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!