Drew Rush

One evening last year Drew Rush received a phone call from a former soldier in the Latvian military. "I have become a Christian," the man said, "and I am so happy. I walk down the street praying for people." The man had attended one of Drew's lectures on the Bible while a soldier, and had never forgotten the message. Later, when the seed of the gospel bore fruit, the man couldn't wait to let Drew know.

This story could be told many times over, due to Drew's eight years of faithful ministry to Latvia's armed forces. From English clubs and Family Life conferences with officers to lectures on the Bible for soldiers, Drew reached out to every segment of the military. He helped men know God through such activities as:

• Discipling Christian officers.
  
• Teaching Christian-based leadership material
  
• Showing the JESUS film to each new conscript.
  
• At Christmas, giving out "Survival Kits" including toothpaste, boot polish and Christian literature such as More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell.
  
• Taking 10 to 15 soldiers to church each week.
  
• Taking 15 soldiers a night to see "The Passion of the Christ," last summer, then following up with conversations about Christ
  
• Handing out Bibles. He recently arranged to have 5,000 camouflage-covered Latvian New Testaments printed for the troops, which are scheduled for distribution early next year.
  

"I know of no other ministry in Latvia that has done such a good job of reaching men for Christ," said David Lloyd, national director of Agape Latvia.

Drew's journey to Latvia began near the end of his high-school years, when his older sister, Rosie, invited him to a small-group Bible study. Rosie and Drew were just 13 months apart, and very close friends. Rosie had turned to Christ at the study the previous summer, and she wanted her younger brother to experience this relationship with God as well. A young man at the study explained the gospel, and Drew, too, surrendered his life to Christ. Over the following years, he grew in his faith, occasionally attending Campus Crusade events at the invitation of his sister, who was involved with Campus Crusade in college.

After university, Drew got a job with a company doing market research. Several years later, a representative from the CoMission showed a video in Drew's church. The Iron Curtain had just fallen, and the CoMission was a ministry designed to help teachers in the former Soviet republics teach Christian-based courses on ethics and values. Drew liked the idea of serving God this way. He had to join one of the groups participating in the CoMission, and since Rosie was by now on Campus Crusade staff, he chose Campus Crusade as well.

In 1995 Drew went to the Ukraine with CoMission. Soon he came down with a severe stomach virus. He returned to North Carolina to recuperate, but wanted to get back overseas as soon as possible. The CoMission was beginning a ministry in Riga, Latvia, so Drew went there, in order to be closer to Western medical care should the problem recur. David Lloyd, then leader of the CoMission team, asked him to help with the Latvian military. The head chaplain, a Christian, had asked for assistance, so Drew joined two other CoMission men in working with the chaplain. Soon God gave Drew a passion to reach men and women in uniform and in time David asked him to lead the military ministry in Latvia.

"Strategically speaking," said Drew, "if I reach all the Latvian men going into the military, and the campus ministry reaches all the university students, we have reached 90 percent of Latvian men 18 to 20 years of age. They all go to one place or the other."

Though a quiet and humble man, Drew was described by some as the best evangelist on the team. "He seemed prepared to talk with anyone on any topic," said Paul Pettijohn of Agape's International Military Ministry, "and would gracefully bring the conversation to focus on eternity." Some of those conversations began through his language learning, for he spent many hours practicing Latvian and developing relationships with soldiers.

Drew went home to be with his Saviour at the end of October. When he failed to show up at Monday morning staff meeting, team mates went looking for him. They found him murdered in his flat, with his possessions ransacked. The police soon arrested two men in connection with the crime. The stolen goods were found in the apartment of one, a military conscript involved on the fringes of the ministry, and whom Drew had tried to help.

"No matter how Drew suffered in the final minutes," says Rosie, now a Campus Crusade staff member in Africa, "Jesus was with him. Drew was the victor in the end, for he has overwhelmingly conquered, he has received the inheritance for which we all long. Drew finished his race well."

"Drew was friendly, open and loving," adds Markku Happonen, Director of Agape in Western Europe. "He shared Christ's love and served well. He will be greatly missed."

Join in Prayer

Rosie asks that we join her in praying that even in Drew's death, the gospel will be proclaimed more broadly, people's commitment to evangelism and discipleship will be deepened, and that God would be glorified. She also asks for prayer that the person who took Drew's life will come to know Christ as Lord and Saviour.

The Andrew Rush Memorial Fund has also been established to help further the ministry in Latvia, where Drew planned to spend the rest of his life. The designation is Campus Crusade account # 2791517.

We have also established an email address, latvia@agapeeurope.org, through which you may send messages to the Latvian staff team.