Author: Zack Russell

Wendy’s Story – Hurricane Harvey Relief

“I’m not the best person in terms of manual labor, but I try my best,” said Wendy, a Rice University student from China. It had been a long day of Hurricane Harvey relief work. “My hometown is a really dry place; we don’t get a lot of storm like this,” she told us. “It’s heartbreaking to see people’s homes like this. They used to be a home, but now they’re trash.” She had to wipe away many tears. Watch her story:

Wendy was part of a Cru student team from Rice who helped Houston residents gut their homes. She also noticed something beautiful happening. “Harvey has given the community an opportunity to break down barriers between different classes, and different races,” she said. For Wendy, the whole experience was a mixture of heartache and hope, as she saw firsthand the incredible unity on display throughout Houston.

But even deeper than that is the hope Wendy found in Christ. She came to the U.S. “really skeptical about the existence of God.” Out of curiosity, she attended a talk called, “Do Science and God Mix?” Then, God used the faithful witness of Cru students to make Wendy into a new creation. And because of her faith, she is out there serving others.

Our vision is for international students to become Christ-centered laborers like Wendy. Please join us in prayer for many more “Wendys” in 2018!

Year-End Giving

As 2017 comes to a close, would you consider a special gift to our ministry?

Our ministry with international students is possible through the generous gifts of people like yourself. We are currently in need of additional funding to continue effective ministry to these students. Your partnership makes an eternal difference in helping to bring the message of Jesus Christ to people all over the world. All gifts are income tax-deductible. Thank you for considering.

Prefer to give by check?

Students From Everywhere are Everywhere | November Newsletter

Annalei’s Outreach

Annalei (11) came home from school one day and told me (Naomi) that she decided to spend her recess sharing the gospel with kids in her class! She used “The Four Fantastic Facts” (a gospel tract/kids version of “The 4 Spiritual Laws”) and read it through with three of her classmates. Two of them: Colby and Mary Jane prayed to receive Christ!! And she left the booklet with Gabby, who said she would think about it. Annalei has been faithfully praying for Gabby to make the decision to follow Christ as well. As a missionary mom, nothing could make me prouder than to see my kids sharing the gospel and having a heart for the lost! Please pray Annalei (and all my kids!) would be active in sharing their faith their entire lives.

Neighborhood Outreach

I am very thankful for two ladies in my neighborhood: Sheryl (in the purple) and Marie (in the stripes). Both of them love Jesus and are eager to share Him with others. I’m really thankful that the women that God is brining into our path are mostly internationals! It’s so kind of God to give me international friends, even though I can’t be with international students on campus in this season of life.

This pic was taken at a baby shower for Marie and our friend from China, “Eileen”. Also in the pic is “Jenny” from China and Mariana from Mexico. Marie, Sheryl and I all were able to share about different aspects of the gospel and our walks with Christ by sharing about why we named our kids what we did. It was a really good and Spirit filled time. Please pray for the salvation of these three as well as some other international moms that I want to share the gospel with: Ana (from Yugoslavia), Ana Maria (from Costa Rica), Sonu (from India), Suzy (from Mexico) and a new neighbor Fadima (from Africa). I’m super excited about God bringing the nations to my neighborhood!!

Getting the Other 90%

“Students from everywhere are everywhere, but we’re only reaching 10%, so we’ve got 90% to go.” That was the rallying cry our national director, Trae Vacek, gave to our new Bridges staff and interns. We had gathered together in New York City for several days of training in reaching internationals (pic below).

I (Zack) was there to film the training to leverage for wider use. It’s the first step in our “Every International” campaign. Our vision is provide training videos to American students and laypeople, who will work alongside us in reaching the other 90% of the 1.3 million international students in the U.S.

One fun part was about “Peach vs. Coconut Cultures.” Can you guess what it means? Which fruit represents the West? The East?

PRAISE REPORTS

  • Annalei is sharing her faith and led two of her classmates to Christ!
  • Naomi is joining with Marie and Sheryl in neighborhood outreach to other moms.
  • More than 20 new laborers with Bridges!

PRAYER REQUESTS

  • Annalei’s friend, Gabby, to come to know the Lord.
  • All four of our kids would become life-long laborers for Christ.
  • Eileen, Jenny, and Mariana would desire a relationship with Jesus and think deeply about what we shared at the baby shower.
  • Opportunities for Naomi to share the gospel with her international mom friends.
  • Wisdom as we develop the Every International training curriculum for churches and Christian students.

Pray for NYC Trip and Family Health

Bridges Bootcamp

Tomorrow morning, I (Zack) will be flying to New York City and spending 4 days there with fellow Bridges missionary staff. It’s our annual “Bootcamp” – ministry training for new staff and interns, specific to reaching internationals. It’s also the first step in a year-long project of producing a video training package called Every International. This training will eventually go out to churches, Christian students and volunteers who want to minister to international students.

Family Sickness

Please pray for healing for Naomi and the kids. Naomi is just getting over a stomach bug. Miah has a fever and sore throat, Cassia has a runny nose, and Annalei has been throwing up since this afternoon. Please pray as well that I would not get sick during my New York trip. The Every International video series is going to be a major focus for me this year, so I want to start off strong with the filming I’ll be doing in NY. Pray for Naomi to have extra strength while I’m gone, too.

Fifty Countries in Burnet, TX

We’ve captured several stories of life change from the Bridges Fall Retreat last year, as we get ready for this year’s retreat. This video is a great way to see how local church members and students from all around the world have a lasting impact on each other. Check it out:

Please pray for God to weave together new and deeper friendships, so that the gospel may go from Central Texas to the whole world!

Vision for Harvey Relief

Bridges International is partnering with Cru to aid people in Southeast Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey. College students are being challenged to come make a difference with their time, energy, and effort.

I edited and helped shoot this video, along with others on the Creative Media team. Cam Glass was my second shooter and Kristi Vargas was our Producer.

Long-Lasting Fruit and Harvey Relief Work | September Newsletter

Cru17 Conference

We gathered with 5,000 other Cru staff for our biennial conference in July (pic: header, left). There’s nothing like fellowship and worship with all these other campus missionaries. Whether spoken or unspoken, so many of our colleagues offered us lots of encouragement to continue our efforts for the Great Commission.

One speaker truly encouraged Naomi and I: Jennie Allen. She’s the leader of the If Gathering, which gathers, equips and unleashes women to disciple a generation. Her 10-year involvement in this movement began as a college student in Arkansas. A Cru staff woman took Jennie on a “Sonic run” and invested in her spiritual growth. The rest is history. Watch her talk here.

Marshall in the Spotlight

You may remember how our ATX student interns produced a short film about a Bridges student named Marshall. Well, his story was shown on the big screen at Cru17! It was a great moment to see the hard work of my interns pay off, and to see Bridges’ ministry be celebrated. Marshall’s story will be online soon.

Harvey Relief

Hurricane Harvey not only flooded or destroyed 136,000 homes, it affected the lives of friends dear to us. I’ve counted at least a dozen people we know personally who have had to throw out their flooring, walls, furniture, possessions and whole cabinets full of things. Our hearts have broken again and again. Having gone through our own home disaster in 2015, the pain is very familiar to us.
Recently, Annalei and I did relief work with Crosspoint, our church in Houston. We helped Mrs. Darby (pictured below), alongside Rice students, others from our church and her friends and family. It was gut-wrenching to throw away most of what she owned.

Cru is in the process of mobilizing students from across the country to come help, so others like Mrs. Darby can rebuild

Roof Damage

We had a minor disaster of our own: a large tree branch crashed into our house (pic: header, right). We had to get a whole new roof. Three major appliances also broke. We usually like to spread these things out a bit.

Upcoming

As part of the Harvey Relief effort being mobilized by Cru, I will be producing videos to challenge students to come volunteer in relief work. We will tell not only the story of how people have suffered loss, but how God has been working mightily, and how students involved with Cru and Bridges are playing a part.

Praise Reports

•The ministry of Cru has had long-lasting fruit on leaders like Jennie Allen.

•Our faithful ATX interns, Zoe and Nikki, who did great work alongside us this summer. The videos they helped produce will expand the reach of Cru, Bridges and Destino.

Prayer Requests

•Massive mobilization of the Body of Christ to help Texans rebuild from the vast damage inflicted by Harvey.

•The production process of Harvey videos to be anointed and for our new Media team to work well together.

The Cru17 Conference So Far

We’re at the midway point of the Cru17 Staff Conference, our biennial week-long gathering of 5,000 fellow missionaries. It’s our time as Cru staff to be refreshed by the Lord, renewed in our vision, and be further equipped in our ministry skills. Here are some quotes and highlights so far that we hope will encourage and sharpen you…

“‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.’ This thought is foundational to western thought. We like to break everything down into bite-size pieces. But why would we want to eat an elephant? God is overwhelming; let Him overwhelm us. We can’t have part of God and not the whole.”
– Jake Abraham, Executive Director of Cru City. Watch here.

“Nothing is happening to us that hasn’t first been filtered through the loving hands of our Father for our good. We’re deep into enemy territory when we try to change people’s eternal destiny, when we go after the scope of the great commission, when we work on partnerships, when we try to break down racial and social barriers. The evil one does not want us to reach more people, to become more diverse, to partner with other ministries, to fulfill the scope of the mission. He creates strife and division. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but the rulers and powers and authorities and spiritual forces of evil.”
– Steve Sellers, Vice-President of Cru. Watch here.

“Do you have a ‘sigh and a groan’ (Ezekiel 9:3-6) about the trauma that happens in the black community? For a black person, they need to know about good news that they’ll experience today, not after they die; they know they’re gonna die, because they see it every day on YouTube. So talk about the kingdom that has come.”
– Jimmy McGee, President of Cru’s The Impact Movement
(This was an excellent and emotionally intense session you can watch here)

Finally, I was thrilled to hear the story of Arman Ghamari, who fled Iran as a young man and found a new home in England. At first, based on some shrewd advice from his father, he told the authorities how he had become a Christian and needed asylum. But it wasn’t true – yet. He would later meet real Christians and read the Bible for himself, and he was drawn into a saving faith in Christ. Now, he has an active ministry with Iranian Christians in the UK. You can watch his incredible story here – it ties in perfectly with our vision in Bridges!

Keeping Austin Weird | June Newsletter

ATX Summer Mission

Currently within the world of Cru, many of our fellow staff are headed to another city, state or country to participate in or lead a summer mission trip. In fact, short mission trips to Asia are how Naomi and I (Zack) originally got involved with Cru 15 years ago.

This year, our Summer Mission comes in the form of hosting 13 college students in Austin. They’re working with us on national priorities for our ministry operations: Video, Graphic Design, Finance, Digital Marketing, and Conferences/Events. We just kicked off!

On Tuesdays and weekends, these students are also going out on the UT campus or around the city to engage other students in spiritual conversations. They’ve already met several international students and received training on evangelism with different cultures.

The students I’m working with are Zoe (L) and Nikki (R). The three of us will be creating several videos: promos for Destino (the ministry of Cru to Latinos); testimonies of Bridges students from Malaysia and South Africa; and teaching & evangelistic videos about work, marriage, church, and overcoming habitual sin.

Michelle

On a flight that Paxton and I (Naomi) had taken a few months ago, a sweet gal named Michelle sat next to us. I found out that Michelle was Jewish and had recently moved to Austin. We had a great conversation about spiritual topics, and I invited her to join us for church sometime. To our delight, she joined us on Easter Sunday!

During our lunch afterwards, Michelle told us her observations of a Christian worship service from a complete cultural outsider. It was fascinating. What really stood out to her was the strangeness of our focus on a violent act (Jesus’ crucifixion). Zack and I then had a wonderful, gospel-centered discussion with her, reading passages together from Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. It was a rich and pleasant time. Even though she is not an international, the whole experience of discussing Christianity and Judaism was very cross-cultural.

Angel

Last month we were joined by Angel, our dear friend and former international student from Malawi. Angel is at several crossroads in her life, and we were able to impart some wisdom and guidance.

UPCOMING

We’ll be in Colorado for the Cru Staff Conference and to connect with our ministry partners. If you’ll be in Colorado we would love to see you there!

PRAISE REPORTS

  • Annalei & Miah and friends were extras in a short film for Cru (pictured in header, left).
  • God brought 13 students to join us in Austin for our a jam-packed Summer Mission.
  • Spirit-filled conversations with Michelle and Angel.

PRAYER REQUESTS

  • Michelle to take the next steps in investigating who Jesus is and how he fulfills Scripture.
  • God to open doors for Angel to pursue vocational ministry.
  • Students from ATX Summer Mission to get a vision for life-long ministry, and for several of them to join us full-time.