If you have not then please consider reading, commenting, and sharing at least once this year! The Blogference brings together ministry leaders from around the world to discuss relevant ministry issues. By leaving a comment and sharing your thoughts you create a diverse and energizing experience for leaders seeking to have an influence for Christ around the world!

The Topics This Year:

• Virtual Evangelism–A Personal Story

• Virtual Ministry–A Challenge

• Evangelism and Latinos

• Leading as  a Mom

• How Social Media is Influencing Culture and Changing the Church

• Thriving at College

• Missional Campus Ministry

• Spiritual Leadership

• Leading Strategically

• 50 Year Olds and 20 Year Olds–One of Campus Crusade’s Biggest Internal Challenges

To Participate the Blogference:

LOOK FOR THE INTERSECT! Bill Bright was a man of many ideas—he threw them out rapid fire. Those of us who worked around him were the implementers of those ideas. So we learned to look for what he wanted to accomplish. We had freedom to think and ask,” Is there a better way to reach his objective?” If we had an innovative way to go forward, he was always open to it.

One of the best ways I’ve found to look for the better way for more effective ministry is to look for the intersect. Where does God’s Word/our mission intersect with the interests/needs of our target audience?

Libby Swenson noticed that God’s Word talks often about caring for the poor, the abused, the prisoner, the orphan. At the same time she recognized that students today place a high value on meeting needs—they would often rather do service and ministry together than ministry alone. Seeing the intersect led her to begin a partnership between CCC and International Justice Mission—our students are helping to initiate IJM chapters on campuses and share the gospel in the context of justice issues.

Anna Nieboer, a staff kid studying in Winston-Salem, roomed with Nian from China. She discovered that many international student scholarships required them to work 20 hours a week, and the pay went toward tuition. It was illegal for them to work anywhere else, but they needed spending money. This situation often pulled them into major sex trafficking rings that operate near campuses. The intersect for Anna was to warn those she knew, to help them with needs and connect them to babysitting for local churches to earn extra income in a safe place. And open doors for the gospel.

I usually say my job is to travel the world and love and encourage our staff. I am blessed to have met thousands of our staff around the globe. But most I will not see again. How can I continue to reach out to them? Facebook has provided the perfect intersect for me. The vast majority of my FB friends are staff, many of whom I have never met. But I feel like I know them as I follow their lives and look for ways to speak an encouraging word or share a truth from God’s Word. Then when I arrive in their nations, I already have friends there!

So if you are in a new situation, or feel stuck, or don’t see the fruitful opportunities, don’t be afraid to try something new. Innovation is in the DNA of CCC. Look for the intersect and take a risk—in the power of the Spirit.

About Judy Douglass: “I am a writer, editor, speaker, missionary.  Most of all I am an encourager–urging everyone I encounter to know God and to entrust their lives to him for all He wants them to be and all He has prepared for them to do.  I get to go all over the world to do this loving and encouraging–what an incredible “job.”

Read Judy’s Blog by clicking here.

Follow Judy on Twitter by clicking here.

Thank you so much for your engagement and interaction these last three years. I’m hopeful that by expanding the people contributing content to the blogference that the learning and dialogue will increase and encourage you to lead more boldly and passionately for Jesus!

Can’t see the video? Click here to view it in your browser.

The main goal of the RE-Think Blogference is to facilitate discussion on ministry philosophy to sharpen your ministry skills and connect you to other like-minded missional leaders.

We are launching a podcast to expand the amount of content and connections we can bring to your door via the internet!

There will be interviews from ministry leaders around the world but I would love to see a significant part invested in answering questions and discussing issues that you are currently facing in your leadership role.

Here are some thoughts related to the categories/topics we will cover:

• Evangelism: best practices, new tools, response rates to various types of evangelistic initiatives, how to train others, etc.

• Leadership Development: books, articles, blog posts, productivity tools, productivity practices, mentors, sharing power, empowering those “below” you, etc.

• Mom’s, Wives, Women: balancing work and family, unique leadership challenges, helpful and encouraging books/articles/blog posts, etc

• Sharing and Collaboration: online and offline tools, strategies, and tactics for creating an environment of sharing, etc

Please share your thoughts in the comments and on Twitter! Just reply to @cccblogference with your thoughts or leave a comment below!

Have a seat. Grab your favorite drink. Let’s chat. We want to hear about you and your blog. Why do you blog? Where do you blog (your blog address)? What motivates you to blog? What have you learned through blogging? What questions do you have about blogging? Let’s share what we’re doing and grow in something that we love. If you are like me, blogging is an outlet, a place to be creative, a place to collect family memories, and a place to reflect. Me, my thoughts, a blank screen can be so refreshing. You do not have be tech-savvy to join the lounge. We just want to get to know you!

A Mom.  A broken Mom.  My visions were gone, probably vanished somewhere between poopy diapers and sleepless nights.  I didn’t go places anymore.  I surely wasn’t reaching the lost.  I put puzzles together, made mac-n-cheese, and disciplined senseless arguing.

Suffocated.

My head spoke of staying home with my boys, keeping our home in order, creating peace for my husband, loving my Lord; but my heart bled with fear.  Dreaded fear like I’d never known until I held my firstborn son.  Fear of doing it all wrong.  Fear of messing it all up.  Fear that was suffocating me.

I thought surely I am worth more than this daily list of chores, sometimes forgetting to shower, and hardly being noticed.  I was equipped for much greater.  But my desperation ran even deeper.  Like a ton of bricks strapped to each ankle was my bondage, my shackles.   With each baby I birthed, it was as if I picked up a few shackles on my way out of the hospital.   Perfectionism. Control.  Pride.  Performance-based living.  Significance in others.  Shackled.  Shackled.

I needed the gospel.  I needed my Jesus.  I needed to let the Holy Scriptures rain down upon my motherhood and fill me with hope.  Hope everlasting.

I am saved by grace through faith when I speak with an impatient harsh voice toward my son who just flooded the entire bathroom.

I can do all things, including changing diapers, making mac-n-cheese, and disciplining senseless arguing, through Christ who strengthens me.

I must go therefore, down the hallway with a cheerful heart, showered and ready for my ministry, and make disciples of all nations.  I greet my boys with gladness.

He rejoices over me with singing and quiets me with His love.  His love is not attached to my perceived greatness or performance.  I’m not popular with hardly anyone, apart from my handsome husband and brave boys.  Fruit comes slow in this ministry.  I’m on my knees.  I talk less.  I listen more.

And so I continue.  I still sit at red lights; now in a mini-van with 3 boys in tow, jamming to Toby Mac.  Our days are crazy, but I’m thankful He does all things well.  My visions are back, just with new faces.  I’m in full-time ministry for the Kingdom.  I get up and put on my full armor cause there’s no doubt I’m going into battle for the day.  I fight for my marriage and I battle for the future hearts of 3 young men.

A babysitter.  The world tells me I’m just a babysitter.  I rethink.  I am an ambassador in my home, for my family, to the glory of my God.  I am a Mom.

Jesus Christ was only a swear word to me for the first 19 years of my life. All that changed one Sunday morning at a little church on t

As a single woman, I learned to read my Bible, pray, share my faith, and see friends come to Christ. From the first, I had the unfolding conviction that this was the very best way to say, “Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from certain destruction.” That sense of overwhelming gratitude continues to be a primary motivation to stay in ministry through all the seasons of my life.

Bob and I joined staff after 3 years of marriage. How we loved going on campus together and seeing all the ways God was graciously using us! When we’d been married 5 years, our first child, Bryan, arrived, and my Bible study moved from the campus to my living room. The extent of my direct involvement with students decreased, but my passion for college ministry did not. God always provided ways for me to keep my heart connected to students. As we moved to regional leadership roles, my ministry shifted from students to our staff moms. Wives’ retreats, phone calls, vision trips all kept my heart engaged. I just kept writing my thank you card to Jesus even when our second child, Brooke, was born.

More opportunities for giving back to the Lord emerged as I spoke at retreats in the States and abroad and as I taught Bible studies at the various churches we attended around the U.S. When my nest emptied some 7 years ago, I was surprised to receive from God yet another way to express my supreme love and gratefulness to him—through writing books, Bible studies, and magazine articles.

So you see, whether single, married, a mom, or an empty-nester, I’ve wanted nothing but to see more and more people enter the mystery of abandoning themselves to God—and he has provided the means—but not without significant changes in my thinking and believing over the years: Was I doing enough ministry? Was I doing too much ministry at the expense of my family? I had to do the hard work of examining my motives behind my ministry involvements and identifying any (guilt, works-based righteousness, comparison to others) which threatened to sabatoge my real heart behind what I was doing: expressing my love for the one who loved me.

from The Message:

I waited and waited and waited for God.

At last he looked; finally he listened.

He lifted me out of the ditch,

pulled me from deep mud.

He stood me up on a solid rock

to make sure I wouldn’t slip.

He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,

a praise-song to our God.

More and more people are seeing this:

they enter the mystery,

abandoning themselves to God.

Because of their value in the kingdom. My wife has shared how often she gets encouraged when she reads another mom’s blog post, or a tweet that connects with how she is feeling.

I’m so excited that this year’s blogference has three women authors! I’m hoping their courage, insight, and faith will inspire you.