Laine Durgin didn't care who saw her kneeling outside of Starbucks on the sidewalk. She was ready to place her faith in Jesus.

"If I had to say the most honest moment of my life," Laine says, "that was it."

Laine's fellow students in Campus Crusade at the University of Nevada at Reno loved the honest questions she would ask like, "Does God have a face?" They had been praying for Laine (left) to become a Christian. Laine started coming to Campus Crusade's weekly meeting after her roommate, Sydney, the group's worship leader, invited her. Laine says she kept coming because it was an environment she could be herself in.

Yet it was almost a year before Laine sat down in Starbucks across from Sydney's friend Rebecca, a former Campus Crusade student leader, and was challenged to cross the starting line of her faith. On August 13, Laine walked outside into the afternoon heat and knelt on the cement to begin a relationship with God.

For Laine, the spiritual race she has begun is urgent. "I just want to learn and learn and read more so I can talk to people about God," she says. Within two weeks of becoming a Christian, the 19-year-old political science major spent three full days at Campus Crusade's booth on campus meeting freshmen and inviting them to Campus Crusade events.

A week later, Laine also asked to start a Campus Crusade-sponsored Bible study for nonbelievers with a friend and another more mature believer. Before the group even began meeting, five people signed up and a fraternity showed interest.

Laine's university is one of 17 campus ministries that staff member Lee Davis coordinates by coaching student leaders. He equips students like Rebecca and Laine to introduce Christ to others through e-mail, phone calls and occasional visits. Last year 578 students were involved in Campus Crusade on Lee's campuses and 27 students indicated decisions for Christ.

"It is a great feeling to know now I am not who I was," says Laine. "I've changed. I want to tell other people how they can have that."
—Evangeline Vergo

The meetings promised to be long, the topics of discussion intense.

That's the reality John Williams woke to on a Saturday morning in July. The 57-year-old ambassador from the island of Barbados would be attending the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) conference, an annual event where leaders from nearly 20 nations gather for two days to discuss key Caribbean issues, like regional security and the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.

But this year's conference, held in St. Kitts, started with a twist.

At 7:45 a.m., all the leaders were invited to a prayer breakfast, sponsored by Christian Embassy, the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ that seeks to spiritually equip dignitaries and governmental leaders. Christian Embassy hosts a similar event for the United Nations.

"We need God's heart of concern, caring and compassion to do what is best for all," said the opening speaker, St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas.

Nearly 100 leaders attended the breakfast, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. "It was a wonderful hour spent in fellowship," says John.

Yet soon it was time to get down to business.

John says this year's conference went particularly smoothly, not clouded with confusion and derisiveness that sometimes plague such gatherings.

"I passionately believe that you need to seek God and include Him in your deliberations," he says. "When the outcome is positive, it is never a surprising thing."
—Chris Lawrence

Martin Gutzos saw the group nearly everywhere on his college campus in La Plata, Argentina.

The group of Americans was on a summer mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ. They were affable, outgoing and outspoken about their faith in God. They invited Martin (left, in blue) to attend English clubs and other events, but he turned them down flat.

Several times.

"I was in a fight with God and I didn't want to know anything about Him," Martin says.

The accounting major had many questions that weren't adding up. Specifically, his father died a few years earlier from a sudden heart attack. "We never did get a chance to work things out between us," he says.

Then a student named Blake invited him to coffee. Martin finally gave in.

During the next two weeks, they met up several times and talked about life and spiritual things.

"I will give your God another chance," Martin said.

Eventually, Martin prayed and received Christ as his Savior. "I began to understand that God is the only One who decides for things to happen on earth," says Martin. "His decision was for my father to die. I don't know why."

Even though Martin's questions weren't fully answered, his new relationship with the God of the universe gave him peace.

Martin began to be involved with Vida Estudiantil ("Student Life"), the name for Campus Crusade in Argentina.

Martin, now 26 and finishing graduate school, often tells others about his new faith, including a friend named Maxi. "He told me last week that he wanted to change his life," says Martin. "He has had lots of questions. I understand."
—Chris Lawrence

For the last three years, Patrice Holmes has prayed for God to bring reconciliation to her family.

As long as she can remember, broken relationships have plagued both sides of her family, and her own parents separated when she was just 4 years old.

As an intern with The Impact Movement, an outreach to emerging African-American leaders, Patrice (in purple) learned how to talk about her faith and teach others how to do the same. She was hopeful that a trip to her Uncle Ronald and Aunt Patsy's home in Maryland would present another opportunity to tell others about Jesus.

"I purposely wanted to go see my aunt and uncle because I knew my uncle didn't have a relationship with the Lord," says Patrice.

While visiting with her aunt, Patrice noticed her uncle outside mowing the lawn and trimming hedges. She went outside, and they sat down on a bench to talk.

During their conversation, Patrice opened "The Passage," a gospel presentation created by Impact that is applicable to the African-American culture.

But before they got to the end of the booklet, Patrice's aunt informed her husband about a family member's death, and Ronald left to take the phone call. That year he had already lost two other family members, and Patrice wondered if this would be the end of their conversation.

But after the call Ronald (in maroon) was eager to hear more.

Patrice re-opened "The Passage" and explained how he could be assured of his place in heaven. At the end, Ronald received Christ, and he began to cry with joy.

"I just believe that God has a plan for everything," Ronald later expressed. "I put things in God's hands for Him to handle."

Now, Ronald and Patrice talk every month—another answer to Patrice's prayers. "The Impact Movement has definitely affected me personally," says Patrice, "and is now flowing over into my family's lives on both sides."
—Tricia Allen

Military marriages can be challenging, especially when a family is separated because of active duty. To help, Campus Crusade for Christ's Military Ministry now offers a free resource specifically for military couples called the Family Readiness Kit. The kit includes Bibles, daily devotionals and books like Defending the Military Marriage. "The kit helps a couple synchronize their spiritual lives," says Military Ministry's Mike McCandless, "which is made really difficult when one of them is deployed overseas."
—Chris Lawrence
For more information, visit www.milmin.org or call 1-800-444-6006



Philippines

"How do you become a Muslim?" Onin asked Sarah Balabagan.

He noticed something different in Sarah, and he wanted what she had. Since he knew that this friend from the theater had grown up a Muslim, Onin asked her how he could convert. But what he didn't know was that Sarah had given her life to Jesus. She also later got involved in Artists in Touch, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ for actors and singers in the Philippines. Through Artists in Touch, Sarah grew closer to the Lord, and also learned through weekly training in how to tell others about her newfound faith in Christ.

"Onin wanted to find a religion he could really believe in. He knew I had been a Muslim, so he asked me," says Sarah. "I told him I was a born-again Christian."

Then she asked if he wanted to hear how he could know God personally, to which he said yes.

Sarah explained the gospel to him using the Four Spiritual Laws, an evangelistic tract that her mentor, Orpah Marasigan, taught her how to use. After going through it, Onin said he wanted to become a follower of Christ.

"Artists in Touch has helped me a lot," explains Sarah. "Orpah taught me how I can use my God-given talents to tell people about my relationship with Jesus."
—Jennifer Abegg


Romania

Romania has the highest abortion rate in Europe, and the average Romanian woman will have three or four abortions in her life, according to the British Medical Journal.

Because of this social crisis, Youth at the Threshold of Life, a character-training ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (often known as CrossRoads), held a symposium in Romania. The purpose was to persuade teachers to teach their students abstinence, and also to point them to Jesus.

"This message was so radical," says Campus Crusade staff member Matt Jackson, who talked at the symposium, "that I was interviewed both on local TV and radio after I spoke."

Not only did the educators learn about abstinence and abortion, but of the 45 teachers in attendance, 16 accepted Christ, and 12 recommitted their lives to Him. Pastor Tóth Zoltán, who later mentored some of the teachers, said they are going back to the schools and teaching the YTL lessons to their students.
—Jennifer Abegg


JESUS FILM

The JESUS film is currently available in 801 languages on the Internet. In one year (August 2005-August 2006), the film was viewed on 362,769 computers around the world for an average of 12 minutes.

"That means that some people are not watching much of the film, and others are watching the entire two hours of it," says Mike Waid, co-director of multimedia design for The JESUS Film Project®.

People access the JESUS film online by visiting www.jesusfilm.org/languages. They usually access this link through Web sites of partner ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ.
—Chris Lawrence