What if you could connect your freshmen with a community to meet their needs and fears about college before they step foot on campus (aka. Cru)? What if you could teach your students to be real and intentional in sharing Christ's love with their friends through Instagram and Snapchat? What if your team showed up on your International Summer Mission with hundreds of interested students ready to engage? Hear practical examples of what God's already doing!

1. Three Personal Ways
To Connect Students
To Christ

3. What If?
You could connect your freshmen to a
community to meet their needs and
fears about college before they step
foot on campus??

4. Freshmen Fears
Making Friends, Missing Home,
School Success

5. Cru!
Connect freshmen with a community
to meet their needs and fears about
college before they even step
foot on campus…

6. 1.Find the Freshmen
2.Add and Message
3.Care for them and
introduce them to the
community that is Cru

7. Northeast
University of New Hampshire went from 100 at
first few weekly meetings last fall to 175 at their
first meeting this fall, then it dropped to 130
where it's stayed steady.
Syracuse went from having 80 at their first
weekly meeting last fall to 100 this year.
Babson University went from 12 involved
freshmen Fall 2013 to 25 involved this past fall.

8. Story from staff person at
University of New Hampshire about Julia:
“If one Facebook message could result in a girl
trusting Christ 6 months later, it’s worth it.”
https://vimeo.com/112886665

9. California State
Schools
Access (Almost) Denied

10. 1. Joined campus Facebook group
of “Class of 2019”
8, 556 members

11. 2. Searched for students who “LIKE”…
The Bible, Christianity, or Christian Music
3. Added & Messaged

12. 30Campuses
458Freshmen Messaged

13. 63Signed Up to Get Connected
24Different Universities

14. 16 Beginning a personal relationship with Christ
24
Interested in
sharing their faith

15. Want to do this strategy?
Send an email to erica.frogner@cru.org
and I’d be glad to help you directly OR go to
http://tinyurl.com/p7hw4zq for
step-by-step instructions.

16. What If?
You could teach your students to be
real and intentional in sharing
Christ’s love with their friends
through Instagram and Snapchat?

17. Be Real
It’s so easy for us to display only
our picture-perfect worlds, the
pretty parts of our lives.

18. Relatable Difficulty
Reminder
of Truth
Ask For Help
or Prayer

19. Be Intentional
You have the chance to
engage your friends’ hearts
with God’s heart for them,
and the world.
Comment on Friends’ Posts
Ask Questions
Pray for Others

20. Be Light in our World
&Culture
Grace & Peace-Filled Posts

21. Snap! For God’s Glory
“I have become all things to all
people so that by all possible
means I may save some.”
1 Corinthians 9:22

22. Snap! For God’s Glory
Ways that Deb, student at
Michigan State University,
is already using Snapchat
for God’s glory…
Snaps pictures of verses that
she’s trying to memorize to
her friend for accountability.
Snaps an instant video
praying for a friend and sends
it to her.

23. Snap! For God’s Glory
Before and After
12 Spiritual Conversations
started with friends over
Snapchat

24. Before and After
3 hours
15 students
3,500 exposures to their testimony
70Spiritual Conversations

25. Before and After
“I texted my friend the video of my before and after story,
and he loved it and said “It was very powerful and has
helped to start my path towards God. Thank you so
much for sending me this.” He called me the next day
and explained that he went through the same things I
did in order to realize he needed God. He agreed that
drugs were fleeting sources of happiness as well, and
wants to meet up with me when I get home to talk about
it more. He kept thanking me for sending him the video,
and it was really encouraging to know God used my
video and my broken past for His Glory.”
~Cat

26. Before and After
“I sent my Before & After video in individual Facebook messages to several of my
residents at ASU. As the leader among 75 freshmen residents, I have always been
very outspoken about my faith and my identity as a Christian, but I hadn't realized
that a lot of my non-Christian residents were curious about what it means to follow
Jesus.
After sending my video, one conversation was particularly encouraging. Geological
sciences major Karyn commented, "Because I was not raised in a Christian
environment, I do not always understand what exactly it means to be Christian or
what God's role is in people's lives, and hearing stories like yours always helps me
look at Christianity in an understanding perspective." I used that as an opportunity to
share the gospel with her through the Falling Plates video. She said she enjoyed and
understood the video for the most part, but wanted more information on what it
means by "eternal life." I explained the Bible's definition of eternal life in John 17:3
and how it is all about choosing faith in Christ, not works.
Having this conversation with someone who does not believe in Christ, and to see
her understand Jesus's message and truth (even if she may not believe it yet) was
incredible. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to share my story in such
a simple, personal way, and continue spiritual conversations.” ~Annie

27. Before and After
“For me, the scariest part of Before and After outreach was sending videos to
specific people, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision. Surprisingly
enough, the people I had the best conversations with were two of my gay friends.
One of them had felt like an outcast at his church after he came out, and while he
wanted to pursue a relationship with God, he only went to church to make his
grandparents happy. Thankfully, when I shared my testimony with him, he was able
to see the attitude of love that God has given me. I'm optimistic that he and my
roommate will come to church with me next semester, and grateful that he even
thanked me for reaching out to him.
The second one has a bit of a reputation for being grumpy, but he was willing to
listen to what I had to say. This was where I truly saw the merit of the Before and After
outreach: by opening up a personal, vulnerable part of ourselves to other
people, they are much more willing to return in kind. Instead of feeling like we
were forcing our beliefs on them, both of my friends saw our conversations as an
open exchange of information; my faith was something hugely important in my life,
and I wanted to share how it had developed through love, friendship, and my status
as a witness. Not through judgement or self-righteousness: a beggar showing
another beggar where to find bread.” ~Matara

28. Want to do this strategy?
Send an email to erica.frogner@cru.org
and I’d be glad to help you directly OR go to
http://tinyurl.com/p98udyb for
step-by-step instructions for the
Before and After Strategy.

29. What If?
Your team showed up on your
international summer mission
with hundreds of students
ready to be engaged?

30. Limited Time
But Often Extremely Effective

31. Identify a Need or
Attraction for Students
Examples:
Practice English
Meet Americans
Culture Exchange
Interested in Christianity

32. The ad resulted in finding160
students who indicated they
wanted to practice english with
someone (and would be willing to
meet up to have conversations).
We also had 11 students indicate
they wanted to practice english
with someone and talk about
something of a spiritual nature.
Practice English with Friends

33. Setup a Facebook
Page or Event
Invite Students Through Relevant Communication
Place Facebook Ads
Care for Them Well

34. Expose Students to
Something Spiritually Igniting
From fallingplates.com From globalshortfilmnetwork.com

35. FallingPlates

36. FallingPlates had over 17,000 views in the first 2 weeks
and over 1,000 Facebook Page likes.
Thousands of students were publicly liking the Facebook
page and 50 were engaged in a discussion about it in
the comments section.
The YouTube video (not promoted on Facebook Ads)
currently has 680 views.
The Vimeo video we used with the Ads has 17,300 views.
The Facebook page has around 1,500 likes.
FallingPlates

37. FallingPlates
Over a year later, with no
promotion since, there are:
500 more views
New Page views and
likes every week.

38. Talk with Students Through Their Communication
Preference (when possible)
Care for Them Well
Be Intentional
Use What They’re Using

39. Want to do this strategy?
Send an email to
erica.frogner@cru.org
and I’ll walk with you step-by-step
to do a strategy like this.
Resource Links:
globalshortfilmnetwork.com
JESUSFilmMedia.org
FallingPlates.com

40. “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make
the most of every opportunity.”
Colossians 4:5