My Experience with Cru at Parkside Then and Now

    I wasn't sure where to post it, but thought it might get too long for Facebook. Even though Parkside had it's last Cru meeting almost 2 weeks ago now, I thought a semi-sappy post was in order. (I only intended on doing a summary of the year but this blogpost has become so much more, you're in for a ride). 

     During the summer of 2021 my friend Trae told me about how he was applying to lead Cru at UW Parkside in the Fall. Since he is radical about his faith, he wasn't sure how they'd feel about him and his wife joining staff. For those of you who don't know Cru is a Christian organization on many campuses nationwide, and was shortened to Cru after originally being called Campus Crusaders. Cru is what started one of the initial flames in my heart when I had first started becoming serious about my faith. Cru is also where I first met Trae back in 2014. Trae encouraged me to become one of the student leaders of Cru, and I became one as a Freshman. I had also started going to Living Light right before becoming a leader, which really fanned the flame of my faith, and ultimately engulfed my heart to share the love of Jesus Christ after being born-again the fall before. 

   Cru was crucial to becoming who I am today. It stood as a stepping stone on my way to building a relationship with God. When I went to college, I was unsure if I needed God, but after failing miserably at doing life without him for 1.5 months I knew I did, and that's where Cru came in. The people on my particular dorm building section is probably what you would expect of college freshman. Underaged drinking, vulnerability, experimentation, uncertainty, smoking weed, etc. I thankfully made a friend who was also trying to figure out her faith. A friend I still have to this day. Her name is Nicole. Her friend or roommate (I can't remember) said she would accompany us on our walk to check out Cru, but there would be know way she would check it out herself. She was very much so an atheist. 

     I don't remember much from the first meeting. Just that there was a really smiley guy who was very passionate about Jesus to an almost obnoxious level, who I subsequently became super infatuated with somehow.(If you know, you know). My first impression of him though was thinking he was a little crazy. Your stereotypical "Jesus Freak." During that first meeting as well they announced they would be having a Fall Retreat that next weekend. A weekend away, surrounded by nature, you'd get to stay in a cabin, and have homemade meals etc. I ended up signing up last minute, and began attempting to know the other Cru members before going away with them together the very next weekend. Luckily/unluckily there was an event you could do with the organization you were apart of which involved living in a cardboard box house with the members of your organization. You got multiple cardboard boxes to use to build a structure, that you would sleep in for the night. It was the the beginning/mid October and it was freezing already. This event sped up getting to know the other core Cru members. Another event that happened in the week leading up to the retreat before this event was a coed bible study, that I almost didn't go to, which is a strange story looking back.  

    A guy I didn't know who I think lived on my dorm floor asked me if I wanted to go to a frat party on campus with him that night. (I don't know if I accepted or said I wasn't sure, either is possible). We ended up exchanging numbers so we could set up details. He planned on showing up at my dorm so we could walk together to the party. I wasn't interested in him, but semi-intrigued as to what the party might be like, and naïve to the potential danger of the situation. That's where "Jesus Freak" guy steps in. He had somehow been in one of the study areas of our dorm floor, and recognized me when I walked by. He told me about the bible study that would also be happening that night, so now I had to decide between the frat party with a guy who might have tried to take advantage of me or go to a bible study. The answer is obvious now that I would have definitely steered clear of the party, but back then it wasn't as black and white. God was there and he saved me with the bible study option which I ended up choosing. The rest is history. 

   I became born-again at the Fall Retreat, and met Trae about a week later, who had taken the year off to do a discipleship program which taught skills for becoming a future leader. He volunteered to lead worship for Cru along with other people who were apart of the discipleship program which he'd bring along. Trae had such a love and hunger for God, which made him noticeably stand out to other people. This would also be true about the members of Living Light. I knew whatever it was that he had, that I wanted it too. 

   Cru didn't occur without loads of drama back then. A problem I'm happy to report isn't an issue currently. Back then Cru had a core group of people that made anyone not a part of that group feel a little left out. One of my gifts is being welcoming and making sure people feel connected and not left out. We're all flawed humans and I think the "core group" really was trying to be genuine.  They seemed to go more by emotions then with what God might have actually wanted them to do. People got hurt, but even back then Trae had vision for what Cru could be. Even going as far as to maybe create something entirely different from what Cru was, and it's so incredible to see how his ideas all came to fruition all these years later. The problem with Cru back then was you could only grow so much before you would start to plateau in your faith without growing anymore.

   In 2015 Trae started a group separate from his future vision of what Cru could be. This group consisted of other students who were passionate about God gathering at Trae's house for prayer, worship, and fellowship before our college classes. We would try to meet weekly, early in the morning, and it was really life-giving and encouraging.

  In 2017 I became really good friends with his girlfriend, and future wife Machaela, and we still remain close friends to this day.  

  Fast forward to 2021, they gave Trae and his wife Machaela the job to lead Cru, even after hearing about the things he had envisioned for Cru which were out of the box compared to the standard Cru guidelines. They started leading Cru in the Fall of 2021, and I knew I wanted to somehow get involved too. During the Fall of 2021 I was employed at a job that completely drained me of all the energy I had emotionally, spiritually, and physically so I knew I wouldn't be able to juggle in Cru as well. During the Winter of 2022 when I had switched to my current job I worked until 5, which was when Cru started. Cru was only an hour back then, so by the time I would get to campus it would be 20 minutes into it. I did however make it to the first Cru meeting of the Spring Semester. 

  Then came Summer 2022 where this blogpost was originally going to start. At our annual church conference I got to know some of the people that were apart of Cru. One I had recognized from the first meeting. Everyone was very friendly, and welcoming right away. At that time my schedule had switched to working to 4:30 on Tuesday/Thursday. Tuesday being when Cru took place. However I had another issue. The church group I was apart of also met on Tuesday nights. I had felt really connected to that specific group of people, and did not want to leave them, but had also was super envisioned to help out with Cru. I ended up making the very difficult decision to join a Thursday night church group instead in order to be able to help out with Cru. 

  It didn't turn out how I had envisioned it to go, and I even began second guessing what I had been so sure about. Questions like "Was I even making a difference in being there?" "Should I have made such an all-in decision?" "Should I go back to my old church group?" Gosh I really missed them, etc. 

   But then I realized that I was making an impact, and that God had had me at Cru again for a reason. Part of it being that it just made sense that I would be after Cru had had such an impact on my life. One of the other parts being who I've gotten to know because of it. I've mentioned this before, but because of Cru at Parkside I got to know Veronica. Veronica was a sophomore at Parkside who wanted to be apart of a local church, but didn't have a car on campus. Since I live down the road from Parkside I began taking her to church with me. I first met up with her for dinner to get to know her better before taking her to church the first time. Since then we have cultivated a friendship through the many drives to church and other Cru events. I have been so blessed by her friendship, and it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't decided to be at Cru. Other people I've been blessed to get to know through Cru this past year include Amber, Jessica, Brooklyn and Victoria among others. 

   In summary, what Trae and Machaela have done with Cru is nothing short of incredible, and I'm really lucky I've gotten to witness and be apart of it. 

  Pictures from the last Cru meeting of 2015, and the last Cru meeting of 2023.