From Chandler Bryant

Craig,

Coming to ECU as a freshmen I thought I had it all together. I thought I knew what it meant to be a Christian. I thought it was all about rules. Not having sex, not drinking, not smoking, going to church, reading my bible some, praying every once in a while. I thought that this is what made me a Christian. As I got more involved with CRU and starting going to bible study and starting hanging out with Nate, Lee, Stephen, and Matt. I noticed something in those guys that was different than me. They weren't living out a bunch of rules to be a "christian," but they were living their lives for Jesus because they really understood what he did on the cross for them. That got me thinking my freshmen year and I realized that I wasn't a believer. I was living for myself and my desires. I don't know the exact time or day but I do know that sometime second semester of my freshmen year was when I truly had the heart change. John 3:3 says, "Jesus answered him truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." I remember reading this verse over and over and it finally clicked for me. My life changed my freshmen year because my desires were not what they used to be. God used CRU as a tool to bring me to him.

I know that me and you never got extremely close and had a lot of one on one time. But what I do know is that you met with Nate, Lee, and Stephen consistently while they were here at ECU. Those guys poured into me and taught me a lot of what you taught them. But I think the most important thing that I learned from you Craig, is how important the gospel is in our everyday lives. Constantly reminding ourselves of the gospel and living it out. To remember how much I need Jesus in my life because I'm so sinful everday and I can't do anything without him. You also taught me how important scripture is, to dig into the word and see what it says. So many people take scripture out of context and you have shown me how to look at it for what it truly says. You taught me how the word is so important and how I need to be in it everday because I need it. I need it to fight sin, I need it because I can learn to be more like Christ from reading and studying it. You taught me to ask, "what does that mean?" Especially when it comes to churchy words. You want everybody to truly understand what they are talking about and that is for sure one thing you have taught me. You also taught me it's not about numbers, yes having a lot of people is always good, but seeing people truly understand the gospel and learning the vision is more important.

Craig the more I think about it, you have taught me a lot through my four years in college. Like I said, I know we never got extremely close but I'm very privileged to have been part of this ministry and to learn from you. Thank you for putting in a lot of time to serving CRU.

Chandler Bryant,
Class of 2012