Karl & Liesl Kranich

The Keynote Summer Project is officially over–the project celebration banquet was Tuesday night.  God did great things this summer in and through the students!  If you’d like to read some of the stories that students sent in throughout their tours, check out ksptours.info.

There’s a new link on our sidebar: Where to Donate Cord Blood.

If you don’t know what this is about, start with our post called Saving Lives with Umbilical Cord Blood.

That’s how long I (Liesl) have been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.  What an awesome privilege it’s been.  Thanks to all of you who have been a part, some of you from the very beginning, when a new UF graduate called you and asked you to join her in ministry.  You’ve supported me through 7 years serving our overseas staff with International Ministries, and Karl and me together since 1998 with his service in meeting the CCC world technology needs.  You’ve prayed for us and been God’s provision for our daily needs and encouraged us through our hard times.  I can’t tell you how blessed we feel to be allowed to serve God long-term and to be cared for by such a wonderful team of people.

I can tell you why we feel so blessed, though.  The year is different, but the vision they share is the same one that led me to join CCC 15 years ago.  Our student bands are now on the road and emailing back some amazing updates.  Please pray for our students to grow as they reach others for Christ.

Young Isaac 7/2008:  “We’ve had some quirkiness so far, but it hasn’t been anything that God hasn’t gotten us through, so even though we’ve had a hiccup or two, it hasn’t stopped us from reaching the world for Christ. We’ve presented the gospel to over 150 people and have had over 30 say they want to know more about God and have had at least 12 say they are now brothers and sisters in Christ. We will be heading to Boston, NYC, New Jersey, and Upstate NY in the next week, so pray for us…”

Mangofish 7/21/08:  “… we traveled to Medora, North Dakota, with the Badlands summer project, where we played in the city’s center square! We had a big turnout, with people wandering up after hearing the music from other places in town. One girl named Rachel said that she started a relationship with Christ that night, which was especially exciting to the people on the Medora summer project who have been building a relationship with her. A man named Rod shared with us the story of how he had grown up in the church, but wandered away after a terrible injury. After even more personal (and recent) tragedies, on the night of our concert, he was driving through North Dakota and felt God calling him to go to Medora. He stopped and came to our show, where, as we were tearing down, he approached us. Sarah, one of our vocalists, got to pray for him, and he said he felt greatly encouraged and revived.

“Right now we’re in Great Falls, Montana, at the Malmstrom Air Force Base. This is our third day here, with one show last night, and another in a few hours.  Last night, we took the place of the base’s casual church service and our audience commented they were especially grateful to hear a non-country music concert. … Tomorrow we’re leaving for Yellowstone, to work with the summer project there.”

Soulseed 7/21/08:  “our first concert was an evangelistic set at a church in st. louis.  it was awesome.  the church itself used to be a synagogue.  the black church bought it over 100 years ago, but they left it in its original state.  there are still stars of David in the windows.  the concert was amazing.  the enemy definitely tried to throw us off.  the sound system started acting up even though it was fine during sound check.  a couple mics stopped working and a speaker started to smoke.  turns out that we were plugged into the same circuit as the fluorescent lights.  but regardless of that mess, nine people gave their lives to Christ.  one boy wrote on his comment card - i really really need Jesus. it was so heartwarming.”

Level 3:16 7/24/08:  “So far, we have had much success on the road.  We have had four evangelistic concerts and 30 people have made decisions to know Christ personally! The comments on the comment cards have been so encouraging, not only do people love the music, but we’ve had youth writing things like, “your testimony made me cry.  After hearing it I really had to examine my life and I ended up rededicating myself to the Lord”.  How awesome is our God?! A way that you all can be praying for us is to pray that we don’t grow weary in well-doing. So far, we have had such a hectic schedule that we haven’t gotten much sleep and when we do, it’s not necessarily the most restful sleep, I’m sure ALL of you can relate to that!  LOL.

Please pray for the summer project bands as they head out on tour from July 17 to August 3.  Here they are…

Tim Keller wrote an excellent article for the Spring edition of Leadership Journal titled, “The Gospel in All its Forms“.

I’ll just tease you with the last paragraph:

Today there are many who doubt that there is just one gospel. That gives them the warrant to ignore the gospel of atonement and justification. There are others who don’t like to admit that there are different forms to that one gospel. That smacks too much of “contextualization,” a term they dislike. They cling to a single presentation that is often one-dimensional. Neither of these approaches is as true to the biblical material, nor as effective in actual ministry, as that which understands that the Bible presents one gospel in several forms.