Pastor Marlon Zulu's cell phone woke him early after a late screening of the JESUS film in Zambia's eastern province. "I saw how Jesus suffered for me," said the man on the other end. "How can I accept Christ as my personal savior if I have five wives?"

During a visit later that day, Pastor Zulu rejoiced when the elderly polygamist and all five wives made decisions to follow Christ. The leaders of a church Pastor Zulu planted will help the family work through issues common in Zambia. "The pastor will counsel them," he said. "They're supposed to only have one wife. It's a process."

Pastor Zulu believes he never would have had the chance to explain the gospel to the family without JESUS, a film about Christ based on Luke's Gospel. "You can preach to young people in Zambia," Pastor Zulu said. "But it's hard with the older people because they are stubborn with traditional religion and practice things not allowed in the Bible, like polygamy or witchcraft."

Pastor Zulu's passion for JESUS began a decade ago when a team showed the film in his church compound. He served five years on a film team and then began using JESUS to plant churches. Three showings in one week boosted membership from 29 to 150 in the first church he planted in one of Lusaka's shanty towns. "After that, the passion was so great in me that I went to rural villages to show the film," he says. "There was great response."

The JESUS film's 11 translations for Zambia give Pastor Zulu's Lusaka-based ministry latitude to organize outreaches throughout the entire country. His members help fund the outreaches and often provide manpower for missions to the country's rural areas.

A former disciple invited Pastor Zulu to bring the Bemba-language translation to a province near Tanzania's border. More than 1,000 showed up; 600 indicated decisions to receive Christ and became one of the 14 churches Pastor Zulu planted using the film. "It's a crowdpuller," he said. "People come in numbers. They are receiving Jesus."
—Bill Hunt

Kara Atkinson tried every trick in the book to reach Shawana's heart. But she almost shelved the defiant 12-year-old after a week of vacation Bible school in Milwaukee's inner city.

"Shawana had a negative, defiant attitude and wouldn't talk or participate," Kara says. "But God was working even though I'd given up."

Shawana lingered to ask questions after Kara explained how the 10 girls in her group could know Christ personally.

Kara relied on her training with Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse to lead Shawana to Jesus using the Four Spiritual Laws children's booklet. Other kids and staff members pointed out that Shawana was smiling and interacting.

Kara's journey from classroom to inner city emerged when campuses in nearby states began actively recruiting students for a summer project in Milwaukee sponsored by Here's Life Inner City, the urban ministry of Campus Crusade. Shawana's transformation during that project propelled Kara to commit to a year-long internship.

"Our desire is to reach the entire city, not just the students in the city," says Jeff Hoffman, director of Milwaukee's HLIC. "The campus students bring manpower with a passion for evangelism. They also develop a heart for the poor. It's about the kingdom of God in Milwaukee."
—Bill Hunt

Born in the United States to Iranian parents, Ali Soheilian was raised Muslim. Then he accepted Christ in high school, and became the only Christ-follower in his family.

After his freshman year of college, he attended the 2006 Myrtle Beach Summer Project in South Carolina, a 10-week program Campus Crusade for Christ designed for Christian students to grow closer to God and develop greater confidence in introducing others to Christ.

On the fifth day of the project, Ali rededicated his life to Jesus. During his freshman year at Penn State University he partied and drank regularly, but on the project he decided he wanted to truly live for Jesus.

Five weeks later, Campus Crusade staff members challenged project participants to phone friends and family members and tell everyone how they could know Christ personally.

Ali called his mom. He explained the gospel to her and how Christ had made him different. She said that was what she wanted, too, and invited Jesus to be her Savior.

They both started crying.

"I was so overwhelmed," says Ali. "I couldn't believe it was happening."

The following summer, Ali returned as a student leader to Myrtle Beach. God used the 20-year-old to lead six people to Christ there.

When Ali returned home from the summer project, his mom told him she had begun attending a church with a service specifically for Afghan and Iranian believers.

"Ali's mom will ask him specific questions about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and he will answer them for her," says Ali's friend, Chris Martinez from Colorado State University whom he met on the project.

Ali also found out that his dad is now attending church as well.
—Jennifer Abegg

Rendi Thelaikis dropped out of school at 13 to run with a neo-Nazi youth gang, dabbling with drugs and wrangling with police in Osterlein, Germany. His sister, Janina, 19, weathered pressure to abort her baby. And their brother, Patrick, 17, faced a bleak future in an economy scarred by communism.

Sensing a better future for her children in the "positive energy" of 20 Dutch athletes boarding at a hostel where she cooked, their mother, Antje Thelaikis, convinced her boys to visit a sports clinic the team held in conjunction with Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ's sports ministry.

After worship at a bonfire the third night, Theo Tolsma, a soccer player who has broad experience organizing AIA outreaches, invited the youth to "give their lives to the Lord." Rendi and Patrick both accepted Christ along with four other German youth, and never missed camp afterwards. The final day, their mother visited camp. "What the youth workers could not do in one year, you did in one week," she told Theo (above left, in tan shirt). "My son Rendi is a different boy. He's peaceful, paying attention and listening to me."

Antje asked if the parents could join a Bible study that Theo organized for the boys and pushed to include Janina, who gave her life to Christ the final day.

"In that part of Europe, it takes a long time of relationship building for people to warm up to the gospel," says Christian Kocherscheidt, AIA's director for western Germany. "For children to have such life-changing behavior is remarkable, and especially for the parents to be interested."

Now Rendi is back in school and Janina is keeping the baby. And Theo is working part time as a social worker in the high school "to hang out with the kids and help with their problems."
—Bill Hunt

Just two years after launching Campus Crusade's Executive Ministries on Maryland's eastern shores, Will Howard has seen the group's influence spread all the way to Lithuania. A breakfast outreach in Easton with syndicated columnist Cal Thomas sparked the group's vision to sponsor movies with redemptive messages. The group distributed evangelistic literature to packed crowds at free shows of The Nativity and brought Amazing Grace to Easton. One executive who often travels to Europe even arranged to show Amazing Grace to Lithuania's parliament. "The men are delighted with the outreaches," says Will.
—Bill Hunt



Indiana

Their meeting was a chance encounter that changed Eric Wilkes' life forever.

Gary Kirschman exited the elevator while Eric was waiting to enter, both attending a chamber of commerce networking meeting in Indianapolis. The two began to chat.

A few weeks later Eric met with Gary, a staff member with Priority Associates, the business and professional ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

They discussed subjects like relationships, family and finding balance in life. During their second meeting Gary introduced the booklet, Who is Jesus? which explains how to begin a relationship with God.

Eric, 24, attended church as a child but hadn't been back in 10 years, ever since his family moved to another city.

"I just never started going again and then it became no big deal," says Eric (above left).

However, the young businessman still expressed interest in knowing more about God and continued to meet with Gary.

A few months later at a Denny's restaurant, Eric prayed and received Christ.

"I thought going to church was having a relationship," says Eric.

Gary and Eric meet regularly for lunch on Fridays, many times sitting at the same table. Eric continues to grow enthusiastically in his new faith, even telling his girlfriend, Noelle, about his decision. Two months after he placed his faith in Christ, she did the same.

Now Eric has new motivation to attend church again, knowing that meeting Gary was not by chance.
—Tricia Allen


Taiwan

The women were confused. Every time the Campus Crusade for Christ's women's ministry held a large evangelistic luncheon, about 200 women would indicate that they had received Christ. However, only a few returned to learn more.

So May Lee, the director, changed their strategy. She determined to have each small group Bible study host its own small outreaches.

One Bible study member, Meng-Chun Chen, had accepted Christ through Campus Crusade in Taiwan eight years ago. "Her life was totally changed and she is one of the key leaders in the movement," says May.

Meng-Chun leads two Bible study groups, and the women involved in her group are also leading groups. Each Bible study began hosting small outreaches for friends or neighbors.

Now, all the women from 40 different small groups, including Meng-Chun's, gather twice a year. Rather than it being an evangelistic event, they delight in the large number of women.
—Jennifer Abegg


Campus Ministry

After a near-death experience, Marv Bittinger asked God what He wanted out of his life. The answer? A book exploring Christianity within a mathematics framework. Maybe not what you'd expect, but the Purdue University professor has sold more than 12 million math textbooks. After his heart attack in 1998, he began writing The Faith Equation. Marv (left) now speaks at Campus Crusade conferences, captivating students with the mathematical apologetics of the newly released book. For more information, visit www.thefaithequation.com.
—Matthew McDaniel