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!

On Tuesday night, our U.S. National Director, Steve Sellers, unveiled the new name that Campus Crusade for Christ will be known as moving forward: Cru.

The change does not indicate any shift in our purposes, mission, vision, or values.  Rather, we are doing this to remove any obstacles to the gospel and to more accurately represent what the ministry has grown into over the last 60 years.  We are no longer simply a “campus” ministry and “crusade” is now primarily associated with bloody battles of the Middle Ages (not a bright spot in Christian history, to put it mildly) as opposed to how it might have been used in the 1950′s. We learned from research we did that 1 in 5 people who initially indicated an openness to discussing spiritual matters were immediately turned off upon hearing the name of the organization.  That’s really unacceptable.  The late Bill Bright, who founded CCC, knew that at some point we would likely change the name.  That time has now come.

It’s a little ironic, because although the primary reason we changed the name was to remove barriers for people coming to know Christ, the media seem to have pounced upon the fact that our new name does not have “Christ” explicitly in it and have pointed to this as “evidence” that we’ve watered down our commitment, that we’re just trying to be politically correct, etc.

I wish you all could have been at our staff conference over the last few days to see just how patently false that claim is.  We have truly been experiencing a fresh sense of collective repentance and dependence on the Lord.  It has been very powerful.  Twice our national director has scrapped pieces of a carefully planned program in response to the work the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst and has instead called us to a collective time of waiting on the Lord and responding in worship.  I believe that our new name is ushering in a new season of growth for us as a ministry, not only in numbers but in depth and maturity as well.

However, since the charge of abandoning our commitment to Christ is a pretty significant one, here are a couple other things to consider:

1) We didn’t “remove Christ” so much as scrap the whole name and start over.  If we’d changed our name to just “Campus Crusade,” then that would be a different story.  “Cru” ended up being the best choice for a variety of reasons; it’s what many of our local movements have been calling themselves since the 90′s.  I’m not aware of any movement tacking on “for Christ” at the end (i.e. “Cru for Christ”) and yet thousands of Christ-centered laborers have come out of these movements and are impacting the world with the gospel.

2) The United States is actually one of the last countries to change their official name from Campus Crusade for Christ to something else.  In Europe, we’re known as Agape.  In New Zealand, it’s Tandem. In parts of Africa, it’s Great Commission Ministries.  You’ll notice that none of these have the word “Christ” in them.  Not to mention other organizations like InterVarsity, YoungLife, or Wycliffe.  Surely having “Christ” in the name is not a pre-requisite to glorifying Christ in our work.

3) When I first joined staff, one of the metaphors we used to describe the process of entering into someone’s spiritual journey was that we wanted to be in the car traveling along with them as opposed to just being a billboard on the side of the road.  Unfortunately, the tone of some of the comments about “removing Christ” remind me of those billboards — as if the name of our organization would be the thing that would convince someone to give their life to Christ.  Because we value relationships, “Cru” actually provides a gentler entry-point into spiritual conversation because it invites questions as opposed to making a strong declarative statement.  Since so many people have had negative experiences with the church or “organized religion,” this also helps avoid some of those preconceived ideas.

4) We still have the cross in our logo.

5) In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul says this: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

This, above all else, is the heart behind the name change.  It’s why I and 5,000 other U.S. staff members joined with this organization and each of us have raised the financial support necessary to engage in ministry full time. It’s why some have made significant sacrifices and it’s why we’re constantly looking for any way we can share Christ with more people.

A fellow staff member posted the quote below on his blog earlier today.  Though it’s probably too strong a rebuke for those who are just seeking clarification, I do actually think it’s appropriate for some, given the vicious comments I’ve read over the last few days:

For those that identify themselves as Christians and are overly critical of this decision, I ask you to do a heart examination. If you have never personally stepped out in faith to share the gospel with another person, if you’ve never had the privilege to see another place their faith in Christ, if you’ve never personally invested your life into the spiritual life of another or have never left your family and home for the sake of the gospel, then may I suggest that you seek the Lord on how you can personally be involved in His mission rather than criticizing those that are already doing it.

I list all these reasons only because I want to be crystal clear that nothing about our mission has changed.  I was honestly unprepared for the extent of media coverage that this would get, and naively believed that those who covered the story would seek to represent it fairly.  Many reporters have, but some have not.  Since many of you have been faithfully partnering with me, I simply want to ease any concerns you might have out of respect for you and for your investment.

Personally, I’m excited.  I’ve witnessed people recoil upon hearing the name “Crusade,” and I’ve seen the walls go up and conversations end.  I’m in the “about time!” camp.  At the same time, I know our organization has a rich history and the name is part of that.  It’s truly been a privilege to watch our leaders wrestle with this weighty issue and I’m excited to be able to support their decision.

If you have other questions or concerns, I’d love to discuss them with you.   Some of these are likely addressed on the pages linked below.  If not, please don’t hesitate to email me at claire [dot] angus [at] ccci.org.

Thanks for reading!

Official Press Release and FAQ’s

Our Commitment to Christ

Next post: Our New Name, Part Two

Eating dinner to kick off our time together

Many of you prayed for me when I was Indianapolis a few weeks ago, and I’m overdue on an update.

First of all, thank you.

Secondly, I really believe that God honored your prayers.

It was an incredible honor for me to sit in a room with so many men and women who are really paving the way to influence how Campus Crusade for Christ will do ministry for the indefinite future.  From the very beginning, one of the threads that has woven throughout all that we do is simply that we will go where people live.  Do they live on a college campus? Great! Let’s go there.  Do they live in cities? Great, we’ll go there, too.

Now, where do people live? Online.  If someone is searching for God, in this day and age it is far, far more likely that that person will do a google search to answer his/her questions rather than stepping foot inside a church (or even asking a friend, in many cases).

Does this mean that it’s time to abandon more traditional, face-to-face approaches to ministry? Not necessarily.  Rather, the group that assembled in Indy wrestled with the question of how we can seamlessly integrate the incredible power of media into our existing ministries so that it becomes a natural and normal way of pursuing evangelism and discipleship alongside more traditional approaches.

There is much work ahead of us, but we were encouraged by hearing some of the work that is already well underway.

For example:

• Everystudent.com is a storehouse of articles, videos, etc written to those wanting to learn more about God.  The entire site has been translated into 34 languages and receives about 5.5 million visits a year.  A follow up email series, “The Spiritual Starter Kit,” has just launched this year but has already received very enthusiastic feedback.  Additional resources such as StartingWithGod.com and “How to talk about God” are also made available to those wanting more information.  All of these are in process of being translated into additional languages as well.
• TruthMedia has created iTV, an internet media channel that provides multiple sources of new content daily.  This is integrated with their MentorCenter, which allows volunteers to connect so that those visiting the site are able to engage and move ahead rather than just absorbing information.  They run an entire small group ministry online.  130 sessions take place each month led by a spiritually mature person who connects on the topical need and shares next steps in their spiritual relationship.   Approximately 10,000 people a month are coming to their chat rooms from all around the world.
• Jesus.net is a partnership with 40 organizations in 20 countries and 17 languages (primarily in Europe).  During our meeting we looked at a map of those who were currently on the site.  Below is that map.

And really, that’s just scratching the surface.

What’s more, God gave us a really sweet time of connecting and getting to know each other.  Operating as a team across multiple continents has unique challenges, and the relational benefit of being together was hard to overestimate.

Thank you for praying!  I’ve put the links to those sites in the resource section, so feel to explore further!

We have changed the importance of time, geography, age— and the assumption of how the world works. We have new levels of cognitive flexibility, which is creating a new way of thinking about the world and about ourselves,” said Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center and co-founder of A Think Lab

It’s not the technology that interests me.  In fact, I have a strong love/hate relationship with the “how it works” aspect of technology.  (If I were a technological genius I expect that might be different!) I do, however, love both strategic thinking and social psychology.  And I love the vision of getting the gospel to the world.  So in order to leverage the tools and opportunities God has given me by appointing me to live and serve at this moment in history, there’s no way I can responsibly ignore the impact of social media or its incredible potential.

I feel really blessed to be on a team that feels the same way.

PS: Manila was awesome.  Thanks to those of you who prayed! Real update to come soon, I promise.

(By the way, there are only 10 full-time campus staff in the country!)

CNN picked up on this, and wrote a story on their religion blog.  You can also read more at Campus Crusade’s main site.

Reading the letter written to Christian Maureira, CCC’s national director in Chile, from Jose Samuel Henriquez, miner #24, gave an amazing insight as to how God encouraged and preserved these men while they waited to be rescued.

To God be the glory.