Conversations: Meet Staff Member Grace Long

Grace Long

Staff Member with Athletes in Action in Boston

Grace Long, a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ since 2005, serves with Athletes in Action and the Campus Ministry in Boston, Mass. Previously she had completed a 2-year internship with Campus Crusade. Born and raised in Taiwan, Grace speaks Taiwanese, Mandarin and English and is currently learning to speak Russian. She and her husband, Damian, have been married since October 2006.

To improve your ministry, have you changed something in the last year?
I've been learning about how Jesus did ministry in community. I really wanted to incorporate that community aspect of discipleship. I used to meet one-to-one with students. Now I have the students meet together as a discipleship group, two to three people. It's not just me teaching them, but we're teaching each other. That's been really fun. As a group we grow so much closer, learning from the Word and learning from each others' walks with the Lord.

What is a favorite ministry moment?
One of my favorite moments was when I was in Kazakhstan several years ago. We invited a few students to a retreat and told them about the gospel. During a conversation with Zhanat, he got really offended. [When] we were about to leave, we came down to our bus. Zhanat came and sat down next to me and said, 'Grace, I just want to thank you so much for coming to our country and loving on our people.' I was surprised because he was really, really mad just a couple days before. He said, 'What got me was you're all so different, but you're also one.' Our unity on the team was a testimony and a witness.

Describe a moment when you trusted God for something bigger than yourself.
When I first became a staff member of Campus Crusade, my parents were against it. For Taiwanese parents, if you love them, you have to do exactly what they say. The question always came up: How do I follow Jesus without dishonoring my parents? I had to ask God to help me. Now my parents are one of our biggest supporters and are proud of what we do. It's a huge change, and I know that I couldn't have done it.

What are you presently learning about God?
We just found out we were pregnant and there were abnormal signs. It ended up being an ectopic pregnancy, so we lost the baby. It's been really hard. I have a lot of questions. But, this whole time, we saw the church coming together to care for us and to pray for us. I thought that was so beautiful. Right now, I have to trust God with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. God is ever present, and He's close to the broken-hearted.