Category Archives: Newsletter
We have Big News!
Recently, I (John) accepted an offer to join the Operations Resource Team for the Campus Ministry of Cru (our ministry to middle, high school, and college students and faculty). It was the culmination of a good deal of prayer for Ellen and I including discussion with many individuals. Here’s the backstory…. You may remember from when we first joined the High School Ministry Operations team two years ago that Operations is how Cru describes the infrastructure upon which the day to day ministry operates: including things like Communications, Conferences, Graphic Design, Finances, Technology, and anything ministry-related on the internet. Do you remember the story about how the disciples fished all night and caught nothing? Jesus asked them to “cast the nets on the other side of the boat”. Jesus provided a miraculous catch. The nets weren’t strong enough and the boats weren’t large enough to hold the harvest of fish; they had to call for help! Operations teams provide “boats” and “nets” to our staff, volunteers, and student leaders to bring the gospel to the nations. With a growing family with changing needs, we sensed the Lord was drawing us to a change in role. We are excited about this change, especially as it increases our scope to reaching over 661 million middle school, high school, college students and faculty with the Gospel. We know that if we can effectively reach the students and faculty of the world’s campuses, we can reach the whole world through their influence as they are sent out to every nation.
We will still be in Orlando at Cru headquarters. In fact my desk will move only about 50 feet! Of course there’s no change in our passion for reaching out to young people with the good news of the gospel. There is also no change in our need for your partnership in our outreach. Please pray for our family as we take some extended time to increase the size of our team of prayer and financial partners until we are fully supported in our work. After this I will be able to fully engage in the new role.
Your prayers and financial support are still critical means for God to provide for us… so we can reach out to young people with Jesus’ love and good news. We appreciate you greatly and look forward to telling you more about this transition as the details become more clear.
Our “lives are not [our] own”, so we follow with joy and step out in faith. We are grateful that you walk with us in this journey together!
He had come to Burger King to have his last meal…
Watch a video of the Shine Conference in Spain at JohnAndEllenFleming.com/shine
300 teenage students from all over Western Europe and America gathered for Cru’s SHINE conference this past summer in Malaga, Spain. Each day, they spent time building joy and faith through worship, the Word, prayer, and in preparing for outreach events. The week culminated with a free concert by a German Christian band, “Good Weather Forecast”, where the gospel was shared with thousands. A family from the SHINE conference stopped into a Burger King for a bite to eat after a long day in the city. They struck up a conversation with a young man wearing a satanic t-shirt. After they shared Christ with him, he confessed that he had come to BK to have his last meal. He planned to end his life that night…until he heard about Jesus. He threw his old t-shirt into the trash, put on a SHINE t-shirt, and went home with a new life to live! Thank you for helping us reach him!
It’s a Boy!!! and “I don’t even care about the pizza!…”
It’s a Boy!
the conversation”
…. said a football player at a Florida high school campus where we have a new Cru movement. It was just several weeks back and it was during one of his first meetings with our staff and students there. One of our Cru staff members named Brittany and some Cru volunteers were on his campus in Central Florida. They had planned a Cru community group during the lunch. It was the first one of its kind that they held on campus. Brittany went into the classroom they had reserved during lunch for the meeting and there were about 15 football players eating lunch in that room. It was their place where they normally ate during lunch. They invited the players to stay and all of them watched a video of a football player giving his testimony.
“Snapshot” cards are an evangelism tool developed by our Cru staff featuring our very own first born (at bottom of the image above)
It was providential that it was a video focused specifically on things to which football players could relate. Afterwards they invited them to play a card game with the “Snapshot Cards” (an evangelistic tool for asking questions about faith and starting spiritual conversations) developed this year by our team at Cru Headquarters. One of the football players named Vikram** had come to our previous Cru meetings and picked one of the cards that reflected his life and he shared with two other football players about it. At the end one of the two he shared with said “are we going to do this again next week? I don’t even care about the pizza. I just love the conversation!” Brittany said “Yes, we’ll meet again next week.” Later Brittany learned that Vikram had made a decision to trust Christ with his life that day!
Please pray for Vikram, the two lacrosse players, and so many other students Brittany and many other volunteers on her team are serving. We are honored to operationally support Brittany, her volunteers, and so many others representing Cru because of our partnership with you!
**names changed for privacy.
Reaching Students with Instagram!?
watch a video featuring Brittany on how to use instagram to start a ministry to students at JohnAndEllenFleming.com/instagram
- For Vikram and other new believers
- For many of our students and adults we have sent on missions this summer reaching teens in over 14 countries… for spiritual growth and safety and continuing to bring that passion back home to their neighborhoods and school campuses as classes start this month
- To be parents who love their kids through every season, authentic and vulnerable
- For good health for our little ones the rest of this summer as they have adventures of all kinds =)
- PRAISE GOD for a new home and new opportunities to be Jesus to neighbors in a new community (we’ve already met several)
- That Jesus will always be our FIRST Love
- For Noah John to grow and develop in healthy ways
- PLEASE PRAY for all the Orlando Families impacted by the shooting on June 12.
We bought a new house in the same area at the following address: 14612 Michener Trail, Orlando, FL 32828. There will be over $16,000 in baby hospital bills and final move in expenses with our new home. Please pray for the Lord’s provision for us financially with that and let us know if you are able to help us financially. We are grateful for your support and prayers.
*photo credits JenStevensonPhoto.com
Shown above are some recent photos from a photo shoot thanks to our photographer friend!
Here is a printable version of this update: June2016NewsletterfromtheFlemings
“My heart it is so empty, I feel so alone and I don’t know what to do. I have never felt this way before.”
These are the words from a student named Violette** tearfully shared with Cru staff member Kassie one evening at our West Coast “FastBreak” student conference in Southern California. The following was written by Kassie:
“Violette is one of the three exchange students from China who came to Fastbreak with us this year. I explained to Violette that the reason her heart was empty was because there was a God-sized hole in her heart.
We talked some more and then I asked her if she wanted to ask Christ to fill that hole. She said, “Yes, but I don’t know how to pray.” “I’ll show you,” I answered as we bowed our heads and I lead her in a prayer to ask Christ into her heart.
“My heart is full, thank you so much!” Soon after Violette prayed with me, her friend Euphie pulled me aside to ask how she could accept Christ too!
The third exchange student Ester was already a believer and now all 3 of them will be joining me for a weekly Bible study.
You may know that it’s illegal and dangerous to practice the Christian faith in China, so it’s a huge testament to God to see these 3 young women so willing to become warriors for The Lord in their country!
Our ministry is very quickly expanding and I can feel God’s presence! It’s very exciting to be able to share this with you all and I ask for you to pray for these 3 girls to grow in their faith.”
**names changed for privacy.
For a printable version of this newsletter, download a pdf document here.
watch an excellent video about Cru community
Winter Conferences Help Students experience Jesus!!!
At our 11 winter conferences, occurring from December to March, we saw the Lord do amazing things for teens across the nation with Cru!
With only half of our conferences reporting in so far:
Almost 500 conversations initiated by our staff and students, 146 of them turned to spiritual things, 60 of them included a gospel presentation, and as a result, 19 students decided to follow Jesus with their lives! Beyond this, our teams in over 4 cities showed the Woodlawn movie this school year to more than 1000 students and over 100 decided to follow Jesus!
Pray for these students to grow in their faith and share it with others.
In His Gracious Grip,
Daddy Daughter Dance with our girls
Ellen teaching a group of teens about Evangelism at the Florida winter conference
Baby#3 due in late June!
“Obviously God sent you to come and talk to me yesterday. It was exactly what I needed… to get back on track.”
Some of our students in the movement in Fishers, Indiana at a St. Patrick’s Day Outreach
… were the words of Josh* via text in Fishers, Indiana. Here’s the rest of the story:
“A few weeks ago our student leaders gathered together for our leader’s weekly meeting, but we did not tell them what they were in for until that day. We shared our hearts in wanting to reach their whole campus, and about the joy of sharing Christ. After praying, the students were sent out in groups of two to share the gospel and have spiritual conversations with people, specifically high school students in nearby restaurants and stores. After they left, I began to close down our meeting room and then took off in my car to locate a group so I could watch and coach them. As I was driving, it dawned on me, “Why am I not doing this for myself?!” I quickly prayed and felt God leading me to McDonalds. I walked in and immediately saw two high school guys. They didn’t look like a typical students I’d have an easy time connecting with, so I walked in and got in line to get a drink to buy some time and pray…So I prayed, “Lord, give me an open door into this conversation.” I got my drink and went over and sat at the table facing them. I pretended to be on my phone so I could continue to pray for God to open a door in this conversation.
Then after about a minute, one of the guys asked the other, “Are you going to the hockey game tonight?” Hockey in Indiana! … I laughed in my head and knew that was an in from God. I jumped into their conversation and asked them if they played hockey and they both said they played for Hamilton Southeastern. Not only did God give me an open door with a conversation about hockey, but he gave me two guys that play hockey at our school. We talked for a bit about hockey and their lives, then transitioned into their spiritual beliefs. Unfortunately, we ran out of time because I had to get back for our debrief meeting with the leaders. I got their numbers and asked if they’d want to meet again, and they both said yes. When I got back with our leaders, it was so cool to hear what God did in each group, using their boldness and faith in Him to lead their conversations…..“The next day, Saturday, I got a text from one of the hockey boys named Josh. He told me how excited he was to meet and talk more. He said, “Obviously God sent you to come and talk to me yesterday. It was exactly what I needed because I’ve been starting to fall off lately, and I needed this to get back on track.”
more students having fun at the St. Patty’s day outreach
We met a few days later and went through the gospel. Now Josh and I are meeting every week to go through follow-up. What an incredible God we have, that in our weaknesses, He uses us to do a good work in others. It was very clear that God is pursuing Josh, and it’s a blessing to be a part of it. How amazing life can be when we stop, listen to His call, and take leaps of faith to follow Him. I can’t help but see and feel the need to pray for these students who get the Word in them. So quickly it can be stolen away, fizzle out, or be sidestepped by a busy schedule. Please join me in prayer for Josh and all the other students we’ve been meeting with, that God does a great work in their hearts. Pray that God reveals His glory and draws students to Him with an unquenchable fire. This generation is constantly under attack and has an incredible need for Jesus.” – Mark, one of our Cru Staff in Indiana.
Ellen and I are grateful that, together with you, we can resource staff like Mark to reach and grow students like Josh to change his world for Jesus!
Amazed by His Pursuing Love,
Note: if you’d like to download a printer-friendly version of this update, you can download it as a pdf file by clicking the thumbnail below.
our family at Easter
We ran a 5k with Cru’s team
“Little did I know that [God] was about to rock my world!”
“Little did I know that [God] was about to rock my world!”
… were the words of Logan in Greenville, SC. This was our second summer of inviting students and faculty around the world to experience missions throughout their summer even if they are at home.
Logan and his friends participating online in Mission Summer in August
they had some of our best speakers in Cru walk through a guided online curriculum and challenge all who listened to take faith steps. Some gathered with other students each Sunday, others watched during a break from work. They were encouraged to live on mission throughout their entire lives and given tools as to how to reach their campus this fall. Logan goes on: “The first night I joined, Roger Hershey spoke about having a world Christian perspective. The ways I was challenged and my eyes opened during that session left me speechless. I started bragging about what God already did in my life but little did I know that He was about to rock my world. The next Sunday night, I invited some of the high school and middle school students from the church where I was interning. We had 10 students come,and they thoroughly enjoyed the topic of how to have a mission mindset. Clearly it struck a heartstring because the next week we had 22 students join in. They took what they heard to heart and began telling others about what God was doing. God has given me a desire to start a bible study in my community that brings together both high school and college students from the local schools. There are five colleges and five high schools nearby. So far, we have over 70 students from Furman University show an interest in helping along with many other students from across Greenville. I cannot tell you how pumped we are to begin school knowing what God may have in store! Mission Summer truly promotes a passion for missions and encourages and challenges all the students involved in a positive way. I am so happy to have been a part of this project and don’t know if my walk with God would be as strong as it is right now if it wasn’t for my involvement with Mission Summer!”
Because of His Grace Always,
P.S. If you want to download this newsletter in pdf format to print it off, you can click here to download it.
John and Ellen Fleming's Ministry Webpage 