People of all ages fill Pacific Beach on a sunny Saturday morning, just seven miles from where San Diego Summer Mission students stayed at the University of San Diego.
People of all ages fill Pacific Beach on a sunny Saturday morning, just seven miles from where San Diego Summer Mission students stayed at the University of San Diego.
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A cool breeze off the Pacific Ocean brought balance to another warm, sunny day in San Diego. Zoe Mukendi and her friend Mackinsey Darrough scanned the coastline. They weren’t looking for a place to sit; they were looking for someone to talk to about their faith.
It was the last week of Cru®’s 2023 San Diego Summer Mission, Zoe and Mackinsey’s last chance to have a spiritual conversation in a San Diego neighborhood called Old Town that had become familiar over the last nine weeks.
Mackinsey spotted a man sitting by himself. They approached and asked if he’d be willing to share his spiritual beliefs and hear about theirs. The man, named Chad, agreed.
Zoe, Mackinsey and Chad talked for about an hour.
They walked Chad through the Knowing God Personally booklet, which shares the gospel. At the end of the booklet is a prayer, offered to anyone who wants to begin a relationship with Jesus. When Zoe and Mackinsey got to this page, Chad looked up at the sky.
“You guys are the fourth group of people to talk to me this week,” Chad said. “So, I feel like something’s pursuing me here.”
Zoe and Mackinsey joined Chad in prayer that day to begin his relationship with Jesus.
“I saw outreach and evangelism as going to talk to people to convert them,” Zoe said of her outlook before the summer mission. “Now I practice [the tools we learned] today in conversations. You show God through you — your actions, your words and your mindset.”
Students learned how to talk about Jesus in a variety of settings during the San Diego Summer Mission. Some days these conversations happened on local campuses, other days while they were on the clock at their part-time jobs.
No matter the setting, by the end of summer, students counted more than 500 spiritual conversations in San Diego.
Of the 42 stateside summer missions offered by Cru, San Diego Summer Mission is among the oldest and most established, dating back to the 1970s. Each year, students develop a strong foundation of faith by engaging in regular evangelism, discipleship and personal reflection.
Weeks after returning to Southern Methodist University, where she studies civil engineering, Zoe said she’s more confident in asking people what they believe and looks for ways to bring what she learned last summer into her daily rhythms on campus.
“People are a lot more open than we think,” Zoe said. “I feel like I put people’s ‘nos’ in their mouths before they even have the chance to be asked a question. People who look like they’re the most busy or like they don’t even want to talk [might] happen to be the most open people.”
Zoe Mukendi, a sophomore at Southern Methodist University, served as one of four student directors for the second half of the summer. Cru staff members always lead for the first half, then leave the city after four weeks, entrusting leadership of the summer mission to trained students. “The leadership position halfway through triggered exponential growth for me,” Zoe said. “Leadership opened up my compassion and patience both with others and with myself.”
A group of junior lifeguards practice paddle boarding at Mission Bay Beach.
Mission Bay, just 3 ½ miles from the University of San Diego, is a popular sailing destination.
Logan Maksimowicz, a junior at Baylor University in Texas, came to San Diego after being challenged by a mentor on his campus and hearing about a friend’s experience the summer before. After two years of being involved with the Cru® movement at Baylor, “all the signs pointed to yes,” he said.
Every Sunday, all students and staff members gathered on campus for an all-mission meeting. This is where the theme for the week was introduced, following the greater theme of this summer: Rooted. Over the weeks, students reflected on what it means to be rooted in different aspects of their faith, like community, prayer, God’s Word and humility.
Brad Smith (standing), a businessman from Arkansas, shared about his experience living missionally in a business context. Students heard from a variety of professionals, but hearing from Matthew Markwell, a Google software engineer, was particularly profound for Zoe. “I hear from engineers at school all the time,” she said, “but not in a ministry context.”
During weekly morning reflection times, students’ schedules were blocked off to develop their personal relationships with Jesus. These times were highlights for both Logan and Zoe. “It would be easy to just go, go, go and stay busy 24/7,” Logan said. “I definitely appreciated taking the time away from everything — sitting back, reflecting and saying ‘OK, I can be still for two hours.’”
Catamarans (like the one above), as well as sailboats, paddleboards, kayaks and more, are often seen in San Diego Bay. San Diego summers are known for their moderate temperatures and sunny skies, often hovering around 70 degrees.
Logan, Tater Green and Adam McFarland (left to right) play rock-paper-scissors to determine who will pair up for outreach on the beach. Students spent one half day every week talking with people about how to follow Jesus.
Logan and Tater used Perspective Cards®, an evangelism tool developed by Cru®, in their conversation with Jared (right). Perspective Cards invite others to share their beliefs about five important topics: the nature of God, human nature, meaning of life, identity of Jesus and source of spiritual truth.
After talking with people on the beach about how to follow Jesus, project members gathered for a game of flag football.
Students won the flag football game against the staff members with an exciting final touchdown.
Logan worked alongside more than a dozen other Cru® students at the local Chick-fil-A. Students worked part-time jobs across the city as part of this summer mission. One day, Logan saw another mission participant sharing the Knowing God Personally booklet with a coworker. “[Here is] this 40-year-old lady working at Chick-fil-A with us, and my buddy is getting to share the gospel with her,” Logan said. “And she was really receptive to it.”
Ryan Muniz (center) talks with Logan as they gather with the rest of the men on summer mission for their weekly men’s development time. Student Ty Campbell led a discussion on the importance of walking with God in a disciplined manner.
After the men’s time, they moved inside to fit in a game of dodgeball before some of them had to get to work.
The men stopped to pray together as one student was taken to the hospital for a minor injury. Ryan dislocated his elbow while playing basketball but made a quick recovery within a couple of weeks. “One of the other guys said, ‘Hey, circle up and pray,’” Logan said. “If you wanted to jump in and say a quick prayer you did.”
Logan (center) and Tater checked in on Ryan after he returned from the hospital. Besides wearing an arm sling and missing a few days of work, Ryan was still able to participate in summer mission activities.
Logan and Troy Bowen (standing), also a student at Baylor University, talk during lunch in the University of San Diego cafeteria. Logan said going to San Diego without knowing anyone else on a summer mission was a big step out of his comfort zone. He said it helped him build relationships with people he normally wouldn’t have pursued.
Staff and student women celebrated the first four weeks of the summer mission with a special send-off for the staff members before they left San Diego. When Zoe thinks back on her first day arriving in San Diego, she says it was nerve-wracking. But after that first day, she said, “I loved it. I connected with people so quickly. Bouncing off from others who truly believe and trust in the Lord and are striving to be more like him is really what opened up a great, encouraging and loving community.”
Adam, Logan and Ryan (standing, left to right) watch as Troy plays piano.
Adam, Tater, and Logan sit around a beachside fire with their discipleship group leader, James Ward (second from left), a Cru® staff member in San Antonio. Logan said getting to know the guys in his discipleship group helped him grow in his relationship with Jesus. “The two guys in my discipleship group have two vastly different backgrounds than anything I’ve experienced, so I just got to learn so much from them,” he said. “It’s allowed me to build more empathy and build other characteristics that are just more godly.”
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