This was the second Circle Summit. The team did a great job putting this together.

Cru Campus generally thinks about three types of movements on campus. Movement is different than ministry. Movement implies multiplication, like a wildfire. Hard to control. I love it! Simply, Square movements are staff led and staff dependent. In Triangle movements, leadership is shared between staff and students. And in Circle movements, students and volunteers lead, and staff coach.

Circle movements generally occur on non-staffed campuses. Often, staff who coach these movements live in another city, even another part of the country.

The Circle Summit was put on by Cru’s Coaching Center, which is based at our global headquarters in Orlando, FL. It’s for leaders of Circle movements and coaches. We invited two students from San Antonio, both leaders at Palo Alto College. One got sick the morning she was flying to Orlando and had to stay home. Big bummer. But the other student, Joey, went and benefited tremendously. I (Gene) went because I believe that distance coaching and circle movements are going to be an integral part of our team reaching our geographic scope. I wanted our whole staff team to go, but only Jacob could make it work this year. Jacob has also seen God work powerfully through distance coaching.

Full schedule! Large groups. Small groups. Workshops. Time to learn, work, and plan.

But perhaps the biggest bang was vision. Having the event at Cru’s Global Headquarters in Orlando was extremely eye opening for these students and many of the volunteers. They simply had no idea of the global reach we have. Joey was able to spend a weekend with other leaders who are doing amazing things on their campuses. Hearing stories of God work in different places around the country was incredible. Amazing really. Students are trusting God for multiplication. And that really is encouraging.

This fall semester will begin with Destino San Antonio opportunities on 4 campuses. 3 have strong leaders. We hope to find strong leaders on the fourth within the first few weeks of the semester.

My prayer is that we would see multiplying movements on 20 campuses within our geographic scope by the end of 2025. That is what we are going for.

Note: I traveled from San Antonio with Joey, who is an amazing young man. Joey is afraid of heights, so we had fun with that on the plane! This was his second time flying. Big experience for him.

It was also a very meaningful time for me personally because of Joey’s story, which is similar to one our kids. Joey was also adopted, has significant ADHD, and is autistic. Of course it’s a pretty constant battle for him, but Joey is figuring it out. Highly productive. Loves Jesus. And is an inspiring beacon of hope everywhere he goes. Infectious personality. It’s easy to see God’s favor in Joey. And it was a blessing for me to spend this time with him.