Michael and Brenda Brent

#0424981

Check out our ministry video Our Calling and scroll through the photos to the right to get a sense of the people God enables us to impact.

We love working for Cru in Central and Eastern Europe! Cru movements focus passionately on getting out there and giving everybody a chance to know Jesus, be discipled, and join in the mission. This is our fundamental strategy of Win - Build - Send so that everyone can know someone who truly lives for Jesus.

With 33 years on staff and 28 years here in Croatia, God is leading us to use our experience to equip national staff, missionaries and volunteers for their ministries, for them to experience longevity in making a fruitful impact.

Michael's primary role is to equip staff through biblical and theological development as a teacher for the Institute of Biblical Studies. IBS is an in-house team of Cru staff committed to strengthening national staff, missionaries and volunteers in their understanding, experience and application of the Bible.

Cru staff commit themselves daily to sharing the gospel and building up believers, with a strategic eye on the Great Commission, asking the question, how can we "go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded us?" As our staff work to build up and send out volunteers passionate for Jesus, we focus on strengthening our staff in their commitment to the eternal truths of Scripture and in their commitment to minister out of a vibrant relationship with God.

Michael's ministry role matches his passion: to equip Christian "activists" who are committed to ministries of evangelism and discipleship with a growing knowledge of God's Word and a growing ability to faithfully handle God's Word in ministry. 

Michael's platform for equipping staff and volunteers includes Biblical studies courses, staff and student retreats, preaching and conference speaking. He has taught in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Ukraine and further afield through online courses. In response to students asking for access to online teaching, Michael launched the observetheword podcast in April, 2018. Michael's series include the Pentateuch, Romans, John, Acts and Isaiah. More than 36,000 episodes have been downloaded from over 50 countries.

You can get a sense of how the Cru Movement of Croatia (Fokus) makes an impact for Jesus through this video: Fokus Review. These are the staff and volunteers we help develop for greater longevity and fruitfulness in ministry.

Brenda continues to serve in our local Cru movement by leading a women's Soaring group. Soaring brings together believing and non-believing women to focus on their life foundation, life values, and life purpose. The gospel is communicated relevantly through the Soaring content and through the testimonies of the Christian participants.

Our three daughters, Julia, Ana and Claire, all grew up in Croatia. All three have attended college in Raleigh, North Carolina and are active members at Imago Dei Church. Claire is at Meredith College. Ana finished her undergraduate at NCSU and is now working and pursuing her Master's Degree at South Eastern Theological Seminary. Having graduated from Meredith and South Eastern, Julia works at NCSU.

Thank you for considering whether God is calling you to partner with us financially. We are currently working on developing new ministry partnerships. We have an additional support need of $1500 per month and $6000 in special needs as we look forward to exciting opportunities to serve the Lord in 2025.

We are grateful for however God may be leading you to support us. We appreciate your heart for Jesus and the sacrifices you make to help fulfill the Great Commission.  What a wonderful message we share!

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16

Check out Michael's Bible podcast at observethword.com - also on itunes, spotify and google play.

Website: https://observetheword.com/

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