By Reyna Valencia
As the fall semester takes off, Dylan Huber, a first year resident at the interdenominational Calvary Memorial church, is working to bring attention to Cru, an interdenominational Christian organization focused on evangelism and discipleship, that is establishing a presence at Dominican University once again.
On Tuesday, August 25th, Huber stood outside of Crown Cafe handing out QR codes to students walking across campus inviting them to a Bible study. The group was preparing to begin its second week of meetings for the semester.
Huber led their Cru’s most recent meeting on Wednesday, August 26th in the Crown Cafe before regular Bible study meetings begin. Students went around introducing themselves; they shared their religious backgrounds, and in groups of three, discussed if they had grown up attending church. As students mingled and enjoyed snacks, Huber handed out customized Cru Dominican t-shirts at the end of the meeting.
“Cru exists to share the love of God and to introduce students from any background to Jesus. To have Bible study groups, disciple students, have students disciple students, have students lead Bible studies, stuff like that, and share the gospel in Dominican and in the world as they graduate.”
Huber explains that Cru is open to everyone regardless of their religious background. He understands that many will refuse to attend when they learn that Cru is a protestant organization rather than a Roman catholic one. However, he believes people may change their minds once they attend and realize they are worshipping the same God and studying the same Bible.
“It’s a good space I think for a lot of people especially you know this is their first time away from home and they don’t know what to think about God, church, religion, and spirituality, and so hopefully this is a good space for them to ask those questions, to be able to have a community that talks about it, to read the Bible for themselves, and to hear the gospel.”
According to Huber, Cru previously had a presence at Dominican about five years ago under a different leadership. However, the organization struggled to attract enough students, so, the group eventually died down. However, Calvary Memorial church saw this as the perfect opportunity to bring Cru back to campus and revive the organization.
Last year, Cru began rebuilding its presence at Dominican and saw a great turnout of attendees for the small, new group on campus with approximately 15 students during each meeting. Student leader, Marcos Jimenez, also shared his experience participating in a mission trip last summer.
“The one that I went to was 10 weeks here in the country. We went to New Jersey, Ocean City, and yeah, we just basically spent 10 weeks. A bunch of Christians spending time together but specifically going out and sharing the gospel.” Jimenez said.
Jimenez explained that Cru mission trips are open to college students and staff members interested in sharing the gospel and participating in ministry. With the help of the Ministry, Student Government, and student involvement, Cru is in the process of becoming an official student organization.
Huber and Jimenez encourage students to attend their weekly Bible studies taking place on Tuesdays in Crown Library 330 at 2:30 p.m., and Wednesdays in Crown Library 230 at 3:40 p.m. The meetings provide Cru t-shirts, free Bibles, and information on upcoming mission trips with Cru.
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