Budapest's Margaret Bridge, the second permanent bridge over the Danube River, was built between 1872 and 1876.

Peaceful. That's how Timea Pasztor described her two dreams about Jesus.

Timea, called Timi, started reading books about witchcraft when she was 14. As a result, her dreams got darker, more soul-stirring, more terrible. So the two dreams Timi had about Jesus struck her like the difference between day and night—and left the now-freshman finance student wanting to know more about Jesus.

When a stranger came to her dormitory at the Financial College in Budapest, Hungary, asking Timi her thoughts about Jesus, she wasn't surprised—just interested. In exchange for filling out a spiritual-interest questionnaire, Campus Crusade for Christ staff member Csilla Meszaros offered Timi a bag. Tucked inside were several items: a CD, a calendar, candy, a pen and a magazine. The magazine, created by the staff members, offered tips on coping as a freshman, funny stories and information on Campus Crusade Hungary, all with an evangelistic intent.

For seven days, staff members distributed these kits on university campuses across Budapest. Over half of the 8,000 kit recipients, including Timi, said they would be interested in learning about a friendship with God.

But before anyone had time to answer Timi's request, she came to the weekly student meeting. That night, Timi placed her faith in Jesus.

"Timi is eager to learn," says Csilla, who mentors Timi. "She wants to study the Bible, learn more about God and do evangelism."
—Jessica Cline

Forerunner intern Natalie Shafer fuels up after visiting a Cleveland campus.

They call themselves forerunners.

In Michigan, traveling by car, Colleen Burch and Natalie Shafer are each forerunners. Visiting churches in Virginia, Tim Holcomb is also a forerunner. And sitting at a computer in Florida, Kerri Louck accomplishes the same purpose: to start ministries on campuses where Campus Crusade for Christ has never been.

In the United States, Campus Crusade staff members serve full time on 130 of the largest campuses. But thousands of campuses have no staff presence at all. Typed up, the list of 4,333 American colleges and universities would fill 94 pages. Thankfully, 20 of those pages are touched through a Campus Crusade strategy called the Catalytic Movement. By phone and over the Internet, staff members coach students on these campuses in how to run a ministry. Although this has created hundreds of new ministries at smaller schools and in metropolitan communities, over 70 symbolic pages full of schools still wait for representation.

"The original vision of Catalytic," says staff member Dan Hardaway, "was to reach 1,000 campuses with 200 staff members. And by 2002, we had launched over 1,000 campuses. Then we hit a plateau."

A ministry is "launched" once it has 10 committed student leaders. But finding even the first student leader takes time. Many Catalytic staff members have their hands full building existing ministries, yet Dan and his team wanted to keep pushing to reach even more campuses. Their efforts became the Forerunner Project.

Near the Great Lakes, Colleen Burch and two Campus Crusade interns began to visit some smaller schools in the surrounding area. In the first four weeks of the fall semester, they traveled 2,215 miles, and conducted 1,099 surveys at eight different schools. The results: 211 students were interested in a personal relationship with Christ; 421 wanted to be in a Bible study.

"The Forerunner staff members do all the initial work for us," says Andy Brandt, Catalytic staff member in Chicago. "There are over a hundred schools in Chicago, and I haven't even heard of half of them, but Forerunner can do a lot of work from a distance and then hand it off to us."

In Virginia, Tim Holcomb visits churches, searching for key leaders to begin ministries. "We want to find students who are already in good churches near the campuses we're trying to reach," says Tim, "and then use them as a springboard to launch new campus ministries."

The forerunners also use a Web site (www.Collegewalk.com) to open new efforts on campuses. Alongside eight other ministries, Campus Crusade helped create the site to connect students with a Christian college group at their school. At first there was no name listed by the schools without Campus Crusade, but now students can contact a forerunner.

For the Northeast, Kerri Louck became the contact person, and soon received an e-mail from Liz Harrison at St. Joseph's College on Long Island.

"I have met at least five people who share a passion [for] spreading Christ in our school," Liz wrote. "I'm new to all this because I attended a small Christian school from kindergarten through 12th grade. I want to start this as soon as possible, so if you could e-mail ASAP that would be great!"

Kerri quickly connected Liz with Campus Crusade staff members in New York. The small band of students started meeting unofficially, taking steps toward becoming a recognized group on campus.

Though small and scattered, the Forerunner group paves the road for new ministries to begin, hoping to reach college students at every campus in the country.
—Becky Hill

In graduate school, Andy Mitchell discovered a different world from his undergraduate experience. At Texas A&M University, far from his Pennsylvania home, Andy's new life was busy and stressful, and his peers were skeptical and cynical. He knew only a few Christians.

So while earning a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, Andy helped start Christian Graduate Student Network, equipped by Campus Crusade's Grad Resources.

"Many grad students will go on to become our nation's leaders and professors, but during their studies, they often feel lonely and isolated," says Nick Repak, director of Grad Resources.

Grad Resources provided books for Andy to use in group studies, highlighting the intellectual side of spiritual matters. As the group grew, some graduates began a study specifically for non-Christians.

One student from China, Yu Li, became a Christian as a result, and her parents also became interested in Christianity.

"When so many [grad] students backslide or hibernate in their faith," says Andy, "it's amazing to me that even 10 of us are thriving in our faith." Over 150 grads have signed up for the group's e-mail list.
—Becky Hill


Missouri
FamilyLife

Children scurried across the lawn and picked up plastic eggs with mysterious objects inside. Members of First Baptist Church in Maysville, Mo., hosted an Easter-egg hunt with spiritual significance.

They used Resurrection Eggs—plastic eggs that come in a carton of 12, each containing an object that helps explain how Jesus was crucified and rose again. The Resurrection Eggs were developed by FamilyLife, the arm of Campus Crusade for Christ focused on building godly families.

Last Easter, FamilyLife's free The Eggstra Easy Egg Hunt Hosting Handbook was downloaded 73,388 times. Also, 120,000 cartons of Resurrection Eggs were sold. "Lots of spiritual seeds were planted," says Julie Majors, FamilyLife staff member. "We know from the 627 surveys that have come in so far that at least 318 children accepted Christ."

As a result of First Baptist's egg hunt, 16 new adults attended church the next day. "We had a record 27 kids for our children's church service during worship," wrote church member Sue Bridgman. "We are going to make this an annual event."
—Jennifer Abegg
Visit www.familylife.com/eggs/downloads.asp for more information.


Botswana
Campus Ministry

While the crew at the projectors changed the reel to continue the JESUS film showing, Seabelo Maje looked at the sea of 500 faces before him. Young children, dressed in colorful jackets and pants for a cold winter evening outside, were excited to watch a movie on a big screen. Most of the movie watchers, however, were young teenagers, clustered in groups.

Just as another college student did before him, Seabelo began to tell a short version of how he met Jesus. He'd told about his spiritual journey one-to-one before, but never to a group this size.

"The confidence I had to speak came from realizing I had something valuable to share," says the ophthalmologist-to-be.

So Seabelo, 11 other students, and one staff member involved in Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Botswana traveled to the town of Maun for a mission trip. Though 620 miles away, JESUS film-team members invited them to help. —Angie Bring


At A Glance
News In Brief

MILITARY MINISTRY | Since Sept. 11, 2001, Campus Crusade for Christ's Military Ministry has distributed 835,500 Rapid Deployment Kits. Each kit contains a New Testament, a devotional guide and an evangelistic Four Spiritual Laws booklet, all packaged in a pocket-size waterproof bag. For more information about the kits or Military Ministry, visit www.milmin.org or phone 1-800-444-6006.

LIFEBUILDERS | Through a partnership with Campus Crusade for Christ's FamilyLife ministry, LifeBuilders now provides mentors for couples who have attended FamilyLife Marriage Conferences in various cities. If you are interested in mentoring couples in marriage and the Christian life, please call LifeBuilders at (817) 540-2222, visit www.lifebuildersnet.org, or send an e-mail to Life-Builders@ccci.org.

INTERNET | A coalition of Christian organizations has named Sunday, April 24, Internet Evangelism Day. The goal: to inform believers of the World Wide Web's potential for outreach. For information, visit http://ied.gospelcom.net.