Karl & Liesl Kranich

Dorinda Beeley, part of the excellent team at LightSys Technology Services, has written a great article about her journey to missions IT. It’s called “From Skeptic to Recruiter: How a Missions Internship Changed My Life”, and it’s in a publication from Calvin College called Dynamic Link.

As she says, “The longer I’m in Missions IT, the more I see how much of a lever technology can truly be as we spread the name of Christ throughout the world”.  Amen!  That’s why we do what we do!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have loads to be thankful for, including Karl’s trip to Thailand and safe return. Today we wanted to share a story about how Keynote can help other ministries become more effective.

“I was against planning because it would push the Holy Spirit out of our [Cru] meeting,” said Lauren, a student leader at Butler University determined to honor God in the weekly meeting.

Lauren’s heart was in the right place but she didn’t understand she could honor God by spending time preparing for Cru’s weekly meeting. The door to the Cru meeting is always open to the 5,000 students on campus. It is often the first experience students have with Christianity. Yet each week leading up to the meeting Lauren wondered if she and the other leaders had taken care of their responsibilities.

Campus Crusade staff member Jeff describes the weekly meetings as chaotic and thrown together. “I was at a loss for how to inspire and equip our student leaders with a vision for what an excellent, Christ-centered weekly meeting could look like,” says Jeff.

Keynote was able to support Jeff’s ministry through our Communication Training curriculum. Vicki Guinn of Keynote facilitated a Weekly Meeting Training Workshop to train 15 Butler students including Lauren, Josh and Kevin. This training is specifically designed to develop student leaders and equip them to plan, pray, and prepare well for a weekly event. In the relaxed environment where students could spread out on the floor and think creatively, Lauren had an “aha” moment. She realized the connection between inviting God into the process of planning and a Christ-centered meeting. From both a spiritual and a practical standpoint, these students now feel equipped to lead.

With a sigh of relief Kevin leaned back in his chair and said, “The training pointed us to God first and also helped us plan our next three meetings.” Josh, the emcee, is glad he can join in worship during the final song rather than frantically brainstorming his closing remarks. All three leaders are confident they can set their hearts on glorifying God in the planning process so they and other students can experience God in a real way in the weekly meetings and on campus.

Earlier this month, Keynote hosted an emcee training to prepare the emcees of our Christmas/winter conferences around the country. We hosted the two people who will emcee the Destino Conference, for the Latino branch of the Campus Ministry. It was encouraging to hear them say many of the same things and know that they are trained to do their ministry at this conference.

Thank you for praying for my trip to Thailand!  Five of us from Keynote traveled to Bangkok last Tuesday and returned this Monday and Tuesday.  We enjoyed safe travel, productive meetings with coworkers from all over the world, and protection from the flooding.

We brought information about a new tool called MissionHub that is beginning to be used within Campus Crusade for Christ to connect students to local ministries, and to make sure that every interested person is contacted by student leaders.  One of our team led a session on “Using Social Media to Accelerate Your Local Movement”.

Others from around the world brought information about the tools and strategies that they’re using to reach people and build communities online.  It was inspiring to hear about the ways that God’s name is being lifted up through web sites, blogs, apps, film, and video.  We strengthened connections and made new ones.

Please continue to pray that we can make the most of the tools and relationships that God has given us.  If we can figure out how to work together better, we will accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Commission even more!

And please pray for the people of Thailand and our Campus Crusade for Christ staff there.  Since late October, deadly floods have invaded Thailand, forcing Thai CCC staff to postpone ministry activities in order to help displaced people. Though native to Thailand’s heavy rain season, many of these staff members returned to find their own homes damaged, and in some cases, totally destroyed.  If you would like to help them financially, please see help.ministrynetconference.com.

Hey, y’all! We hope you are seeing God active all around you. Something about seasons changing makes even looking out the window a reminder of God’s creativity and blessings. And hearing about the earthquakes and floods on the news reminds us of His sovereignty and power, especially as it relates to us personally.

MinistryNet, the international Campus Crusade tech conference that Karl and just under 200 of our staff around the globe are preparing to attend next week, has been a matter of prayer, since there’s a great deal of flooding in Thailand right now. The conference is still happening and Karl will be heading there November 1-7. Please pray for safety and God’s provision for all attending and for our ministry to grow by leaps and bounds thanks to this time.

And while we’re thinking internationally, we’d love to let you hear what God did through Keynote in India this month! The Gap Theory took to the stage to share God’s love, despite many obstacles. One example is the concert at Hindustan University in Chennai. Rain threatened to either cancel the concert or move the show indoors to a less than optimal venue. Campus Crusade for Christ leaders at the university trusted God and continued with the outdoor setting. Before long, the skies cleared and the concert began. More than 500 students filled the courtyard and engaged with the band’s music.

The president of the university came onstage to personally thank the band and give them a gift. At the end of the concert, 111 people indicated a first-time decision to call on Jesus to save them. A number of others asked for more information about getting connected with the on-campus ministry.

Difficult circumstances and great faith were also evident in Hyderabad, a city plagued with political turmoil. Public transportation had not been running for several weeks and this played into concert attendance. All of the schools and colleges were supposed to be shut down due to labor strikes related to the political unrest, but two schools remained open under threat of violence in order to host The Gap Theory for evangelistic concerts.

The chancellor at one of the colleges told the band they kept the school open just for the concert, but planned to release the students after the show. Close to 300 college students stayed for the concert and heard the gospel. At least 10 of them indicated a decision to trust Christ, 25 wanted to know more about Christ and 23 others wanted to get involved with the local ministry.

When asked how this international tour compared to others, Ethan said, “The fruitfulness from this tour far exceeded any other trip I’ve been on. We need to be thinking about going back and seeing God do even more.”

Despite the influence of Islam, Hinduism and other religions, the people of India were open to the gospel of Jesus Christ. More than 400 people indicated a decision to begin a relationship with Jesus during the band’s two-week tour and close to 40% of the audiences indicated some sort of turning towards Christ. God is so good! Thank you for being a part of what God is doing around the globe by supporting our ministry prayerfully and financially. You make stories like this possible! God bless!

This summer was stretching in so many ways; it’s taken a few posts to cover it all.

For me (Karl), this was the first time leading the Tech Team. We were a team of 7 staff and students who served the rest of the Conference Team and the people who were attending training courses and conferences.

We struggled with some frustrating problems that had never plagued us before: strange Internet slowness and printer problems were at the top of the list. It was stretching for me to delegate tasks to people when I was tempted to try to do the work myself. I still have a lot to learn about being a team leader!

I’m so thankful for my team: Suzanne, Chris, Jeff, Mike, Chris (also called Peter) and Terin. They were a joy to serve with, and we heard that it was a very friendly and helpful tech team (Suzanne probably deserves much of the credit for that).

Thank you so much for praying for our team – we needed it! It is easy to get buried in the tasks and forget that this is a ministry: we are serving so that God’s people are prepared and refreshed to go and serve more effectively.

One of the highlights of our time in Colorado was the incredible speakers that ministered to us during the US Staff Conference. God was definitely at work through the planning team and the speakers.

The first two mornings we got to hear from Francis Chan, who warned us not to listen to people so much. We need to listen to God and His Word. Are we concerned about our reputations with man, or with God? If someone asked my coworkers and friends about my character, and then was able to ask God about my character, would the two line up? Am I going through the motions without really loving God and His Word more than anything else?

Dr. David Platt brought the closing message from Isaiah 6: 1-8. Even though this is a very familiar passage, Dr. Platt’s message was challenging. We have an incomprehensibly great God who has the nations in his hand. We are a sinfully depraved people. We have a scandalously merciful Savior. And that leads us to an indescribably urgent mission – we need to trust Him with everything and not hold back! It was a great way to close the conference and send us back home with renewed purpose.

Thank you for being a part of the team that keeps us going!