The marching band at the University of Wisconsin—Madison began in 1885 with 11 participants and has grown to more than 300 members. The Badger band practices at least seven hours each week, plus another hour and a half on home-game days.

When you're in the Wisconsin Band, you've got to be tough enough to eat a rock," goes the famous quote by Mike Leckrone, director of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Marching Band. Several years ago, Mike attended a faculty appreciation dinner held by Campus Crusade for Christ at UW—Madison. There he met Campus Crusade staff member Jim Tanner, and Mike later invited Jim to become a field assistant with the band, impressed by his previous experience in the University of Michigan Marching Band.

As Jim interacted with band members, he began meeting with them after practice and telling them about the gospel. Several of them accepted Christ. Later Jim started a Bible study after band practice, and it has now grown to 80 members, nearly 25 percent of the band, with Jim and his wife, Jacquie, meeting personally with the group leaders. A few years ago, trombone player Yolanda Smith explained the gospel to a friend on a bus ride to a road game. Another band member, Tim, listened in on the conversation. He asked a couple of questions, and later prayed and accepted Christ. Now Tim leads one of the small groups in the Bible study.

"Jim has made a huge difference with the band," says Yolanda. "And because everyone loves the band, it will affect the rest of the campus. The band members are leaders, people who are almost mini-superstars on campus." —Becky Hill

When this life-size manger scene attracts visitors to Don Thorne's house, they're invited to take home a JESUS video so they can see the whole story.

The bright Christmas lights and manger scene attract neighbors and sightseers to Don Thorne's house. And then they notice the mailbox.

"Free videos," reads a sign. "Please take one." One by one, visitors take the JESUS videos home. Don has been decorating his house and giving out JESUS videos for the past seven years in Denver, and he has given away approximately 1,500 videos.

"Oftentimes I would go up to our bathroom upstairs and peek out the curtain," says Don. "As I looked down I would pray over the people as they came by. It was such a blessing to see people come up and take one."

Don includes response cards with the videos, and last January a woman named Barbara from Colorado Springs returned the card. Her entire family of six had watched the video, then they all prayed and received Christ.

There are many other people like Don who use the Christmas season to share Christ by giving away the JESUS video.

John Meyer, a staff member with The JESUS Film Project®, journeys to other countries to record the voice parts in the film in other languages. Last Christmas, he took about a dozen videos home with him to Oconomowoc, Wis. He wrapped a few and gave them to relatives as an added gift.

An avid fisherman, John also brought some cookies and a JESUS film to an elderly woman who runs a bait-and-tackle store. "I put the cookies in one of my mom's round Christmas dishes and included a note that said, 'Thank you for your cheap bait and tackle, and here is a gift for you.'" The simple gesture showed his gratitude as well as offering the woman the gift of eternal life.

John doesn't know whether the woman has watched the video yet, but he knows that God will use it at the perfect time.

Perhaps like the way He used it in Scott Marshall's life. An older gentleman came to Scott's door in Indianapolis one summer afternoon and handed him a small box. "I have a video for you," Scott remembers him saying. "There's no obligation. If you want to throw it away, you can, but I hope you watch it."

Scott casually placed the video about Jesus on the fireplace mantel and returned to watching his ballgame.

It sat there until just before Christmas, when Scott and his wife, Danielle, were decorating the house for the holidays. Danielle found the video and asked Scott about it. Then she said, "Why don't we play this while the family is here on Christmas Day as background atmosphere?"

As the video played, Scott and Danielle started watching it. Then they rewound it and watched it again. "We were mesmerized," Danielle remembers. "And I just thought, Wow, that's Jesus. That's who I want to be like."

At the end of the video, the couple both prayed silently to themselves and accepted Christ as their Savior. They started reading the Bible and they found a church.

Since then, the couple has grown in their faith and they now give out JESUS videos themselves. Scott directs the children's ministry at their church, and he often shows the children's version, The Story of Jesus for Children.

"We've kept the original copy of the video," says Scott. "It means so much to us."

Don, John and the Marshalls have all realized that Christmas is a wonderful time to tell the greatest story ever told, helping people understand the real reason for their celebrations. —Becky Hill

For information on ordering the JESUS video, please call 1-888-JESUS-36 or visit www.jesusvideo.org.

Margit Eichhorn had to come to grips with the fact that God's plan for her life differed from her earlier expectations.

Margit Eichhorn hiked up a mountain 40 miles south of Salzburg, Austria. Dense fog shrouded the valley below, home for the small dairy farm on which she'd been born and raised. The sun was sinking swiftly into the mists on this Christmas Eve in 1990.

But Margit scarcely noticed the sunset. She was wrestling with the Lord, for her brother had just recently died of AIDS, and unfulfilled desires marked her own life. "Lord, have I done it wrong?" she cried out. "Have I lived my life incorrectly?"

Margit, a perfectionist, had always wanted to do things exactly right. As a girl growing up in the valley below, then later at the University of Salzburg, her life had been wrapped in rigid legalism. Always fearful of not being good enough, she became very serious. Life was to be endured, not enjoyed. And spiritually, Margit tried hard to be a Christian, but felt she never measured up to God's expectations.

That quiet Christmas Eve on the mountain brought a new perspective, one that would eventually lead the young Austrian to Campus Crusade for Christ and a ministry of helping fellow Austrians come to wholeness in Christ. Down in the fog, she realized, you slog slowly along, barely able to see more than a step or two ahead. Likewise in life. But God sits above it all, He sees the Master plan, and He knows where He is leading.

The roots of this lesson lay back in Margit's college days at the University of Salzburg, when she met Agape (Campus Crusade in Europe) staff members Ken and Frances Knutzen. They taught the earnest young woman about grace— God's unconditional love. And the Knutzens modeled grace. "We love you as you are," they told Margit. "Even if you make a mistake, we still love you."

As Margit began to understand God's grace, she herself began to enjoy life more, whether plunging headlong downhill on a mountain bike or laughing with friends over coffee. Change came slowly for her, as if she were stepping tentatively through thick fog.

In time, Margit got a degree as a psychologist, determined to help others find God's grace. She continued her association with Agape, but in 1996 decided to work full time with the ministry. "These people enjoyed life," she says of the Agape staff members. "But they also worked hard and were serious about walking with the Lord and about evangelism."

Today Margit has many opportunities to help others learn of God's grace and forgiveness. She leads Agape Austria's Institute for Life Development, where she offers seminars on topics such as depression, fear and relationships. "When we give seminars on psychological needs," she says, "people come. There is such a great need. And it's easy to work in the gospel."

As Margit, now 43, has taken steps of faith through the fog of life, God has kept her focused on the bigger picture. She's learned that it's not healthy to be a perfectionist, and that God loves her unconditionally. "After being single more than 40 years," she says, "I can still feel like God has forgotten me, or that He doesn't love me. But I can count on the fact that He is here with me, even if I don't see or feel it."

Should Margit begin to forget, she just takes another trip to the mountain, looks above the fog and remembers the big picture.

"I know that He will make something good out of every situation in my life, even the hard, painful ones," she says. "This is reality." —Bill Sundstrom

INDIA | The India Missions Association recently rewarded India Campus Crusade for Christ for excellence in creative strategy. For example, India Campus Crusade created a partnership with churches in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) to offer people a copy of the JESUS film on DVD along with pizza. Another strategy effectively combined an illusion show with an evangelistic message.

HERE'S LIFE INNER CITY AND CHRISTIAN EMBASSY, D.C. | Two Campus Crusade ministries teamed up on Capitol Hill. A seven-week HLIC Bible study about poverty and God's perspective on the poor will be used by Christian Embassy staff members to reach "Hill staffers" (college-aged young adults who work in congressional offices). To learn more, visit: www.compassionbycommand.com.



Bolivia
Power To Change

Lions invaded the streets of Bolivia.

Poder Para Cambiar (Power to Change) was a huge evangelistic campaign to tell Bolivians about Christ. This strategy incorporating billboards and signs reached 75 percent of Bolivia's 8 million people, so Campus Crusade and other partners rallied 15,000 Christian volunteers, called "lions," to personally communicate God's power. Advertisements directed people to booths at random locations like street corners in 12 cities countrywide, where a "lion" would explain how to have a personal relationship with Christ.

Sonia Villaroel De Suárez was at her booth when she met 18-year-old José. He said that his grandmother had just died and his friend had committed suicide. "José told me that he had an agreement with the devil to commit suicide on two occasions," says Sonia. "I was amazed to see that a stranger would tell me things like that."

Through Sonia's leading, José prayed and accepted Christ into his life. "We know that he has been getting better in school, with his family and in all areas of his life," says Sonia. In just one month, over 200,000 people like José accepted Christ through Poder Para Cambiar. —Becky Hill


New Jersey
Campus Ministry

During "Killing the Giants" week, Christian college students on a 10-week-long mission project in Ocean City, N.J., set Goliath-sized goals to proclaim the gospel.

Julie Lusser, senior at the University of Dayton in Ohio, wanted to speak with 75 people in one week, but by the final day she was only halfway. Tears of frustration streamed down her face while she watched everyone celebrate: 121 college students spoke to 6,000 people about Christ. "I knew if I didn't let the Lord stretch me, I'd be really disappointed," says Julie.

So she and two Campus Crusade staff members shared the gospel for over four hours. "Julie never approached anyone as a means to an end," says Greg Triplett, one of the people who accompanied Julie. "Her heart was for the people and their need to know Christ."

Julie met four homosexuals with whom she explained the gospel. All four accepted Christ. "God showed me that no one is too far away from the kingdom," says Julie.

God used Julie more than she imagined. "It's such a great example of what can happen when we choose to walk by faith," says Julie. —April Klaassen


Indiana
Keynote

Rob Griepentraug never liked country music, but now he plays fiddle in a country band. After college, Rob settled into a comfortable job teaching music, but decided to apply for a summer mission project with Keynote, Campus Crusade for Christ's music ministry.

On his application, Rob ranked the styles of music he would like to play. At the bottom: country and rap.

But when asked to join the country band Laredo, Rob agreed. All summer, he toured with nine others, performing concerts and presenting the gospel.

"God really impressed me with the marriage of music and ministry," says Rob. When Laredo announced plans to tour year-round, Rob stayed with them as a one-year intern. More than 100 people accepted Christ as a result of Laredo's concerts at places like the Daytona 500, and many Christians decided to live passionately for God. Now, Rob is joining the staff of Campus Crusade so that he can continue reaching people for Christ.

"And I'll have to admit," says Rob, "country music is slowly starting to grow on me." —Becky Hill

To learn more, visit www.keynote.org.