Cru Weekly Ministry Tip, Spring 2012, #3
We all know that Moses led Israel away from slavery in Egypt by watching God part the Red Sea in Exodus 14. Under the leadership of Joshua, in similar fashion, God parted the Jordan River (Joshua 1:10-11, 3:5, 14-17). But this time something different happened:
Joshua 4:1-7:
1 Now when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,
2 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe,
3 and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.'”
4 So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe;
5 and Joshua said to them, ” Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.
6 ” Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
7 then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”
What a great passage and a great reminder. Every time the children of Israel would ask about the 12 stones, it was a reminder of the great work of the Lord. God was continually reminding Israel through Moses, to be obedient so that they would be blessed. You see this theme from Exodus through Deuteronomy. God had a purpose. He wanted to keep memorials, festivals and rituals before Israel so they would worship Him only. He also wanted them to remember His great work on their behalf, and to be mindful of the Law, as given through Moses.
In a similar way, you need to keep reminders before your student leaders of what God has called us to do. God has called us to Win students to Christ, Build them in their faith, and Send them out to help reach the campus, their community, and the world.
This week, think about how you might make a physical or verbal “memorial” that would remind students of our Cru distinctives. We want to help them reach the campus, their friends, relatives, and people from all walks of life with the Gospel message. (Matthew 28:19-20).
Remind everyone of our calling from God by:
1. Drawing up a poster, banner or symbol to remind people what our goal is on campus.
2. Making a 15 second verbal reminder at each of your meetings as to what Cru is all about and what our goal is on campus.
3. Reminding students the reason we share our faith is because of God’s calling to reach the lost.
4. Reminding students that the reason we have Bible studies, conferences, retreats and summer projects is to help them grow in their faith so that God would use them to saturate their campus with the gospel message.
This week, after you’ve reminded students why we are involved in having a ministry on campus, begin the process of training them how to share their faith again. Go through the Big Six evangelism training using the “Knowing God Personally” booklet (or KGP), if you have not done so already. Then begin to take them out on a regular basis to share the gospel with students all over campus.
Keep the “12 Stones” memorial of what God has called us to do on campus in front of students continually.
Talk to you next week,
Ben Rivera/GodSquad and CruPressGreen Team