Over the last several years, I have done some work in partnership with Two Eight Ministries, a missions organization founded in 2005 based in Indianapolis. Much like Cru Music when I joined 20 years ago, Two Eight uses music to help reach people, make disciples and connect people to community. Two Eight has done over 1000 events in 11 countries since their founding, and I’ve really enjoyed helping their efforts.
Through a small core team of 5-6 people, I’ve seen God steadily increasing the scope, influence and effectiveness of their efforts. One of Two Eight’s outreach strategies is working with Indiana’s addiction recovery organizations, and I’ve done about 16 events in the last few months with them. We’ve seen people make decisions to follow Jesus, and get more connected to local resources so they can experience recovery and redemption. It’s been life-giving to do some outreach ministry with some like-minded, committed friends “on the side” of my work with Cru.
At least, that’s what I thought it was, up until recently.
Also over the last several years, Cru Music’s work has shifted away from outreach to focus on providing musical worship for internal conferences and events. This is largely because the Cru Music team, which had employed over 80 people when I joined in 2003, has been steadily decreasing in scope and size, and simply no longer has enough of the right personnel to dedicate to outreach and evangelism. This summer, Cru’s leaders recently decided to re-task the team to focus solely on musical worship, and stop doing outreach completely.
As important as I think musical worship is… that was a vocational gut-punch.
My calling and passion have always been to use music to reach people who don’t already know Jesus. That’s why I changed careers to join Cru in the first place, so this was a development that brought me to an unexpected crossroads. The newly-defined scope of Cru Music’s work may be a good and important thing for Cru, but simply no longer aligns with what I feel most called to do.
After many hours of prayer and seeking wise counsel, I began to see the developments of the last few years more clearly. What I thought was a ‘side’ ministry project was really the Lord’s way of leading me into the next chapter of ministry.
And so, I will be ending my time with Cru and joining the staff of Two Eight Ministries. This is a major change in terms of where I live out my calling, but a change that is necessary for me to stay true to my calling.
Please pray for me as I finish up my work with Cru and plan the transition, which will happen November 5th.
Like Cru, Two Eight is a 501(c)3 non-profit missions organization, and just like with Cru, I’ll still need a team of people to support our work financially – please consider this as your invitation to come with us on the journey with your giving!
As always, thank you so much for your prayers and support – I simply can’t do this without you, and I’m grateful!