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We invite your prayers for us, for students, and for the movement of
God on Stanford's campus. Stanford students are SO desperate for the
life changing love and grace of Christ. There is so much pressure,
brokenness, and loneliness that we just see more and more every year
amongst students who don't know Christ. We feel very burdened for each
and every student at Stanford to get a glimpse of Jesus through His
body that is present on campus, as well as to train and equip students
to lead Christ centered, Kingdom first lives. That is a lofty goal that
we need much prayer, much support, and much help and encouragement from
you. We have a lot of work to do!
To partner with us financially, you can do so online at our website here
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Check out our website here!
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Below are a few sermons we have listened to recently at Cross
Training by Trent's pastor from home, Britt Merrick. Their six year old
daughter has cancer for the second time now this year, and the sermons
he has shared surrounding this have been incredibly powerful!:
"When My Heart is Overwhelmed" given after finding out about her cancer for the first time.
"Our Supreme Treasure" given the day before they found out about her cancer for the second time.
"Struck Down but not Destroyed" given after finding out about cancer for the second time.
We
strongly encourage you to listen to these, especially if you are in a
season of difficulty and pain. We hope you are encouraged by them!
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Greetings!
It has been an awesome summer so far! There is quite a contingent of
students that have stuck around for the summer, and we are having some
really rich and fun times. One cool thing about summer is that there are usually a handful of new
students and non-believers who get more involved in Cardinal Life, and
the current students who are around get to bond more.
We have continued to have weekly Cross
Training meetings, small groups, and one on one meetings, while also
leading some fun hiking excursions, having summer bbq's, and hanging
out doing fun, random things since students have a little more time on
their hands. As a staff, we have been setting aside a lot of time
to prayerfully revisit and revamp our vision, mission, and overall
approach to ministry for the upcoming year, as well as plan some new
initiatives that we are really excited about. These times are proving very
fruitful and getting us really excited for the fall. |
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| Arroyo Seco Canyon Hike
|  Trent and Emilee recently led a group of 25 students on a radical day
trip to a place called Arroyo Seco. It is amazing how much people can
bond from spending one day together on a wild adventure. This canyon
extravaganza has it all: jumping off of 20, 40, and 60 foot cliffs,
swimming through narrow canyons, climbing up a 15 foot waterfall by
rope, walking and floating down the river, and hiking back to the cars
in 102 degree heat! Out of the 25 students who went, over half of them
were not believers, and there were some cool interactions
and conversations that took place. It was neat to see some of those new faces at Cross Training a few days later. This trip has become a
traditional summer outing that consistently brings new people into the
fold and is just a really fun adventure.
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God Renews
| I, Natalie, recently met with a girl who was having doubts about her faith in
Christ, which is not uncommon amongst students since the dominating
worldview at Stanford is...well let's just say not Christian:) She is a
fairly new believer, and didn't really know the source
of her doubts, but they were present nonetheless and troubling her
greatly. She asked me to share with her things that help me in the face
of doubt. I giggled and said, "Are you sure you want to get me
started?" Out of all the types of conversations I have with students, I
think I feel most alive and passionate talking through reasons for our
faith in Christ! We talked for about two hours, and I asked her if she
had any
overarching thoughts to anything I had shared. She just smiled really
big and said, "I am just so happy right now because I know I am not
crazy for believing in Jesus and my faith feels very strengthened." My
faith is always strengthened as well when I
meditate on the many reasons why I know that God is real, that Jesus is
God and the visible image of the invisible God, that Christ was
crucified and raised from the dead, and that I am now united with
Christ, made new, and awakened to his Kingdom here and now.
Another student who has been coming to Cross Training and small group for the first time this summer
recently told me that God has radically changed her life through coming to those gatherings. Through hearing her story, I can attest to that transformation. I have been so encouraged by witnessing the power of God in several people's lives this summer, and seeing the freedom, love, joy, community, and wholeness they are experiencing. I am floored by how real and powerful God is, and we feel so blessed to get to see the power of God up close in student's lives every day. It is also deeply rewarding and thrilling to realize that when students meet and experience Christ, the trajectory, quality, and purpose of their lives is forever changed!
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| CONTACT US!
We hope everyone is having an awesome summer! If you would like to contact us for any reason whatsoever, please feel free! You can email us at: nwiesen@gmail.com or trentwiesen@gmail.com.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith!
Blessings,
Trent, Natalie, and Emilee
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