July 21, 2011

Cru


Last night Steve Sellers announced that Campus Crusade will be changing their name to cru. It was a moment I will never forget. I was so nervous in anticipation, and I was preparing myself for the worst - "Power to Change." We knew that they had chosen one of five names, all of which I pretty much hated the first time I heard them except for Cru (obviously). But in the months of wondering what name was chosen, we constantly joked about the names we didn't like, and I actually began to like a couple of them. We were wondering how he was going to announce it. Would he pause for a few moments and then just say it? Would it yell it loudly? Would he not speak it at all and just put it up on the video screens? That's another thing that worried me - in moments the name would be HUGE all across the video screens. I was not prepared to see some foreign word up there and have all the breath taken out of the staff. I was bracing myself for it to be Power to Change (my least favorite) and spend months trying to make myself not hate it. I really thought that it was going to be one of the other three, and it would take awhile to get used to it because it was a fresh, new name. And then out of nowhere Steve quickly spoke "Campus Crusade for Christ will be changing its name to Cru." And cru with the new logo immediately appeared on the big screens. And I was so. relieved. I clapped! I was SO SO happy it wasn't one of my least favorite names! 


Now after many emails and videos of hearing Steve say he's excited about the name change, I am too. I believe that God is very behind this. Cru is fresh and modern, distinctive, undefined, and yet familiar. I am very impressed with the staff and teams planning this. I think the new name and logo will fit into our time and culture very well. I don't know how "timeless" it will be, but what is? I like that Cru is familiar for a lot of people already, but people who haven't heard of Campus Crusade will be excited to learn more about cru. Just like "Starbucks" it doesn't mean anything, but that's what a lot of popular company names are like. It's not called "Trendy Coffee Shop" but we all know that's what it is. It will take time, but eventually people will know what cru is. And hopefully, they'll be interested in talking to us more about it. 


One more thought. It's all about Jesus. It's not so much that CCC cares about having a new name as much as they care about Jesus, and people knowing Him. The new name is necessary now, so they had to pick something. But it's not the name of cru that's important. One day, at the Name of Jesus, the Name above every other Name, every knee will bow.

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