It's the Final Countdown!

Hopefully I don't get sued for using that as a title. Oh well.

Well it's finals week here at Penn State! Our students are studying hard (hopefully) and not stressing out too much (I say while I head at least four banging their heads against a table while another cries in a corner).

This past week luckily hasn't been too bad, and this coming week is looking fairly light as well!

Over the past week I've really just tried to be available for our students, and been preparing for next semester. Building on what I've been talking about with next semester, I actually have some idea's about different things we can be doing!

For different studies I'm thinking about doing 3 extra ones on top of our weekly meeting. I want to go through a book of the Bible just for a time for people to get together and get in the Word. Another is a men's Bible study, Bearded Bosses of the Bible which will be awesome. I also think it would be highly beneficial to do a Christianity 101 type study to teach what Christianity is, who we are, and get into the deeper ideas of Christianity like salvation, Christology, apologetics, exegesis, theology proper, etc.

Some of the other events that I have rolling around in my head right now just for things to do include, but are not limited to:

• Basketball Tournament
• Dodgeball Tournament
• Video game Tournament
• Ice cream
• Pancakes
• Petting zoo
• Inflatables
• Campus wide capture the flag
• Obstacle courses
• And who knows what else!

Again the purpose of all this is to give students on campus things to do, but also to get CSF's name out there as something different and unique on campus!

Planning is also underway for our Spring Break trip. We're looking at heading to South Carolina, but who knows if that will work out or not. It's still early! 

This coming week we're looking to do a Christmas party for CSF with a white elephant gift exchange and food just to give the students some time away from studying and for us to have some fun!

But really that's all we got going on here. I'll probably be on campus for the most part this week providing support for students during this trying time in their lives. 

Looking forward!

Another week down and another picking up!

Luckily the past week hasn't been horribly busy! Meaning I could sleep a lot and try to fight of this cold which doesn't want to leave.

This past week has been looking forward a lot to the next semester. Our semester is winding down, with finals being next week, so our students are doing a lot of studying and finishing up projects and trying not to go insane, which I completely remember from my undergrad days, watching everyone else scramble to get ready for finals while I...just didn't. But I still did well on my finals at least!

This past week I finally was able to finish my class, which seemed to take forever, but I pushed through and got it done!

As I said, we're already looking forward to next semester with this one coming to a close. Some of the plans that we have for the spring are actually pretty exciting.

As stated in previous posts I've been meeting with different offices and administrators trying to figure out the needs for campus and how CSF can incorporate filling those needs in our foundation. One big thing that we're looking to do is have something on the weekends for students to do as an alternative to go out and party. Already I have a few idea's in mind, but I'm also tasking our students to get some figured out as well seeing as how it would be them who would be served through this endeavor.

We're also looking at doing some type of seminar or workshop or something to inform students on the resources provided by campus to help them through their college experience, be that a need for counselling, tutoring, or any other kind of support that campus offers. One of the big problems is that the students get stressed, and either don't know about the resources campus provides or are too proud to go seek help, so we want to offer the information for the resources and also let them know that seeking out help is nothing to be ashamed of.

We're also looking at starting more Bible studies throughout the semester, one of which I'm working on now which I'm calling Bearded Bosses of the Bible. Awesome name I know. But it's going to be a men's Bible study looking at male figures in the Bible that probably had awesome beards, and we're going to look at their life and their story, then spend time looking at what God condoned and condemned about them and what that means for us today. Already I've started working on it, and I think it'll turn out really good for our guys!

I also want to get a few more started, maybe going through a specific book, or looking at different topics, or a specific topic. But that requires some work with our students to find out what they want seeing as how I'm here to minister to, or serve, them.

This semester we're looking at doing one more event, which would be a Christmas party for our students. We're just waiting for it to be approved. But we're looking for our last Tuesday together to just be a night of fun and fellowship, having food, games, and a white elephant gift exchange.

We're also doing our Wednesday night Bible study at the church which I continually forget to write about, but it's going well. At the very beginning the attendees decided to go through the book of Revelation, of course. Last week we went through Chapter 14 which had some good topics and discussion between the guy that came and me. The big problem with Revelation though is that it is incredibly symbolic and imagery driven, so getting through that can be difficult. Hopefully the next one will be easier!

But overall that's what's going on in Altoona, just looking forward to next semester and getting things kicked off! Thank you for your prayer and support and as always feel free to get a hold of me!

Thanksgiving coma

Well Thanksgiving has passed, it's the last day in November, we got three weeks left and my first semester as a campus minister will be done!

Last week was of course Thanksgiving and we had no classes, so I decided to drive over 1000 miles to visit people! I ended up having 2 Thanksgivings and see a bunch of people I haven't seen in quite a while!

The week before that was the last week before break. It was a pretty easy going week with the usual events going on. Tuesday of course we had CSF where we looked at Luke 7.36-50 and we talked about the idea of being stewards of the gifts that God has given us. One aspect of that particular story found in that passage that I really liked was that it could be seen that the woman who was serving Jesus obviously understood the weight of sin, which is something that many people don't fully understand today. This was one of the major points that I attempted to communicate to our students because I do think that it is incredibly important for us to know the weight and consequences of sin in our lives. But we also talked about the forgiveness that comes to us from Christ which restores our relationship with him and the Father, freeing us from the weight of sin in our lives.

Wednesday we had our usual Bible study at the church for college students and we looked at Revelation 12 and 13. This was actually kind of fun because one of the students looked at me afterwards and said, "You're blowing my mind with all of this." All I really did was just discuss some of the interpretations though!

Thursday night we did a dinner for college students, we being the Children's director, Connie, and I. It was initially supposed to be a CSF event, but because of improper planning and a couple other problems, it was not sanctioned by the university, so it couldn't be a CSF dinner. Instead it became a church event, which was fine because I got to meet a lot of new people from the church! There were a good number there that I haven't been able to meet because of conflicting schedules and other factors, but it was good to meet everyone that was there and have a good time of hanging out.

Friday I was back at Connie's to help with the 5th and 6th graders for an event they were having which was a good time.

Sunday we had a big Thanksgiving dinner at the church (346 was the final tally I believe). I ended up helping serve the turkey with the other staff, which I was volunteered for apparently, but hey it was still a good time! I'm really enjoying being a part of this church here and am excited to see what God does through us in the coming years.

Then as I said last week we had no students in town so I went back to Columbus and then back and forth between my parents and my girlfriends. Every day I was driving at least 2 hours, but Fiona held up well and ran like a champ! Traffic wasn't horrible at all, and I didn't get any tickets!

But that's all that we got going on here, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Down the Final Stretch!

Of course we're only half way through November, but next week is Thanksgiving break and we have an entire week off! Though most of mine will be spent travelling.

This past week has again been quite busy, but I actually got to have a day off for the first time in weeks which was really awesome.

Well this past Monday we had a leadership meeting with our president, vice president and treasurer. We spent the time going through some of the different things I've been working on including CSF's mission, vision, values, and goals and the responsibilities of leadership. The goal with sitting down with our leadership was for me to explain my thoughts and reasons for all that I had in there. Unfortunately I had a lot so we were unable to go through the entire responsibilities sheet. We did get through the Code of Conduct for Leadership, the responsibilities of leadership as a whole, and the Campus Minister's responsibilities.

Looking at this ministry I recognize that it is a student organization and I'm only here to advise, which is a lot different than what I'm used to with Youth Ministry. The blessing which is also a curse here is that our leadership is not developed so I get to be more hands on for now until our leadership is developed and it'll be easier for me to just pass it off and advise. But our leadership isn't developed which means I got work to do. But I'm willing to accept it!

Tuesday we had CSF as usual. This week attendance was low. From my understanding it's another time of major exams, plus it was 2 weeks before Thanksgiving week and that always adds a lot of stress and work. But the conversation was still really good on Tuesday for the ones that did come, and I really think they got some good stuff out of it.

This past weekend we had a Lock In at the church for CSF and some of our other campus ministries. It was a packed night with a lot of different things going on. The President from University Park (UP) planned it all, which was cool to see, though it did seem as if he over planned it. During the night we had a worship service with worship done by students from UP. Every week during our meeting we do communion, and I decided that we should do that Friday night as well to help the students remember why we were there, not just for fun, but in all things for Christ. After that I got up to deliver a short sermon, focusing on what here we're studying here in Altoona. Mostly I was explaining our understanding of Religion in the form of a verb and the definition that I gave it. I talked a good deal about our relationship with God, and the actions that should stem from that. I closed out with some practical uses and touched on the subject of the atrocious attacks in Paris that were still going on as I spoke.

The rest of the night continued on as expected, and nothing horrible happened, no damage to the church, no injuries, I was pleased with those outcomes! We had a total of 31 by my count which was a good number I think.

Saturday morning, after we cleaned the entire church and with me being up for just shy of 24 hours straight, I attended the Elders Meeting for the church to introduce myself, and tell of the plans that we have for CSF. Then I slept all day.

Yesterday was a pretty normal day, though one difference was that I officially transferred my membership to the church.

Then finally today, though almost over, has been pretty busy as well. Outside of my normal Monday routine, I met with the head of the Office of Student Life and had some really good discussion about campus and some of the problems we see here. The problem is, how can CSF help with these problems in a way that the campus will allow us, being a religious organization, yet we still have our faith background there? Really what it comes down to is we need to find a way to be a bridge between Christianity and the World, so we may have to secularize our teachings in a way to be a benefit for campus an to not alienate those with a negative view of religion. This will become a major discussion among our leadership in the near future I hope!

But other than that, I have another packed week, though like I said we're beginning to come down the home stretch!

Thanks for your time!

November, November.

So we're 9 days into November now and it feels like we should be half way though it.

Of course every Tuesday we have our weekly meeting. This week things went really well. We did part 2 of what I'm tentatively calling "Religion and the World." It was in Luke 6.27-42. We looked at how Jesus actually does call us to a higher ethical code and some of the implications of that and how that should change the way that we think about other people. There was a lot of good discussion with this topic and the students seemed really engaged this week. Overall it was highly encouraging. I'm really excited to see what happens this week.

Wednesday I got to attend the monthly interfaith meeting, where some discussion was had about a possible campus food pantry for students. It has great potential, but it may require a lot of leg work, or a little if everyone chips in. Our goal for it though is to provide for students and also to just be a blessing for campus. We'll see how it works out!

Thursday was also busy with me having a meeting with the Chancellor of the university. We got to spend some time talking about some of the needs of the campus, and how possibly CSF could help with those needs. A lot of what was talked about was just the stress level of students, and either the lack of education on the resources offered by the campus or their pride over their need. My hope is that as a ministry we can find a way to help the students on campus with that. Possibly this will be a project given to our leadership.

Tonight we have a leadership meeting here with our students. My goal for this is to set up leadership in a way that will promote success and excellence in the future. So please be keeping this in your prayers.

Other than that not much has gone on. Trying to get things ready for a lock-in this weekend! Should be a blast!

Halloween Week

So this past week was Halloween and it was a busy one.

Of course on Tuesday we had our usual CSF meeting where we looked at Luke 6.20-26 and talked about how God is a God that reverses fortune. Our discussion surrounding it was pretty good, though looking back I think I might need to reevaluate the teaching time and add more than just straight up, "This is what the text is saying." My hope was to stay away from sermons, but it seems as if it may come to that. We'll give it a try in the next few weeks and see what happens!

Last week I got to meet with the Director of Student Affairs and we had a good talk, finding out what his office does, their goals, and how CSF can help with them. The journey of meeting with different administrators has actually be a good experience. This week I get to meet with the Chancellor, and I'm expecting that to go well as well.

On Wednesday First Church had their Fall Festival which I got to help out with. We ended having 5 of our students help out running the inflatables. There were a massive amount of kids there which was awesome to see. We decided we needed to test out one of the bouncy houses, so two college students, a middle school student, and I got in. The hose that was connected to the fan disconnected while we were in there and the entire thing collapsed on us. Luckily that didn't happen with any kids!

One of our students attends another church in town here, and their Trunk or Treat was on Thursday. I popped in to make an appearance, more or less, see how things were going, help out with some set up, and meet the pastor. We ended up having some more students come out to help as well which was awesome to see. Unfortunately I had an assignment due that I needed to finish. Wasn't the most fun time ever.

Friday we set up in the chapel again with some game systems to hang out with students. We had a few come by which was great to have.

Saturday we worked another Penn State game. We again had a few students come with us which was a good time. The time flew by, and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Some things that are going on with the ministry:

I'm working on a code of conduct, responsibilities of leadership as a whole, and individual responsibilities for the different leadership positions. My hope soon is to get our student leaders together, get their input on roles, responsibilities, what they expect of themselves and me as well. With all of this form a contract, and have them sign it. Hopefully next semester then we can get them to start fulfilling some of these responsibilities.

We're also trying to get some events planned. There's a good number of students interested in going to Passion down in Atlanta this year, and I'm hoping that we'll have that planned soon so we can advertise on campus for it.

I also am trying to get some more Bible studies up and running throughout the week. Of course there is the one on Wednesday nights, but I also want to do one going through Hebrews.

As always my plate is incredibly full. Luckily I'm free to spend the majority of my time doing work, not having a family or anything right now, which is incredibly advantageous with starting a ministry from the ground up again.

Thank you for your prayers and support and hope everyone had a great October. Hopefully by the end of today I'll have a news letter done, emailed, printed, and sent out!

October's Coming to a Close

Well a week from yesterday is the beginning of November! October has flown by. This week even more so.

Here's what's been going on!

This past weekend he had our Annual CSFPA Fall Retreat! We ended up having two students come who had a blast. We went down to Camp Christian (where I go during summer) and had a great time with fellowship with other students from different ministries, learning from a well educated Old Testament scholar, engaging times of worship, and a lot of just random fun. I actually played ultimate for the first time in forever and I had trouble getting out of bed the past two days. But it was worth it. We also ended up having a group of about 35 or 40 students all go get ice cream all at the same time, following our lead because CSF Altoona is a trend setter! or people just wanted ice cream. It wasn't until we were on our way back that I found out that we came to the place 10 minutes before they closed... While there I got to see some of the students from Pitt along with Greg and his family which was awesome! I really enjoyed seeing them all again and getting to catch up.

Some other things that have been going on, we're attempting to create good relations with the campus, so I've been setting up meetings with different administrators on campus. Last week I got to meet with the Office of Student Conduct and talked about some of our goals, their goals, and how we can help each other achieve these. We ended up having really good discussions and I'm excited about the support that CSF can give that office. Later this week and next I'm also meeting with the Office of Student Affairs and the Chancellor of the University.

Lately I've been reviewing the constitution that CSF has filed with the campus, and we're looking to write a new one since this one hasn't been touched in 6 years. Along with that I'm working on responsibilities of leadership, a code of conduct for our leadership, and gathering resources for our students to create a Theology of Leadership.

The relationship with the church is going incredibly well. This week is its annual Fall Harvest where I'll be filling whatever role is needed. The next day is a safe trick or treat put on by campus which hopefully we'll be able to be a part of.

Our Tuesday Meetings are going well with a good number of students coming. We're getting further into Luke, this week we're looking at Luke 6.20-26 which will be part 1 out of 3. I'm pretty excited about the discussion which is going to be happening!

Well that' all from Altoona for now. As always feel free to get in touch with me anytime!

Well it's been a month.

Heart felt apologizes for the lack of up dates. Let me explain!

After attempting to find a groove for this ministry, it decidedly picked up.

We're on our 9th week of classes here at Penn State, and it has been a roller coaster so far.

Our first week we had students just to hang out.
Then our next two weeks we started off our study of Religion as a Verb, and had a fair number of students, 8 and 9.
Then the bottom dropped out. All of the students we had coming disappeared and since then we've been building from the ground up.
It's taken every week to reevaluate and see what is wrong with the ministry and the damage done from the past. Eventually we've come to the conclusion that there was a big fire and everything except the land is gone. So we are literally building from the ground up.

Our past couple of weeks have been better though. Three weeks ago we got another two students as we got into Luke for the first time. Again a reevaluation needed to be done for how our time together was going to go, and that change seems to be effective. The next week we had a group of 6 join which was awesome. Great discussion was had, concepts learned, and Jesus was talked about. This previous week I was in Kentucky for class, but our president led. We'll see how that went.

Every Wednesday I've been helping out with the Senior high group at the church, and Sunday mornings I've been helping with the Junior high. Wednesday after the Sr. Hi. group we have a college aged Bible study where they decided they want to go through Revelation. Whoop. Then on Friday's I started meeting with our president to go through the Book of Hebrews.

On top of all of that, I've been working on our curriculum for the semester, and finally getting that done I'm going to be attempting to get a lesson a day done for next semester.

There's also been meetings at church, meetings with students, grad homework and trying to find time to make sure I don't lose my mind.

These past five weeks have been incredibly busy, but also rewarding. I'm thankful for the opportunity that God has given me to be here and minister to the campus.

A few things that are coming up, this week we have Fall Retreat which I'm really looking forward to. Next weekend we're working a Penn State game at a concession stand, which we also did the 10th and will again November 21st. November is looking full as well, but we'll worry about that when we get to it.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. If you ever want to hear from me personally just let me know!

Finding the Groove

So here we are week 4 of being in Altoona! There's still a lot of adjusting going on and trying to get into a set schedule, but it's coming along!

The past couple weeks have been fairly productive. I've been helping out at the church with youth stuff on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. I've started a Bible study Wednesday nights at the church for college aged people. We've gotten a new Vice President. Our curriculum that we're developing for our theme for the year is coming alone nicely. Things have been going good.

In reality we got a lot of spinning plates right now, but we're working one keeping them all spinning!

Right now we're:
-Working on creating a new identity as a distinctive campus ministry
-Growing numerically
-Growing spiritually
-Getting student leadership in place
-Getting involved in campus
-Getting connected with the church
-Developing our leaders
-Planning different events for the semester
-Figuring out who we are
-Continuing to work on our curriculum

Like I said, we got a lot of plates spinning at the moment. I know that this is not going t be an incredibly easy job to do, but that's fine by me! Our ministry is taking one thing at a time as they are needed to be completed so that we can set this ministry up for excellence in the future as opposed to mediocrity now.

As I sit here and look at this list I notice a lot of these things have differing priorities. Yet all are important and need to be started. Some need to be completed sooner than others, but all need to start now.

For example, I need to keep working on our curriculum so that we have our lessons for the year. I also need to get CSF connected even more to the church so that we can have more and different kinds of support as we go throughout the semester. We need student leadership in place so that we can have them help out with growing numerically, spiritually and create a new identity. But we need to grow numerically before we can do that. Plus I have to develop the leaders to take on some of the responsibility.

Essentially I'm starting a campus ministry from the ground up, but one that's been here for 6 years. I know that this is something that I can do, because God has given me the gifts to do this. And I trust Him.

The good news though is that through our meetings I've been laying a firm foundation for our study this year. Those that are investing with us, not those that come, but those that invest, are going to grow a lot this year and are going to learn to put their faith into practice which I'm really excited to see.

I ask that you keep this ministry, and especially me, in your prayers. We got some big tasks in front of us, but God will give us strength, resolve, and wisdom. I just ask you help us out with that through prayer and words of encouragement.

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!

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!

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!

The Tuesday that became a Monday

So today's Tuesday, not Monday, but I still feel I need to update this week since so much has been happening!

The past two weeks I haven't been able to post because I was on vacation to and from Oklahoma. ended up being about 2400 miles of driving over 8 days, and we hit 9 states (my girlfriend went with me).

During our time out west I spent a lot of time working on homework and getting a sermon ready. This past Sunday I preached both services at my home church over unity in the Spirit. I feel that both services went really well, I seemed to get a good response from those that were there. After the service I got back on stage to switch hats and talked about the ministry that I've been a part of the past year and about the ministry that I'm coming into.

Unfortunately I didn't gain any extra support, but I know that God will continue to provide for me.

I can already see this beginning to happen too.

Yesterday I spent the day in Altoona, trying to get some business stuff done on campus and also looking for apartments. I ended up finding one, with is $450 a month including all utilities except electric and I get to keep my cat! It's right around 3 miles from campus, and I think it'll be a good place for me to be the next year or two. The only hurdle I need to get over right now is I need my security deposit.

After I was done looking at apartments and got as much business stuff done as I could I was able to meet with the president of our fellowship and got to talk with him for a few hours about the coming year, plans, events, our theme for the year, how we're going to run it, and just life. The longer him and I talked the more excited I got about this coming year and what God is going to do.

Today I've been packing stuff up. So far I have most of my books packed, which was a surprising amount. As the weeks go on I'll continue to be packing up things up, getting ready for a big move.

In two weeks I got class down in Kentucky, which means for the first time in 25 years I'll have class on my birthday. Which I'm not excited about. But oh well, it's where I'm supposed to be so I can learn even more!

But over all things have been going well. God continually provides and helps, and I will continue to live my life based off of his promises.

Thank you for taking your time to read this, and as always, feel free to get a hold of me!

What lies behind and ahead

Greetings! Hope everyone is doing exceptional!

Well it's Monday again, meaning a couple updates! We've had our first mainly dry week in Pittsburgh in a like a month which is nice. I've seen people online attempting to start petitions to send all the rain we've been having to California since they've been having that drought.

This week is also Comic-Con in San Diego which makes me really sad that I can't be there. But one of these days I'll make it.

Well this past week has been quite busy, as is the week ahead.

This past week the church I've been going to (Squirrel Hill Christian Church) has been doing VBS. On average we had 21 kids a night, which was a lot bigger than what they anticipated, and we had a total of 27 throughout the week, only 13 of which being kids of members of the church meaning we had over half not from the church!

The theme of the week was "God of the Underdogs" and we looked at stories about Joseph, Esther, Daniel, David, and Hannah. I got to take part in a couple of the skits as an alligator named Gally (I tried to change it to Gary, they wouldn't let me).

That ended up taking up my time from 5-9 every night and it was a blast.

Throughout the day during the week I've been working on homework with my class finally in full swing. There's a ton of reading I have to do before I get to campus in August, so I've been getting to work on that. This class is Doctrine of Salvation, and we're looking closely at Ephesians and Colossians. From reading those two books and the texts the professor has sent I feel like this is going to be a class I'm going to enjoy a lot and learn a lot from.

Wednesday I took a trip out to Altoona, PA where I'll be working for the next couple of years! I met the director of CSFPA there, Buzz, and we met at the church that I'll be working closely with. We got some business stuff out of the way, and went ahead over to the campus, right across the street from the church, and met with some faculty/staff there. I also got some leads on apartments, which I'll be looking at hopefully in a couple weeks. So far I got connected with the student life people on campus, which are good to have, and I also got on some of our (CSF's) websites so now I can easily get in contact with the students.

Already I've been talking with our president and gave him the task of getting an event put together. I got paintball tickets left over from last year that never got used, so we're trying to get a group together to go. Hopefully we have a good turn out! Some other events that I want to do are a snowboarding/skiing trip to the resort only 45 minutes away. I'm also thinking about doing a weekly meal at my place for students to come and eat or even cook for whoever comes to help create a community and have a good time of fellowship together.

The more I prepare for this coming year the more excited I get. But I still have times of worry and mini freak out periods because of funding. I've been trying to get in contact with different people that I went to school with to try something with them, but I'm still waiting on a couple of calls. Plus I'm trying to get friends from church's that I've attended or worked at to help with support, but that's not always lucrative either. I know God will provide one way or another, and that always gives me peace.

Something that I'm trying though is to connect with youth ministries, specifically Jr. and Sr. High ministries, and have them take me on as their own personal mission. I do consider myself an missionary, and I want to connect with youth ministries so that they can learn about campus ministry, what it's about etc, and take responsibility for a mission. I wouldn't expect it to produce a lot of support, but I still think that it would be good for both ministries.

But that's been my week so far. This next week is going to be a busy one as well. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm heading on vacation to Oklahoma for a wedding my girlfriend is in. The following Sunday (26th) I'm preaching at my home church, and hopefully will have some time to get to talk with people about supporting my ministry as well. So please keep that in your prayers.

So if I don't update this blog next Monday, I'll still be on vacation that that would be why.

CSF Altoona now has a new Twitter account @CsfAltoona feel free to follow us!

Until next time!

Kicking off July

Well it's Monday again! Hope you had a good long weekend celebrating Independence Day (Not America's birthday). I got to go to Columbus and visit family which was a good time.

It's also the first Monday of the month meaning it's News Letter day. I planned on doing it last Monday, but I had a guest with me so I decided to do it this week.

The past week has been highly eventful, but not incredibly productive. If you remember I just came off of two weeks of camp and a wedding, so I was pretty beat. My girlfriend was in town in with and I haven't done anything touristy in the year that I've been here so we decided to see the sites of the 'Burgh. Monday we went to the zoo, Tuesday we hung around the house, Wednesday we went up an incline and walked around Mt. Washington. Afterwards we went to visit my aunt and helped her put up a gazebo. When we left we decided to make a pit stop on the way back to my house and went to the Point and watched the sunset. That was the first time I've been there in 13 years and it was amazing. Picture below. Thursday we went into Oakland and toured the Museum for a few hours. Luckily we got some awesome connections and got to go in for free. Friday we had a baseball game, first in the series of Indians v. the Pirates. It rained most of the time but it was a really fun experience! Then Saturday rolled around and we headed towards Columbus for the 4th.

Over the past week I began doing some work for this coming year and the ministry I'm going to be a part of at Altoona. I began to think of what I wanted to focus on and have come to the conclusion of talking about religion as a verb. Religion, when it comes down to it, is really no more than the practicing of one's faith. I wrote a blog post on it here to kind of get my thoughts out and also to share! I've also been working on the mission, vision, values, and goals for the ministry. Once I get those done I'll be working on them for the year's curriculum then the lesson planning process begins.

I also begin class this week, like a month after it starts. This class is Doctrine of Salvation which I am really excited for, except for all the reading I'm going to have to do.

This Wednesday (two days from now) I'm going out to Altoona for meetings and apartment hunting, so keep those in prayer for me. It'll be interesting, especially since money right now is getting tight. But as always, God will provide.

Just so there is transparency here between us, many of you that read this support me and my ministry both through prayer and financially. For that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This past year has been a major blessing for me and has showed me even more how God will constantly provide for me. Lately though I have been having random spells of panic when thinking about finances both in the present and future. I continue to pray and trust that God will provide, either by weird but awesome ways like giving me a free place to stay, or by bringing in financial support. God is always good and always trustworthy, and though it seems at times like we're in a dark place his promises still ring true and he will come through on them. In that we are to walk, in anticipation that he will come through for us. But please keep in your your prayers and that I remember that in the coming months where life may get a bit bumpy.

As always thank your for your support and be looking for a News Letter this week! If you regularly support me you'll receive one automatically, if you want one and don't support me just ask!

Two Weeks Gone!

Back again!

As stated in previous posts, the pasts two weeks I've been at camp which is a black hole for Verizon and connecting to the WiFi can be difficult. So I decided to just postpone my post for two weeks, and give you an extra long one today!

Let's review the past two weeks now.

June 14th I hopped in a white creeper van (Greg's van) and we made our way down to camp for Senior High week.That particular week I was the mission so every day I got to speak about campus ministry. Basically what I went through was first what campus ministry is and how it's a mission, why campus ministry was important, why the students, when getting in college, should get involved in a campus ministry, why they, their families, and churches should support campus ministry, and finally I talked about my walk, how God got me to where I was at, what campus ministry had done in my life, and how I came to be the man I am today. It seemed to be received well, and I hope some of those students will be reading this post. If so, HI GUYS!

The theme of the week was Covenant, I believe, and we focused on the Banquet as seen in Matthew 22 and we connected it to Revelation 19 with the Marriage. We had three teaching times, the first was worship and a sermon, then missions, then separated guys and girls lessons. Two of the guys lessons I taught, with the first being on Jesus as the Groom and what we, as men, can learn from that, with Jesus being the perfect husband. The second lesson I had was over the Banquet. I at first had some trouble figuring out what I wanted to say with that, but God eventually showed me, and I had a good lesson on salesmanship. We looked at the Banquet and I pointed out how we, as Christians, are the servants, going out and telling of the Banquet to those who don't know or aren't there. In the parable the servants are selling the feast, the party, as put on by the Master. The Master then is what the servants have to sell, that he's wealthy, able to provide, and has the best available. The servants have to know the Master and what he has to offer incredibly well. In the same way we as Christians need to sell God in the same way to those around us, and the only way we can do that is by knowing him extremely well, meaning we need to be in prayer and scripture often.

Throughout the week I was a family leader, and being a ministry major I was kind of the main leader for discussion times in our family. During which I had many opportunities to put my teaching skills to use, but also got to just lead a discussion between students seeing where they're at and their thoughts. There's not much more satisfying than students having a discussion with minimal prompts from you. I grew close to a couple students, forming a good bond with them, with some even opening up to me with concerns about life and all other sorts of things. Also, Tuesday I completely destroyed my throat, which was fun. We were at campfire, and I decided to join in on Romans 16.19 Says (the song) and well that wasn't smart. I could taste blood by the end. But God gave me the volume to be heard when I needed to throughout the week which was all I asked for.

As soon as I got home I got to do laundry, pack again, and head back to camp for a second week. This one was video game camp, along with 3 others. Luckily we didn't have many students because my staff was lacking and so were the number of systems and controllers. We played a lot of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, a good bit of Nintendo 64, and some GameCube the first part of the week with the younger kids. The second part of the week we added Xbox games, but mostly stuck with Nintendo because it was awesome.

The theme of that week was Trust, and I spoke every day, twice a day, which wasn't great for my throat, but god again provided! The first day we looked at how God has entrusted us with the building of his temple, ministry, and gifts. That was a bit hard to get across to 8-13 year olds. But we tried! The second day we looked at how God has called us to trust those he puts in our lives. I talked a bit about those who encouraged me and discouraged me to go into ministry, and I went with those who agreed with what God was telling me. The second part of the week we also talked about the idea of accountability, and both halves we looked at companionship. The final day is why we are to trust God, and I talked all about how throughout my life and ministry career I trusted God and he provided as he always does.

That week I had to leave early on Friday, the camp went until Saturday. Saturday one of my best friends Shawn got married down in West Virginia. It was a great wedding, though the town didn't have water until Saturday morning, which was a huge blessing because I had two weeks of camp stank on me. Saturday was also the annual big CSFPA board meeting where I was approved to be the campus minister in Altoona. So I got a job for the foreseeable future! I'm going to be starting in July, and be moving out there in August so please be in prayer for that transition that that I'll be able to get funds raised to effectively minister to that campus. If you're interested in supporting the ministry, feel free to contact me and I can provide any information you need! You can also just contact me if you just want to talk, share prayer concerns, or whatever else.

I think that's all I got for now, and this has been going on for a while, so yeah. My girlfriend is here this week and we're having a good time with having gone to the zoo today and later we're going to be doing a lot more awesome stuff in the 'Burgh before I leave.

Thank you for all your support and prayers! Looking forward to seeing/talking to some of you soon!

Your minister in the field,

Mike

One Last Free Week

So this is probably going to be the last update for June, and this is why.

The next two weeks I have camp! But before we get to that, I want to talk about the previous week to let you know what's been going on.

Overall the past week has just been planning for stuff. I'm awaiting my syllabus to arrive so that I can begin work for class. I also have two weeks of camp coming up, one of which I'm the mission so I have an hour every day that I have to have something for, and the week after that I'm deaning a week of video game camp. Both of these require a good amount of work, which I'm attempting to prep for. So this past week and this coming week have been/will be devoted to that.

Other than that not much has gone on this week. I've been trying to send out newletters via email, but the email I was using isn't working for some reason so it's back to ol' reliable Gmail!

This week has had a good number of church activities though. Tuesday was Bible study were the conversation stuck with, "People get mad at me for sharing the gospel with them and I don't know how to fight back." It seemed at times as if we were making progress with the person that was having trouble with that, but time will tell. Friday we had a free community dinner for Greenfield, where the church is located. We had a good turnout for our first, about 30 people. We had noodles with some different sauces, both red and white, and some chicken to go with it. For our first one it went well! Sunday (yesterday) the city of Pittsburgh started its summer movie nights, where they show a movie in parks for free. Last night was the Sandlot, one of my top five favorite movies, and we had a good sized group there, even having one of our students that's in town this summer come out to join us.

This week is looking busy with getting ready for camps, planning, writing, packing, finishing laundry, and all that. I would appreciate your prayers for the coming weeks as I'm going to be pretty stressed and busy.

This coming Thursday I have my interview for Altoona, which I'm excited for. I'm sure it'll go well but prayers would still be appreciated.

For Altoona, I've been having some idea's rolling around in my head about themes for the year, possible events, and whatever else campus ministry would entail. I'm thinking for the year of just looking at who Jesus is, and building that foundation that can be built upon. I know that the students know who Jesus is, but I love what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.2, "I know nothing but Christ and him crucified." Wherever I go, whenever I preach, whenever I teach, I know nothing but the Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead. That is what my hope is in, that is the reason I'm here today and do what God has called me to do. Without the foundation of who Jesus is and what it means that he is the Christ, we will never truly understand our hope.

But that's just thoughts rolling around in my head right now. I do have to get through these next three weeks first before I really start tackling that.

But overall that's all that's really going on. I know that's not a lot, but I'm still working out a lot with God as to future plans for the ministry I'm going to be a part of. I also have a packed summer that I have to continually get prepared for.

As always, thank you for your support and prayers, and I'll attempt to update in the coming weeks, but if not be looking for an update June 29th at the latest!

And Here's June!

Well one final week of being busy and May has come to a close.

Last week I wrote on Sunday and detailed some plans as to how I'm going to be keeping everyone up to date with the ministry that you're supporting. I was going to put out a newsletter last week, but I thought is to write them the first Monday of the month and send them out that week. Well today is that first Monday, so I plan on getting it written today!

As for this past week, I've been doing a good number of things! Not all ministry related, but a couple have been. Monday was Memorial Day, and marked 11 1/2 months in Pittsburgh and I noticed I haven't done anything Pittsburgh-y since I've been here. So I went and explored the town a bit. And by explored the town I mean Greg took me up Mt. Washington on the incline and we had lunch up there. Then after that we went back down the incline, tried to find a place to park to go see the point, which didn't work, so we went to the Carnegie Museum and wandered around a bit. Greg's wife works there and gets us in for free which is awesome. I feel like I could spend an entire day there and still feel like I haven't seen everything. We'll see if that's true in July!

Tuesday we ended up going to a Pirates game with some students and their friends/family/significant others. 8 of us in total went, sitting in the Left Field bleachers right behind Marte. The girls that went with us kept trying to get him to toss a ball to them but they didn't want to get too loud. It was a really fun time with the students, hanging out, watching the game, yelling at Yelich. I'm hoping that the students will be up for another game in the near future since it went off so well. 

Throughout the week I've been doing stuff around the house, nothing too exciting. Prep for video game camp has begun. I've been thinking about how I'm going to be having things set up, trying to figure out what games to play, how to incorporate them into lessons and Christianity, and trying to find systems and controllers. We'll see how all that works out, hopefully well. 

As for this week, my summer semester "officially" starts. I put that in quotes because I haven't received a syllabus yet, but I also don't have by book yet either, so that's cool. This week will hopefully be full of productivity for camp, ministry, and fundraising. But I'll let you know how that goes next week!

Until then, thank you for your support, and be expecting letters from me soon!

Your minister in the field, 

Mike

And so summer begins

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I hope that it's sun filled with lot's of fun, cook outs, and great time with family.

I apologize for the delay in postings, I've been busy with quite a few things.

The last full week in April was when Pitt finished up for the school year, almost a month ago. During that week I got to meet with a couple students, have coffee and donuts which are always great and just talk. That week we had our final CSF where we had a Super Smash Bros. Brawl party. Greg brought his Wii, I brought my game and come controllers, and we had a really good time. We had food, drinks, gifts for the graduating seniors and I passed out some random toys to all the students just to have something to give them. I actually got a shirt as well that everyone signed for me. So it took almost a year, but I finally got a Pitt shirt!

The weeks following that I got busy with my school work. I spent about 2 weeks working on a paper for my ethics class with a really interesting topic, Ethical foundations across cultures in human nature. Unfortunately I didn't get to do as much research as I would have liked, but it was still a good paper.

The first weekend in May I went on a tri-state trip, going from Pittsburgh to Columbus to help my brother move. Then from Columbus down to Kentucky/West Virginia so I could do some work on my paper, visit a church that is currently supporting me, and also visit friends and Rachael (girlfriend). While I was in Columbus/Grove City I got to meet with the minister of my home church, Stan, and we got to have breakfast together and some really good conversation. We set a date of July 26th where I'll get to preach at Buckeye and I'm hoping to have a meeting afterwards with some of the congregation to talk about support for my ministry.

Speaking of ministry, next month I have an interview with CSFPA to take over a campus ministry in Altoona, PA. The school that is there is a Penn State branch, so a 2 year school with some 4 year degrees. I know for me this will be challenging but I'm excited to have a campus of my own to work with. During the past couple weeks I drove out to Altoona to meet the students, see how they do things, meet with our Director Buzz, the current campus minister there, and the church that the ministry will be partnered with. Given my summer plans are going to be a bit hectic, I'm not entirely sure when I'll be moving out there, but by August for sure.

This past weekend (May 14th-17th) the camp that we're associated with had their college retreat which Greg leads every year. I ended up going down as well as the main speaker. The focus of the week was From Enemies to Heirs. I started off by looking at Psalm 15, and how it is friends that come up the hill and into God's house. But looking through Romans 1-7 we see that we are not friends of God, but instead enemies. Then we looked at what it's like being children of God, how there's excitement for his return and our union, and we find in him a place of refuge and safety. We looked at how God is the ultimate Father, and how we're adopted into his family yet loved as if we were his own. And being children of God makes us heirs with Christ (Rom. 8) and we talked about what that means, which led to some great discussion. From there we turned to Galatians 5 and how as Children of God we are to live according to the Spirit, not the flesh. We read and discussed what it means to live according to the flesh and what the Fruit of the Spirit really means.

Some of the activities we did that weekend were a bit of a service project where the students helped fix up the pool (I had to make a Walmart run then so I missed out). We got to play paintball on Friday, and I still have a couple bruises. On Saturday we were hoping to shoot guns, but then rain kept coming and going, but eventually it cleared up and we got to have some fun with guns. And no one got hurt! That night we had some free time so we ended up playing minute to win it games and afterwards played some old school super smash bros. on the Nintendo 64. Reigning champ! Went undefeated! Then finally Sunday we had breakfast then gathered around the table for a time of communion. From there we all parted ways to head home. That weekend we had about 9 students from different churches and schools all come. Some came for just a night, others the whole weekend, and some just for a few hours. Either way we had a good turn out and I think a difference was made in the students.

Then come this weekend I get to clean the house and relax mostly. Tomorrow I get to go out on the town and see the sights, for the first time since being here. Tuesday 8 of us are going to a pirates game because, why not?

As for other things that are going on, this week I'll be working on a news letter to send out, so be on the look out for it late this week or early next. Also be expecting calls about continuing support!
To give you a heads up, with me having my own ministry and with your support you will receive a monthly news letter, written every last Monday (except holidays). Every Monday will be a weekly blog talking about the previous week on this blog. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday will be a devotional blog on my other blog, themandrews.blogspot.com, for encouragement and to help you in your walk with God. And throughout the year there will be phone calls to catch up, discuss prayer needs and whatever else we want to talk about! And (hopefully) there will be a yearly visit. This one is still in the works.

If you're still reading this far, Thanks! I hope you have a great weekend and shortened work week. If you would like a news letter and aren't currently supporting me, please send me an email (mandrews909@gmail.com) with your email address and/or home address with which you would prefer. As always, for those supporting me, thank your for your continual support both spiritually and financially. I pray that God blesses you for your help and I look forward to getting in contact with everyone!

Wrapping up...

It's been a little over a month since I last posted, and for that I apologize.

This past month has been pretty busy for me. We had spring break, then I had class in Kentucky, then trying to get back into the groove here at Pitt, plus get a research paper done, and now this is the last week of classes at Pitt. I know, they end super early.

Last week I preached at Turtle Creek, the church that's letting me use their parsonage. With it being the week after Easter, and it's still a part of the 40 days Jesus was alive I decided to use some work from a class I had called Resurrection Narratives and preached on the majority of John 20. What was interesting was I called the elder at the church, asking what the preacher spoke on the week before as to not cover the same thing, and he told me that he used John 20.1-18. I intended to preach on John 20.19-29. That definitely was a God thing. But during that time I noticed that there were some running themes in the texts I was using. There was the Emotion, fear from the apostles and anger from Thomas. Then there was an Encounter between Jesus and the apostles, and later between Jesus and Thomas. Finally there was the Effect of the Encounter. The Effect was always the same; go and tell people about Jesus being risen from the dead.

Three days before that I led CSF, the last one with a Bible study. We looked at Ephesians 4.11-16 which are the verses we were hoping to focus on during spring break, but that didn't happen. So I went through the passage and pulled out different points from each verse. I'll just list them really quick.

11-What God gave

12- Why

13- For the purpose of

14- So that we will not be

15- But we should be

16- Relation to the Church

I made a chart for the students, then showed them how that chart can be applied to different passages, particularly those about the Resurrection. For the example I went through Luke 24 and the Acts to show how these six points fit into the story. Then I paired them up to go through John 20 and do the same thing. The first team done won a Starbucks gift card with the purpose of them going together and getting to know each other. It was a really good and fun exercise. 

A few weeks before that (sorry I'm jumping all over the place) we went to Greg's house for a Seder meal, abridged. Heavily. Like 10 minutes. But it was a good time of fellowship with the students, having them out our way for food and fun. 

The week before that our director came out from State College for evaluations. I guess I did pretty well on mine because I actually got offered a campus with our organization. We're losing two campus ministers this year, one at our Lockhaven campus north of State College and another at our Altoona campus about two hours east of here. I was offered both, but the more pressing campus is the one at Altoona. So now I'm stuck between attempting to plant a campus ministry at Marshall in Huntington, WV or going into Altoona and fixing a ministry. This is a tough decision for me and is one I've been praying through for weeks now. I'd appreciate your prayers on helping me make this decision as well. 

Last Tuesday I actually went to Altoona for the day to meet with the leadership there and see the campus. I was unsure if I was going to be able to make it because the weekend before I girlfriend came up and had some car troubles, so I had to help with that which took a big bite out of my funds. But God blessed that trip. The day before I left I got a care package from my home church, Buckeye Christian, and in it was a $25 gas card! Then on my way there I got superb mileage, not even having to fill up there or back. I could tell all about the visit to the campus, but that'll take a while so I'll just say this: It was a good visit and there is a lot of potential with that ministry. 

Last week there was a carnival at CMU which opened Thursday with food, rides, games, and displays made by different organizations with the school that we went to as a group. We had a pretty good turnout for it. 

This past weekend we were supposed to go paintballing, but that fell through. And this week is finals so we're spending time on campus just to be there for the students. 

Thursday is our last meeting, not entirely sure what the plan is, but my internship is coming to a close now. It's been a fast paced school year that I greatly enjoyed. I'll keep updating this blog as I continue on my journey.

And here's where my beard has gotten thus far!

And I can even chew on it!

This thing has a mind of it's own. I even found food in it a couple nights ago! My uncle Butch would be proud!

#SpringBreak2015 #CSFPGHmeetsCSFKNX #nomakeup #hashtag

So this week I'm in Kentucky for class. 

Last week I was in Tennessee for our Spring Break mission trip.

I need a vacation.

At the bottom of this particular blog I have a few pictures chronicling our trip. We left Saturday at 2:Freaking Early AM and got to Knoxville, TN about 4ish. It was a heck of a long drive there, but luckily I got to ride shotgun the entire way. It's because I'm such a good copilot because my dad taught me well.

During the week we focused on Ephesians 4.11-16, though time and distance between the guys and girls housing made it a bit hard for us to get together for a Bible study/devo every day. But the goal was to teach the students about being equipped and equipping others for ministry.

While there we did a lot of work, met a lot of cool people, and had some great times. Here's a quick bit about what we did.

Saturday: Drove down, stopped in Ashland, KY for lunch and gas. Met up with my girlfriend Rachael who was in Grayson, all of 20 minutes away. Got down to Knoxville, TN and the CSF at the University of Tennessee. We hung out a bit, met the campus minister there, Glenn, and had dinner. They have a campus house, a house owned by the ministry right there on campus by apartments and some frats.

Sunday: Church in the morning at the campus house. We had lunch afterwards, but for the life of me I can't remember where. Maybe I'm getting old. Or need some time off. Anyways, after that we went to a garden type place, or national park, called Ijam's (Iyam's is how it's pronounced). There we went for a hike, about a mile or so. On the walk we  got to walk along a river, or lake, or something, and got to see a geological fold. It was mind blowing! Then that night starting about 8, since the weather was about a million degrees warmer than it has been in Pittsburgh, we (both CSFs) cooked and handed out pancakes to anyone who wanted to come by. We ended up serving about 40 students and had some really good conversations with them, it was a great way to do some out reach!

Monday: Monday we went down to Newport, KY to help out a new ministry that's popping up there. It there to help the community, full of poverty and drug abuse, and trying to equip the community to break free of their sin with different classes and giving the youth a place to go and stay out of trouble. They acquired an old hardware store and our task was to help with some demo. With two hammers, a crowbar, and some pry bars three of us and two of our girls took out an entire room, including the walls. We also got to load up a big dump truck twice and trashed lumber. We got to the point where we were throwing a lot of the trash out of the windows from the top floor. There may have been a couple vehicles that got hit...

That night the CSF we were with had their weekly meeting. We had a time of worship and after that looked at 2 John and talked a bit about it. Afterwards we had time to hang out with a lot of the students, and I got to throw down on some Super Smash Bros. Ike's my bro. (Get it? Mike n' Ike?) But it was great getting to hang out, talk, and bond with students from our own group and a group in a completely different state. It's amazing to me how God brings us together and makes it so easy to have a relationship with these people.

Tuesday: We worked at the same place as Monday, though that day we tore down the ceiling tiles. I only took down a few, but I was running errands with another volunteer that day so apparently I'm a girl scout now and don't work, as I was constantly reminded. But I worked hard all day too!

That night we went to an alum's house from Pitt for dinner. We hung out there with her family (husband, son, daughter, father and mother). What was cool was in talking with the father I found out he lived in Grove City at one time (that's GC Ohio, not PA). So we got to talk a bit about the town we both lived in, though at different times. After that we made our way back to Knoxville to finally sleep.

Here's the link for the group that we worked with Monday and Tuesday. http://empowercockecounty.com/

Wednesday: Wednesday we went to a town right around Knoxville. To best describe this place it's more hood. Gang activity, drug abuse, cycles and cycles of sin as one of the workers described to us. The point of this program is to work with children of this town or neighborhood. It was a Christian program and their main focus was helping the poverty of those around them. We were taught there were four areas of poverty: Physical, Academic, Emotional, and Spiritual. Many churches work on the physical and academic poverty of people, which is needed, but many don't work for enriching those in their community with programs for the emotional and spiritual poverty, so this was their main focus. That afternoon we had students come, and we got to work with them. The program was very rigid, and the teachers were very strict and held to the rules, which I think the students needed in their lives. During this time they started with worship, went over the rules, worked on homework, spent time reading together, and eventually did a Bible study. It was great seeing this program focus on the spiritual poverty of the kids, making that their highest priority. 

That night we went out to eat for $5 burgers at a really popular restaurant in town. The reason I mention this little fact is this: I hate Wednesdays. I'm sure you all know the Geico Hump Day/Camel commercial. Well I woke up Wednesday morning with texts from our four girls with my name and camel emojis. Well while we're waiting outside of the restaurant I feel my phone going off. "Eh, just must be a text" I think. Then it keeps vibrating. "Is someone calling me?" I pull out my phone and check it. Not getting a call. I'm getting 40 TEXT MESSAGES THAT ALL SAY "MIKE! GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS!" Needless to say, I am not a fan of Wednesday's now. But from there I felt that the students are finally seeing me as a Mike, not the intern.

Here's the link for the group with worked with Wednesday. http://thrivelonsdale.com/#about

Thursday: Thursday we got a bit touristy. That day we went to Gatlinburg, TN and also took a hike on a trail in the National Park. Other than that there wasn't much that went on during the day.

That night we cooked for the TN group. They do a dinner together and then separate Bible studies for men and women. I tried to help with the cooking, but I'm not too good in the kitchen, but we had perogies and Pittsburgh salad (a salad with fries on it n'at). Then during the men's Bible study Greg led it and I helped out a bit. But we went over the main text we were using for the week (Eph. 4.11-16) and had some good conversation about the text, calling for maturity of Christians, the purpose of those who claim to be in Christ, and more. I'm hoping to use this text for a lesson for our weekly Bible study this semester. We'll see though.

Friday: Friday was the day we left. Again not much went on other than driving back. On the way back to Pittsburgh we stopped in West Virginia and everyone tried Tudor's Biscuit World for the first time. While there we prayed for our meal, and there was a group of older ladies there. When they left they gave a note for us with a $50 bill in it (see picture below). After we finished eating we took a big group picture even with the people that worked there and then continued on our journey home.

Now: Well after Friday I crashed at my aunt's for the night. Saturday I woke up early, we had breakfast and a good time just talking then I made my way back to Columbus. Once there I hung out, got ready for class, and did a ton of laundry! Finally Sunday I made my way down to the Blue Grass State for class. This week we're talking ethics and I'm looking forward to later in the week so I can lovingly humble some people in ethical discussions. 

During my time in Kentucky I've been doing some work with some possibilities of future ministry. As I've written before I may be moving to Huntington to do campus ministry at Marshall. Well There happens to be a ministry that's wanting to expand there, and I had a conversation with them and we are planning to take it to the next step. It's a baby step, but it's a step towards that. But either way, if Marshall works out or if I stay in Pennsylvania I plan on sticking with campus ministry. I feel this is what God is calling me to do for a career, and I'm incredibly excited about that. Be looking for letters from me soon, if you would like a news letter let me know. If you would prefer it through snail mail I'll probably need your address, and email (which would be easier on my part) I'll need you email.

As always feel free to contact me any way at any time about anything!

Stopped in Ashland, KY for lunch. 
All the girls were begging for Waffle House.
Even got to see Rachael! She took the picture for us 

The day we got there we walked around campus, trying to uncramp our legs from being in the van for 8+ hours. Ended up finding this, what they call "The Hill."
All our students agreed, "That's no hill."

Sunday night we did free pancakes for campus!
This is Greg, he's special. 
This is a marshmallow filled pancake with whipped cream, a peep, and sprinkles.

Spent Sunday afternoon at Ijam's (Iam's).
A garden type place with some trails to walk. 
We gotta walk along some river and found caves.

Got down Right Indiana Jones!

Thursday we went to go be tourists!
Went to the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg.
Further down we took a hike and scaled a waterfall.

This is the beginning of our path to the waterfall.

Here we are at the top of it 
(or as high as we could get on it).
It was a heck of a climb. 
JEANS WERE A BAD CHOICE!

After we got down off the mountain.
Felt like a champ!

The note and bill that we got!

On our way back home!
Stopped in WV to treat these kids to some good ol' Tudor's!
(Only in WV except for one store in Grayson, KY)