Sam On Mission - SDSU Launch Week 2022

SPECIAL NOTE:
I apologize for this newsletter for being so long, but a whole lot happened recently and I wanted to share it with you. 😃 I tried my best to make it skimmable (is that a word?).

I’d love to hear which was your favorite part!

This was a crazy busy week!

September 2022

Here’s What Made This the Busiest Week Ever

Well, maybe not “ever”, but it was pretty busy. This last week was what we call “Launch Week” at SDSU (San Diego State University). We have another Launch Week in a couple of weeks at UCSD (University of California San Diego), so pray for extra doses of energy, focus, and drive for the team!

The SDSU Launch took a lot of preparation meetings with staff, student leaders, and volunteers. From then it was event after event to get students (local and international) involved. Here are some highlights:

Student Leader Huddle

At the end of the last school year Certain students were elected as Student Leaders (SL’s) in Cru at SDSU. 2 Thursdays ago, we all gathered to discuss the vision for the year and develop strategies to reach out to the student body. It was a really refreshing, but busy meeting.

SDSU Student Leaders gathered for the pre-fall huddle

There are different roles for these students and 3 students became Bridges SL’s whose goal is to serve international students and draw them into the Cru community. This is a new strategy for Bridges at SDSU that we are kicking off this year and we are VERY excited about it. We have seen some amazing results just in this first week!

Here are our 3 SDSU Bridges Student Leaders:

Hannah

Luke

Nautalie

Hannah, Luke, and Nautalie (in order) are so passionate about being the hands and feet of Jesus to love and serve international students on campus, invite them into a community of believers, and present the Gospel in truth and love. We are praising God for their efforts and praying for them as they serve this year. Please pray with us for Hannah, Luke, and Nautalie!

Flyers & Surveys on Campus

On Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we hit the pavement in the blazing sun to pass out flyers to local and international students. We want them to be aware of Cru and Bridges so they can connect with us, join our events, have a place to seek Jesus, and be in a loving community.

Jeff Oleson (one of our Team Leaders) and 2 Cru SDSU SL’s ready to pass out flyers

It was a grueling experience at times as the sun beat down on us, but overall it was an amazing experience.

Staff and Student Leaders getting hyped before all of the students show up!

There were tons of students checking out different interest groups. This photo shows a slower time with less students.

Lauren, Rebecca, Steve, and I (the Bridges team) also spent time focusing on just reaching international students. We use a method called “Mobile Mapping” where we carry around a big map of the world and ask students “Where are you from?” Then we give them a small sticker to place on their home town/country. It’s a great way to meet international students and start a conversation.

Rebecca and me (Sam) meeting some international students

Steve and Lauren meeting some international students

This is one of the maps we use for mobile mapping

Once we were able to start a conversation with the international students by using the map, we would give them a small gift of a bag with a Bridges sticker, some candy, and a flyer to our upcoming event: Burgers & Sunsets.

Donuts & Dodgeball

Donuts & Dodgeball was a fun event to spark friendship and community. We bought a whole bunch of Krispy Kreme donuts and handed them out while students played dodgeball on ENS field at SDSU. it was a really good time and, although it was mostly local students there, a good amount of international students showed up to this event.

Burgers & Sunsets

This was the SDSU International Student Kickoff Event

We started this event last year and it went over so well that we did it again! This kickoff event was designed to invite international students to a fun event to meet each other, Bridges staff, volunteers, and student leaders. We also wanted to give them an opportunity to interact with ISA (The International Student Association who is partnering with us this year to serve international students well). Let’s not forget, though, that for many of them, this was their first time having a burger from In-N-Out.

For this event, we invited every international student we met to join us at a specific location on campus at 5:30 on Wednesday night. From there a bunch of us (staff, leaders, and volunteers) were ready to carpool students to In-N-Out Burger, grab food to-go, and take it to Sunset Cliffs where we can hang out, eat together, and enjoy a beautiful sunset on the ocean. It was such a blast and the students were all asking when the next event was.

We had around 50 students at this event!

Lauren gave a short talk about Bridges as well, explaining why we do what we do and how we would love to introduce them to Jesus through community and Bible studies. Here are some photos of the event:

Meeting up to carpool

At In-N-Out grabbing burgers

Big Thursday Kickoff

Big Thursday is the main Cru student event that happens at SDSU every other Thursday. In the past, Bridges (and international students in general) hasn’t been involved in this, but this year we are integrating the ministry of Bridges to reach international students at SDSU into Cru more. A part of that is bringing international students into the Big Thursday events.

We were really excited to see international students present at the kickoff event on Thursday and we’re lookin forward to more of that!

At each Big Thursday event we have a hangout time, maybe play a quick game, then we have a talk based on concepts of following Jesus. At this event we also had the pleasure of hearing a Bridges Student Leader, Nautalie, give her powerful testimony.

Here are some more photos of that night:

Cru SDSU Beach Bonfire Kickoff

Cru also had their own kickoff for students: The Beach Bonfire! They do it every year with amazing results. We carpool with a bunch of SDSU students to Mission Beach, grill hotdogs, play games, have loud music, maybe run into the ocean, s’mores are involved… It’s a really good time.

This was the first year that we intentionally invited international students to this event and it was so great! There were around 70 students in total and 20 of them were international students!!!! What’s even cooler is that the local Cru students did such a great job of interacting with the international students to welcome them into the community of Cru. We’re very proud of them.

Here are some more photos of the event:

After all of these events we have been emailing and texting students to try to connect with them one-on-one.

Today Steve and I took a student out for lunch. He had questions about what Bridges and Cru were and did. We made sure to have Jesus at the forefront of the conversation while highlighting that we wanted to serve the international student and local community well.

Then he asked bluntly: “This all sounds great, but why do you do this? What do you get out of it? What do you want in return?”

We answered as best we could, and it got me thinking about Romans 6.

Romans 6:23 ESV

“For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Our purpose here on these campuses in San Diego is to serve and love these students as we are called to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39) while seeking opportunities to share the Good News, the best news, which is the free gift of God: eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! It is a free gift and we are convinced that if they have the opportunity to hear it and understand it, they would excitedly accept this gift.

Personally, I’m so excited to be doing this work and that you are doing it with me. Please keep praying with us for these students, for our staff, for our student leaders, for our volunteers, and for more open doors to share our faith.

God bless you, my brothers and sisters in Christ and partners in ministry!

In Him,

Sam Davis

Sam Davis has focused on international student ministry since 2010 and is on staff with Cru and Bridges International in San Diego, CA. His passion for leading others into a close relationship with Jesus is shown in his general love for people and focus on discipleship.

Sam and his wife, Gloria, love to travel, meet people, eat great food, and hike.

Sam On Mission | Bridges International | Cru

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