When You’ve Been With Jesus, Your Life Begins to Change
There are moments in a journey when you pause, not because the mission is finished, but because it’s worth remembering how you got there. A 75th anniversary is one of those moments.
As I reflect back over the life of Cru, I don’t think first about milestones, strategies, programs or accomplishments. I think about the often quiet—but always steady—faithfulness of God. I think about faith-filled men and women walking closely with Jesus and choosing, in their own time and place, to say “Yes!” to Him again and again.
Since 1951, God has written a beautiful story through our staff members, volunteers and ministry partners. A story of His goodness. A story carried forward through surrendered hearts, faithful witnesses and a shared calling to help fulfill the Great Commission. But if we’re honest, the real story isn’t found in what’s been built … It’s found in what has been passed down.
Being With Jesus Comes Before the Mission
From the beginning, there has been a call—not just to activity, but to intimacy. Not just to mission, but to a life with Jesus that overflows into mission. What began in the hearts of Bill and Vonette Bright has been carried through generations of people who have chosen to keep Jesus as their first love and make Him known. That’s the thread that has held everything together. And it’s the thread we dare not lose.
In Acts 4, Peter and John stood before the rulers and authorities in power. They were ordinary men by every human measure. Yet something about them could not be ignored. The leaders saw their courage, but they also recognized the source of it. These men had been with Jesus.
Those Who Have Been With Jesus Cannot Keep Silent
And having been with Him, they could not keep silent. As Peter and John declared, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (v. 20, ESV). That is where this movement has always found its strength. Not in strategy. Not in scale. Not in effort alone. But in men and women who have been with Jesus.
Because when we’ve been with Him and continually draw near to Him, we cannot stay the same. His love settles into the deep places of our souls as we embrace our belovedness. His grace becomes more than a concept; it becomes the air we breathe. And from that place, something begins to rise up that cannot be contained. Like the first disciples, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. We cannot but speak of Jesus.
Because He first loved us. Because He gave Himself for us. Because His grace meets us in our weakness. Because His Spirit lives within us. Because He is worthy now and forever!
Being With Jesus Creates Missional Joy
This is where missional joy is born: not from pressure or duty, but from a deep-rooted intimacy with Jesus that overflows into a life on mission.
The need before us is still great. There are still billions who have not heard the name of Jesus. There are still students searching for truth, families longing for hope and communities waiting for the gospel to take root. The call of the Great Commission remains as urgent today as it was 75 years ago.
And God, in His kindness, continues to invite us to be part of it through two simple but genuine responses:
Come to Jesus and Be With Him
First, come to Jesus. Not as you have done before or plan to do sometime, but in a present, daily, personal way. Be with Him. Listen to Him. Walk with Him. Let His love meet you again in fresh ways.
Step Forward in Faith After You’ve Been With Jesus
And second, step forward in faith. Where is He inviting you to go? Who has He placed in your path? What would it look like for you in this season to move forward and say, “Here am I, Lord, send me”?
When You’ve Been With Jesus, the Story Continues
Because this is how the story continues. Years from now, others will look back on this moment. What they will need from us is not an assurance that we preserved something. No, they will need to see that we lived it. That we stayed close to Jesus, loved Him deeply and made Him known passionately—so that everyone might come to know Him.
By David Robbins, President of Cru/Campus Crusade for Christ International
