From Amy Clark

Craig,

I remember being a little Freshman on the big ole' campus of ECU, and being completely overwhelmed. I didn't know where anything was, and I had to move in a week earlier than everyone else courtesy of marching band. My first memories of college are of me sitting in my dorm room by myself, re-organizing my textbooks while watching the Disney channel because I wanted no part of what the people in the band were doing in their spare time. I cried when my parent's left me. I had felt so strongly pulled to ECU and hadn't really known why - I prayed that the Lord would use my time in college to challenge me in my faith and grow me closer to Him, and I was desperate for a group of believers to become a part of. I was so excited the first week the college ministries were meeting on campus - I went to a different organization every day of the week to check them out. I wanted a ministry that was centered around the Gospel - that had a passion for reaching students with the truth and love of Jesus and was focused on sending students who had a relationship with Jesus out to reach other students. I wanted more than a Christian clique. And that is what I found in CRU.

I vividly remember you getting up on stage at the first meeting to speak about the mission of CRU and sharing the Gospel clearly with the students at the meeting. When you talked about going to Beach Bash that weekend, I knew I had to go. After that weekend, I quickly met upperclassmen who took me under their wing, joined the Praise Band, joined a bible study, started being discipled by Jessica Burdette, and (unknowingly at the time) met my future husband. I was growing in my knowledge of scripture and my evangelism skills were sharpening through this ministry. I had multiple spiritual conversations with my roommate and other people in my dorm, and knew that the Lord was using me on this campus. When Betsy Westbrook dragged me to a meeting with missionaries from Lebanon, I knew I had to go. My first memory of talking to you personally was going up to you after the Lebanon meeting, shaking your hand, and telling you my name was Amy Coffin and I didn't know how I would get there but I wanted to be on the team that went to Lebanon that summer. You met me a few days later to hear my testimony and walk me through the application process, and I think we were all surprised but excited when I was accepted on to the team. That trip changed my life, and I learned to trust the Lord in more intimate ways than I ever had. I came back and was able to lead multiple bible studies and loved being used to reach students on our campus. The Lord used you and CRU to forever change my outlook on my life - thank you for leading this ministry and for reaching and challenging ECU's students with the Gospel.

Amy Clark