April's Weekend Fire Retreat Greatly Impacts Participants 

Christian Union America equips and supports Christian Union Universities' alumni, as well as other Christian leaders across the country, with programs such as its alumni mentorship program, CU Fire Retreats, Bible studies, Daniel Spirituality coaching, and in-person conferences and forums. Christian Union's aim through these programs is to equip and strengthen Christian leaders to wholeheartedly seek God to transform their hearts and minds more unto the image of Christ and to transform their families, communities, and the nation as a result.  The most recent CU Fire Retreat, held in April, equipped Christians across the country to better understand the fear of God and the fear of man, exploring how the former leads to wisdom and life, and the latter leads to more fear and deeper despair. Testimonies of lives that have been touched by God through April's weekend CU Fire Retreat are rolling in: "The CU Fire retreat helped my faith to increase in that my need to fear God is so much stronger and so much more powerful than the fear of man." 

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Devotional from CU National Fast 2024: Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace of all Nations

As I stood tall before a judge in a civil case, I waited for the judgment to be announced. I was prepared. I was confident the truth of my statements was sufficient. I knew I stood for what was right, but I was unwilling to look to my left at the individual I perceived as my enemy. Memories as a United States Marine during uniform inspections flashed through my mind. I had spent years standing tall while being inspected from head to toe. I prepared for these inspections to the point I’d be surprised if the inspecting Marine found anything incorrect, yet whispers of doubt had me wondering if I overlooked anything while I waited for the final judgment. But this wasn’t the Marine Corps. This wasn’t about my preparation. This involved a person acting as an enemy toward me. While everyone waited for a judgment to be spoken, I thought, "how could this person get away with false claims?” “How could this person be so deceiving?” “Did their lies convince the judge? “Does the truth matter?” “Would my enemy receive a just penalty?”  

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A Ministry that Equips Tranformative Christian Leaders for Life

Christian Union has been in the national spotlight for several weeks now. From magazine and newspaper articles, television interviews, a podcast appearance, a Worldwide Prayer Meeting at Yale with the Summit International School of Ministry that was live-streamed across multiple countries, and social media ads running from the west to the east coast of the U.S., many people in faith-based circles are asking, "What is Christian Union?"  Christian Union is a leadership development ministry that works at ten of the nation's most influential educational institutions and beyond to develop and connect Christians to transform culture for God's glory. Christian Union (CU) is a unique ministry in that it meets a comprehensive set of needs in our nation's young adults:

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Christian Union Lux' Second Annual Worship and Prayer Event 

Christian Union Lux is a spiritual force of light at Yale University by God's grace and power. A leader of this force is Reverend Jeffrey Walsh. Walsh is a retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant with over 23 years of experience as a Military Police Soldier, Educator, and National Director of Police. He is also an ordained Christian minister with a lifetime of experience in pastoral ministry. Walsh has served in various assignments and attachments worldwide with the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau, the 5th Special Forces Group, and the 169th Regional Training Institute. Jeffrey spent the last ten years in senior leadership positions. He has trained military leaders across North America in his former roles and Walsh's combat experience has earned him numerous service awards, including the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and four presidential unit awards. And for the last two years, Walsh has been training and ministering to students as the ministry director of Christian Union Lux at Yale. His passion for serving others stems from a personal journey of healing and transformation through the Spirit of God.

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Understanding the Christian View of Fear

This April 19-20th, Christians around the country are joining Christian Union America from the comfort of their own home for a weekend retreat to better understand the Christian view of fear: the fear of man and the fear of God. In light of this upcoming event, Christian Union desires to encourage all Christians to seek the Lord wholeheartedly to find freedom from the destructive forces of the fear of man and to find their security in God alone. The following excerpt, originally published as part of a 2014 CU Fast, examines Jesus' words to his disciples about fearing man, as recorded in the Book of Matthew.

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We Have Not Received a Spirit of Fear 

  Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord. I give thanks to God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, having been reminded of your tears, so that I may be filled with joy, receiving remembrance of the sincere faith that is in you—which was first in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and which I am convinced is also in you.

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Christian Union's April 2024 Retreat on the Christian View of Fear

This month, Christian Union America will be hosting another powerful CU Fire Retreat to help equip Christians around the country to draw close to the Lord with friends and family through a weekend retreat. It is not too late to join, as registration is still open.  One participant recently shared, "The CU Fire Retreat was a great time! It’s not often you get the opportunity to do a group fast with so many amazing people. I’ve also met one of my current best friends through the alumni group. She went to a different school, so I probably would have never met her without the group!"    Who: You and your small group, friends, or family  What: A 1.5 day simulcast retreat featuring Scripture-based teaching, worship, prayer, and fasting  When: April 19-20, 2024 Where: easily host in your own home or church Why:  grow strong in the Lord and grow closer to each other  April 2024 Theme: The Christian View of Fear: Understanding the Fear of Man and the Fear of God 

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Reflection for Good Friday 

In an article entitled "Why Did Jesus Die?" written by Tevin Wax in 2007 for the Gospel Coalition, Wax addresses five significant reasons why Jesus, God-made-flesh who came as the Messiah for all humanity, had to die. This article and other videos and resources that help to explain the significance of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are part of Christian Union's CU Rise online evangelism campaign "Jesus Disrupts," which is currently underway and can be found at www.curise.org. 

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Sharing Christ with an "Unreached People Group" at Cornell and Beyond

While students and faculty were protesting in Ithaca's public spaces and headlines were raging with anger and allegations about attacks on freedom in The Cornell's Daily Sun , Christian Union (CU) Vita students were fixing their eyes on the Author and Finisher of their faith. These students recently surrendered their week of spring break to serve the Lord. They are not looking to the right or to the left; instead, they are gazing upon the beauty of the Lord, knowing He is the One who sustains them and keeps them from sinking into the surrounding culture of despair, as they share the Hope that they have in Jesus Christ with anyone who will listen.  

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CU America's 2024 National Fast, "Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace for All Nations"

"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 'Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.' So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it'". – Jeremiah 18:1-10 It is difficult to find anyone who is not pleased when God shows to them grace and mercy according to His sovereign will. We rejoice that God would see fit to make forgiveness available to us, knowing that our sin and rebellion merits only His righteous judgment. We celebrate when God reaches across time and space and touches a friend or loved one, breaking the chains of sin and setting them free into glorious, eternal life. But what happens when God saves someone outside our circle of influence? Or, even worse, outside our circle of preference? How many times have we as faithful followers of Christ been shocked – or even offended – when someone who was formerly an outspoken enemy of God comes to saving faith in Christ Jesus? It is easy to hurl accusations that their conversion is not a true one, that somehow the greatness of their previous sin outweighs the redemptive, salvific power of the cross. 

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CU Rise Set to "Disrupt" Spiritual Climate of U.S. Colleges

In 2022, Christian Union first launched CU Rise, an evangelism campaign designed to share the gospel with students at nine of the nation’s most influential universities more boldly, strategically, and frequently than ever before. This month, Christian Union is at it again, as CU Rise takes form for the third spring in a row with its campaign entitled "Jesus Disrupts." For eight weeks, starting March 17, the goal of CU Rise is to proclaim the gospel, disrupting the current spiritual climate at highly secular universities that produce a disproportionate amount of U.S. and global leaders. Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, recently told the Christian Post that this theme was chosen “to introduce students to how radical Jesus is.”   The schools across the country that this campaign will focus on include Brown University of Rhode Island, Columbia University of New York, Cornell University of New York, Dartmouth College of New Hampshire, Harvard University of Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University of New Jersey, Yale University of Connecticut, and Stanford University of California. “Students today at the nation’s most rigorous schools are largely unaware of the most important message in the history of humanity. Jesus Christ has brought more good into the world than any other person, and these students deserve to know, said Bennett. "Jesus is also the only one who can forgive sins and transfer us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We need to do everything we can to give these students the opportunity to believe in Him.”  Read Christian Post's full article entitled "‘Jesus disrupts’: Christian Student Group to Launch 8-week Evangelism Tour" here.  Read FaithWire's related article entitled, "Christian Leader's Sobering Comparision Between Communist China and Ivey League Campuses" here.   View and share videos, testimonies, or articles from the CU Rise campaign that explain Christianity here. 

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Washington Times Op-Ed on Secularization of Educational Institutions

Sunday, March 17, 2024-- The Washington Times published an opinion article today by Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, entitled "America's Founding Universities Lost Their Religion. Are They Worth Saving?" The article briefly discusses the histories of several educational institutions in America, such as Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, and Stanford. The article also presents a compelling claim that students at these institutions ought to know the fundamental truth upon which their schools were founded: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and, through Him alone, humanity finds salvation and life.

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Former Student President Claims Victory in Texas Primary 

Leaders developed at Dartmouth shape the future of our country by determining what media gets disseminated, what laws get passed, and how major decisions get made. Dartmouth has produced influential figures, including author Dr. Seuss, beloved T.V. personality Fred Rogers, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and former central banker and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (ChristianUnion.org/Cornerstone/Vox). It seems another name of influence may soon be added to this list: Brandon Gill. Brandon Gill claimed victory in the GOP primary for the 26th district of Texas to replace U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, who is retiring after 21 years in Congress, according to the Dallas News. Gill received 58.4% of the vote and will now face Democrat Ernest Lineberger III in the November election.Gill's Congressional webpage states, "I attended Dartmouth College and graduated cum laude with degrees in both Economics and History. I was President of the conservative paper, The Dartmouth Review. I was also President of Christian Union and grew it to be one of the largest student groups on campus, despite being on a campus hostile to the Christian faith. In college, I fought the left nonstop - on their own turf - and I left Dartmouth even more conservative than when I arrived."

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CU America's 2024 National Fast, "Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace for All Nations"

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." – Ephesians 6:12

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Christian Union Universities Highlighted  

The Christ and Coffee podcast, led by Dr. Haig Kherlopian, pastor of Church for the Nations, recently hosted Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, to discuss Christian Union (CU) Universities. CU Universities is comprised of ten Christian leadership development ministries at nine of the nation's most influential educational institutions: Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard, Harvard Law, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, and Stanford.  During the informal podcast interview, the uniqueness of CU's ministry was discussed, among other topics related to how Christian Union is developing leaders with spiritual depth in strategic places for cultural renewal. In the podcast episode entitled "Inside Ivy League Ministry," Bennett discussed how the majority of America’s most strategic universities were expressly founded as Christian colleges. But over the years, these schools gradually shed their religious affiliation and became secular institutions. Bennett referenced research done by James Tunstead Burtchaell, who has extensive experience in American higher education as both a teacher and an administrator.  Burthchaell, in his book The Dying of the Light, "provides case studies of seventeen prominent colleges and universities with diverse ecclesial origins - Congregational, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, and Evangelical. 

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Christian Union Universities Proclaiming the Good News This Spring

“What shall you do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” That was the question posed by preacher Dwight Lyman Moody at his Illinois Street Church in Chicago on October 8, 1871. In the sermon, he paraphrased the question asked by Pontius Pilate in the Gospel of Matthew (27:22). Moody challenged the congregation to think about it during the week and return to church the following Sunday with an answer—would they crown Christ as Lord or, like Pilate and the misguided mob of that time, deny his supremacy? However, as Moody finished his sermon, a warning bell began to ring. The Great Chicago Fire was raging. There was no next week at his church, which burned to the ground like many of the buildings in the city.

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CU America's 2024 National Fast, "Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace for All Nations"

"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved" – Matthew 24:12-13. As a youngster, I can think of plenty of extracurricular activities that I began with curiosity and zeal or out of a parental charge to participate, and for one reason or another, I soon opted to stop–-from piano lessons to Girl Scouts to running track to being a debutante, and many other activities–-however, when my firstborn was placed in my arms there was a conscious decision to continue regardless.  This unwavering commitment to the children I bore would only be eclipsed by my commitment to live for God simply because I found out that He is alive.  Now, with adult children and a life in Christ that spans close to forty years, I can attest that my endurance has not been easy, nor has it been without opportunities to quit, but rather because value and worth were assigned.Assigning importance and meaning or significance to something or someone is not strange.  It’s done all the time;however for Christians, the commitment to cherish and esteem Jesus means to safeguard why we value Him even during the ecological, economic, and ecumenical tumult that Jesus warns will not only come, but cause the strongest of believers to defect because of pervasive lawlessness.

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Highlight: CU America Member, Carrie Sheffield 

Carrie Sheffield, a Harvard alumna and a member of Christian Union America, is releasing a memoir this March entitled Motorhome Prophesies and launching a subsequent book tour across the U.S. Sheffield, a columnist and broadcaster in Washington, D.C., shares insights with millions of Americans on networks like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS News, CNBC, BBC, and more. From ABC’s Good Morning America to HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS, and C-SPAN, she brings a voice of virtue to the American communications and media industry through boundless interviews for articles, appearances on television shows and podcasts, and at forums across the nation. Consequently, many Americans know the professional side of Carrie Sheffield's life. In her memoir, we learn about a different side of her life. The book's overview states, "Carrie Sheffield grew up the fifth of eight children with a violent, mentally ill, street-musician father who believed he was a modern-day Mormon prophet…She and her seven siblings were often forced to live as vagabonds, remaining on the move across the country. They frequently subsisted in sheds, tents, and, most notably, motorhomes. They often lived a dysfunctional drifter existence, camping out in their motorhome in Walmart parking lots. Carrie attended 17 public schools and homeschool, all while performing classical music on the streets… at times while child custody workers loomed…Carrie struggled with her mental health during college and for most of her adult life." 

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Student Spotlight: Jackson Parrott, '27, Yale University

As a first-year undergraduate student and prospective Global Affairs major at Yale, Jackson Parrott has an impressive resume of experience in the spheres of public policy and politics. He is a researcher for the Yale Foreign Policy Initiative, a Policy Analyst for the Space Policy Research Collaborative, and a member of the Yale Undergraduate Moot Court Team. He has previously served as the Head of Global Organizational Outreach for the Climate Science Olympiad and as an Economic Policy Fellow for the Greater Good Initiative; he served as a Field Director and staff intern for both a lieutenant gubernatorial candidate and for a US Senate campaign. In addition, Parrott is an Air Force ROTC Cadet and is a Harvard Undergraduate International Relations Scholar. 

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A Devotional from CU National Fast, January 2024  

"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good." – Ecclesiastes 9:18 Since the fall, humans have turned to violence and war to solve our problems. It could be argued that we have even created an industry out of it! Over the course of history, innumerable conflicts have stricken mankind. As such, there have been many military leaders of note; but even with the vast pool from which to choose there are leaders that rise to the top of the list. Names such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Ulysses S. Grant line the rankings when discussing the greatest military leaders of all time. There are various reasons these people are noteworthy, but one of the common traits allowing them single-digit status is tactical brilliance.The Hebrew word used in Ecclesiastes 9:18 for “wisdom” includes connotations of skillfulness in war, administrative savvy, shrewdness, prudence, and even sometimes includes an ethical tone. Thus, when Solomon states that such wisdom is better than actual weapons, he is not speaking of the wisdom of books or knowledge that can only be found in an ivory tower. He is speaking of practical and tactical brilliance, the ability to have an overarching plan and execute it well. The actual weapons used in battle are of little consequence in comparison to good strategy.

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