Before taking my trip, I had long heard about Campus Crusade‘s “transferable concepts.” I never had the opportunity to be a part of Cru in college or afterward, but apparently even the “transferable concepts” idea is transferable, because it’s pretty widely known in ministry circles.

I think Crusade’s main transferable concepts focus on foundational spiritual growth topics – Lordship, witnessing, etc. But what’s quite evident is that this easily-learned-easily-shared mentality has helped Campus Crusade transfer concepts concerning the nuts and bolts of ministry, too.

It was powerful (and a little freaky) to hear the same concepts repeated all year long, beginning with the Chicago staff’s “Integrity Skills & Leadership Training,” and then in interview after interview with Crusade staff members. Both old and new Cru words, phrases, and ideas have clearly spread throughout the individual “Movements” with amazing consistency. That was clear both behind the scenes in chats with leaders AND when sitting in a Campus Crusade large group meeting.

Those large group meetings felt eerily similar whether I was at the Original, in Montana, or elsewhere. But while I’m sure Crusade occasionally catches flak about being too uniform, my guess is that they’ve found models and methods that simply work well in major areas of ministry – and those concepts have been transferred.

When most college ministries probably haven’t been in their present “version” for more than a couple of years, it was honestly pretty refreshing to see a group that has maintained such amazing consistency – based on collective wisdom borne from decades of ministry and transferred Movement by Movement.

(Wanna see it in action? I betcha Crusade is on a campus near you.)