WKU CRU

Campus Crusade for Christ, commonly known as Cru, was started on WKU’s campus in 1969. Today, the campus ministry strives to reach out to the entire campus in hopes that every student will know someone who has a personal relationship with God. Cru is an interdenominational ministry, making it different from most on Western’s campus. “It enables us to have a broader reach to impact students,” said Thomas Weakley, campus director for Cru. Cru uses its “broad reach” to minister to a wide variety of stu-dent groups. Cru has student led groups that reach out to international students, faculty, students living in residence halls, athletes andGreeks. A misconception some might have of Cru is that it doesn’t allow female speakers or ministers to talk to students during the weekly meetings. Cru does allow female speakers and ministers, and even has females on the WKU staff. Some also percieve Cru as a group that practices “in your face” evangelism according to Weakley.

However, the group likes to take an initiavtive evangelism approach when speking with students about religious topics. “We don’t wait for people to talk to us, we talk to them,” said Weak-ley. Weakley also believes that the group has had to change their ap-proach when speaking to students, especially from the time he was a student to being staff director now. “We used to (start by) saying ‘God loves us’ but now students ask ‘what God’,” said Weakley. Looking into the future of Cru, Weakley hopes Cru will continue to reach students. “Our desire is that everyone knows someone else who has a personal relationship with Christ,” he said.

Karsyn Rohach and Maria Kovarik take a turn on the slip and slide during Fall Getaway, a Cru retreat.

Reaching Across Campus: WKU Cru Looks To Impact Students

Logan Rose during the mission day of Cru’s winter conference, Encounter.2

Karsyn Rohach and Maria Kovarik take a turn on the slip and slide during Fall Getaway, a Cru retreat.

Photos (pages 1-3) courtesy of Abbey Feinn and Jenn Gannott

Reaching Across Campus: WKU Cru Looks To Impact Students

Kayla Sweeney during a girls’ night, part of Cru’s international ministry. There are also weekly lunches that American and international students can attend.

Yancee Burchett, Zach Feinn, Andrew Yontz and Jacob Blair during Evening of Elegance, an event the men in Cru host for the women in Cru.

3

4

Q and A with Abbey Feinn

Junior Abbey Feinn is studying nursing and Spanish while at WKU. The Louisville native also has a heart for international students and serves in

Cru’s Bridges International, a ministry for international students.

Q: How long have you been involved in Cru?A: “Since my freshman year. I chose to come to WKU partly because of Cru.”

Q: Why did you want to be-come involved in Cru?A: “I knew there were oppor-tunities to serve in Cru.”

Q: What’s one thing people might not know about Cru?A: “It’s all dependent on stu-dents and them being in-volved.”

Q: How did you become involved in Bridges Interna-tional?A: “I started to attend the lunches the spring semester of my freshman year and I knew after studying abroad the fall semester of my sophomore year in Costa Rica I wanted to help.”

Q: What’s one thing people might not know about Bridges International? A: “People generally think you have to know language and culture. Once you start get-ting involved, you realize they (international students) just want friends. They’re eager for American friends and it’s easy to be friends.”

Q: How is Cru different from other campus ministries? A: “It’s pretty similar to oth-ers with similar goals. (It also) doesn’t have a building. I feel it’s (Cru) more connected to campus in that way. Our building is this whole cam-pus.”

Q: How has Cru impacted your college experience?A: “It has taught me how to live my faith out; to take opportunities around me in everyday life to be an ambas-sador for Christ.”