Check out this great post by Pete Kelly for an overview of 10 ways your financial support has helped college students in the US grow closer to God and bless those around them.

At the Epicenter Experience on January 2-6, over 350 students and staff were trained in how to more effectively communicate their faith with friends, family, and professors – using the communities where students most hangout – Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Students all around the US have been taking a similar approach to share their stories with friends and begin conversations about Jesus — something that is often difficult to know how to do.  Dan, a student from UConn, posted this video about how God met him and changed his life.

Dan Agabiti from CCCNEHQ on Vimeo.

If you read the account in Acts 19 of the riot in Ephesus… this is that theater.

This was one of my favorite moments of an unforgettable trip!  It’s probably not evident from my shaky camerawork, but the number of nationalities represented here, singing together, just made it that much sweeter.

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A couple nights ago, I wrote the post below as clarification of the fact that with our organizational name change, we have not changed our mission.  As I mentioned, the media have jumped on any opportunity for controversy and have framed our name change as us being ashamed of Christ, prompting responses like:

“These people are pathetic.  If you don’t have guts enough to stand up for Christ, then you are not a Christian.”

“CCC; if you want to do something other than represent the name of Christ then maybe you will find Campus Crusade for Satan less offensive.”

“if you deny my name here on earth, i will deny you to my father in Heaven.  just saying.”

Ultimately, no matter how clear we try to be about the fact that our name change is not about “removing Christ,” some people may not believe us.  That saddens me, but each person is entitled to his/her opinion.  I have friends on staff who have been disowned and kicked out of their homes by their parents  because of their commitment to Christ.  At our headquarters we have a wall of martyrs who have literally given their lives for the sake of the gospel.  I think every person on our staff would hope that if we were asked to make the same sacrifice, that God would give us the grace to do so.   We are not doing this because we are ashamed.

Questions do remain, however, about the choice of the name “Cru.”  It’s unfamiliar to many people.  So here are a few more thoughts on that:

1) What does Cru mean? Is it an acronym for something?

It’s not an acronym.  Though there are some interesting connections (e.g. it’s the Latin pronunciation of “crux,” or “cross,” and also a French winery term that means “a growing place”) these were actually not intentional.  At this point, its meaning still needs to be developed.  More on this in a bit.

2) Isn’t Cru just short for Crusade? Won’t that still offend people?

Although there’s a connection between “Cru” and “Crusade,” this is only evident to those who already know us.  In the research we did, no one unfamiliar with our organization made that connection when presented with the name “Cru.”  Since these are generally the people we’re trying to reach, we don’t anticipate it being a problem.  Furthermore, if someone does bring it up, a simple explanation of why we changed it (i.e. “We recognized that ‘crusade’ had violent and aggressive overtones and that’s really not what we’re about”) is usually more than sufficient.

3)  Why didn’t you choose something more overtly Christian?

One blog post I read made a great point.  If we removed both “campus” and “crusade” from our name (which were both problematic) we’d be left with just “Christ.”  Overtly Christian! Also blasphemous.

In the process of choosing our new name, our leaders sorted through over 1600 submissions.  Many of these had overtly Christian sentiments, but here were a few problems:

• There are a heck of a lot of churches and religious organizations in the US.  The vast majority of overtly Christian names are already being used by other groups.  It’s already confusing enough to change our name, let alone changing our name to something someone else is already using.
• There are legal and logistical considerations.  We’d really rather not have anyone sue us (you’d hope that wouldn’t happen from other believers, but… well, never mind.)  We needed to make sure we could get appropriate web domains, etc.  And for sake of clarity, we needed to be able to distinguish ourselves in our communications and branding from other organizations.

Furthermore, here are two benefits I see to not having an overtly Christian name:

• Before I became a Christian, any kind of biblical reference or “Christiany” name would have probably gone way over my head.  I would still have still had to ask what the name meant, but I would have felt stupid for not already knowing.  It’s fine if Christians are more comfortable with Christian names, but that’s not really who we’re trying to reach.
• In sensitive countries, there’s less risk to using the name “Cru” than something more explicitly Christian.  We still need to take precautions, and a simple google search would reveal the link for anyone who really wanted to know, but it doesn’t immediately raise a red flag the way “Campus Crusade for Christ” would.

4) How was “Cru” chosen as the best name?

All US staff (along with some donors, volunteers, and various people unfamiliar with our ministry) had the opportunity to take a survey a few months back after the team leading the change had narrowed the list down to four potential names.

Just before the survey went out, “Cru” was tossed in as a dark horse.  We never expected to use it; it was just sort of filler.  Surprisingly, when the results came back this was the name that most consistently aligned with where we were trying to go and had the least negative resistance to overcome.

This wasn’t the only consideration; the decision was made with much prayer and much discussion and counsel.  However, the initial survey results made our leaders think “Cru” deserved a second look.

5) Why did you choose a name that doesn’t mean anything?

It’s true that right now, “Cru” doesn’t really have any obvious objective meaning. In a sense, it’s a made-up word. However, it’s not without history.  As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been using it as the informal name of many of our local campus movements since the 90′s.

Furthermore, there are a heck of a lot of ridiculous names for companies and organizations out there.  Google? Starbucks? Oreo? Skittles? Remember how people mocked Apple (Apple?) when they came out with the iPad?  If you ask me, they all seem to be doing ok for themselves — because they have excellent products.

Before we even announced the name, Shawn McGrath wrote a great post on the value of non-descriptive names.  In his survey of some of the most well-known brand names in America, he said, “None of them try to describe their entire mission with their name, but their name has become known by their mission and culture.”

The unique opportunity we now have with “Cru” is that we get to infuse it with meaning and be part of defining our new name by the mission and culture of our organization.  It may not be perfect and some people may still not like it.  But when we look to what we want to be, as a caring community of people who passionately point people toward Jesus Christ so they can experience transformation in their own lives and carry that forth to others, we hope that as people get used to our new name that this is what “Cru” will come to represent.

By the way… when I say “we get to infuse it with meaning,” I don’t just mean staff.  As partners in the mission, any of you who pray, volunteer, or give financially are essential co-contributors as we adjust to this change. Would you personally consider trying this new name on for size? It might feel uncomfortable at first, like a new pair of shoes, but as we break it in together I’m looking forward to what God will do as we run side by side for the sake of the gospel.

We’re celebrating 60 years as a ministry this weekend.  And looking forward to 60 more!