Andy’s Summer (so far…)

Continuing Education

Greetings from Orlando! It’s interesting to be in Central Florida and not have it be the hottest place in America.

My (Andy) summer began deliciously — while Catherine and Rachel were in Maine and Cady and Kevin were on vacation with his family, I got to spend time with Becca. She treated me to meals fit for a very healthy king. My favorites were stuffed mushrooms, chicken parmesan and corn chowder. She also put together a wonderful Father’s Day spread for our nephew, Drew, our family friend, Jim, and me (Drew was in Florida to visit friends, Jim’s wife and girls were out of town). I was well taken care of!

Then, it was back to the classroom for me. As part of Cru’s continuing education program, all support-raising staff are asked to complete 12 seminary-level classes on topics like the Old and New Testament, church history and theology. Catherine and I both took 4 classes the summer we started with Cru (1984).

My summers in Colorado involve helping to facilitate these seminary classes, but my work responsibilities make it difficult for me to attend them. During non-Colorado summers, the same classes are offered here in Orlando and I’m able to participate.

The last two weeks of June I was in a class about our humanity and our sin, salvation and what Christ accomplished for us. It was a refreshing class taught by an exceptional professor who had an astounding command of scripture.

I have so enjoyed the classes I’ve taken (I also took two the summer of 2010). They’re a LOT of work, but my only regret is that I didn’t take them sooner.

A couple of my co-workers…Dan and Brian

I want to do something I don’t think we’ve done before, feature a couple of my co-workers in our letter. On my team are two programmers, Dan and Brian, for whom I have the greatest respect. These guys are fantastic programmers — some of the best I’ve seen. They are able to keep up with the latest in the world of computer programming, they are fast and they are somehow able to keep track of all the “ins and outs” of the vast systems we have created. They literally do the work of a dozen men.

As we’ve shared recently, one focus of our team is to help our smaller, developing international ministries around the world by creating web-based tools. Our goal is to create tools that free up our missionaries to do ministry. Often these ministries don’t have the people, finances or equipment to make those tools for themselves. In my humble opinion we do this really well, and Dan and Brian are a huge part of that success!

One of the reasons I respect Brian and Dan so much is their commitment to the mission of Campus Crusade for Christ, International. Both of these guys sacrifice a significant salary level to be a part of our office. Their commitment to our mission is inspiring to me.

Summer Highlights from June and early July

Catherine and Rachel went to Maine for a week—a first for Rachel. Seven days, many relatives, lots of adventures!
Cady went to Captiva Island with her fiancé’s family.
The girls went wedding dress shopping.
Rachel went to high school church camp in Tennessee.
Catherine has been and still is quilting and finds the Olympic trials a great time to do handwork.
Becca is nanny-ing for the summer for our neighbor’s two sons, ages 6 and 9, who keep us in stitches: “Who do you think would win in a fight? God or Obama?”