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Cornell University

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

Greetings from Ithaca!

It’s hard to believe we are already a month into the 2024-25 academic year at Cornell! The campus is buzzing once more, as students fill the streets, hills, and slopes of this beautiful campus; we have already been hard at work ministering to the thousands of students who are here.

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

Greetings from Ithaca!

We are off to an amazing start for the year here at Christian Union Vita! Cornell’s campus is buzzing once more as students fill the streets, hills, and slopes of this beautiful campus, and we have already been hard at work ministering to the thousands of students who are here.

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

The 2023-2024 academic year has come to a close here at Cornell University, and Christian Union Vita has been blessed to see the Lord work in so many ways!

It’s hard to believe how fast this year has gone! Our student leaders did incredible work all year long in reaching out to students and welcoming them in, helping students to find both a warm Christian community and a place where they could be challenged to grow into the Christian leaders God has called each of them to be. While several of our current leaders have graduated and are moving on, I am excited to say that the next academic year’s group of student leaders are already taking charge and implementing plans to begin reaching out to incoming students over the summer. These students are laying the groundwork to make sure Christian Union Vita hits the ground running when the semester starts this August!

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

Another incredible month of ministry is behind us here at Christian Union Vita at Cornell! We are so grateful for how the Lord continues to work in and through our students as we seek to make Jesus the most talked about subject on campus in a culture that is increasingly in a state of upheaval.

We have had an incredible semester in our Bible courses, with new students continuing to join the community of Christian Union Vita on an almost weekly basis. We celebrate the Lord’s continuing faithfulness to grow the ministry as we coach and train close to 100 future Christian leaders to seek the Lord wholeheartedly.

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

Thank you as always for your support, as it is making a difference! March has been an absolutely incredible month for Christian Union Vita here on Cornell’s campus. The Lord has continued to move in extraordinary ways, and I’m so excited to share a few high points with you so you can celebrate with us!

First and foremost, we are praising the Lord for over a dozen students who have put their faith in Jesus this semester! This is an extraordinary blessing, and we are rejoicing in the salvations the Lord has allowed us to see and be a part of on campus. Your support helps to make this possible, so rejoice with us as a member of the team of workers who are a part of this harvest. Pray that God continues to draw more and more students to a saving knowledge of Him!

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

We are off to an exciting start to the spring semester here at Christian Union Vita at Cornell! The sun has been peeking through the normally gray skies more than it usually does during this time of year, and God has been pushing back against the kingdom of darkness as well! We’re celebrating what He is doing, and we want you to be able to celebrate with us as we share these with you.

First and foremost, we are praising the Lord for six students who have put their faith in Jesus this semester! This is an extraordinary blessing, and we are grateful for the movement of the Holy Spirit and allowing us to be a part of His work in bringing the lost to Himself. Your support allows us to carry out the ministry that makes this possible, so rejoice with us as part of the team of workers who were a part of this harvest. Pray that God continues to draw more and more students to a saving knowledge of Him!

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

It is hard to believe that we are over halfway through the semester here at Cornell! Time seems to go by faster with each passing day, even more so when we are busy—and things have certainly been bustling at CU Vita!

There has been a steady stream of new faces coming to the Mott Center for our prayer meetings and social events. The students who are already engaged in ministry and fellowship with other believers at CU Vita have been so faithful to invite their friends, some of whom have little to no exposure to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray that the Holy Spirit equips us all for the work and empowers us for the opportunities!

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

I am so excited to give you an update regarding Christian Union Vita! We are praising God for the incredible things He has been doing during the first few weeks of classes here on the campus of Cornell University!

Our Freshman Welcoming Campaign was a tremendous success, with hundreds of meetings between our faculty, current students, and incoming first-years. We enrolled 40 freshmen in our Bible courses–20 men and 20 women! Several of our new first-years are already stepping into leadership roles and contributing greatly to the work of making Jesus the most talked about name on campus. In addition to adding a healthy number of freshmen, we have also added many other students of all years throughout this period, leading us to a total Bible Course enrollment of over 100 students! Many of these transfers and upperclassmen also feel the Lord calling them to step up and take greater responsibility in the work of the Great Commission, giving us even more to celebrate. The Lord is so faithful!

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

I hope that these summer months are treating you well! Things are currently quiet around the campus at Cornell, but in a few short weeks, thousands of students will pour into Ithaca and the surrounding communities as a new school year begins. That means there will be thousands of individuals who need to hear about and experience the Good News of Christ. We at Christian Union Vita are excited about the opportunities God has in store for the coming year. Our student-led outreach team has already contacted over 100 incoming students, and the work has barely begun.

Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,

I’m Dr. Marcus Buckley, and as the new CU Vita Ministry Director, I first want to say thank you for your support of the great work God is doing on campus here at Cornell University. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this effort for the Kingdom, and I’m grateful that God has opened this door of opportunity. I have served as lead pastor for nearly 29 years, and I am truly excited for this new journey that the Lord has for my family and me. My wife, Lea Ann, is also on the CU Vita staff as the Administration/Ministry Associate, and we are genuinely excited to be here in Ithaca.