Hands Headlines

About 3 times a week, Shannon has been enjoying a jazzercise class instructed by a friend at CCC Headquarters.  When she’s heading out the door, Toby says, “Mommy, are you going to Jazzer-Jiggy??”

It’s been great aerobic activity, and a great way to connect with other women at Headquarters.  Everyone is happy when mommy returns happy from jazzercise!!



Jazzercise is something like a franchise-based workout club or company.  They are very well trained and offer great motivation for fitness in general.

Recently Shannon was rewarded for completing 25 classes of jazzercise.  You can see more about that here on the CCC Jazzercise Web Site. 

What a week this has been…so much sadness over the events at Virginia Tech on Monday and yet hope in how the Lord can and is using the stories of those affected by this tragedy. Three of the students that died on Monday were involved in Campus Crusade.

Molly Donohue is the student at Virginia Tech who first discovered the two bodies at Ambler Johnston Hall. She is a freshman and involved in a Campus Crusade Bible Study. Her video interview with ABC is online here: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3056249

More of Molly’s story is online on Campus Crusade for Christ’s Campus Ministry Web Site: http://campuscrusadeforchrist.com/virginiatech/mollys-story/

Lauren McCain was also involved in a Campus Crusade Bible Study and loved reaching out to international students. She was Molly’s friend. Lauren died at Norris Hall. Her father recently spoke to the press. This is powerful: Fox News Video Clip

(If you have trouble with the Fox Video Clip, you can go to FoxNews.com and search for “a father’s pain” in video in Studio B. It will play from the Fox website.)

The Campus Crusade staff team at Virginia Tech is ministering to many students in the midst of their own grief. This is a very neat story of how a staff member had the opportunity to share Christ with Reema (one of the victims) about 3 weeks ago: http://campuscrusadeforchrist.com/virginiatech/sharing-story/

www.GobbleTalk.com is Campus Crusade’s evangelistic website for Hokie students. In the past few days, Over 50 students have indicated they placed their faith in Christ through this website since the tragedy!!

Even in the midst of terrible tragedy and sadness, the Lord is doing some incredible things!

So many mixed emotions were evoked as I watched and heard of the tragic events which unfolded at the campus of Virginia Tech yesterday.  It’s difficult to comprehend the magnitude of what occurred as many students lost their lives and many others were wounded.  Not to mention the emotional damage inflicted on so many more. 

As a graduate of VT, I still feel a deep connection to the campus community there even though it’s been several years since I actually sat in Calculus class in Norris Hall (the academic building in which most of the shootings occurred.)  It’s hard to believe the pictures captured on the news cameras could possibly be real…such a somber and sad place in contrast to memories I have of crossing the drill field on a beautiful spring day.   

As we watched Night Line reporters interviewing students last night in West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall, I was reminded of something else:  the unique culture of dorm life and how the Lord can use that for His glory.  Seeing the students gathered together in the halls and in their rooms, I felt moved to pray for the Christian students on campus…to pray that they will depend on their relationship with Jesus to get them through this difficult time.  And to pray that the students who know Christ will share the hope they have, even in the midst of such tragedy, with those who don’t know the Lord.  My prayer is that God will use this terrible, terrible situation for good…that many students at VT will come into a relationship with Him as they consider the frailty of life here. 

David & I still keep in contact with some of the Campus Crusade for Christ staff at Virginia Tech.  I met Dave & Susan Broadwell my senior year at Tech.  Dave is the current Campus Crusade director and sent out this update last night: 

By now, if you have watched any sort of national or, for that matter, international news, you have heard of the devastation on our campus of Virginia Tech Monday.All of our staff members are OK. We were together for our Monday morning staff meeting when the shootings happened.The latest is that a shooter killed 33 with 27 being wounded and some not even out of surgery yet.We had a prayer meeting Monday night for our students and the students of some other organizations. Most students are shocked and numb at this point, not sure what to think and feel. I feel the same way.We know of at least 2 of our students who are not accounted for at this point, as well as 1 who was killed who had come to our meetings.All of this information is coming through the network of students, as no names have been officially released yet (until after the families are notified–most likely Tuesday). I think that is the hardest part–the waiting–not really knowing who has been touched by this tragedy.Our staff team is spending the day in the Cru office Tuesday–making ourselves available to pray with and/or counsel students.We will take a break to attend the university-wide convocation at 2 p.m. where the
Virginia governor is slated to speak.We are gathering at noon on Wednesday to pray with other Christian groups on the drillfield–a very central place on campus.Please pray that amidst it all that the Lord would be glorified, families would be comforted and students would grieve appropriately. I have a feeling no one is going to know how to move on from here.

Dave Broadwell (Campus Crusade for Christ Director at Virginia Tech)

Thank you for joining me in praying for our staff, students and the campus community at Virginia Tech.

Connecting the Izere Tribal People of Nigeria with God’s Word, training, prayer partners, resources and each other!

View this short slide show put together by my boss Keith Seabourn in the Global Technology Office. Keith explains how the Lord is using technology to enable ministry collaboration like never before.

This is an example of how the Global Connexions project (GCX) works on the field.

For an introduction to GCX, view our previous post.

Give GCX a try for yourself: Sign up for your own GCX Account. Or, watch a Quick Tour of GCX.

Click above to view this short slide show.
A new window will open. Make sure your computer speakers are on.

Global Online Communities with a Great Commission Purpose

Just a couple of months ago I said that I felt as if I were learning to swim in Niagara Falls. What I was referring to was my jumping in – fully submerged – to my new job in the Global Technology Office and working on a big technology project called Global Connexions. Global Connexions, or GCX, was created to connect people, resources and movements to help build God’s Kingdom.

In short, GCX is a system of dynamic web tools and flexible web sites all interwoven together. It’s powerful stuff. Yet, Global Connexions focuses more on the people working in the Kingdom rather than technical skill or knowledge.

The best way to show you what it does is to let you TRY IT OUT. Sign up for your own GCX Account OR simply click to watch a Quick Tour of GCX. This is for ANYONE who wants to help build God’s Kingdom.

Sign Up for your own GCX Account.

Watch the GCX Tour. (Make sure your computer’s speakers are turned on)

More Scoop on GCX (www.MyGCX.org) :

What Does GCX Do?

• Connects Kingdom workers in online communities
• Helps users organize and share best practices in ministry
• Multilingual Support - Resources can be added in any language. Certain areas of GCX can be viewed in 5 major languages
• Provides a secure communication system
• Gives a virtual workspace
• Allows Kingdom-centered online resources to be distributed and shared within an identity management system. This enables the owner of the resource to control which people or permission-levels can see it.
• Create your own highly-customizable web community for the specific Kingdom purpose you choose. You then control who is invited and who joins your community.

What Problem(s) Does GCX Attempt to Solve?

• 26,000 full-time Christian workers (current count of Campus Crusade staff worldwide). Plus 100,000+ volunteers and partners. All serving in 190 diverse countries, speaking multiple languages!! Yet all focus on fulfilling the Great Commission.
• How do you get all these people to communicate, work together and not reinvent the wheel?
• GCX seeks to help local ministries and workers with knowledge and tools they need to get the job done. In short: Help Kingdom workers be more effective.

Why is it Important?

Isolation and lack of resources are two of the biggest reasons Christian workers lose their vision. Many people want to be more effective in serving the Lord, yet they feel disconnected from others who know or care about their work. Also, many resources and strategies used by people in one location can be reused by others in a different location. If only they knew the resources existed and how to get them!

Easter Sunday brings great news: He is not in the tomb. He is risen!



But now what? What does this mean? What impact does the empty tomb have on my current reality, 2000 years later?





It means absolutely nothing if the words of Jeremiah aren’t true:

The heavens are shocked at such a thing

and shrink back in horror and dismay,

says the Lord.

“For my people have done two evil things:

They have abandoned me—

the fountain of living water.

And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns

that can hold no water at all!

. . . Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,

who rely on human strength

and turn their hearts away from the Lord. . . .

. . . The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,

and desperately wicked.

Who really knows how bad it is?”

- Jeremiah 2:12-13; 17:5,9 NLT

The biggest war of the universe is not good vs. evil or God vs. Satan, but the war my soul waged against God. Somehow I tend to think that my transgressions have been small. Yet, look inside my heart! Yes, Jeremiah is right: it is wicked and I do not even see the bottom of the pit that it is.

C.S. Lewis said that at the core of any sin – no matter how “small” – is the heart belief that God is not truly Good. I call God a liar. And, believing a lie, I gorge myself on garbage instead of the amazing feast He prepares. I exalt myself and my shame. I rebel.

Not only does this put me in a lost war, but it yields brokenness and misery in the day to day battles.

My ultimate reality check will always be, “Do I desperately need to be rescued?” Am I truly on a raft with no motor headed straight over Niagara Falls?



Sin puts me in the raft. It is desperate. I do need a dramatic rescue.



I’ll never forget an experience I had a few years ago when my wife had to dial 911 for me. Fortunately that’s been the only 911 call we’ve ever made. I had been sick all day with some kind of virus (of the stomach variety) and it was going from bad to worse to unbearably awful in just a matter of hours. My body was so entirely dehydrated that I could barely move. Have you ever taken a wet wash cloth and thoroughly wrung it out, leaving it to dry on the clothes line? That was me. It became obvious that I could not keep any fluids in me more than a few minutes. After a while, my hands and arms began to tingle and slowly I lost feeling in them. What was going on? I remember debating back and forth with Shannon on how serious things might be. “I’ll be fine. . .I guess! I can’t feel my arms and I can’t move, but I’ll make it.” After saying that to myself for several minutes, I began to see (with Shannon’s urging) that maybe I did need some help after all! Finally I told her I did not know what to do except call 911. Bring the paramedics. I’m done. I needed a rescue. And, after a few hours of IV fluids, I was feeling much better.

To me, the most amazing part of God’s rescue story is that He didn’t just snap His fingers and resolve our sin problem by eternal decree. Nor did He turn His back, cover His eyes or cast a wink to let me “slide” into Heaven because my good deeds outweighed my bad in some half-just earthly economy. God got His hands dirty to intercede. He entered in to my desperate sin predicament in the most personal way He could: God gave His only Son. Jesus put Himself in my raft. He went over the cliff and bore the fury.



“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV This is really good news! But it is only good news IF I truly believe that my sin is the reason for such a dreadful payment (crucifixion) and such a dramatic rescue (Holy Jesus suffering in my place and being raised to life).



So, to directly copy from the sermon I heard this Easter: God Saved the Day! He saved my day. He saved the day of all time for those who turn to Him and believe. And the “now what?” question seems to be an easy answer: No longer walking as a dead man, every thought and action is an opportunity to express gratitude and joy. Now I truly live!