Love is in the Air!

Two weeks after Valentine’s Day, I figured it would be fitting to give all of those who are keeping up with the Campus Outreach ministry the inside scoop on some awesome godly relationships. The first few are some recent weddings and an engagement, and the rest are dating relationships that have sprung up within the last year! Amazingly enough, a few of these relationships are between fellow Campus Outreach staff people! Please take a moment to pray for these great men and women, that their relationships would be full of grace, and that they would be able to model Christ-like love to one another.

The Newly Weds:

A) Cole and Ashley (formerly Marivittori) Gorman. Ashley was on staff with Campus Outreach Raleigh for 6 years, and is author of a new book called Book of Matches. Cole is the owner of a photography company called Blest Photography. They were married on September 2nd, 2012.

B) Zach and Rita (formerly Singh) Griep. Zach is the area director overseeing Campbell and NC State. Rita Singh was a student at Campbell years ago. They were married on October 13th, 2012.

C) Will and Lauren (formerly Christian) Ellis. Don’t get confused. Lauren is still a Christian, but her last name is no longer Christian. Will and Lauren both were heavily invested in Campus Outreach during college, graduated from UNC in May 2012, and were married last month, on January 12.

The Engaged Couple:

Nate Strickler, and soon to be Kate Strickler. Nate is on staff at Duke, and Kate is on staff at UNC. They are moving to Durham after they get married on April  6th:

The New Couples:

A) Megan Metz and David Roberts. Megan is on staff at NC State, and David works at Citadel Contractors in Raleigh. He was involved in discipleship with Campus Outreach during college.

B) Seth Hanner and Cali Mudd. Seth is on staff at Campbell, and Cali is on staff at East Carolina:

  

The “Going Strong” Daters:

A) Molly Fowler and Wes Smith. Molly is on staff at Campbell, and Wes is on staff with Summit College.

B) Lisa Andrukonis and Alan “Babes” Bender. Lisa is on staff at NC State, and Alan is a chemical engineer for Performance Fibers. Like David, Alan was also involved in discipleship with Campus Outreach during college.

 

C) Margaret May and Donovan Beadle. Margaret is on staff at Duke, and Donovan is on staff with Summit College, while also leading worship at the Summit Church.

Blog Post By: Grant Miller

Valentine's Love

We just got back from our second of back-to back-retreats in Williamsburg, Va. This weeks retreat included students from Campbell, NC State, Meredith, and Duke University. The weekend theme was “love” as it was held the weekend after Valentine’s Day. Zach Griep, area director of Campus Outreach, spoke to nearly 200 students on the nature of love.  He asked: What is love? What does it mean to love God? How does Jesus show us the real definition of commitment and love?

On Saturday we hosted a dodge ball tournament in the morning before returning to the hotel for lunch and then another speech on Saturday night. Students were both challenged and encouraged by God’s Word as they were pushed to question whether they had ever received God’s love and exhorted to live a life of love on campus.

The picture below is the men from Duke. This year we had 19 guys attend from Duke’s campus and 9 girls! We are so grateful to get to witness God continue to change students’ lives and reach the lost on Duke and all other campus represented in the Raleigh region.

Blog Post By: Nate Strickler

Double Dose

The employees of the Holiday Inn Patriot in Williamsburg, Virginia are going to need some serious R & R after this Sunday, because CO Raleigh is about to invade their hotel for the second straight weekend! Last weekend, students from UNC-CH and ECU all headed north to Historic Williamsburg for “Winter Road Trip,” which is just our fancy name for Campus Outreach Raleigh’s annual winter retreat. This weekend, students from NC State, Meredith, Campbell and Duke will be doing it all over again at the same hotel!

While this year’s Winter Road Trip is very similar to the ones we have had in the past, the split into two retreats is a very big deal! Our ministry has gotten to the point where we have too many people coming on our retreats and it’s extremely difficult to find a venue that is both sizable and realistically affordable. That’s a great problem to have, isn’t it?

Even though growing numerically as a ministry is generally a good thing, that’s not the main reason we’re so excited about having two smaller retreats. The main reason we welcome this change is because we know that on a smaller retreat, more students (and even staff, too) have to step up, take ownership and lead! One thing CO Raleigh highly values is developing young men and women into leaders who can have an impact on their campus and in the world, so our hope is that retreats like this one would provide them with more and more opportunities to do so!

Blog Post By: Zach Oyler

Sharing your life: Do your to-do’s with others

When I sit down each week to make my schedule, I have one question in mind, “How can I use my time most efficiently to seek God and make disciples while also completing the everyday tasks and obligations for which I’m responsible?”  I want to make sure I’m being faithful to Christ’s charge to make disciples and teach them to learn and obey the Bible’s commands, but how will I make time to do that?

            Something God has been teaching me through the counsel of older Campus Outreach staff members is that any mundane task can turn into a discipleship opportunity if you invite someone along with you.  For example, if I know I have to address envelopes and send out thank-you cards, I can take my envelopes to the library and ask a student to join me.  While she studies and I write, I have the opportunity to ask her what is going on in her life and perhaps share an encouraging Bible verse and pray with her.  This allows me to maximize my time around disciples while not procrastinating on completing my ever-growing to-do list.

            Jesus was the master of using normal, daily activities as discipleship opportunities.  Mark 3:14 says, “And he appointed twelve... so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.”  Briefly scanning the book of Mark, here are some things Jesus did with his disciples: sailed, slept, went to his hometown, went to the synagogue, withdrew from crowds and rested, went to dinner parties, traveled, had deep discussions while walking, climbed mountains, sat, people-watched, celebrated religious holidays, did errands, prepared dinner, sang, and asked them to pray with him when he was distressed.  In fact, the only times Jesus wasn’t with them was when he went off to pray privately, when he sent them on short training mission trips, and when they abandoned him during his trial and crucifixion.  Even after he died and resurrected, he came back and spent time with them for 40 days before ascending into heaven.

            Obviously it is impractical for someone to spend three years doing everything with disciples, but we can all take a cue from Jesus and grow in our desire to share our lives with others, and to help them grow in knowing and obeying God.  Let’s complete our to-do’s with others for God’s glory!

Blog Post By: Lindsey Garrison

Thursday Thanks

Every Thursday, some of our staff, students, and myself will publish a post on our personal blogs called “Thursday Thanks.” In these posts, we recount all of evidence of God’s grace in our lives from that past week, and all of the things that we are thankful for.  I started doing this at the beginning of the semester, and I came to find that it created within me a greater appreciation for God.  It helped keep me in awe of Him and his goodness.  

All throughout the Bible we are called to remember all that God is and all that He has done.  In the Old Testament we see this command.  In Exodus, Moses tells the people he is leading out of Egypt to, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” In many of the Psalms we see this same theme.   “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity… (Psalm 103:2-3)” In Luke, Christ tells us to eat and drink in remembrance of Him.

Our remembrance of God and his grace is a form of worship.  That being said, I want to celebrate and remember all of the grace that God has poured out on our ministry, staff and students so far this semester.  This is by no means an extensive list, but so far this semester I’ve seen evidences of God’s grace in…

30, potentially more, students making a profession of faith in Christ so far this semester! 

Being able to be a part of a church that preaches the gospel week in and week out 

Girl’s powderpuff football – over 500 girls playing 

Many of the girls who played Powderpuff getting plugged into Bible studies as a result

Our staff at ECU meeting students and building relationships with them during their first semester on campus

One of our staff member’s families being safe in New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy 

Momentum picking up in the women’s movement at N.C. State

Girls from Meredith College becoming involved with our ministry for the first time 

Getting to watch our ministry become more ethnically diverse– the way the church was designed to be

Tears of joy watching students get baptized

Watching one student get baptized with his whole family

Campbell finding a place to hold their weekly meetings

So many students at Campbell’s first weekly meeting, that they ran out of seats

All of those students being able to hear the gospel

Finding a way to get Duke students to join Bible Studies after a year of labor

Seniors involved in our ministry already committing to give two years of their lives after college to live on mission overseas and here in the states

Watching Zach Griep, one of our staff guys, get married

Watching two future overseas staff members get engaged

Our staff team having the privilege of being trained by Matt Chandler, David Platt and some of the most well-respected pastors in the country

Watching our student leaders fight to make Jesus their treasure

Not having enough space in this blog to describe all of the grace God has given us as a ministry so far this semester.

Blog Post By: Perry Landers