Q & A

Q: Why do staff members raise financial support instead of Campus Crusade for Christ raising it for them?
A: We are a nonprofit organization and have no central funds. Staff members, including the president of Campus Crusade, raise support to cover salaries, benefits and expenses. Then each staff member has a team of partners who pray specifically for him or her. Central fundraising would also limit the number of staff members. As a result of our 27,000 staff, hundreds of thousands of people hear the good news of God’s love. As the largest missions agency in the world, it would not be possible to have as many missionaries as we do were it not for each staff member raising his or her own support.  (Plus, Tara and Trent love getting to meet with the body of Christ for encouragement and great relationships.)

Q: How is my staff member’s salary determined?
A: Salaries are determined by age, number of children and geographic factors. In addition, a staff member may raise funds for a retirement plan.  (Our salary is $3100 per month for the both us us.)

Q: When should I begin to send in contributions for the ministry of my staff member?
A: It would be most helpful if you could start right away. Many new staff members work part time or full time while raising support (we did). As soon as they have enough coming in, they can quit their other jobs and focus full time upon raising their support. The more time they can focus upon raising their support, the sooner they will be able to report to their ministries. (We reported in August of 2009!  Thank you, support team!)

Q: How long am I expected to support my staff member?
A: That is a decision between you and God. Our desire is that you would support your staff member for as long as the Lord enables you to do so.

Q: Why do I need to make my check out to Campus Crusade for Christ?
A: Campus Crusade is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)3 organization and we follow IRS regulations for contributions. The staff member’s name should not appear on the check, not even on the memo line. Contributions are sent to Campus Crusade with a slip containing the staff member’s name and account number (#0594097- use our first names, too, because there are others on staff who share our last name), thus ensuring your gift will be used as you prefer. Alternatively, you can also give online at give.ccci.org/give/View/0594097

Q: Does all my support go to the staff member?
A: All contributions designated for the ministry of a staff member go into that staff member’s account. Then 7 percent is used for administrative expenses, such as processing payroll and other services. Another 5 percent helps fund Campus Crusade missionaries overseas who are native to their country and cannot raise support for security reasons.

Q: When are you two moving to the Twin Cities?
A: As soon as the Lord provides 100% of our financial support. (Actually, we moved in May of 2009.  We love it up here!)

Q: How do you go about meeting students on campus?
A: Mainly, we do thousands of brief surveys.  Every student loves to share their opinion!  On the survey, it asks about their spiritual thoughts and interests, and it also has a list of articles that they can circle if interested.  Staff and students sort through those survey cards, and then take the time to personally deliver whatever resources the student was interested in.  That gives us a great platform to serve them, share the gospel, invite them to our events, and begin a personal relationship.  We also meet students by advertising our weekly meeting, and then God brings the masses!  We obviously utilize info tables at Student Org. fairs and other events, and we do campus-wide outreaches with big speakers, illusionists, bands, drama teams, and even an outreach called "Porn Nation" with speaker Michael Leahy.  Yes, God can even use such things for His purposes.

Q: What will your lives look like on a typical day?
A: Trent will be in the Regional Headquarters from 9-5.  He's the only computer guy for five states (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, N. Dakota, S. Dakota), so that should keep him more than busy.  Until now, they've had to hire a service to do a minimal job at maintaining the systems.  Tara will be on several campuses in the Twin Cities metro area, and she'll spend her time discipling leaders, following-up survey cards, sharing the gospel, and planning big outreaches and weekend retreats.  Her job is hugely relational, and she'll need a lot of help from the Holy Spirit and her teammates.

Q: What's the hardest thing about campus ministry?
A: Wow, why did I ask myself this?  Well, every day presents a new challenge.  But overall, I must quote Steve Douglass, "The hardest thing is choosing which good things not to do."  There are just so many great ideas that God may want to use to reach these campuses!  But, we cannot do them all.  The reason is simple.  "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Pray, therefore, to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the harvest field!"  Some things haven't changed since Jesus was here.  But praise God that the harvest is so plentiful!