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Friday, April 22, 2016

"I Am From" -by Daniel Curran (a poem about my ethnic heritage)

“I Am From”
by Daniel Curran

I am from the Huntington Hospital, a child of California Dreaming.
Born in the City of Roses,
at the foot the San Gabriel Mountains
facing west towards Santa Catalina Island and the setting sun.

I am from palm tree-lined streets and the oasis of South Pasadena East of LA
I am from a quiet neighborhood of Wonder Years homes
bought by fathers returned from fighting wars in Europe and the Pacific
passed on to them by grandfathers who fought in The Great War.

I am from public schools with packs of Cub Scouts and doting den-mothers.
I am from gangs of skater boys with absent workaholic fathers
            Lost boys with too much time on their hands
scratching the sidewalks with their skateboards
in search of vitamins for their souls.

I am from an ancient people of an island green and a Rhineland grey
I am from peoples who couldn’t bear their tyrants and famines
            Who sent their boys and girls away to survive
to thrive in a brave new world across the sea

I am from Irish men and German women
whose woodshops and farms in Middle-America could not hold them
I am from son’s and daughters who came West 100 years ago
to build The Golden State’s towns, and schools and hydroelectric dams

I am from “Philip” the Evangelist
who loved Books and befriended Ethiopians
who crossed cultures by climbing up into chariots
            to explain the Word of God

I am from “Daniel” the Prophet, conqured, captured, and exiled
of royal blood, of oppressed language
            of persecuted faith, of resolute spirit
who chose not to defile himself with Babylon
                        who chose to pray, serve and die for his God

I am from “Curran” –old Irish for spear
            a man enthralled by books, words, dreams and war
            a man wielding a Sword
that wages peace on earth

for the High King of Kings

Sunday, March 20, 2016

The Spring 2016 Curran Events: ((Radiating)) Discipleship

Greetings Friends,   ðŸŒ¿
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"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others" -The Apostle Paul

The Curran Events | Spring 2016
DISCIPEMAKING:

During MLK weekend we joined with 1,000 students & CRU staff from California, Arizona and Hawaii in Anaheim...


...for the first ever ((RADIATE)) conference.  The theme of the conference was Discipleship: what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus & to follow Him NO MATTER what?  And how can we be involved in discipling others?   We both LOVE to college students.  It is such a privilege and an honor to come alongside them, entrusting them with what we have learned about walking with Jesus with the eager expectation that they too would pass on to others!



Margee currently has 12 UC Davis women she is pouring into on a weekly basis.


Several of these women are also discipling other women- so exciting!  Daniel is personally mentoring 4 young Cru missionaries this spring, plus speaking at student meetings, hosting Bay Area Training Days, spoke at Korea Cru's Student Leadership Summit & San Jose Men's Retreat, and is mentoring a few Berkeley students on Friday's and via text messaging!


FIRST-YEAR-ON-THE-FIELD CONFERENCE: Daniel headed to UC Santa Barbara to direct our regions annual mid-year field training conference for 33 of our new CRU missionaries.

This year he devoted one of the days to learning cross-cultural and multi-ethnic ministry that gave everyone time to interview and share Christ with students of ethnicities different than their own.  It was a deep, thoughtful transformative experience.  It stirred something deep in his heart.  He stayed 2 days after to minister on campus to students he's befriended over the past 3 years.  It was the highlight of his spring thus far.


24-HOUR WOMEN'S RETREAT: Margee hosted a special 24 hour retreat for some of the women she is discipling at Davis. 
They cooked dinner together, made Valentines, listened to a podcast , spent time with the Lord and went for a hike in Briones! It was so much fun!


David & Kristen, exciting news!  (see below)

PLEASE PRAY FOR US:  

  • Please pray for us to continue to pursue Christ with all of our heart, soul and mind!
  • Pray for us to press into making disciples and reaching out to students of ethnicities different than our own...
  • Pray for spiritual revival to happen on campuses this spring, there is a lot of hope and prayer for this to happen.  Pray especially for God to move at San Jose State University.

“Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men...”
-Jesus

Curran Family Events
December 18 @ San Diego --- Mason George Sorenson was born at home to Ebey & John and big brother Caleb (picture below)

December 19 @ San Luis Obispo --- David asked Miss Kristen deBruynKops to be his wife. She said YES!! (picture above)

December 20th @ Martinez --- We celebrated 29 years of marriage!

February 14th @ Port Costa --- We had such a fun Valentines Day: Explored funky Port Costa, hiked part of the Bay Area Trail, dinner and a movie!

March 22-23 @ Martinez --- Hannah & Hope are visiting us today and tomorrow to kick off their Spring breaks!

Our Mission Donation Portal: 

https://give.cru.org/0259597



Wednesday, November 11, 2015

"A Week in the Life of a 50-something Campus Missionary" | The Curran Events May 2015

The Curran Events May 2015

"A Week in the Life of a

50-something Campus Missionary…"

Note: This is a letter composed by Margee last May...

                                ...Daniel's laptop got stolen and we never sent it out. -D & M


Hello all!! (from Margee)

It has been a big year of transition for me!!  As many of you have figured out by now, I’m not serving over at UC Berkeley with Athletes in Action anymore, but up at UC Davis.  I commute an hour each way, 3 days-a-week and love Davis. I thought I would give you a little peek into one of my weeks

SUNDAY, May 17: 5pmUC Davis Farewell Fiesta: I serve on a team of 16 CRU campus missionaries and Interns.  We celebrated the end of an amazing year at Lori & Jeremiah Kepners home and said goodbye to 5 of our Interns.    It was a great time of food, fellowship and reflecting on what the Lord did in and through us this year. We ate too much and laughed a lot!!  Love this team.

MONDAY, May 189am Monday: I worked out with my maters swim team and prepped for teaching “The Master Plan of  Evangelism” (MPE). It’s a great little book about how Jesus discipled a few to reach many. On Mondays, I usually visit Daniel’s mom in Walnut Creek.

Katherine, Rebecca and Deborah




Katherine, Rebecca and Deborah have been such fun to meet with each week this year.  We have had a great time studying various passages of scripture and relating them to our lives. I always look forward to my discipleship times with them!!
TUESDAY, May 19:  After a 6:45am swim, I loaded my dad’s trusty old bike from the 1980’s on my bike rack, drove to Davis, parked, unloaded my bike and rode off to campus. I ran a stop sign right before campus and got issued a ticket by a policeman “hiding” behind a sign.  Oh dear, not a good start to the day. At 11am, I met with 3 other CRU women for our weekly “Greek Prayer Time” and prayed for sorority women to come to Christ.  Afterwards, I got a ride with Jenn Floth (one of my directors) to the Kepner’s house where Lori, Jenn and I (the 3 staff moms) meet twice a month to encourage one another to excel still more.  At 2pm,  I met with Cameron, a married new staff woman to talk about life and discuss “The MPE”.  Fun fact- Cameron led Hannah’s freshmen bible study when they were both students. I usually meet Tuesdays at 3 with a Discipleship Group of 3 sophomores. This week they invited me over for a home-cooked meal at an apartment. to celebrate. It was delicious and such a treat!!


WEDNESDAY, May 20:  I co-lead a Women’s Bible Study on Wednesday mornings at our church (for the last 6 years).  It has a great place to connect with women and study the word together. I also host a Mom’s in Prayer group at our house from11:15-12:30.  I have been praying with some of these moms for 17 years. We have seen the Lord do the exceedingly abundant in answering our prayers for our children.  This is one of my most important hours of my week because I need their camaraderie to pray for our young adult kids!!

THURSDAY, May 21: After my morning swim I once again loaded my bike onto my car.  I drove to the Martinez Amtrak Station and caught my 10:04 train. It’s a 45-minute, peaceful ride.  I hopped off and rode from the Davis Station to campus, …careful to STOP at every stop-sign this time!!

At 11am,  I had a Bible Study with Jessica and Jen. Jen graduated in March and Jessica is in her 4th of 5 years. We talked about the last 2 chapters in MPE. At noon, I met with aGroup of Sophomores, Allie, Sierra and Kimberly (below)   to “cover” for Taiko, a wonderful staff woman who is off campus raising support full time.  It has been so MUCH fun!! 

Sophomore Bible Study, Allie, Sierra and Kimberly



At 1pm, I usually try to have lunch with international students. This week, Kay who has been involved with CRU in Hong Kong joined me and Anna Kehl.  Often we lunch with women from Turkey, Japan and Saudi Arabia.  Each week is different!

lunch with international students



At 2pm, I met with “The Cookie Club” : Anna Kehl, Anna Olsen and Taylor. These 3 CRU interns  “named” our group back in October: each week I make cookies for all of the bible studies I lead- and  I often share the recipes!!  The cookies are a big hit!  What fun we 4 have had this year! I taught them how to study the scriptures by “color-coding” the text and we have been enjoying our discussions about MPE immensely this quarter! 

“The Cookie Club”



One of my favorite groups this year has been our FridayMorning Breakfast Club, pictured above: Taiko, Jordan, Lisa, Hannah, & Annika. Taiko is on staff with CRU and is one of Hannah’s current roommates.  Jordan, Lisa, Hannah & Annika all lived together for 3 years as undergrads!!  I usually cook breakfast and then we head to the word for perspective! This quarter we have loved discussing MPE!!  It is so much fun to have my daughter in a bible study!!
Friday Morning Breakfast Club



Thank you so much for praying and giving so this 50+ year old campus missionary can have the privilege of having such an impact on college women,

Love, Margee

----Our mission Donation Portal: https://give.cru.org/0259597 ----

PS  (Coming in our next Curran e-Vents, ...a report on our summer mission in Santa Monica!) Old Prayer Request: Pray for us- on June 2nd, we arrive to serve for 5 weeks with the Santa Monica Summer Mission’s Leadership Team.  Pray for Jesus to refresh us and to give us energy to serve our 25- member staff team and 80 college missionaries. Pray for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to go forth powerfully in Santa Monica!!
Daniel & Margee Curran, ...serving as campus missionaries with Cru in the Pacific Southwest Region

Daniel Curran

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.curran



Latest Posts
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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Santa Monica Summer Project 2014 | Mid-June NewsFlash

“Your name, O Lord, endures forever; 
Your fame, O Lord, 
is known to every generation.” 
-Psalm 135:13

Dear Friends and fans,  These past 3 weeks in Santa Monica, CA have been amazingly full for us. We arrived on our summer mission assignment on June 4, fresh off the plane from a wonderful 2 week road-trip adventure around Ireland.  There are 24 CRU staff/interns and 80 college students on the 2014 Santa Monica Summer Project.  We are helping to give leadership to the project, discipling the men and women staff/interns respectively and loving being with these 80 college students.  The students are here for 8 weeks.  They vest in the community by working local jobs, volunteering with non-profits or taking classes at a local colleges and universities. They all live together at the Palm Motel.



Daniel is the employment and summer school coordinator, helping to facilitate students finding good jobs, printing resumes, going off to interviews and giving counsel when discouraging things happen.  He is also coaching 2 staff men as they prepare for a significant men’s conference for the all the men this Saturday night.  Margee is the “cook liason”- she works with the 2 students hired as project cooks to plan, buy and prepare 5 dinners/week for the 106 of us!!  She is also develops the Bible Study curriculum “cheat sheets” for the staff to use as they lead 14 weekly Action Groups on Tuesday evenings.  It has been refreshing to live near the beach and to explore a new area on our days off (Fridays).



Last weekend we made a quick trip back to the Bay Area to celebrate Hannah’s graduation from UC Davis in Civil Engineering. We are so proud of her!! We checked on both of our moms, loved time with our 3 younger kids and celebrated Father’s Day, Hannah’s graduation (David’s too!) and Hope’s upcoming birthday. Phew!!




Please pray for us to have Jesus’ strength, wisdom, love and compassion as we minister to staff, students and the incredibly diverse peoples of Santa Monica.   Daniel is speaking to the project tomorrow night (Monday, June 23rd) on “Seeking the Lord” out of Psalm 27.  He would love prayer for his personal prep and delivery and for God to speak through him.  We would also love for you to pray for his mom MM, she seems to be a bit confused and out of sorts back up in NorCal.  Thank you for praying for us and supporting us as we are on Mission this summer! We are blessed by  your participation in the gospel with us!!  

Shalom, Daniel and Margee




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