turnstiles!
The BUSIEST subway station annually is Timesquare and there are 10 different train lines coming into this station alone! (part of my orientation included figuring out how to get there from Grand Central Station.. this was actually not hard!:-)
I hope to keep you as updated as I can! Please pray that we get a handle on the Subway here.. at times it’s a little overwhelming for me! WOW would you pray for our group of about 120 students and staff to make an impact on these people daily?
We appreciate all of you and are grateful to know there are people praying for us as we step out in faith to live in NYC this summer on project here. Hopefully I’ll upload some pictures of our apartment.. believe it or not.. I think the room is actually bigger than ours at home! (for those that have seen our apartment you know our room is only about 11×11! so it’s not saying too much!)
OH- and if you watch the Today Show.. look out for me! I may just get up at 5AM to go with some crazy staff women! Not sure how I can make it through a long day after that.. but I suppose that’s why there is starbucks on every corner right?!
“Ellen, I want to tell you something…”
Well, anyone who knows me (Ellen), knows that I love to ask questions. I love learning about people and each person’s story. Well yesterday at about 9:30AM I had the chance to talk with students about using questions(in the context of a conversation) to bring people closer to Christ! It was a privilege! I basically meshed 3 books together into one 3o minute talk (well for the record, it ended up being about 35 minutes with a prayer at the end!) The three books were God Space by Polluck, Questioning Evangelism by Newman and Finding Common Ground by Downs. I even took a picture of the students practicing “smiling”.. I’ll have to post that soon! The part that was most exciting to me is that most of the students come from a culture I don’t quite understand.. I’m a Northeast girl.. we don’t pretend to know Jesus to fit in! (apparently in the south, many would say they are Christians or know Jesus just because).. So as you can imagine, some of these students have never talked to an Atheist or even felt like a minority on a campus! I spent my time talking about Spiritual conversation killers, how to relate to others, as well as listening and how to ask good questions.
Later that afternoon one student, Ashten took me aside. She wanted to talk to me about my presentation earlier that day. She slowly and clearly said the following.. ” Ellen…. I want to tell you something…… your talk today was really helpful for me… my parents and family aren’t good communicators… they haven’t taught me how to communicate….. so I really appreciated your talk…. it’s something I’ve learned a lot from.” If this was the only person that God broke through to that AM, it was worth it! This takes the cake on all encouraging things that day! Praise God that he used me in this girls life and that not only has this girl learned something new, but the next generations will be different as a result! Thanks for investing in her life with me! It’s a privilege. When telling John about it last night I was almost in tears thinking about how sweet this girl is and how exciting it is to be able to serve Jesus here in NYC this summer.
“I Don’t Think I Can Accept That He’s Going To Hell”
… Said James, a student who is a part of Real Life at a local campus we serve. He is wrestling with the reality of Heaven and Hell. Read more about James, the Capital Region Ladies Nite, students serving fraternities on their campus, and Gaining official “club status” at RPI! You can download our newsletter by clicking on the image below. Since we have all sorts of updates posted to our website more often, it might be best to check it here regularly. We hope you enjoy it!
A HUGE “Thank You”!
to those of you who have joined with us prayerfullyand financially to reach 70% of our expenses for this one time Summer Missions Project in New York City that is a big part of sending students and training them to be effective disciples of Christ wherever they go!
We want to Partner with you to Be Jesus’ Hands and Feet to students and others in New York City!
You may have read about our project in NYC this summer and meant to pray or meant to give but haven’t taken the opportunity. You can partner with us today by praying and giving financially. We are trusting God to bring in the remaining 30% (or $1500) in the next couple weeks that we need to serve to our fullest in New York City. That’s only approximately $200 from 7 partners or $100 from 15 partners. Whatever would be a “faith step” for you is all we can ask you to consider by faith.
If you haven’t read about it yet, READ MORE ABOUT OUR PROJECT by clicking on the image below, which is a 2-PAGE description. We know you will be excited about it as well!
New York City Summer Project 2010
Buying a Two-Family Home soon!
We are really excited that all is going well in the process of purchasing the two family home we currently are renting since July 2009! We plan on closing right after we return to Albany after our project is over, but once everything goes through, we will be very pleased to let you all know of our first home purchase! We are excited to be able to be owners who occupy a home where we can rent half of it year round. We plan on moving from the downstairs to the upstairs! It needs some work, but God has undeniably opened the doors for this purchase so far! More details to come!
Our current apartment, soon to be Home
If you have read this far, we truly love you!
How do we get to Heaven? “By doing the best [you] can to lead a good life”????
How do we get to Heaven? “By doing the best [you] can to lead a good life”????
Not quite. As you will read this month in our New York City Summer Project Newsletter’s page 2 highlighting our Campus Track, our friend Max didn’t quite understand God’s grace for us. Max thought he simply had to do his best to earn a place in Heaven. The truth is that Jesus has already earned it all by going to the Cross for Max.
We’re Back Home in Albany!
Our summer has been quite an adventure. We were leading 21 students in the Campus Track out of 60 or so total on the entire project for the 5 weeks that they were in NYC. We teamed up with the other segments of our project including the Arts Track, Bridges Track (International Student ministry), Epic Track (Ministry to Asian-Americans), and Inner City Track (ministry to homeless and children in NYC). Of course this diversity of ministry is to be expected in a city so diversely populated! The truth is that there are so many more areas of ministry in the city that I wouldn’t have time to mention them all here if I tried. Please enjoy our project’s newsletter attached. Our Campus Track is featured on page 2. Ellen and I are hiding behind the word “Campus” at the top of the page!
Page 2 of NYC Summer Project 2010 Newsletter
Our Continuing Adventure: Home Ownership and Fall Semester Planning!
It's Good to be home in the Neighborhood!
Our adventure picked back up again only 2 days after we returned from our 6 weeks in New York City when we bought a 2-family home in Albany! We have been working on it quite a bit and reconnecting with supporters and planning for the fall outreaches coming up ever since! We have enjoyed the Albany weather since coming home. It was much hotter in New York City! We will update you on some more personal stories from our work in the city with our next newsletter coming soon!
With the help of many friends and family, we have finished both phase 1 and 2, as we call them, of patching up cracked walls and moving out the kitchen cabinets and repainting all the walls and cabinet doors! Phase 2 has been sanding and refinishing the floors. We will be moving in within a couple days (though the work in the kitchen and bathroom is not complete yet). Attached are some pictures of our new place (where we rented the downstairs apartment for 1 year until last month, ironically)
Our New Home
Ellen and a Friend painting
John Scraping old floor up in Kitchen after cabinets removed
A Big Thank YOU!
You may remember our prayer request in our last online post from July 1:
“You may have read about our project in NYC this summer and meant to pray or meant to give but haven’t taken the opportunity. You can partner with us today by praying and giving financially. We are trusting God to bring in the remaining 30% (or $1500) in the next couple weeks that we need to serve to our fullest in New York City.”
Well GOD PROVIDED! Only a couple days short of 2 weeks after our last post, a generous donor filled the gap we had between where we stood and the need we had in NYC. We are so grateful and thankful to have people and churches like you who pray and people and churches like you who give to make sure that the work continues in this ministry. We know first hand how so many people heard the good news and others began their walk with Jesus for the first time because of what you did so far away. We are honored to be partnered with people like you.
Fall Outreaches require God’s people to (Please) PRAY
Please pray as we plan out the details of these critical Fall outreaches and launches on the campuses of the greater Capital Region. Specifically, all the major schools in the area start on 8/30 except for Siena and a couple others. We will start most outreach events within the first few days of classes. One early Freshmen outreach is already planned on 8/27 and our Kickoff gathering event for our upperclass Real Life students is the same day and 8/28 as well. Our first large group event called City Wide is on 9/2. Please pray that God works in our student leaders to come to the kickoff event in force and to galvanize around the cause of Christ in reaching the lost, especially focusing on Freshmen, who are very very open to the possibility of connecting with Real Life students and with God (last year 50% of UAlbany students and 40% of RPI students surveyed indicated they were open to talking with other students about how their life purpose and knowing God go together).
God Speed,
John and Ellen
What a Fall Season We have Had!
It has been a crazy Fall season with schools starting classes and meeting new students and campus outreaches happening across the Capital Region of New York. There is so much to thank God for! This email update features both the stories of Steve and Rich who are two guys we have ministered to both in New York City and here in the Capital Region, respectively. You can download our newsletter by clicking on the image below.
September 2010 Newsletter 
August 2010 Newsletter
Please Pray for Ellen’s talk at the Health Conference at the College of St. Rose
We hope you will pray for Ellen’s talk she will be sharing with St. Rose students on Wednesday (11/3) morning (as mentioned in the prayer requests in the September letter, see link above).
A Fixer upper… a personal update…
God has blessed us with a house with personality! We knew what we were getting into, thank the Lord, (since we rented out the downstairs apartment in our house first before buying) and yet the learning process for painting, scraping, and installing doors and windows to replace drafty ones (while tax credits can still be obtained) is a journey full of surprises, sweat, and hard work. We want to thank so many people who have been able to help us work on it and all that but also thank the many more people who prayed for us while we went through the first stage of changes in our home. God loves us through people like you!
Ellen looking through new door we installed
God Speed,
What kind of King makes his public entrance as a poor, weak, and helpless baby?
What kind of King makes his public entrance as a
poor, weak, and helpless baby?…
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah, Chapter 9, vs 6.
Merry Christmas!
Jesus has come to Earth to save us!
As we celebrate Christmas today, we trust that this message finds you blessed in so many ways that you marvel at His Majesty and Grace. The blessing of Jesus’ birth and salvation for our lives, not to mention family and friends (like you!) or every need God has provided for, leaves us in awe of His Love for us! We want to wish you a Merry Christmas today, and a Happy and safe New Year!
We have attached our latest newsletters below to bless you with news from local campuses!
October 2010
November 2010God Speed!
Is it too Late!?
If you received a red letter from us in the mail over a week ago, you will know how we are praising God for what he’s done in the last year and where we are at financially and how you can help, as the Lord leads you. If you didn’t receive one, then we don’t have your latest address. We like to send out cards from time to time and also special mailings here and there, so we’d love to have your address. Feel free to enter it securely here. If you didn’t receive your red letter, please click below to read it. If you would like to help us financially with our shortfall, please feel free to send back the enclosed response card with the little envelope addressed to us. If you send in any financial gift postmarked by tomorrow, it will be tax-deductible! If you didn’t receive a letter but want to help financially, you can go to http://JohnAndEllenFleming.com/give/ and send in an electronic gift or follow instructions there for sending in a check by mail.
If you want to start praying regularly for us or even if you already are, it is always encouraging to hear that you are. Feel free to send us a short email or text (or whatever kind of message you want ) to encourage us. Regardless of your financial position to give a special gift or not, you are a blessing to us as you pray / give already! thank you so much!
As always, you can find our recent updates at JohnAndEllenFleming.com.
Happy New Year!! and the Boston Winter Conference
We wish you a healthy and safe start to the New Year of 2011!
Please Pray as we travel tomorrow to set up for next week’s Boston Winter Conference that takes place from January 1-5, 2011. Read all about the conference where we will be working and where our students will be refreshed and challenged.
It’s online at http://BostonWinterConference.com
Here’s even a great movie about the Boston Winter Conference.
God Speed!
A Prayer Request, and some GREAT NEWS
A Prayer Request for a
So John has had an annoying pain in his shoulder and the doctor said he has a rotator cuff tear. Though not a serious injury, it has to be dealt with sooner than later because recovery only takes longer as the body ages. Please pray that God would do a miracle and heal his shoulder so that he wouldn’t need to get surgery that will mean 1 month of his arm in a sling and 4 months of physical therapy, affecting everything from not being able to drive either of our two stick/manual shift cars to not being able to play his favorite sport (usually twice a week) : basketball. This week he’ll ask for some prayer from the elders at our church (James 5:14 (NIV): “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord…”)
Yes, we are super excited, and in Ellen’s words on Facebook:
“Ellen Fleming thinks it’s a great day to announce our super fun news! John Fleming and I are having a baby end of July 2011! Yay for God’s provision and blessing in our lives this year! Hope you all will get to meet him/her this summer!”
Of course we will keep you updated as the excitement builds!
God Speed!
“God told me to go [to the Boston Winter Conference], and I went, and it was everything I needed to hear”
“God told me to go [to the Boston Winter Conference], and I went, and it was everything I needed to hear.”
These are the words shared by one of the students John has been discipling for the past year and a half the last night of the Boston Winter Conference. His life was impacted greatly.
Our Capital Region Real Life Students at BWC
Another quote from a HVCC student from the Capital Region:
“We are so free to struggle… I have so much pressure from so many places… and it’s okay for me to struggle through things and to have problems..” “I’m in [a very influential group at my college]… and I want my heart to break for them and the fact that they don’t know their Eternal Savior”
and lastly from a young lady attending RPI:
“I had the best time.. I got so engaged in the speakers just being right in front, i felt like he was just talking right to me every time, I just loved it!”
It was a great conference.
Two Years later… and
more stories from Boston Winter Conference
It has been almost two years since we started working at our assignment in the Capital Region of New York. There is so much to praise God for! New movements launched at many schools, students meeting and growing in Jesus, and God continues to bless us with so many blessings along the way. These past two months we’ve taken a look at what God has done over the last year and some great stories from the Boston Winter Conference.
You can download our newsletters by clicking on the images below. We hope you are encouraged by and enjoy them!
Baby Progress
God Speed!
Why college women shouldn’t settle…
You can download our newsletter by clicking on the image below or by going to our website, JohnAndEllenFleming.com. Since we have all sorts of updates posted to our website more often, it might be best to check it there regularly. We hope you enjoy it!
Travelling to Big Break Mission Trip/Conference right now!
Last year at the Big Break Conference (week #2 of 5), we brought 4 students to share our faith and listen to spring breaker’s spiritual stories and this year we have 7 from the Capital Region!
Please pray for Big Break:
- safe and comfortable travels for Ellen (5 months pregnant now) and the rest of us and our students
- open hearts in students to step out in faith
- a passion to bring their experiences back to their campuses and live for Jesus amongst their peers, both lost and found
Please pray for new believers at Hudson Valley Community College to respond to us and our students for opportunities to connect and grow (you can read about one in our newsletter above).
Thanks so much for your financial and prayerful support that makes it possible for us to be fully engaged in this ministry that impacts students for eternity!
God Speed!
Big Break Conference Makes Florida Channel 7 News.. along with Ellen! (well briefly)
The NBC news story about students sharing their faith with “spring breakers” at Big Break Conference!
We just got back with 7 of our local RPI and Siena College students from Big Break 2011. The total group of students from all over the US and World (a number of international students attended) was about 1,200! During the week, the conference had the students text a code on their cell phones when they had a spiritual conversation, shared the Gospel message or spoke about the Holy Spirit. The totals for the week were pretty accurate based on this “system” and we’re excited to share them with you!
- Big Break 2011 Conference NBC station News story
- Ellen Shows up in the story near 1:09 (as shown in the screen shot above)
5,900 Spring Breakers engaged in a spiritual conversation
2,336 Spring Breakers heard the entire gospel message
209 Spring Breakers made a decision to choose a life surrendered to Christ!
(2 of which John and one of our RPI students had the privilege of leading!)
437 Spring Breakers heard what it means to live by the power of the Holy Spirit
Every night for about an hour students got up to share what happened that day on the beach.. we wish you could all have been there! There were even a few students who came with the conference that had never personally made a decision to trust Christ and it was so precious to hear their stories as well! God is moving among this generation and we’re thrilled that we get to be a part! Stay tuned for more stories and pictures coming(although we have to admit.. we’re horrible at remembering to take them!)
Thank you for your prayers and financial support which God has used to help make all of this possible!
More news to come soon!
By His Grace Daily,
Jesus showed up at Spring Break! (well… maybe in a way lost students didn’t expect!)
Jesus showed up at Spring Break! (well… maybe in a way lost students didn’t expect!)
Jesus showed up in the form of Christians who love him and therefore love others, even in the most unexpected places, like Spring Break party locations all over the nation.
One of our students from local Siena College came to Big Break not knowing if he really liked the idea of sharing his faith on the beach or not. He left having his heart changed and well equipped for serving students through his Spring Break experience. READ MORE in our March Newsletter below…
It is a joy and an honor to serve these students of ours and to serve others along with them! Thank you for your prayerful and financial support that allows us to partner with you to win, build, and send students for Christ!
Please pray for our students : that they represent Jesus well and finish this semester strong! We need that same prayer for us too! =)
By His Grace Daily,
We’re in Boston This Summer Working with Boston Operation Summer Project Students!!!
This Summer our assignment is working with students part time in the office and part time on campuses and training students in engaging others in spiritual conversations! John is spending part of his time working on web design for campuses all over the Northeast!
Below is a brief description of what the students who applied saw on the summer project website to give you an idea of what the project is all about….
The Boston Ops Project will be right in the heart of the city they call “The Hub of the World”. Surrounded by history and the energy of the most important academic city in the world, you will spend the summer using your skills to help every student to know Christ.
You will work downtown at the Northeast Regional HQ on projects for the local, regional and national level of CCC and create products and solutions that help reach more students with the grace and truth of the gospel. Your gifts and abilities may lead to new projects and ideas as well.
We will be learning how our gifts and abilities can be used to glorify God and build his Kingdom. Also you will receive training and coaching in your skills in a highly developmental environment.
We will be partnering with other Boston students for outreaches and fun. You will live in “America’s Walking City” and ride the subway to work each day. You will live with other project students for maximum fun and fellowship.
Please come to Boston if you have skills in any area of design, technology, media, event planning, anthropology, finance, statistics, or many others.
IMPORTANT: If you have graphic design and web design skills, WE NEED YOU. These skills are often crucial to multiple projects. You will get wide ranging experience with us in these skills.
To see a total list of all the summer projects Campus Crusade offers world-wide go to the website http://gosummerproject.com/
We’re thrilled to be able to work along side of so many talented students on operation projects and evangelism as well as helping them grow as individuals in Christ! Attached is a picture of the Ladies that Ellen gets to spend time with (including a great background of Boston- see how talented these students are with pictures)! They are so fun and sweet!
Ring, Ring, God’s Calling you! (And Baby is Coming!)
What a finish to the school year and a whirlwind of a start to this summer! We finished out and then left for Boston Operations Summer Project near the end of May. We just got back and it is about time we told you how we finished the school year. This month features many snippets, but the title above is about the story of Alan who John met while sharing some conversations with some students on the campus of HVCC. We will be giving you an update on the project in Boston soon. You can download this newsletter by clicking on the image below. We hope it encourages you!
Baby is Due this week!
This Week our baby is due and Ellen and I have been preparing the baby’s room and items since Ellen’s baby showers and other wonderful gifts we have received from so many of you! Please pray for a smooth, quick, and healthy delivery for mother and child! =)
John Painting the Baby’s room
Ellen at 39 weeks!
Thank you for your prayer and financial support that makes it possible to serve the Lord and these students! We appreciate all the extra concern and care we have felt both directly from you and indirectly through prayer!
God Speed!
P.S. Please pray for the family and friends of Anthony Perez, a great young man who I had the honor of leading through a small group on campus. He died tragically only a week ago in a swimming accident near his workplace, Camp of the Woods, in Speculator, New York. Thank God he met Jesus last Fall, and grew in so many ways and showed the light of Christ in his life along the way. We will miss you Anthony, until that day we all who know Jesus will join you and our Lord in Heaven.
Please Pray for outreach today at Hudson Valley Community College
God Speed!
How to Get 350 students Registered in less than 5 minutes!!
JUST KIDDING! We would never ask anyone to do anything THAT impossible, but we would love to have your help with something!
There’s a unique opportunity to not only see what it is we do at a conference, but to serve with us as well!
students registering for winter conference
You may remember seeing in our newsletters the last couple years that Ellen has been the Registration Coordinator for the Northeast’s Winter Conference. In past years it has been in Boston, MA. This year it is at the Holiday Inn in Albany NY! What an exciting thing for us this year! Ellen once again will be registration coordinator while John is on Daddy duty!
