Our February Newsletter

Gary & Cherry Warrick News and Prayer Update - Feb. 2016 View this email in your browser

Winter greetings everyone! We trust you are like us in hoping that the groundhog was right and we can expect spring very soon! We also hope that you are sensing God's blessings even in the midst of the realities of winter! The school year is speeding by! We are loving all the smiling, youthful faces on our 8 campuses greeting us or others on our team each week. Many are eager to learn more about Christ and how to live for Him. Others are asking questions or sitting back wondering ... Is this really true? Can I really believe in a God I can't see? Could He really love me? We would appreciate your prayers as the school year is now 2/3 over on these 8 campuses ... that God would anoint all these maybe up to 200 students at times, awakening them to the truth and causing faith and spiritual life to spring forth in ways unique to each one so they might sense that God's love is just what they need.

Annual Cru High Leadership Conference in Orlando ... We flew to Orlando the day before the Feb. 2nd snowstorm hit Nebraska! We enjoyed the warmer weather for the next days, and also were blessed to hear from God through our leaders at this annual conference for Cru High City Directors. It was such a great time connecting with other staff through worship, teachings from God's Word, and participating in sessions covering topics such as multi-ethnic ministry, partnerships, and more. As we Nebraskans just cannot fly to Florida without spending some time on the coast, we stayed for a few extra days at a hotel in Jacksonville, with a gorgeous view of the Atlantic from our room. This was just what we needed at the start of another year of ministry! From Our Family to Yours ... We are sharing our family photo now instead of at Christmas time! Here is our most recent family photo, taken this past Thanksgiving when we were blessed to have family home from CA, TX, and NY, joining those of us who live here in NE. What a joy to be together! This does not happen very often, as spread out as we are geographically. One family member is missing in this photo, as Amy's husband, Joe, was with his mother in Houston, offering support as she was receiving treatment in her fight against cancer. We are saddened that Sue passed away in mid-January, after her two-year battle with leukemia; please pray for Joe & Amy, Levi & Ali, and Sue's husband Mike, as they grieve their great loss. Names of family in photo (with ages of grandkids): Standing in back (left to right): Carrie & Tyler, Seth, Sara & Sean, Amy, Cristy & Mark. Seated on couch (left to right): Abigail (19), Levi (13), Cherry & Gary, Ali (8), Crystal (17), Lance. Seated on floor (left to right): Luke (14), Brianna (9), Cruz (7), Jake (6), Eva (3), and Cole (6). Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support! Many of you contribute to our Cru staff account so faithfully throughout the year, and many gave an extra special year-end gift. All in all, we are very grateful as your 2015 year-end giving gave us just the boost we were praying for! We love and appreciate you all so very much! May God continue to bless each of you in many special ways as we continue through all God has planned for us in this near year! Gary & Cherry P.S. Be watching for our next newsletter as we think we'll have some extra special Cru Omaha news to share! Gary & Cherry Warrick / Cru Omaha Home/Office 402 468-5345 / Cell 402 659-3340 PO Box 184, Fort Calhoun, NE  68023 cruomaha.com / garyandcherry.com pursuingheart.blogspot.com Click here to donate to our staff account. Copyright © 2016 Gary & Cherry Warrick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because of your interest in Cru Omaha.  unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Our December Newsletter

Gary & Cherry Warrick Merry Christmas 2015 View this email in your browser

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Into this beautiful world, and into this world filled with chaos and tears, Joy has come. Even in the midst of the wind and the storms, in our pain and in our losses, Joy has come. Isn't this what all of mankind longs for? What we all desire? We look for joy everywhere, and we look for joy everyday. We are made for this - to long for deep-rooted happiness, the kind that bubbles up from within. And we are not left alone to find this sought-after treasure ... we are told where to find what we long for. You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 ESV) In our times of celebration, when we are in need ... Wherever we are, whatever our situation, there is JOY close by, with us, within. With Him. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior - yes, the Messiah, the Lord - has been born ... (from Luke 2:10-11 NLT) ... they will call Him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us'. (Matthew 1:23 NLT) Into this beautiful world, and into this world filled with chaos and tears, Joy has come. Even in the midst of the wind and the storms, in our pain and in our losses, Joy has come. Thank you for your friendship and for partnering with us as we reach out to middle school and high school students with this amazing message: "Immanuel - God with us"! We pray that you will have a blessed Christmas with your loved ones, with times to reflect on this most precious gift of all. Gary & Cherry Gary & Cherry Warrick / Cru Omaha Home/Office 402 468-5345 / Cell 402 659-3340 PO Box 184, Fort Calhoun, NE  68023 cruomaha.com / garyandcherry.com pursuingheart.blogspot.com Click here to donate to our staff account. Copyright © 2015 Gary & Cherry Warrick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because of your interest in Cru Omaha.  unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Our November News & Prayer Update

Gary & Cherry Warrick News and Prayer Update - November 2015 View this email in your browser

Dear Friends and Family ... Greetings amidst this beautiful fall - we trust you are loving it, as we are! Along with the great weather, we're having great times with family. Seth was home from San Francisco on a recent weekend, and Cristy & Mark & family from Dallas surprised us all by showing up for trick-or-treating on Halloween! And we are looking forward to Thanksgiving when all of our kids and their families will be together here at our home ... all 22 of us (plus a few others)! We are also having great times with Cru this fall! We have active groups on eight high school and middle school campuses at this time with the help of our amazing volunteers who work with us!

Cru at Accelere alternative school in north Omaha is one of those campuses with a great start to this new school year!  This is a school for 18-21 year olds who are coming back to get the diplomas they missed out on earlier. We are seeing exciting interest and interaction with the 25 or more students who often join us for our Friday lunches. Their spiritual interest is definitely a step ahead of previous years. They are asking great questions, and it's evident many are really thinking about what a relationship with Christ would be like. Please pray for them, and for our Cru volunteers who so faithfully and passionately minister to them! And we can hardly keep up with what God is doing through Cru at Marrs Middle School! This after-school Cru club is growing every week! More than 55 students filled the classroom at a recent meeting. It took every ounce of my (Gary's) energy to keep their attention as I shared the Gospel with them. But God was obviously at work because they stayed with me ... even asking good questions along the way! Many of them raised their hands saying they wanted to believe in Jesus! We then asked those students to pray along as I led a prayer to invite Jesus into their lives. Although we didn't get a count, the level of interest and understanding was high, so we believe that many were genuinely praying to believe in and follow Jesus! Please pray for these students to continue to grow in Christ as Heidi and Nathanael lead them week after week. We thank God for these two gifted volunteers - and please join us in prayer for more volunteers to help them as the group continues to grow. Can you believe that it has been six months already since our granddaughter, Crystal, had her kidney transplant? How we praise God for how well Crystal is doing - and also for how well our daughter, Amy, the generous donor for Crystal, is doing! We thank God for good labs and good doctor reports! And we ask for continued prayers! This photo of Crystal and her Aunt Amy was taken just this past weekend when Crystal's family surprised us and drove up to NE, from TX, over Halloween! We continually thank God for you - for your encouragement, prayers, and financial support that make this ministry to students a reality! Would you also pray for us as we are meeting with other interested individuals during this season, as we are seeking to add more monthly or annual financial partners to our team? As is the case with all of Cru staff, we need to continually keep our support up. We have had some short salary checks in recent months, and need to raise an additional $1,500/month of financial funding. Thanks for joining us in prayer for this need! Have a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving season with your family and friends! Gary & Cherry Gary & Cherry Warrick / Cru Omaha Home/Office 402 468-5345 / Cell 402 659-3340 PO Box 184, Fort Calhoun, NE  68023 cruomaha.com / garyandcherry.com pursuingheart.blogspot.com Click here to donate to our staff account. Copyright © 2015 Gary & Cherry Warrick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because of your interest in Cru Omaha.  unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

School Starting & Time for Family

Summer's end and the start of another school year ... brings changes for us in Cru ministry, but also it brings changes for our grandkids! And these grandkids are growing up fast - too fast!

TEN grandkids: 

one in college, 

one a senior in high school, 

two in junior high - one in 8th, and one in 7th, 

five in elementary - two in 3rd grade, three in 1st grade, 

and one (our youngest grandchild) in preschool!

The first part of September brought some fun opportunities for us to spend time with some of these grandkids. First, was an overnighter with Jake & Cole here.

Two of our grandkids were part of our small town's Homecoming Parade, the route going right down the street in front of our home ...

And on Saturday, Sept. 12, an outdoor meal with family home, and then time together at a nearby orchard for their annual "Apple Fest" activities ...

So blessed to spend time 

with six of our ten grandkids 

this first part of September ... 

and missing our four grandkids in TX. 

Thankful for each one on this 

"Grandparents Day" 2015!

Our August News & Prayer Update

Gary & Cherry Warrick News and Prayer Update - August 2015

Greetings as summer ends and school begins again! It's a busy, exciting transition. We had a great summer! We are so thankful our granddaughter, Crystal, continues to recover amazingly from her kidney transplant. She even rode a zip line in the mountains while on vacation with her family! Now she is back in school for her senior year! With Cru, all signs reveal that God is preparing us for a great school year ahead. Thank you so much for your prayers as we reach out to so many active, impressionable youth!

We love our volunteers! They are such an integral part of our Cru Omaha team, enabling us to work with students on multiple campuses each week!  The group above (a portion of our volunteers) met with us recently in our home. We shared hopes, dreams, ideas, and plans for the various campuses we each work with this school year. We then prayed together for God to anoint movements for Christ among students at each of these campuses. Please join us in these prayers! Pray for all our volunteers. They are such a dedicated group. They love teenagers so much and passionately want them to know the joy of following Christ! Please pray also for more volunteers. There are some campuses where volunteers led ministries last year but where we won't be able to have Cru groups this year unless we find willing, capable volunteers!  And we are already missing our Cru Summer volunteers! These are college students who gave their summer to disciple our area high school students and encourage them to walk with God. We had so much fun with them! They are so full of life and exuberance for Christ, which overflowed into the lives of the high-schoolers. They worked hard, planned fun activities, developed creative lessons, and led interactive discussions with the students. We are extremely thankful for each one! We will sincerely miss them, but thankfully, most of them tell us they will be back next summer! (Click here and here to read a bit more about these volunteers, and the Cru Summer program that they helped lead!) Now, back on campus, we're meeting new students and catching up with involved students from last year who we didn't see over the summer. These students (in photo) at Omaha South High were so excited to come together again and bring friends who hadn't been a part of Cru before! Your prayers for a great start on each campus are greatly appreciated. We are extremely thankful for each one of you who support our ministry so faithfully through prayer, financial support, or both! Some of you even gave an extra financial gift to help us get through another summer when contributions to our account were lower and expenses were higher due to the CRU15 summer staff conference. We truly thank each of you for the part you play to enable so much to happen for the glory of God! We continue to be dependent on God to provide this fall as our staff account is still not up to the needed level to allow for our monthly salary and other needs. CRU15 was excellent as always - inspiring, encouraging, and stretching! We were challenged to think in some new ways that will help us more effectively reach more students as we return to the campus this fall. And we love it that the main emphasis is always to keep walking intimately with Christ and allow Him to work in and through us. The Holy Spirit is the one who reaches the hearts of students. It's the spiritual dimension that makes the difference! We love and appreciate you all! Gary & Cherry   For online contributions go to give.cru.org/0407850                   ____________________________________________________________________________ Gary & Cherry Warrick / Cru Omaha Home/Office 402 468-5345 / Cell 402 659-3340 PO Box 184, Fort Calhoun, NE  68023 cruomaha.com / garyandcherry.com pursuingheart.blogspot.com Click here to donate to our staff account. Copyright © 2015 Gary & Cherry Warrick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because of your interest in Cru Omaha.  unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Cru15 - Fort Collins, CO

Sharing memories of our Cru15 Staff Conference, held in Fort Collins, CO, last month. It was one of the best yet - uplifting, inspiring, and thought-provoking! So blessed that we could be there, and so thankful for the privilege of serving with Cru. Thank you to all our friends and support team who make it possible! 

We are now busy preparing for a new school year of ministry to high school and middle school students here in the Omaha area. School is already starting up, and our weeks have been filled since we returned from CO, getting together with volunteers and student leaders in preparation for a new school year. Thank you for praying for a fruitful year of students coming to know Jesus!

(Photos from our "Project Life" digital scrapbook, capturing memories of the summer.)

High School Ministry Days at Cru15

Hearing from our leader, Darryl Smith ...

Our Cru15 (Staff Conference) days started out with High School Ministry Days from Friday evening (July 10) through Sunday afternoon (July 12). What a great privilege to hear from our leaders and to connect with other staff. We always love these times together ...

After the opening BBQ Friday evening, held at a park in Fort Collins, we met for the next two days at Newsome Hall, part of Colorado State University campus.

Lunch together on Saturday between our morning and afternoon sessions ...

Our view of the Colorado mountains as we walked from Corbett Hall to Newsome Hall for our meetings ...

Beautiful Colorado sky view at dusk ...

Welcoming new staff who have joined since our last staff conference two years ago ...

Our last session together on Sunday afternoon was a Celebration and Awards time ... honoring staff for milestone years on staff (we will be awarded for 25 years at the Cru17 conference, two years from now!), and also welcoming the new staff who have joined since the last staff conference two years ago. It was exciting to have a record number of new staff join!

Such a blessed time to connect with our staff friends from across the U.S. And such a blessed privilege to hear from our leaders.

A few of the highlights from my (Cherry's) journal, notes taken during our sessions. 

From Darryl Smith:

• Scope - "every" has always been on God's heart. The Gospel is for everyone ... "make disciples of all the nations". 

• Passion and Compassion - both are important.

• Passion = brings focus.

• Compassion = brings scope.

• The Good Samaritan gives us a clear example of "compassion". Though his passion would not have been to minister to a Jew, the Samaritan was filled with compassion to help someone who was in need. Though our passion as High School staff, is for high school and middle school students, our compassion draws us to care for all those whom God cares for ... everyone.

• Always pursue First Love ... above what we do; our focus first of all is always the Gospel, always growing in our love relationship with Jesus. 

From worship songs:

• I will live to carry Your compassion ... by the power of Your Name.
• ... offer this heart, O God, completely to You.
• ... remind myself of all You've done ... I am Yours, forever Yours.

Special focuses:

• Tracy sharing how critical it is to reach middle school students - such a harassed culture, helpless; prime time to want to know Jesus.

• Sunday morning prayer focus led by Stephanie. The key to God's heart is prayer; the door to God's heart is Jesus. Prayer (communicating with and listening to God) ... our invitation to come "home" to ultimate intimacy and acceptance. Intercession = laying our pressing emotions and heart concerns for ourselves and others before the King.

These are just a few of the ways we heard from God through our time together; thoughts to carry with us. The biggest take-away from time with other High School staff with Cru is always ... the Gospel and growing in our love relationship with Jesus. This is always held up as of prime importance and focus. All ministry is an overflow from this ...