For the last several years I have been working in the People and Culture Department of Cru, serving on the national team for the campus ministry. Our team serves our staff through onboarding missionaries, training and development, and care. Additionally, I’ve had the opportunity to serve on some special project teams over the last few years—one being the Discipleship Pathway Project. This project was an incredible undertaking across all of Cru to develop a new discipleship pathway that can be easily transferable. We collaborated with over 20 authors, editors, and designers, and conducted 9 months of field testing (with our missionaries and community/church members). We are excited to launch the Discipleship Pathway officially in October 2026!
As support/capacity staff, we hope to care for our field missionaries, help them when they’re stuck, and see them grow in their skills and spiritually as they serve the Lord. In the last 2 years, we’ve seen a significant rise in our student movements across the nation, with more students indicating salvation decisions, growing student movements of involved disciples, and increased missionaries sent to the world (year over year). It’s an exciting time to be working with college students, and it’s refreshing to see a new generation that is spiritually interested.
While beta testing the discipleship pathway, I’ve been collecting stories from the field about their interaction with the content and their experience leading others through the pathway. My team and I were so encouraged to see the Discipleship Pathway (beta version) not only have a significant impact on campus, but we also learned of a few community members taking it into prison ministry. Their story greatly encouraged us that the Lord will use this resource across multi-generational communities, in the church, and across the world. This is a huge reason [for encouragement]. In presenting the initial beta version, we also had many international leaders eager to translate it into their language and utilize it to help believers grow in their walk and be challenged to share their faith.
This past year, I sensed the Lord asking me to consider other opportunities with Cru – specifically leadership roles that are more field-focused. One of my top strengths is strategy and I am excited to move into a leadership role as one of the Faculty/Grad national mission directors for the Faculty/Grad ministry (formerly Faculty Commons). The Faculty/Grad ministry specifically ministers to professors and grad students to win, build, and send to the world. Professors have a unique and influential impact on their students in academia. As founder of Cru, Dr. Bill Bright quotes “If I could start Campus Crusade for Christ [Cru] over again, I would start with professors.” Faculty/Grad is likely one of the most strategic ways to reach the campus today and the world tomorrow. I am excited to engage in leadership with this ministry to help provide direction as we continue to build faculty/grad movements across the world.
“Amid the incessant pressure of grant deadlines, grading, prepping new lectures, and tweaking my curriculum vitae, it’s easy to forget that I am part of a grand story being written by the living Christ. The team at Faculty Commons resources and encourages me to live out my role in God’s story on my campus.” Jeff Hardin, Raymond E. Keller Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin—Madison
Pray for wisdom for me as I step into this new role. I desire to utilize my gifts to help uplift the Faculty/Grad ministry toward growth in new believers, involved professors, and engaged grad students. I’ll be in the process of learning the ministry – please pray for a gracious and learning mindset. Before stepping into this new leadership role, I need to increase my ministry partner team and financial support. I have never developed new financial support alone (without my husband) so this task feels big. Please pray for courage and strength for me to spend the necessary time developing this foundation for my ministry. Personally, please pray for my children (Sawyer, Reagan, and Cooper) as they continue on their own faith journeys. Pray they would each take up their cross and follow Jesus (and understand what that means for them). Additionally, Aaron and I are so blessed by the Lord for 25 years of marriage together! Praise God! Please pray for protection over our marriage and family. The next season of parenthood is exciting but feels like it’s running at a sprint’s pace. We genuinely desire for time to slow down so we can be in tune with His calling over our family, especially before making big decisions.
