CAI’s Entering Creative Incubation
A Letter from Peter
Dear Friends and Supporters,
CAI was founded during the pandemic to carry Christian adulthood ministry forward into the next decades. And we, the CAI Board, are passionate about our mission. We believe it is as vital today as ever — maybe more vital than ever!
And, at this moment in our work, we also believe that the best way to advance our mission is through a temporary pause on our regular work, to allow our assets and network to grow. We’re calling this pause “creative incubation.”
I write today to share our reasons, plans, and goals during this time.
In short, we believe
eliminating expenses,
allowing our assets to grow with the market,
distributing our NSGU curriculum for free,
building our lists through content marketing,
and forging new relationships
will equip us to level up the ministry in a few years’ time. We envision a new, year-round version of CAI:
a fall/spring gap year program focused on discussion, exploration, holiness, and prayer for recent high school graduates;
a winter retreat for alumni and friends of CAI;
rite of passage summer camps for Christian youth;
and a summer workshop for youth pastors;
all operating on our own beautiful little campus — a place we plan to call CAI Haven — planted near a city with lively arts and culture opportunities.
In some ways, CAI Haven is what we always wanted CAI and Wheatstone to become. Now, we’re taking action to realize it. We believe our best bet is not through incremental adjustment from the current status quo, but through fully-focused, patient pursuit of this unified vision.
To that end, we’re suspending normal operations and laying the groundwork to find and purchase a property that will become the new home for the ministry work we all love.
I know our present incubation will disappoint some in CAI’s community, especially those who have been waiting for summer camps to resume quickly so your youth can attend. I get it. And, I expect some will want to wait and see while we build toward our vision of a Haven for Christian adulthood. That too makes sense. So, if you need help adjusting the nature of your support, we’re more than happy to provide it. Just email info@christianadulthood.org and we’ll help right away.
Others might be more excited than ever by this vision for a Haven. Maybe you feel God calling you to support its growth, or to speed its implementation.
Already, excited supporters have donated tens of thousands of dollars in stock toward this unified goal. If you’d like to have a phone conversation about how you can help too, just email haven@christianadulthood.org, and a Board member will be in touch with you promptly.
We’re including more details about this creative incubation below, but for now I simply want to say, “thank you,” for believing in us and praying for us over all these years. I believe the best is yet to come for Christian adulthood ministry, and I’m grateful for this chance to seek that best with each of you.
Yours for Christian adulthood,
Peter David Gross
President, CAI
More Info About…
Why the Pause? - Allowing Assets to Grow
Most of CAI’s assets for the past couple years have been in the form of stocks, and depleting them for normal operations means giving up on their future growth. If we leave such assets untouched, on the other hand, they can passively become a solid foundation for a better version of CAI than ever before.
So, during creative incubation, we seek to increase donations of assets that will accrue value over time. If you’re excited about giving toward a big future ministry payoff, consider joining in! Email haven@christianadulthood.org to get started.
Eliminating Expenses - A Volunteer Board
Almost all CAI’s expenses come from staff salaries. So, to support our new vision for CAI’s future, both Peter Gross and Lisa Oka have moved into solely volunteer Board member roles. All CAI’s operations during our creative incubation will be handled by Board volunteers and occasional contractors, as needed.
Once our assets have matured, or God provides new resources in other ways, the CAI Board, including Peter and Lisa, will oversee the purchase of a property and the calling of a new Executive Director to lead the next season of Christian adulthood ministry under the CAI Board’s guidance.
In the Meantime - Free Curriculum and Content Marketing
For now, thanks to a generous grant from the Younger Family Foundation, we’ve hired summer workers to edit and reformat our innovative high school youth ministry curriculum, and to move it online where it can be freely downloaded on the all-new nsgu.org. Our goal is to have all curriculum content available online before youth groups resume in the fall.
This high-quality content will be free to anyone, in exchange for their information and for subscribing to our mailing list. It’s the first in a series of projects to move all our content, including our much-loved youth ministry trainings, online for free.
We hope these free resources will encourage and inspire our community during incubation, and we expect them to expand the reach of Christian adulthood ministry, in preparation for the future launch of CAI Haven.
Forging New Relationships
During incubation, we will explore new kinds of partnerships with other organizations to help us meet our goal of purchasing and launching a property for CAI Haven. In the past, our property use needs severely limited the kinds of organizations with whom we could partner. Now, we can more freely explore all opportunities.
CAI Haven - What We’re Looking For
We seek to find or construct a property to support our year-round ministry goals, with roughly the following attributes:
Staff Residences - 2 families
Temporary Residence - 1 family
Student Dormitory
Fall/Spring Residential Use - for 15
Summer Camp/Retreat Use - for 60
Chapel - Seating for 75
Industrial Kitchen
Dining Hall - for 75
8 Classrooms or other spaces
Storage
30 modular bunk beds
Camp decor/signage/supplies
Household needs
This could be a former monastery, a summer camp location or retreat center, a lodge, or a similar property. We believe a site like this will fundamentally transform what is possible through CAI. If you have leads or advice on obtaining such a property, let us know by emailing haven@christianadulthood.org.
Still Have Questions?
Just email info@christianadulthood.org, and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. We’re glad to be in this with you!
