Nicaragua Spring Break '13

Well for starters, our God is sovereign over ALL things. Without the Holy Spirit working in us, transforming us, we would not have been able to share the Word and witness God’s miraculous work in action. Our group of 64 students from Auburn witnessed miracles, the Holy Spirit’s presence, and many MANY prayers answered… and that’s just the brief version of the story. We traveled to two barrios in Nicaragua “Paradise,” and “Marvin,” to evangelize door-to-door in the mornings and led vacation Bible school in the afternoons. In Marvin, we had a team of 6-8 students build a feeding station next to the church, which we later got to see in action! On day four of our time in Nicaragua, we visited a nursing home and orphanage in Leon. After such a busy schedule, you would guess that our team would be worn out by day two, but by day five I don’t think one person felt any less excited as we did when we arrived.

As we left the beautiful country of Nicaragua, I know my heart was not the only heart that sank. We all know that the magnificent work of the Lord did not finish there, and we had excitement to continue in it when we got home. But God’s Word comforts us in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This week’s experience will be one that last a lifetime. We got the privilege to plant seeds of faith in the people of Nicaragua, and also felt the Lord work in us as His love encouraged us and transformed us more and more into His likeness. I think I can speak for each student on the trip when I say that this week was a week we will remember for the rest of our lives.

One other detail I noticed was that the Lord taught us to allow ourselves to be a tool for His work, stretch us to be obedient, and to not doubt His wonders. God answered our prayers and shattered the box that we put Him in, and I personally felt compelled to rest in the fact that our God is the maker of heaven and earth, and that He constantly reminds us that, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9. The reality that the people we met hunger for the Word of God, regardless of their striking stories of hardship, is incredible and humbling. The joy we saw from people coming to faith in Christ and coming to learn about the glory of His name is miraculous and was so encouraging to us. This experience has opened a world of perspectives that we as followers of Christ should have been considering all along in our walk with Jesus.

Sometimes I catch myself in doubt of what the Lord can do in my life, but this week proved to me that these are only doubts in myself, feeling unworthy of His incredible love for His people. I have struggled to understand how God can use us as flawed beings to give His perfect and holy name glory. Well, I think that I can say now that not only did He work in me this week, but I’m starting to notice the way the Lord calls us to be an active tool for His glory here in Auburn. It’s almost as if He is saying something along the lines of “Mary Kate, do you really doubt the author of creation? Forget your sins, your imperfections, and make yourself available to me and my works. I will answer your prayers for a Christ-like life, if you pick up your cross and follow me.” So that’s just it. I know that I once was dead, and now I am a new creation. And honestly, I think I prefer to be dead to the world, full of material and temporary things, than to be dead to the everlasting love, joy and fulfillment of our almighty Father.

So clearly I could ramble on for days, but to sum up this amazing week in Nicaragua, I would have to say we were graciously blessed by the freedom to laugh, freedom from worldly matters, and just free to live in the joy of our God and the unconditional love that He pleasantly covers us in as we seek to find Him even in dark places. His light will always shine here in Auburn, in Nicaragua, and in our hearts as long as we are on this earth.

-Mary Kate McClendon (Sophomore)

Here is a link to a video summary of our week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlF5yWGNao

Welcome to our blog!

We are glad you found us! We wanted to launch this blog as a means to keep students current on what is going on in the minds, ministry, and lives of staff. We also want to communicate what our vision and values are for Auburn. In the following posts, you will hear from a number of staff on many different issues. We hope this blog will be a helpful resource and a joy to read as we look to stay more in tune with each of you. 

To get us kicked off in the blog world, here is a post on what we at Auburn Cru are all about:

AU Cru's Values

Believing the Gospel

The gospel tells us that our root sin is not just failing in our obedience to God but relying on our obedience to save us. Therefore, the gospel is a "third way," neither religion nor irreligion. It is also not just the "A-B-C" but the "A-to-Z" of the Christian life. It's not just the way to enter the kingdom, but is the way to address every problem and to grow at every step. 

Experiencing Christ in Gospel-centered community

The context for a gospel-centered life is never merely individual. The gospel creates a new community, a unique community. "One of the immediate changes that the gospel makes is grammatical: we instead of I; our instead of my; us instead of me." (Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder). This kind of new community is not an optional thing, an "extra" for the Christian; instead it's part of the overall purpose of God's kingdom. This new community is both the end of the gospel and the means of spreading the gospel. 

Growing in Christ-likeness

It is our goal for everyone involved in our ministry to grow in spiritual maturity and to ultimately become more like Christ. 

Stewarding our influence

As the gospel continues to transform us more into the image of Christ, we become more equipped to be agents of God's redemptive blessing among our peers and in our spheres of influence in every aspect of life. We want to be good stewards of whatever influence we have for God's kingdom purposes. 

Developing Student Leaders

We understand that we will never be able to accomplish our mission without developing student leaders. By investing in student leaders, we are multiplying the outreach to their peers and putting the gospel within arm's reach of thousands more students. Leaders will also help equip others to use their unique gifts for ministry. 

Changing the World

We believe that the same Gospel that transforms our lives and communities is powerful enough to actually change the world. As a result of this belief, two characteristics of our ministry are: Reaching campus leaders and leadership groups and having a Global-focus with a special emphasis on pioneering and the strategic cities of the world. 

Mission: To take the message and power of the Gospel within arm's reach of every student at Auburn University and all peoples on earth. 

Basic Strategy: 

-Win lost students to Christ

-Build up students in their faith

-Send students out to play their role in God's redemptive mission

Basic Structure: We aim to do all of the above mainly through Christ-Centered community groups. Our goal is that these groups are student-led and staff mentored. 

We hope this gives you a little better taste of what we at Auburn Cru are all about. We will have many more posts to come so stay tuned to hear from the staff as we blog on what's on our minds!

The Auburn Cru Staff Team