Chris McCurry
I enjoy fishing, swimming, hiking, biking, camping, hunting, skiing, kayaking, and sailing. Basically, I love being in nature. It’s where I go to recharge. My first week at the University of Michigan, I filled out a spiritual interest survey so I could enter a raffle to win a bike. Later, a couple guys from New Life followed up on my survey and shared the Gospel with me. It was the first time that I heard that God loved me, wanted a relationship with me, and had provided a way to make that possible through Christ’s death on the cross. I believed the Gospel and prayed to receive Christ on the spot in September 1999. I got really involved at New Life right after that and God used it to totally transform my life.
During my college years, it seemed like God was nudging me toward full-time ministry. I had major debt, though, and I was a bit afraid of full-time ministry so I got a job teaching math and physics in Detroit instead. Unfortunately, I got tied up in my job and I really let my spiritual life flounder. God still used that teaching job to break my heart for the spiritual needs of people around me and to remind me what I’m most passionate about — reaching the lost and building up His Kingdom. I now work with the Phase 2 ministry at New Life, which is focused on graduate students and young professionals. My own spiritual walk developed me well for this, since it was while I was a working professional that my spiritual life had hit a wall. I saw the need to help others navigate that transition better and the opportunity to take the Gospel to a city filled with spiritual darkness. Within Phase 2, I lead one of our New Life Teams and train others to lead these teams in the future. I also coach our small group leaders, help with events, and mobilize the men and women in our ministry to share the Gospel with people in their everyday lives.
