Written by Bobby Howes:

Paul showed Timothy the multiplying effect of disciple making when he said:  “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”                —2 Timothy 2:2

What did you learn or what strikes you? What questions do you have? What does God seem to be saying? How should these truths be applied to your life? Is there sin to confess? Is there a promise to hold on to? How can we help each other faithfully follow Jesus in light of this passage in scripture? These are questions discussed between my friend Maxime and I. Maxime, a 2nd year English student who has a wonderful outgoing personality is someone who I meet with regularly for discipleship.

 I like to view discipleship as friendship with a purpose.  Discussing scripture in this way is not simply a way of becoming more knowledgeable, it is a way of building a relationship that is focused on God while learning from His word to challenge and transform each of us as we live life.

Sure there will be plenty of things in each passage we may not fully understand and that is ok. I have learned through the church and through the ministry of Cru as a student and as a staff member that being a disciple maker is not about having all of the answers. It is about being committed to following Jesus and taking seriously His command to help other people follow Him more fully to experience the abundant, Christian life.

Maxime would be characterized as someone who is faithful, available, and teachable.  Campus pour Christ (Cru) would qualify this as being a (FAT) disciple. What makes for a “FAT” disciple? Well Maxime is faithful in taking steps of faith with and for the Lord, he makes himself available by prioritizes his time for church, bible study, prayer, fellowship, and is teachable to learn and grow in his knowledge of and relationship with Christ.

Maxime, one who I see as reliable and able to teach others, is also looking for reliable men who are able to teach others and is implementing the very thing I long for him to do by sharing what he is learning from the Bible to Stephane. (Picture on right)

He is learning to share his faith with his peers on campus who may not know the Lord in hopes of pouring into a few key students (like Stephane) who will also pour into a few others. Spiritual multiplication through discipleship is how the body of Christ grows. It is truly amazing and humbling how the Lord has entrusted this task to each of us and how this process has not ended ever since Jesus gave the apostles this command to make disciples of all nations.

Ministry Update

Written by  Kelsey Waters

Ettionette

   I shared in my September newsletter about my new friend Etti, who trusted Christ a few weeks ago!  There wasn't much room for detail in the letter, so I'll give some of that here--

       My teammate (and friend) Liz were sharing together on campus one day (sharing=talking with Ivoirian students about the gospel), and were a little discouraged about the lack of females in the English department (which is where we spend most of our time, because 1. they are one of the only departments in session right now, and 2. we don't speak french well enough to go elsewhere... yet!).  So, we decided to sit in with Chrissy and Nathaneal (two of our other teammates) as they were talking with some guys about Jesus.  I remember tracing some lines in the dirt as I sat there, silently praying for Nathaneal as he was walking the guys through some scripture, feeling a little bit useless. Which is silly, of course, but it's pretty impressive how quickly I stray towards an attitude of performance, believing the lie that I'm not doing enough or at least not doing enough well.  So I sighed and said to the Lord, "Even if I don't see any fruit this year, I trust that you're good and you are using me here.  Even if all I ever do is pray for my friends as they see souls won for Christ, even if I never learn the language, even if I have zero faithful disciples by the time I leave this place, it will be worth it, because you have called me."  

   Not five minutes later, a male and female student (Etti!) approached us, and asked us if we could share with them what Nathaneal and Chrissy were sharing with the other guys.  (Seriously, do you see what I mean about the openness of people here?  It's insane.)  We found a small patch of grass (but mostly dirt) a few feet away, and sat down to share the gospel track with them.  Etti was immediately engrossed in the truth about Jesus and his atonement for us on the cross, and expressed a deep desire to know God and give her life to him-- but she was hesitant, because she didn't feel she would be able to resist certain temptations.  She was basically asking: "How do you keep from sinning? Because I've tried so hard in the past and it seems impossible."  The Spirit was gracious to give us the words to speak in that moment, explaining that we are all hopelessly unable to avoid sin without His power, and even then we will never be fully sanctified this side of heaven.  We talked about the importance of confession and transparent community in seeking to walk in the light;  how Jesus wants us right now, as we are, flaws and all-- no one has messed up too much or too often to be covered by his blood.  Considering this, she said yes, she wanted to claim the gospel as true and trust Jesus as Savior and Lord of her life!  We prayed with her, and she was so elated, so full of joy, she couldn't stop smiling!

  We are planning on meeting up with her soon to begin follow-up discipleship lessons, but so far scheduling conflicts have prevented us.  Pray that we would be able to see Etti again soon!  And rejoice with me that a new Ivoirian sister in Christ has been added to the family of faith! 

  I also want to state that, even though it looks like my prayer of surrender before our conversation with Ettionette somehow "earned" that experience of getting to share with someone and see her trust Christ, I have to remember that's not how it works.  That was a pure, undeserved gift from the Lord-- just like anything good that ever comes our way.  I still want to desire a heart of surrender, free from the pressures of performance and "ministry success"-- and not because I think the mere act of "surrendering" will garner said success.  And even when we see fruit, it's not of us!  We don't have the power to change hearts or minds-- that belongs to the Lord.  Pray that I would be firmly planted in this truth.  Pray that my team would be as well.  Pray that we would serve and minister out of sheer love and gratitude that God would even choose to draw us into his mission of reaching a lost world, not out of hope for results.  :)  

Written by Elizabeth Hixon--

Going on campus has been both encouraging and, at times, frustrating. The frustrating part for myself and the other girls on our team is the fact that it has been very difficult to find English-speaking girls on campus with whom to talk or share the Gospel. However, God has blessed me with one particular friend named Cinthia. One day while we were on campus, she approached me and invited me to visit her church. Although I wasn't able to go, we have since kept in contact.

This week, Kelsey, Nikki, and I were able to meet with Cinthia and share the Cru materials with her. It was so fun and encouraging to talk with her! She shared her testimony with us and told us how she had come to know the Lord. With most students who are already Christians, we always ask the question, "If you were to die tonight, how sure are you - from 0 to 100% - how sure are you that you would go to heaven?" Cinthia, like many students, answered that she wasn't 100% sure. She felt that, after the war, God wanted her to evangelize and she had been disobedient to His calling. Because of this, she believed that God was displeased with her. We were able to share with her - and have shared with many other students - the hope of eternal life with Jesus because, as Christians, He has washed us clean from our past, present, and future sins. It is always encouraging to be able to share the hope of the Gospel even with students who already believe in it!

Written by Bobby Howes--

The first week on campus I met up with Richard (an Ivorian student involved in Cru) and while we talked with a couple of other Ivorian’s, Ecrabe and Emmanuel, they asked what brought me to Cote d’Ivoire. I told them I work with Cru (Campus pour Christ) which led us to talk about Jesus and Richard was able to share the gospel with them. However, it did not take long for another Ivorian to show up and sit in on our conversation, and then another…and another, until you found yourself surrounded by multiple Ivorian’s all interested in what you have to say. Some would even pull me aside to ask if I could share with them what Richard was explaining to his friends after our conversation was finished.

After having spent a few weeks on campus I have found that it is quite the norm to be talking with someone while others are casually ease dropping in on the conversation and later asking for it to be shared with them!

It is refreshing for me to see a sense of enthusiasm that I cannot quite describe other than Ivorian’s are anything but apathetic when it comes to spiritual talk and having deep, rich, meaningful conversations.

The challenging part can be discerning between the ones who are genuinely interested in learning about the message of Christ versus the few who just want to practice their English with you.

Emmanuel was one of those students who were genuinely interested in learning more about Jesus and being built up in his faith. So without any hesitation Richard and I went through the first follow up lesson with him about his new life with Christ. We challenged Emmanuel to share what he had learned with two non-believers and he told us he would share it with his Muslim friends. Richard is a great example of students taking ownership of the movement as he will now be discipling Emmanuel!

Prayer Meeting

 As I continue to share stories of the amazing things that happened during the summer project I want to fast forward to the events that took place yesterday, July 26, 2012.  With the help of the summer project, during the month of June, we were able to share the Gospel with over 450 students.  Of those students that we shared with over 150 of them gave us their contact information.  Many of the Campus pour Christ Ivorian students and myself, spent the weeks following the Americans departure, calling all those contacts to invite them to the National Office July 26 for our weekly prayer and worship meeting. 

Throughout the meeting Thursday, the 26th, students would arrive joining us in prayer and song.  For the first hour and a half there were only 8 students but eventually the rest arrived.  By the beginning of the part that was dedicated to the students alone, we had 40 people and 23 of those were new students.  The students were from 4 different high schools/private Universities.  

We spent the time welcoming everyone, hearing where they were from, singing, a few testimonies of those already involved in the ministry and then challenging them to get involved with Campus pour Christ, joining us to win their nation for Christ.  It was a very exciting time.  Afterwards we had some croissants and cokes followed by multiple games of soccer.  We had so many people we had to split up into 3 teams since our field is not the largest.  The students seemed to have a great time.  Pray that they would continue to get involved with Campus pour Christ that their lives would continue to be changed.  Pray that God would use Campus pour Christ to help them read and understand God's word, pray diligently and love Jesus more.

Singo is a student that just got involved but is very committed and a dynamic/passionate leader.

Keenan was warming up the Soccer ball for us.

Keenan and Elliot met a new friend at the meeting.

Bryn took this picture of the whole group.

Let the games begin!

It was 0-0 after the first game so there was a shoot out as to who would continue.

Even with these little goals they use goal keepers.  

Impacting Students in Four Areas

Touching the lives of students in four different areas, that is our hope.  We truly do want to impact students intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  As I said in a previous post, during the summer project we saw God open great doors.  Lycée Classique was one of those places.  Mr. NGoran excitedly invited us into his classrooms to teach.  The first day we split up into groups and were able to take students through how they could know God personally.  The second day we were on campus Mr. NGoran wanted to try a different way.  He thought that it would be good if one of the American students could share what the educational system is like in the US.  One of the American students stepped up to the task and spent the next 30 minutes explaining our system of learning. After that we asked Michael to share with the students the 4 Spiritual Laws.  He was a little intimidated at first, even after giving the seminar at LKM on becoming a successful student, as he knew the seriousness of the Gospel.  Even still he stepped up to the task.  He did a great job sharing!  

At the 4th point we split up into small groups to make sure that the students fully understood what was communicated up front.  I had the privilege of going around to the different groups to help with the language barrier and clarify anything that was misunderstood.  I was greatly encouraged by the students pressing forward to communicate the truths of Jesus.  A few students accepted Christ that day and many students shared with us that they would be interested in going through follow ups with us so we set a time to take the same class through follow up a few days later.  In the days following part of our group was able to return to Lycée Classique and take the whole class through the first Bible Study/Follow up lesson.  It was great hearing stories from the Americans about the relationships that they were building with the students at Lycée Classique.  

That week we also challenged one of the classes to a soccer match.  On Wednesday some of Mr. NGoran's students got out of class early.  They got dressed quickly and headed out to the soccer field, where we waited.  Our team consisted of all the Summer Project students and those Ivorian students already involved in the Campus pour Christ ministry versus the Lycée Classique students.  We scored immediately and were up the whole game till the last 5 minutes or so.  We ended with a tie.  Everyone had a ton of fun.  It was what happened directly after that game that was key to that time.  Our STINT team had met a student named Emmanuel a few months earlier.  Emmanuel is a Christian and very interested in spiritual things.  Upon meeting him his mom wanted us to come over for lunch at his house.  Since that time I lost his number and was unable to get ahold of him.  He saw us playing soccer on the field and searched me out right after.  We were both excited to see each other again.  He immediately gave me his number and then the following Thursday showed up at our weekly Prayer and Worship meeting.  I was reminded that even playing soccer with the students can play a huge part in connecting with students and helping them in their relationship with God.

Craig Hauquitz

Seminar Time at LKM

LKM is another school that we were blessed to enter into with the Summer Project.  Kouadio, our national Campus director had been working with the school a few weeks leading up to the Summer Project's arrival and had set up an opportunity for us to go into the classrooms.  Upon stepping onto the campus we are ushered around to meet the different staff at the school and then finally into a room with bottles of water.  One of the important part of greetings here in Côte d'Ivoire is the offering of water to a guest.  They offer water to everyone in the room followed by an asking of "the news".  If it is really formal the youngest person in the group is supposed to ask the elder or the leader of the group 3 sets of news (including: How you are doing? How your family is?  Finally, you are to give the reason why you are there).  In this situation they knew why we were there it was just a time of meet and greet, quench our thirsts and then up to the first classroom.  

I have learned while being in Côte d'Ivoire that I need to always have a talk for classrooms on me in case I get the opportunity to give a little seminar.  It was just before stepping in this room that I was asked by Kouadio to give a talk and thankfully because of this lesson I learned previously I had a talk on 10 ways to become a successful student (a talk I heard from Dave Dishman) saved in my phone.  I started by introducing who I was to the classroom and then quickly went through the 10 points.  Afterwards they had many questions that were fun to answer.  One of the questions seemed to be divinely placed and lead right into the opportunity for us to break up into groups to share with them how they can have a personal relationship with God.  I can't remember the exact question but it was along the lines of why prayer and meditation could calm them and thus enable them to do better in their studies and how could they implement this in their lives.  At this time the American students went to different parts of the room and started sharing with students the truth of Jesus Christ.

Something incredible was happening at the same time I was giving my talk.  Another class had come up to Kouadio and asked if we could have someone go in their class right away to give the same seminar on becoming a successful student.  Kouadio asked Michael, one of the SP Students, if he felt like he could quickly take notes and give the talk as well.  Courageously he agreed!  Right after my last point, before Q and A, he headed to the other classroom and began giving the same talk.  After I split the students, in the class I was in, into groups I went looking for Kouadio and was amazed and encouraged by the step of faith that Michael had taken.  I grabbed a couple more students and after Michael had finished we were also in groups sharing with students the Gospel message.  It was a little overwhelming as I had a group of 14 students that I was sharing with.  However it wasn't my group that I was the most excited about but Stéphane's group.  Stéphane is a student that came to Christ through the last Summer Project that took place here in Côte d'Ivoire 2 years ago.  I had the privilege to lead him to Christ and as I saw him sharing the same message I shared with him 2 years ago with students that day I was so thrilled.  Afterwards he was glowing.  He said that it was the first time that he was truly overjoyed to share the message of Christ.