Remember Who You Are

Earlier tonight, I was watching The Lion King with one of my roommates. Dana and I were pretty excited because we turned it on right before the "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" scene, which is one of the best love scenes in any movie ever. (Sidenote: Only Disney could make an excellent love scene with talking lions.) I was casually watching after that was over, mindlessly quoting every line with Dana, not expecting any lessons to be learned, until it came to the scene posted above.


"That's not my father, that's just my reflection."
"No, look harder... You see, he lives in you."

I quoted these lines and then realized exactly what I said. Yes, I understand that whoever wrote this movie may not have intentionally put these lines in so that Christians would connect it to the Gospel, but there's so much Gospel verbiage packed into this one scene that it's hard not to draw a parallel. 

Simba was the rightful king, but had not been living as such. He was the king's son, but had disregarded his responsibilities--in fact, he literally ran away from them. When he looked in the water, he only saw himself and was quite disappointed with the reflection. 

Rafiki knows who he is, though, and sees the potential Simba has if he would live as the person (or lion) he really is. He urges Simba to look harder. To see past the failing reflection of himself. To see that the king lives inside him. To see who he really is because the king lives in him.

"Simba, you have forgotten who you are."

"No, how could I?"

"You have forgotten who you are and so forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. ...Remember who you are. You are my son. The one true king. Remember who you are."

Do you see the correlation here? We are Simba. Oftentimes, we look in the pond and just see a reflection of ourselves. We see the shame and guilt of our sin. We see our failures. We may even see our vain successes. We see the hidden dark places that no one else knows about. We see ourselves as though we are not sons and daughters of the king.

But we are the sons and daughters of the king! Too often, we don't live as though we are co-heirs with Christ. We live like we're convicted fellons in the dungeon, wallowing in our sin. This was true of our lives at one point, but not once we were adopted by The King. Paul says, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19).

Don't forget who you are, and therefore forget who God is. You are the Lord's. Because of Christ's love and sacrifice for us, you have been forgiven and washed clean from all of your sins. Look in the pond, past the failing reflection of yourself and see the reflection of Christ and His shed blood in your place. Living in you. That's how the Father sees you!

You are THE King's son or daughter. Words can't even begin to describe how truly amazing that is, but as Uncle Ben says, "With great power comes great responsibility." Because we are heirs, we have a responsibility to strive to live as Christ did (emphasis on the word "strive"). The more we try to live as He did, the more grace we will experience from Him, the more grace we will be able to give out, and the more like Him we will become. We will fail and He will forgive us (but to clarify: that does not give us free reign to intentionally sin just so that grace may abound). It is the great circle of life.

You were bought with a price. You are redeemed. You are forgiven. You have been washed clean. You are a co-heir with Christ. You are a citizen with the saints in the household of God. You are loved by the Creator of love. Remember who you are. Live according to who you are, not who you were.

Let the Mountains Move

Some of my current favorite lyrics are from a song called Waiting Here for You by Christy Nockles. She sings, "If faith can move the mountains, let the mountains move. We come with expectations, waiting here for You." I just think that's so powerful. Jesus says in Matthew 17:20 that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can tell a mountain to move and it will move. These lyrics, to me, are proclaiming, "Lord, I have faith in You. I'm trusting that You will do big things. I'm expecting big things from You, so let the mountains move." That's a bold request, but we serve the God that created the universe and breathed life into us. Why shouldn't we expect big things?

I say all of that to kind of give a little background for what happened on campus yesterday. I partnered up with Chris for the day and we decided to split up and have some time with the Lord to start the day off on the right foot. To begin my time, I listened to Waiting Here for You and then went on to read in Psalms. After that, I was just praying for campus and was inspired by the song and Jesus' words in Matthew, so I prayed a bold prayer that we would see someone come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Chris and I go through the rest of the day and have a few good conversations with students at the Fashion Institute of Technology, but we don't see anyone start a relationship with the Lord. I just trusted that our conversations planted or helped water seeds.

We go back to the office for team debriefing, where we talk about how our day went, things the Lord is teaching us, etc. Two people talk about how they had met this girl last week and got a chance to catch up with her again this week. They were able to share the Gospel with her and she accepted Christ! I was so excited. We have a new sister in Christ that we may never meet on earth, but we'll spend an eternity with her in Heaven. That's SUCH a cool thought!

A few other people share about their day when it finally hits me. I prayed for that girl! The mountains moved! I can't describe how incredible that experience was, but it really showed me the power of prayer. So! Here's my challenge to you: pray for the Lord to move mountains. Pray for this City. Pray for your friends, your coworkers, your own self. Just pray and see what God does.

Jehovah Jireh

I made it back to NYC! This time, I'm here as student staff, so my role is partially the same, but also different. I'll be leading a Bible study this year and I'm discipling two girls. I'm really looking forward to seeing how God is going to move in the City, in my team, and in myself as well!

The road to New York City hasn't been a nicely paved one. There have been many obstacles, but God has taught me a lot about His provision through the whole process. I had been looking for a job for over a year, but there wasn't really anything that fit in my schedule. I decided to move off campus for the upcoming school year and really needed to start working to save up for bills in the future, so being jobless was no longer be an option. Miraculously, God provided the perfect job. It gives me money to pay future bills, gets me experience in my field of study, provides a place to co-op, and also gets me more in contact with non-believers. Also, getting the job really solidified my plans of going to New York. I would have had to have worked during the summer, but OfficeMax let me take off for 4 weeks. Praise God!

Raising support for the trip was another issue for me for a long time. I had to raise around $4,000 and it just wasn't really coming in. So, here I am, one week before I leave, still needing about half, and not knowing what I'm going to do. That day, I realize that I hadn't really been using the best resource I can get my hands on: prayer. I prayed with full assurance that God knew what He was doing and that He would provide for me what I needed. Within the next couple days I received almost the full amount of what I needed and by the time I left for Project, I had the whole amount. It was insane.

Last year during one of our meetings here in New York, we did a study on different names of God--one being Jehovah Jireh, which means the Lord will provide. It really caught my attention for whatever reason and has just stuck with me since then. Over the past year, I've really seen His sovereign hand at work providing for me and others around me. It's truly amazing.

So, I say all that to say this: I canNOT wait to see how God provides for us while we're here in the City. I know He's up to something and I'm looking forward to finding out what that is.

This is My Story, This is My Song

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved!"
 -Ephesians 2:4-5

From Death to Life on a Good Friday

For the past two years, God has really captivated me on Good Friday and I just can’t seem to get the scenes from the Passion of the Christ out of my head. Some would consider that a terrible thing, but I along with many others, know it’s a great thing.

To you, that may be a sickening thought. There’s nothing pretty about a man being beaten and forced to carry a heavy cross through a town and up a hill just to have people drive nails through his hands and feet. You’re completely right. There’s nothing pretty about it; it’s beautiful.

Perhaps that evoked another nauseous feeling. It’s only beautiful when you think of who Jesus was (and is) and who we are. Jesus is God (see the entire Bible for references). That’s a seemingly simple sentence, but it’s packed with more meaning than I can describe. Jesus is perfect. He is worthy. True love.  He is the Way. The Truth. The Life. The Creator. Without blemish. He is the Good Shepherd—He will lay down His life for His sheep (us), even when wolves come, and He will leave 99 sheep to go find 1. He was dead… but He is alive.

We are sinful. Another small sentence packed with meaning. We not only turned our backs on God when He created us and gave us life and fellowship with Himself, but we ran as far as we could. We are in constant rebellion against God. We choose to be disobedient towards God—the One that wants the best for us, that gives us hope, and a future. We are shackled and enslaved to our sin. We are separated from God by a chasm that we could never jump or build a bridge over because of all of these things. We are in need of a Redeemer, a Savior.  We are dead.

Here’s why Jesus’ beating and crucifixion was (and still is) beautiful: despite our nasty shortcomings, God still loved us enough to send His Son from Heaven to live on Earth in human form—100% man and 100% God—among people that despised and persecuted Him. He lived the perfect life and we crucified Him, but that was God’s plan all along. The cross is the only thing that can bridge the chasm that our sin created between us and God.

God’s entire cup of wrath—righteously meant for us—was completely poured on Jesus at the cross, without a drop spared. Because of this, our fellowship with God is restored. He gives us life. He looks on us and sees us covered in Jesus’ blood and has adopted us into His family. Nothing will ever separate us from His family either. Not death, not life, angels nor rulers, things present nor things to come, powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us. He gives us His Spirit to live inside us and continually make us more like Christ. That’s great news!

More great news: it's open to everyone. Not just people that look like they have their life together. Not just people that are nice and "live good lives." Not just the rich, not just the middle class, and not just the poor. Everyone. We have to respond to this, though. We must choose to either continue in our rebellious ways or admit that we are in need of a Savior to redeem us from our sins against God and believe that Christ’s grace and mercy is more than enough to cover all of our iniquities.

If you have admitted and believed this in your life, I would encourage you to not let yourself become desensitized to this message. You need it every day, every hour, every minute, every second.

If you have never admitted and believed this message, I would love to talk to you more about it! Please email me at:

Stephanie_Scrivne1@mymail.eku.edu

Happy Good Friday!

Resting on the Everlasting Arms of our Lord

"The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms."

-Deuteronomy 33:27

This is Hillary's favorite Bible verse. One of her favorite qualities about God is that He is everlasting--a really mind blowing quality when you stop and think about what everlasting means. She led my Bible study with Jordan my freshman year at Eastern and passed away a year ago today. 

There are SO many things to say about Hillary. She was inspiring. Bubbly. Had a huge heart for the lost. Was real (in more than one way... haha shout-out to the R.E.A.L. Women). Godly. Gave the best hugs. Was my zombie mom on spring break. Genuinely cared about everyone. This doesn't really even begin to touch the surface of Hillary, but I think it gives a decent start to understanding her.

She taught me so many things. She didn't just teach me through words what a Godly relationship looks like, she lived it out. She taught me Jesus was radical, and that completely blew my mind. I was taken aback when she said that we should be radical because Jesus was. I see myself learning from her still, to this day.

One of the best and most memorable Bible studies I've ever been to was when we talked about Heaven. I'm pretty sure the topic that night wasn't necessarily supposed to be Heaven, but we somehow got there. At that point, I had seen Hillary excited, but she was at least 10 times more excited when she started talking about Heaven. She was giddy! It was great. I left that night with a better eternal perspective, more desire to know the Lord and what He had in store for me, and a book recommendation (Heaven by Randy Alcorn -- I just started it and it's fantastic). That's just one of the zillion things she and Jordan taught me freshman year. I couldn't have asked for a better pair of leaders. Only God could have pulled them together and then placed me in their group.

I remember at the memorial service we had for her on the first day of school, we sang "Our God" by Chris Tomlin. We sang, "Our God is greater, our God is stronger. God you are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power."

Singing that song in a time like that just really struck me. In my opinion, you'll only find joy and worship during a trial in a Christian community--people whose hearts are being captivated by Christ. People that understand and trust the words when it says later in the song, "If our God is for us then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against?" (see Romans 8:31).

Hillary was one person that understood that. She recognized that there is a God and He is holy, without flaw. That we were created to have fellowship with God, but that fellowship was broken because of our sin. That God saw this brokenness and restored it Himself, because nothing we could ever do on our own-no amount of good deeds, no church going, nor how "good" we are-would ever be able to restore this relationship. So He sent His son Jesus to earth to live a life that was without sin and die on the cross, taking God's wrath when we are the ones that deserve it. And if we place our faith in Jesus and believe that He not only died, but rose again, we will have everlasting life in Heaven.

That's how I know Hillary is in Heaven. That's how I know I'll see her again one day. And that's why my brothers and sisters in Christ and I can sing songs like "Our God" and "It Is Well With My Soul" in times of sorrow.

Love and miss you, Hillary!

If you would like to know more, I would love to tell you more! Email me at:

stephanie_scrivne1@mymail.eku.edu

It's Over?!

That was the fastest and best 5 weeks of my life. It truly was incredible!

Many of you, I'm sure have a lot of questions about what I did exactly. Our daily schedule looked something like this:

• Wake up/eat/get ready for the day
• TWL (Time with the Lord)
• Meeting/training
• Lunch
• Campus time
• Meeting or group dinner

I really appreciated having Quiet Time (QT, TWL, whatever you'd like to call it) built into our schedule. One thing I learned over the summer is that it's best to have this time in the morning because it gets your day started off right (or it does mine at least). I used to have my QT at night, thinking it's a good way to end your day, but many times I would be so tired that I wouldn't get anything out of it and if I did get something out of it, I would fall asleep quickly and not meditate on it at all. When you having this time in the morning, you can meditate on it all day.

Our morning meetings differed from day to day. The first week we were refreshed on how to use Cru's evangelism tools: Soularium, Perspective Cards, and the Knowing God Personally booklet. We were also trained on how to lead small group Bible studies, talked about God's heart for the world, how to interact best with international students, how to study the Bible, etc. 

Tuesday mornings were different though. We would still have a morning meeting, but it was not a training time necessarily. We had a time of Prayer, Praise, and Celebration that the Prayer Team was in charge of. I was privileged to be part of the Prayer Team and helped plan this time every week. It was great! I learned a lot from the planning process as well as the actual meeting Tuesday mornings.

On to campus time. We were split into two missional teams that covered 4 different campuses: Brooklyn College, City College, Queens College, and New York University. I was stationed at NYU all but two days during the summer--I went to Brooklyn College twice. As I stated in a previous post, ministry was really hard to do there. It was difficult to find students--we had to go to Washington Square Park, in the midst of the campus, because non-students could literally not get into the buildings. We got rejected a lot by students and non-students--some because they probably thought we were trying to sell them something, some because they didn't have enough time, some because they just simply did not want to talk to us.

Monday evenings we would have our Monday Night Meetings (MNM). These were events open to the public held in our office space. These meetings were like our regular Cru meetings on Thursday nights at Eastern. We had a fantastic praise and worship band, a wonderful emcee, and great speakers every week. We talked about being captivated by Christ, being changed together by Christ, being compelled to express love and life with others, and choosing Christ over everything else. As you can tell, our conversations were Christ-centered and Gospel-rich. It was great!

Overall, my experience in New York was fantastic. I am so blessed to have been able to go on this trip and if you supported me through prayer or financially, I cannot explain how much I appreciate it. Our group shared the Gospel no less than 90 times--those were only the ones that we for sure remembered as we were tallying at the end. You were a part of that! And even though we didn't see anyone make a decision for Christ, there's a whole other spiritual world that we don't see how the Lord is working in! The seeds have been planted and God will water and grow them in His own timing. 

I have learned a TON over this summer and I am currently processing it all. As I do this, I plan on sharing what all I have learned on here. So plan on checking back!

ps- While in New York, I walked no less than 150.48 miles. Assuming my stride length was set correctly and not adding in the times that I couldn't wear my pedometer. That's a lot!

Incredible.

Project is already halfway over! I feel like I just got here yesterday, but at the same time I also feel like I have been here for a forever. In just two and a half weeks of being here on mission, I can say it's been the most incredible summer of my life. Not only are we sharing the Gospel, but we're also getting to do "New York" things--Broadway plays, pizza, different culture dinners, and hanging out in the city in our free time.

This past Wednesday, our group went to see The Phantom of the Opera and it was phan(tom)tastic. (Yes, I do realize that was a really lame pun.) Moving on! It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I would go back and see it any day of the week. The special effects were great and the phantom was spectacular. It was great to experience the musical live in a theater--the way it was originally created to be seen.

I have found that it's really hard to do ministry here, but at the same time it's good for me. It has helped me learn to be dependent on God. In Kentucky, I have realized that I tend to try and do everything by my own power, which is not the way a Christian is supposed to operate. It's definitely not the way you can operate in New York City.

The people here are normally pretty open-minded, but not necessarily open-hearted. A lot of people seem to think that you're trying to sell them something when you go up to talk to them--understandable because a lot of people have tried to sell us things (including in my discipleship time last week). If you are able to get into a conversation with them, they're usually very willing to tell us their thoughts on God and spirituality, but they haven't been very receptive to the Gospel. It's heartbreaking, but we must understand that our job is to go out and share through the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the rest to God. Just plant the seeds and let God water and grow it.

Sometimes it's hard to keep your head up high when you've been rejected so much, but a couple verses come to mind:

"But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how 

can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without

a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?"

-Romans 10:14-15

Much, much worse than getting rejected is a soul spending an eternity apart from God. We all need to proclaim the Gospel, whether on a mission trip or not, because how can they believe if they don't hear about the Savior? 

New York University

Yesterday was our first day on campus! It was a great day weather-wise as well as being able to talk to people.

Our project covered four different campuses: Queens College, Brooklyn College, City College, and my group went to New York University. NYU already has a Campus Crusade, which will be great for students that we will be talking to this summer. We can direct them to an organization that we know is solid and will give them a place they can feel comfortable and grow in their faith.

Yesterday, our ministry objective was to "decode" our respective campuses. We had questionnaires to fill out, asking questions about the campus. We did this get to know the campus--where the hangout spots are, what the spiritual climate is like, etc. Ministry is going to be somewhat difficult at NYU because you can't physically get into the buildings without a student/faculty i.d. card. You can't even use the restroom at the on campus Starbucks without an i.d. card. I have complete faith in God that He will provide us a good place for great opportunities though!

In talking to these people yesterday, it gave me a good perspective about how many lost people there are on the campus and a small dose of how many there are in the city. The students that we talked to said they think most students on NYU's campus are open to talking about spiritual things. Going deeper though, it seemed that the general student population was already set in their religious beliefs and were mostly just open to having an intellectual conversation about these things where ideas were exchanged, but nothing more was done.

Honestly, it was somewhat disheartening. One girl told us that people didn't want to step on anyone else's toes. She also told us that there was a Muslim Center and Jewish Center on campus, but couldn't tell us for sure if there was a Christian center. Even though it is disheartening to hear these things, it's exciting to be working for the advancement of the Gospel here. We could share the Gospel with a future president, business tycoon, pop star, or any sort of positions that could have a huge influence on people.

Today, we went back to NYU to use one of our evangelism tools called Soularium. This is a survey asking five questions that the person answers using one of the fifty 4 x 6 photographs in front of them. The survey is geared to help you get into spiritual conversations with anyone ranging from strangers to your closest friends. It's a great tool that my roommate Katie and I got to use with several people today.

We asked one girl if she had time and wanted to take our picture survey and she said yes! We went through the survey and found out that she had really been turned off by the church, I think largely due to legalism. We asked her what her spiritual life was like and she said she was just searching for truth. Little did she know, we had The Truth. Through that confession, we were able to share the Gospel with her. She didn't accept it, but I think she is very close. I'm praying that we will see her again and be able to talk to her for a longer amount of time! My hope is that you will pray for her as well. That she will find and accept The Truth.

I'm looking forward to watching and being a part of what God is going to do in New York City the next 4 1/2 weeks!

NYC Tip #1: Don't Turn Right On Red

New York City! It's a completely different place than Richmond, KY. Obviously, it's much much bigger, area and population-wise. You can do crazy things here and no one even thinks about it while in Richmond, you would probably get laughed out of the city. The laws are even different!

One of our first experiences in NYC was getting pulled over by not one, but two police cars. Why? We turned right on a red light. This was such a foreign concept to us and I'll admit it was all my fault. I was telling Ashley (my sister) to go and she was hesitant, but I kept on and so she went and about 5 seconds later, there are sirens. It was hilarious to me, but not so much for her. It was the first time she had ever gotten pulled over. It takes a special person to get pulled over in New York City, Home of the Worst Drivers Ever. ; ) She was a good sport though, and the policemen were as well. No warnings, tickets, or "summons" as they called them.

Monday and Tuesday were days filled with sightseeing, good eats, and ballet. It was really cool to see everything "in real life" opposed to on a screen. The only advantage to seeing it on a screen is your feet and legs won't hurt from walking. In those two days, we walked nearly 13 miles. It was insane. I'm keeping a pedometer on me for the whole summer to see how far I walk. Expect updates! (So far, I'm at 69,483 steps and 24.04 miles.)

Wednesday is when the project began. My roommates are great! It's going to make living here for five weeks a cake walk. Everyone else is great too, including staff! We're going to have a wonderful summer together.

Since then, we went on a photo scavenger hunt around the city to get acquainted with it, took a bus tour, had Crumbs cupcakes, and had training on our different evangelism tools. Monday is when we go out to the campuses and start planting (big) apple seeds! I'm pumped. There are so many lost people here. It's given me a good view of how in need the world as a whole is. I'm really excited to see how the Lord works in the city this summer.

Thank you for any and all support through finances and/or prayer! I really appreciate it.

2 Thessalonians 3: 1-2

"Finally, pray for us, brothers, that the Lord's message may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not all have the faith."

 -2 Thessalonians 3:1-2.

I've been asking not only for financial support to go to New York City, but more importantly for support through prayer. I read the verses above last night before I went to bed and realized this is exactly what needs to be prayed--not only for me, but for every missionary.

The whole reason I'm going to New York is to spread the Gospel so that people's lives will be changed eternally. If this trip isn't bathed in prayer, chances are: it's not going to be very advantageous.

If you would like to support me and other summer/full-time missionaries through prayer, here's a quick list of things that you can pray for:

• Safety getting there
• Safety while there
• Opened hearts 
• Lives to be changed eternally, for the Glory of God
• Boldness to share the Gospel

I can't say it any better than this sermon jam by Matt Chandler. Watch and listen! It's great.

The Via Dolorosa

"Via Dolorosa by Leeland

He traded His crown for a crown of thorns
He picked up His cross and laid down His sword
He stumbled down the road, bruised and beaten for me
Jesus walked the way of grief
Hallelujah!

On the via dolorosa
All my sin was carried away
And the power of hell was broken
As He gave His life away

He knew it was to come from the very start
But His love for all the world beat inside His heart
He climbed the road of suffering to the hill of calvary
Where the saints would be redeemed
Hallelujah!

Jesus fixed His eyes upon the new horizon
Soon He would arise, and the world would be forgiven
Hallelujah, Jesus rose again!
On the cross He shed His blood at calvary
And I'm thankful for the journey of my King
On the via dolorosa

Today is Good Friday. The day we celebrate Christ walking down the via dolorosa--a path that led to His death (for a few days). I was thinking earlier and realized I've never really celebrated it. My friends and I watched The Passion of the Christ last night, a movie that I had never seen. I never realized what "beaten" actually meant, and to be honest, I still don't fully understand what He went through, but I have a better idea now.

If you watch the video I posted up above, you'll see two men beating Jesus and laughing while they're doing it. That was me. That was you. Our sin is what forced that nail in His hand, in His feet. Isaiah 53:5 says, "But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities."

Here's the good news for us in the second part of that verse:
"Punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds."

Verse 6 goes on to say, "We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all." (emphasis added)

We turned our backs on God in the beginning, yet God sent His own Son down to earth to live a perfect and pleasing life to God so that He would die and be the only perfect sacrifice. And conquer death three days later. And if we so choose to accept this free gift that the Lord has blessed us with, we not only get the Holy Spirit within us on earth, but we get assurance of eternal life in Heaven.

This is the reason I'm going to New York City this summer. I want people to understand all of this and live their lives for God.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him may not perish, but have eternal life. -John 3:16

Why New York?

As my last post said, I'm going to be living in New York City for 5 weeks of this summer. I'm so excited! I've never been to the Big Apple before, so it's a little nerve-racking to think about being in such a big city, but it's going to be a great adventure.

I'm going to be going to some different campuses there in NYC to share the Gospel with students. That's also nerve-racking. Even though in America we don't really get physically persecuted for being Christian or trying to help someone see the Light, we still face rejection from loved ones. This really shouldn't slow us down--Christ was rejected. A lot. And He still is. And when I read about martyrs, it makes me realize how blessed I am to live in this country and inspires me to be bolder in my faith. Jesus gave His life so I would be saved from hell and the shackles of sin. The least I could do is devote my life to Him, right?

So that's why I'm going to New York! I want to devote my life to Him and I want to use this summer to go to a place that needs to know Him. I'm in a place in my life where I may never be able to do this again--just take off for 5 weeks in the summer, go to NYC, and proclaim the Gospel to the students there. I don't want to waste another summer.

Throughout the summer, I'll be randomly updating this blog with pictures and videos, lessons I've learned, experiences, etc. So be sure to keep on checking the site!

Here's a great worship song that you should listen to. =]
We Were Made For You - Aaron Gillespie

God Bless,
 Stephanie

Seeds in NYC

Dear Blog Reader,

                This year I am a sophomore at Eastern Kentucky University. Last semester I changed my major to Graphic Communications Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship. I love it so far! Also at school, I am involved in a ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). It’s a great organization that has challenged and equipped me to walk closer with God and share my faith boldly. This year, I have had the pleasure of serving the Lord by leading the Outreach Team through Cru. It’s been a joy in my life since we began in August!

                At the beginning of last semester, my Bible study leader Jordan asked me how I was going to use the upcoming summer. She and I both realized the question was a little odd—summer had just gotten over with, but at the same time it was necessary. The rest of the semester I was wrestling with the question. I knew I wanted to use my summer for God’s glory, but I didn’t know exactly how or where that meant. During a winter conference I went to over Christmas break through Crusade, I realized I wanted to go on a summer project. A few days following the conference, I applied to the New York City summer project and a couple weeks later I was accepted!

I will spend 5 weeks of this summer in New York City with other students from campuses around the country. There are over 100 college campuses in New York City and we will be spending our time going to some of them and reaching out to the students. These students come from all over the world with different ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. This is a major benefit of going to NYC. It gives a unique opportunity to reach a student from an unreached or closed nation. That reached student will hopefully bring it back to their home and begin a Christian movement there. You can potentially reach the entire world from one city!

                In order to participate in this summer project, I will need to raise $4100 to cover the costs. To meet this need, I am asking that you partner with me in two different ways. The first way is through prayer and the second is to support me financially. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with me in this ministry in one or both of those ways?

Whatever amount the Lord leads you to is the right amount. All gifts are tax-deductible and checks should be made out to Campus Crusade for Christ. However, if the Lord does not lead you to be part of my support team, I would greatly appreciate prayer as I raise support and while I’m in New York.

Thank you for your consideration in helping me reach people for Christ in New York City this summer. 

God bless!

Stephanie Scrivner

My Bible study leader, Jordan, and me at
our Bible Study Christmas party.