Monday, August 31, 2015

Week One Done!

It has been a good, though incredibly busy week!

Classes started, first CSF, activities fair, got introduced to the church, planning, writing, school, meetings, it's been hard to find time to breathe!

Since last Monday classes had started. Much of Monday was spent making plans for the year, having discussions with our president and figuring out how we want to do things and what we want to do during the year. I ended up making a list of things that I need to do, and even when I knock off a lot of different items there are always more that need my attention. This new ministry is really pushing me to have some good time management.

Tuesday rolled in and we had our first CSF meeting. Talking with our president we decided to go the easy route and just have some food and drink and have students stop by to hang out and play video games. Of course ol' reliable came out, the Nintendo 64, and we had some intense Mario Kart go down. We ended up having 4 different students stop by, and the Catholic group came by and shared some pizza with us. Afterwards there was a period of about an hour or two were a couple of us guys just sat and talked, getting to know each other. That was honestly probably the best part of the entire night.



Wednesday started and this time we got to prep for the activities fair which was on Thursday. We talked about what we were going to do, hand out, and how we were going to stand out from the other campus ministries. We decided our goal was to offer a different environment than the other ministries as to give others a chance to find a place where they feel comfortable.

Thursday started up bright and clear, and kinda chilly. I seriously love the weather here by the way. Except for this week. This week is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's all week. I hate it. But I digress. I ended up meeting Buzz in a town just north of here to grab some supplies for the activities fair, a banner and some bags to hand out. I got back to campus and set up started. Around 11 we started getting the table put together, got our flyers we were handing out, and waited. Then the students came. Over the course of 2 hours we had 74 students give us their information! That's a lot more than what our Altoona campus had last year from what I hear, and even more than what we got at Pitt last year (I just checked to make sure). We also had 400 flyers to hand out, and gave out a good number of them with all of our information and who we are as a campus ministry. Overall we have no idea how many contacts with students we had, but I was really encouraged by it. I feel that God is going to do great things this year. For those of your praying for this ministry, from the bottom of my heart thank you! I ask that you keep praying that God does something huge on this campus this year, even if it's just a single baptism, or one life changed.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful except for the fact that I had two smart phones die on me. And since I'm not an authorized user on the account I have no way to fix it. So I'm looking into getting a new cell phone service. Now, why I'm writing about this mundane detail that you probably don't care about. As a campus minister we are on call 24/7. We must always be available for students to get a hold of us. And with how technology is advancing, students use more than just texting or calling to get a hold of us. They use facebook, email, twitter, snapchat, instagram, vine, all to get information from them to others, either in a personal way, or to just get information out there. This makes having technology in the palm of my hand incredibly necessary. I remember I had a friend that had his car break down in the middle of no where and only had enough service to get the information out on facebook through a text. Things like that actually do happen. So the point of all of this is that funding is needed to support this aspect of the ministry. How my funding is at the moment, I may be able to swing a cellphone bill with rent and everything else, but it's not certain at this moment. So if you could please pray for funding for communication to come in, or even if you feel compelled to help with that I would be grateful beyond words.

Sunday started off amazingly. I woke up and ran to the store to get some cat good and the sun was just rising over the mountain in the distance (Don't worry I was sitting at a stop light when I got the picture). After I got back to my house and got ready I headed to the church to be introduced. At 8:30 in the morning. I wasn't all about that. But it was necessary. For three services I got to sit in front of the congregation and tell them about myself and CSF. I told them of my hopes and plans, how we want to create a new identity for the ministry, and how we want to impact not just the campus, but also the community of Altoona. One of the final things that I got to speak about was how the church can help, which is good information for you as well dear reader! First, prayer is always needed. I love knowing that I have people praying over me and the ministry. Second of course is funding. As I said, campus ministry is a 24/7 job and unlike churches, we don't bring in an offering. We don't have an established church that has constant funding from within, and we're not a church plant where in 3-5 years we should be self sufficient. In 3-5 years we'll have an entirely new group of students. And third, able bodies and resources. Gift cards for gas, food, drinks, other supplies. Cooked meals, drivers, whatever. Campus ministry is always in need of just more!

Well that's been my week! Hope you've had a good week as well! Keep an eye out for a News Letter today in your email or in the coming days in your mailbox! Thanks for all you do!

Monday, August 24, 2015

Hello from Altoona!

Hey! It's Monday again!

Sorry for not posting last week, I was moving the majority of my stuff out to my new place!
I hope this finds you well and having a great end to an awesome summer.
Well a good bit has gone on the past few weeks, so I'll go ahead and get started.

Two weeks ago I was in Kentucky for a class called Doctrine of Salvation. It was a good class, and it helped me become more firm in some of my theologies. I don't want to bore you with the details, but it was a really good class and helped me realize that I didn't ever believe in substitution atonement. It just doesn't work in my mind.
During that week I celebrated my 25th Birthday, the first time I ever had class on my birthday. I got taken out to dinner by my wonderful girlfriend who was on campus for RA training, and was given some awesome records that I've put to good use. We also celebrated her birthday, which was just this past Thursday, since I wouldn't be there.

That next Monday, the 17th, I did the initial move to Altoona into my new apartment! I ended up renting a trailer from U-Haul, and Greg helped me out by loaning himself and his van. We packed that tight, and then the trailer with all my big stuff and headed east. When we got here we did a quick unload then headed back. The apartment is close to campus, with and awesome set up and flow (partially to me because I rock like that). That night I had one final night in Pittsburgh to finish packing and to clean the house. I got to see my aunt one last time, though on the way back I had to take a 45 minute detour just to get on the other side of the Ft. Pitt tunnel (Thanks Pittsburgh). But it was good hanging out with my family there before I left. Tuesday I loaded up my truck with the rest of my stuff, mostly just random things, my M&M man for blankets, and my cat. I got in Tuesday afternoon, unloaded, and finally started to settle in. The rest of my week was spent getting things put away just right, but I think I finally got it!

Wednesday I got to have lunch with the minister at the church that I'm partnering with and we had some really good conversation. I think this is going to be a really good relationship between CSF and the church. I'm actually in my office now, because this is the only place I can get on the internet at the moment!

Sunday I went to this church for the first time and got to meet a few people. Next Sunday I'll be introduced to the church officially. Today was the first day of classes at Penn State so I've spent the majority of my time on campus. I have an office there as well, shared with another campus minister. I got keys for all that, we have a new meeting place, and it was overall a pretty good and productive day! I also got to spend a lot of time with our president for the year who's a major asset for being a new minister on a new campus. We started making plans for things during the year, and I'm really looking forward to what God's going to do through our ministry.

Tomorrow is our first CSF meeting. It's going to be a time of just hanging out, eating, playing games, and fellowship. I'm really excited to get to know our students this year. But overall that's what's been going on. Be looking for the next post next Monday!

Monday, August 3, 2015

August again!

Well here it is, the next Monday in August! July sure did fly by.

Last week I updated and talked a bit about the happenings in Altoona. Other than what I reported last week, not much else has gone on!

This past week and this coming week have been and will be full of packing and homework though. My house is looking more and more bare which is very strange. Over the past year it got more and more full, and now it's suddenly becoming empty.I have a corner in my living room full of boxes and milk crates so far, and in my bedroom is a footlocker I got at a flea market years ago full of clothes.

I have also been working on our study for the year for CSF and have been thinking of other activities as well.  Some events we're looking at planning are paintball, ski trips, maybe a baseball game or two, and who knows what else! I'm also looking into developing a student adoption program at the church that I'll be working at/with. There is a lot that is just rolling around in my head right now about what to do with this new ministry. And I can promise you this, the possibilities are endless.

As I said the past week and this coming week are a bit boring, with packing and homework. Next week, starting the 10th, I have class down in Kentucky, so I'll be making a pass through Grove City in the near future, or two even. Then after that I'll be coming back here to finish packing, cleaning the house, and then moving out east to my new apartment!

So if you're in the GC area and interested in meeting up or something this coming Saturday, let me know!