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Christian Union's April 2024 Retreat on the Christian View of Fear
By erin conner, writer and communication associate
This month, Christian Union America will be hosting another powerful CU Fire Retreat to help equip Christians around the country to draw close to the Lord with friends and family through a weekend retreat. It is not too late to join, as registration is still open.
One participant recently shared, "The CU Fire Retreat was a great time! It’s not often you get the opportunity to do a group fast with so many amazing people. I’ve also met one of my current best friends through the alumni group. She went to a different school, so I probably would have never met her without the group!"
Who: You and your small group, friends, or family
What: A 1.5 day simulcast retreat featuring Scripture-based teaching, worship, prayer, and fasting
When: April 19-20, 2024
Where: easily host in your own home or church
Why: grow strong in the Lord and grow closer to each other
April 2024 Theme: The Christian View of Fear: Understanding the Fear of Man and the Fear of God
This 3.5 minute video offers a glimpse of the purpose and power of taking one and a half days to seek the Lord in community with others.
The speakers for the April 2024 retreat are Christopher White, Trevon Gross, and Matt Bennett:
Christopher White
Chris White is an evangelist with the UEC-Fresh Springs Association and is a member of the Global Network of Evangelists (GNE) of the Luis Palau Association. He met the Lord at age 14, growing up as a New England pastor’s son, and entered Yale University in 1971 by the Lord’s leading. He served thereafter in campus ministry for decades speaking at Yale, Columbia, MIT, RPI, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, and many other campuses. He also speaks in churches, and in public outreaches, including concerts in NYC's Central Park and at Long Island’s Jones Beach Bandshell. Earning his M.A. at Columbia, he worked for 20 years as a teacher, and then entered full-time ministry in 2007.
Mr. White has been working in the U.S., Colombia, Cuba, southern Asia, and elsewhere ever since. His first book, Discipleship and the Body of Christ, is also available in Spanish (Ven y sígueme). Additional books include: God and Man and Monkey at Yale, The Passion of the Evangelist, and Judgment or Revival, Which Will It Be? He has also released his first original music album, How Glad the Morning. The UEC-FSA’s ministry website is located at: www.cnwhite.org. He has a Facebook ministry page at facebook.com/EvangelistChrisWhite. Mr. White has been married for more than 30 years to Pilar Hernandez White and together they have four sons.
Trevon Gross
Trevon Gross is a veteran pastor and church pioneer who has a passion for practical, Biblical teaching and developing leaders. With an unapologetic conviction that the local church is the hope of the world, he enjoys training those who will help to reach those who are far from God.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and a minor in Classics from the University of Virginia, a Master of Theological Studies from Duke University and further graduate study at Harvard University in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department, Trevon has a commitment to solid Biblical interpretation and proclamation. He holds a PhD from Regent University in Organizational Leadership with an ecclesial concentration.
Having served almost 20 years in denominational ministry, he, along with his wife, pioneered an independent church in 2002 called Hope Cathedral. With a growing, multicultural congregation that translates the Great Commission into 21st-century ministry his emphasis is on communicating a clear vision, and offering practical processes to accomplish God’s call.
Matt Bennett
Matt Bennett is Founder and President of Christian Union, a Christian leadership development organization with the mission to bring sweeping spiritual and cultural transformation to our nation and the world by developing and networking Christian leaders to make an impact for Christ. Christian Union focuses its activity on America's most influential universities and on professionals in the nation's key cities.
A native of Houston, Texas, Matt earned BS and MBA degrees from Cornell University and holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He worked for Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at Princeton University for 12 years, and developed the ministry into one of the largest in the history of the Ivy League. In 2002, he founded Christian Union. The ministry has been featured in The New York Times, PBS, NPR, Christianity Today, and World Magazine. Matt currently resides in New York City.
Register for or learn more about April's CU Fire Retreat.
Reflection for Good Friday
by erin conner, writer and communications associate
In an article entitled "Why Did Jesus Die?" written by Tevin Wax in 2007 for the Gospel Coalition, Wax addresses five significant reasons why Jesus, God-made-flesh who came as the Messiah for all humanity, had to die.
This article and other videos and resources that help to explain the significance of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are part of Christian Union's CU Rise online evangelism campaign "Jesus Disrupts," which is currently underway and can be found at www.curise.org.
Sharing Christ with an "Unreached People Group" at Cornell and Beyond
By Erin conner, writer and communications associate
While students and faculty were protesting in Ithaca's public spaces and headlines were raging with anger and allegations about attacks on freedom in The Cornell's Daily Sun , Christian Union (CU) Vita students were fixing their eyes on the Author and Finisher of their faith. These students recently surrendered their week of spring break to serve the Lord. They are not looking to the right or to the left; instead, they are gazing upon the beauty of the Lord, knowing He is the One who sustains them and keeps them from sinking into the surrounding culture of despair, as they share the Hope that they have in Jesus Christ with anyone who will listen.
In March, CU Vita at Cornell kicked off Christian Union's spring evangelism campaign by hosting a one-week event entitled "CU Proclaim," inviting students from Yale, Dartmouth, and Columbia to join them. At the beginning of the week, one student shared with Marcus Buckley, the ministry director of CU Vita, that he wondered how he was ever going to be bold enough to share Jesus with complete strangers by just walking up to them. By the end of the week, this same student could not be stopped, asking for more opportunities to go out and share with strangers. Christian Union students, by the grace and power of God, are taking the demonstrative love of Christ into their spheres of influence at their respective schools for the next few weeks, regardless of the darkness of the spiritual climate around them.
The week of evangelism at Cornell included a worship event at Sage Chapel, during which students accepted salvation in Christ, found freedom from afflictions, and embodied freedom and joy as they worshiped the Lord. At this open-door event, many students responded to an altar call given, coming forward to confess the need for God's help and healing through prayer for addictions, fear, anxiety, and other mental and physical issues that plagued them. True freedom through prayer and repentance was found that night in that beautiful chapel at the top of Ithaca.
The juxtaposition of what happened that night in Sage Chapel compared to what is happening on the contentious campus at Cornell is strikingly didactic to any onlooker: the kingdom of God is about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17); true stability does not depend upon circumstances,(Psalm 18:2) for the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21); and freedom does not come from following the ways of the world (Romans 12:2). Christ clearly disrupts the messages and culture of the world to give Truth and life. Christian Union is praying that their efforts this spring will help all who have eyes to see Him at the nine highly secular schools where they minister.
Despite some of the rejection that students of Christian Union faced during CU Proclaim, they continued to boldly proclaim Truth–Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Lord, and He wants to give all people the gift of salvation, hope, and life. One student shared that he "never experienced so much rejection in his life," during this week of contact evangelism; however, he shared this news with a smile and with a heart of peace, as he had conquered fear of what others might think of him to serve the God he loves.
In this campaign, students are not just sharing the gospel through contact evangelism, but through other in-person and online means as well. Whether they are distributing literature, posting social media ads on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, or hosting highly visible, large group events, student leaders and faculty are devoted to sharing the life-saving and life-giving message of Jesus Christ.
Online resources that serve as part of this eight-week outreach campaign can be found at curise.org. One such powerful resource from week one, a Desiring God article written by John Piper, presents nine ways to know the gospel is true.
Week two of the online campaign covers questions related to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, including Tim Keller's powerful two-minute meditation on how Jesus' death is an act of friendship.
In the third week of the campaign, following Easter, Christian Union plans to have "student-on-the-street" video interviews, as CU students and faculty ask questions related to Jesus on their respective campuses.
The entire campaign, both online and in person, works to expose every single one of the 73,774 undergraduate students at the universities where CU ministers to the power of the gospel.
In a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, shared that students at some of America's most influential educational institutions constitute an "unreached people group" with such a low percentage of the student body and faculty identifying as Christians. CBN's article about the interview stated, "Bennett made a sobering statement that underscores the dire state of spiritual affairs and intense lostness at many of these colleges, when he said, 'What's shocking is that, in this audience, you have fewer practicing Christians than you do, say...in mainland China or a lot of other places that we consider unreached.'"
In this interview, Bennett also shared that, in his experience over the last twenty plus years of providing ministry in some of the most spiritually dark places in our country, personal connection, not a campaign is ultimately what inspires an individual to accept the gospel. However, it seems people need to encounter several touchpoints with the gospel before going to a trustworthy Christian in their life with their questions. Consequently, each and every Christian's role is to have the courage to be known as a Christian in their sphere of influence, so that when someone is seeking Truth, they know to whom to turn for direction to find and follow Him.
Christian Union's boldness reminds all Christians that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the hope of all the world and that followers of God are privileged and duty-bound to proclaim it far and wide in the power of the Holy Spirit. No other message on earth is more important to communicate than the opportunity of reconciliation with God by grace through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Christianity’s mission to the world is love, and nothing is more loving than letting people know how eager God is to wipe away all their sins and to replace death with life, ashes with beauty, and captivity with freedom through faith in Christ.
Watch the related 12-minute CBN News interview here.
Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I am excited about how God has been moving in the lives of our students here at Columbia University through Christian Union Lumine.
We kicked off the semester with our first weekly Leadership Lecture Series (Illumina) meeting on Thursday, 1/18 with 59 students attending. Over the past several meetings we’ve had Nathaniel Peters (Morningside Institute), Pastor James Roberson (Bridge Church) and Lydia Dugdale (Columbia University) as guest speakers.
CU America's 2024 National Fast, "Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace for All Nations"
By Marcus buckley, ministry director of christian union vita at cornell
"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 'Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.' So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it'". – Jeremiah 18:1-10
It is difficult to find anyone who is not pleased when God shows to them grace and mercy according to His sovereign will. We rejoice that God would see fit to make forgiveness available to us, knowing that our sin and rebellion merits only His righteous judgment. We celebrate when God reaches across time and space and touches a friend or loved one, breaking the chains of sin and setting them free into glorious, eternal life.
But what happens when God saves someone outside our circle of influence? Or, even worse, outside our circle of preference? How many times have we as faithful followers of Christ been shocked – or even offended – when someone who was formerly an outspoken enemy of God comes to saving faith in Christ Jesus? It is easy to hurl accusations that their conversion is not a true one, that somehow the greatness of their previous sin outweighs the redemptive, salvific power of the cross.
Click the full screen icon to view Christian Union's 2023 Annual Report in full-screen mode, or download a PDF version of the Annual Report here.
CU Rise Set to "Disrupt" Spiritual Climate of U.S. Colleges
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
In 2022, Christian Union first launched CU Rise, an evangelism campaign designed to share the gospel with students at nine of the nation’s most influential universities more boldly, strategically, and frequently than ever before. This month, Christian Union is at it again, as CU Rise takes form for the third spring in a row with its campaign entitled "Jesus Disrupts."
For eight weeks, starting March 17, the goal of CU Rise is to proclaim the gospel, disrupting the current spiritual climate at highly secular universities that produce a disproportionate amount of U.S. and global leaders. Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, recently told the Christian Post that this theme was chosen “to introduce students to how radical Jesus is.”
The schools across the country that this campaign will focus on include Brown University of Rhode Island, Columbia University of New York, Cornell University of New York, Dartmouth College of New Hampshire, Harvard University of Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University of New Jersey, Yale University of Connecticut, and Stanford University of California.
“Students today at the nation’s most rigorous schools are largely unaware of the most important message in the history of humanity. Jesus Christ has brought more good into the world than any other person, and these students deserve to know, said Bennett. "Jesus is also the only one who can forgive sins and transfer us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We need to do everything we can to give these students the opportunity to believe in Him.”
Read Christian Post's full article entitled "‘Jesus disrupts’: Christian Student Group to Launch 8-week Evangelism Tour" here.
Read FaithWire's related article entitled, "Christian Leader's Sobering Comparision Between Communist China and Ivey League Campuses" here.
View and share videos, testimonies, or articles from the CU Rise campaign that explain Christianity here.
Washington Times Op-Ed on Secularization of Educational Institutions
By Erin conner, writer and communications associate
Sunday, March 17, 2024-- The Washington Times published an opinion article today by Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, entitled "America's Founding Universities Lost Their Religion. Are They Worth Saving?"
The article briefly discusses the histories of several educational institutions in America, such as Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, and Stanford. The article also presents a compelling claim that students at these institutions ought to know the fundamental truth upon which their schools were founded: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and, through Him alone, humanity finds salvation and life.
Former Student President Claims Victory in Texas Primary
By Erin conner, writer and communications associate
Leaders developed at Dartmouth shape the future of our country by determining what media gets disseminated, what laws get passed, and how major decisions get made. Dartmouth has produced influential figures, including author Dr. Seuss, beloved T.V. personality Fred Rogers, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and former central banker and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (ChristianUnion.org/Cornerstone/Vox). It seems another name of influence may soon be added to this list: Brandon Gill.
Brandon Gill claimed victory in the GOP primary for the 26th district of Texas to replace U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, who is retiring after 21 years in Congress, according to the Dallas News. Gill received 58.4% of the vote and will now face Democrat Ernest Lineberger III in the November election.
Gill's Congressional webpage states, "I attended Dartmouth College and graduated cum laude with degrees in both Economics and History. I was President of the conservative paper, The Dartmouth Review. I was also President of Christian Union and grew it to be one of the largest student groups on campus, despite being on a campus hostile to the Christian faith. In college, I fought the left nonstop - on their own turf - and I left Dartmouth even more conservative than when I arrived."
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God- the Gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 1:1-4
Grace and peace to you in our Lord Jesus Christ!
