I think I’ll go to Boston…

Look how excited these students are to be coming to Boston for college:

This is a sampling of Instagram posts from incoming freshmen.

The pictures you see here are their ‘Rinsta’ pictures (that’s their ‘Real Instagram’ where they post the beautiful pictures). Their ‘Finsta’ pictures (that’s their ‘Fake Instagram’ where they post imperfect pictures just for their closest friends) are hidden.

We’ve been doing this long enough to know that freshmen coming to Boston do not have it all together. Particularly, they struggle with social anxiety. And so that’s why, every year, we get e-mails like this from parents:

“My daughter is a freshman this year. I was wondering if you or a colleague or another student you may know there would be willing to reach out to her and invite her either to a large group meeting, small group meeting or to church? I’ve been meaning to reach out to you earlier, but I wasn’t sure how she felt about getting involved with a Christian group. She grew up going to church, attending youth groups, mission trips, Christian summer camps and loved them all. The past year she grew a little distant, and I think she’s in a journey of self-discovery. She texted me today and we got on the topic of whether she felt connected and said “no” “not yet.” I asked if she would be open to someone from Cru contacting her and she said “sure.” So I was hoping you or someone you may know would be willing to reach out to her? She has a bit of social anxiety (which you can’t tell at all), so would probably not initiate going to a Cru gathering by herself. Here is her info in case you are available to reach out to her:”

In this case, Malisa e-mailed, texted back and forth 5-10 times, and set up a few failed appointments. There is a hesitancy for students to meet new people in person. Even though Instagram may portray a perfect life, we know it’s not really that way.

This is normal.

It usually takes 5-10 text message exchanges before we get to meet up in person with a new student. Would you pray for open doors?

50,000 freshmen are about to arrive in the city of Boston. We want them to find their identity in Jesus.

Loving our Adventurous Lord,

Prayer Requests

For students to be open to sharing their “finsta” with us in real life… God changes what we open up about.
For every freshman coming to Boston – that they would find a safe community where they can explore what it means to follow Jesus. (you can search for some to pray for, just type a Hashtag like #BU2023 or #MIT2023 to find incoming freshmen)
For our digital outreach to incoming students – that many would find their real identity in Jesus.
For our student leaders on mission trips around the world this summer including Evangeline from Simmons, Patrick from Northeastern, Hannah from BU, and many others.
For Malisa and me as we coach new Cru team leaders from across the country this summer. Malisa is coaching Asian American team leaders; Brian is coaching operations team leaders.