Sports are my world," says Jamie Genthe, a 20-year-old who competes on the University of Wisconsin-Madison crew team. Her sport requires much dedication: two practices a day—the first starting at 6:15 a.m.—six days a week.

Jamie was looking forward to the national crew competition in California this past summer. But because of a stress fracture in one of her ribs, she couldn't compete.

Yet another opportunity surfaced—through Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, which Jamie became involved with while she was a freshman. Jamie was invited to attend an Ultimate Camp, a week where college athletes gather to learn how to compete with a biblical perspective, in Fort Collins, Colo.

Last year Jamie couldn't attend because of nationals; this year she agreed to go.

The only problem was, she wasn't a believer. "At camp, I told people I was still trying to figure out if Christianity was for me," she says.

Packed with fellowship and sports, the week also included a 24-hour endurance gauntlet called the SPECIAL. The camp shook Jamie's spiritual foundations. On the last night, she committed her life to Christ.

After camp, she returned to Madison to train for the upcoming crew season. But she competes with a new perspective. "You can't be worshipping your sport," says Jamie. "You need to be worshipping God through your sport."
—Chris Lawrence

Kojo Opare-Hammond stepped into his first seminary class in Nigeria, three countries and 260 miles east of his home in Ghana. Kojo's future as a politician was as yet unseen.

He read about ACTS (the Africa Centre for Theological Studies), a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ in Nigeria, in the seminary's newsletter. His friend was highlighted in an issue, and Kojo began asking him about the school. Kojo enrolled in the Christian Ministry and Leadership program in 2004, seeking training to aid him as the director of a Christian ministry.

Men like Kojo were on the minds of Campus Crusade leaders who realized the strategic need for training Africans for leadership. Originally created out of a Campus Crusade leadership school in Kenya, ACTS only offered part-time study. Today, students travel to the Lagos campus quarterly for intensive weeklong seminars and lectures. Back home, they study independently.

"ACTS is poised to help train and equip the servant leaders Africa needs," says John Reaume, ACTS principal, "so that God's people here will become leaders, influencing their local communities and the world, as Africa begins sending out missionaries."

The location of ACTS in the city of Lagos was strategic as well. "The commercial, industrial and media center of Nigeria and West Africa," says John, "with its 15 million inhabitants, became a clear choice."

During Kojo's first year in the program, he served on the student union, and surprised many at ACTS with his decision to run in Ghana's October 2004 election. Because of growing population in Accra, the capital city, a new precinct was added to the representative government. Kojo won the district's Parliament seat, soundly beating his opponent.

He determined to continue in the ACTS program even with his added responsibilities. "I see my [position in Parliament] as a ministry," Kojo says, "and I need to be guided by sound, godly principles, which I believe ACTS can provide."
—Angie Bring, with reporting by Cindy Mitchell

The Boyds is a family band, but Bruce and Julie Boyd usually perform without their children at events like marriage conferences. However when friends in Lebanon, the tiny country in the Middle East, invited them to perform in high schools, they decided to take their three boys with them. So they began practicing as a family, and Brandon, 15, Shaun, 13, and Ryan, 11, began learning the bass guitar, drums and electric guitar.

While in Lebanon they performed at 12 different schools, giving 20 concerts in just six days. All the schools were Christian, but many of the students were not Christians.

"In Lebanon," says Bruce, "the public-school system isn't considered to be very good, so many parents send their children to the private schools, which are often Christian." In Beirut, the capital, the population is about half Muslim and half Christian.

Bruce told the gospel message, and the boys each spoke about how God had worked in their lives. "I'd never shared [the gospel] in front of a big group of people before," says Brandon, "and I was nervous about how the students would receive it." But the students all responded well, and the boys kept in touch with a few by e-mail in the following months.

During every concert, the Boyds invited the students to bring their friends and parents to a community concert at the end of their time in Lebanon.

Over 500 people showed up for the concert, and the event was taped by a local television station and rebroadcast later, and even shown in other nearby countries. When they collected comment cards at the end of the concert, 72 percent of those responding indicated they had accepted Christ.
—Becky Hill

When Pastor Adane Ashamo was taught discipleship material that explained basic, crucial truths of Christianity, he decided he wanted to take it to the prison nearby.

He taught two prisoners the material, each of whom taught three men. However, Pastor Adane (left) realized that 90 to 95 percent of the prisoners were illiterate and couldn't learn about Jesus in that form. So he trained eight prisoners in how to communicate the curriculum orally. He drew diagrams in the dirt (with no paper or Bibles), and created hand gestures.

The discipleship material Pastor Adane used was brought to Ethiopia in 2000 by Byron and Lin Smith, American Campus Crusade for Christ staff members. Byron and Lin flew there to train four pastors and church leaders to reproduce themselves spiritually. They taught the curriculum only to individuals who were committed enough to have already lined up others to train in these same basic, crucial Christian truths.

Because of this stipulation, the materials and the followers of Jesus exponentially multiplied. For each set of materials the Smiths brought to Ethiopia, they estimate 20 to 100 handwritten copies have been made.

"The thing that amazes me about Adane is he's so creative," says Lin, who met him on a return trip to Ethiopia. "He taught them to remember these truths with hand signs."

In the jail that Pastor Adane visits, 200 prisoners have learned and are teaching the material. Some are being transferred to another prison soon, and anticipate the opportunities with new men. "This is a very important process," says Pastor Adane. "God opened a miraculous door in our country as well as throughout the world."
—Jennifer Abegg

This December, the BBC and Discovery Channel will air an interview with André Kole, the renowned illusionist from Campus Crusade for Christ, performing his legendary walking-on-water illusion at Saguaro Lake near Phoenix. The footage will be used in a special television series, Miracles of Jesus.

André Kole uses the trick to prove the authenticity of Jesus' miracles. "The hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours devoted to accomplishing this illusion," he says, "clearly illustrates the absurdity of those who have tried to convince themselves and others that Jesus was only a magician."
—Chris Lawrence


North Carolina

Driving in his car one morning, Chris Jarrell heard a striking radio message about churches in western North Carolina banding together to send the JESUS film, a movie based on the Gospel of Luke, to every home in Burke County.

Chris, a 41-year-old computer technician, thought, Why can't we do that in my county too?

That was three years ago. As of Christmas 2004, JESUS DVDs had been sent to all 88,000 homes in Gaston County, which Chris calls home.

Besides sending JESUS, Chris and other Christians fanned the neighborhoods to knock on people's doors, answering questions about Jesus, inviting them to church and explaining how they could begin a relationship with God. To date, more than 110 churches have been involved.

"When we went out to the homes," says Kristi, Chris' wife, "It wasn't about the DVD anymore. It was just an avenue to reach people."

Thousands have indicated decisions to receive Christ, including an elderly man who died just days later. Thus far, church members have visited more than half the homes in Gaston County, with plans to hit the rest too. All because Chris responded to a radio ad.

"I was completely seized by it," he says. "It was God's will. The thought of reaching thousands of people just by mailing them something—I couldn't let it go."
—Chris Lawrence

To order the JESUS film, call 1-800-432-1997 or visit www.jesusfilmstore.com.


Canada

Picture the public school nearest you and imagine the day when every teacher, every student and every parent knows someone who truly follows Jesus.

Mothers Who Care, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada, recognized the critical need to pray for children, parents, teachers and administrators in public schools. Launched in 1984, MWC began gathering women to pray for one hour per week. In addition, MWC encourages the local groups to demonstrate love in tangible ways, such as giving teachers baked treats or notes of encouragement, recognizing their service to children.

Today, 1,475 schools in Canada as well as schools in 16 other countries, including the United States, have a MWC prayer team intervening on their behalf weekly.

To join a MWC group, or to create one for your school, call 1-800-563-1106 or e-mail mothers@crusade.org. For more information, visit www.MothersWhoCare.com.
—Angie Bring


Josh McDowell Ministry

Half the world's population can be reached with the gospel through just eight languages. Adding 43 more languages encompasses 80 percent of all people. Carpenter's Helpers, part of the Josh McDowell Ministry, works to translate and distribute Josh's books worldwide, putting truth into a readable language.

Translations have been completed in 65 languages. Portions of these books are available for free download in 13 languages (Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bulgarian, Chinese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen and Ukrainian) at www.josh.org/translations.
—Jessica Cline