SUMMER 2018
ON CAMPUS TRANSFORMING COLLEGE STUDENTS TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD
THE LARGEST MISSIONS OPPORTUNITY IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA
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THE LARGEST MISSION
OPPORTUNITY
IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA ABOUT THE CCO We believe that every student needs to hear the Gospel, be connected to a local church, and gain a vision for serving Jesus Christ in the world. Our vision is to see a generation of college students transformed by the power of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, in partnership with the local church, reaching the world for the glory of God. For more about us, please visit ccojubilee.org Or find us on social media: /ccoministry
@ccoministry
ccojubilee
On Campus is published triannually by the CCO (Coaltion for Christian Outreach). Photography: Andrew Rush Pictured on the cover: Students at Jubilee 2018 All quotations in the sidebars are from The Great Opportunity: The American Church in 2050, unless otherwise noted.
Did you know that we in the United States are currently experiencing the fastest decline in religious affiliation in the history of this country? By the year 2050, an estimated 35 million young people who were raised going to church will no longer associate themselves with the Christian faith. According to a study I recently read, “The majority of the disaffiliated did not go through a crisis of faith or intellectually reject church teachings. They left because they just weren’t interested in the Christian life they saw.” * And that’s just the students who have any experience of the Christian faith to serve as a reference point. What about the increasing number of students who were not raised in Christian families? What about those who have no frame of reference for what it means to live a “Christian life”? Our dream is that every student will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the life-giving, character-shaping, world-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
35 MILLION young people who were raised in Christian households WILL WALK AWAY from a life with Jesus by 2050. —The Great Opportunity: The American Church in 2050
This is why we are committed to having a presence on college and university campuses around the country. It is why we invite students to our annual Jubilee conference. It is why we deliberately partner with likeminded churches to reach new generations of college students. These students are the people who will lead us into the future—in their families, in their communities, in the marketplace, and in the Church. Vincent J. Burens President & CEO CCO
*The Great Opportunity: The American Church in 2050
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This is the largest EVANGELIZATION
JUBILEE 2018
OPPORTUNITY in the history of our country. WE HAVE LESS THAN
35 years AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING Truly there is no conference I’ve experienced that bears more thoughtfulness, more complexity, more worship, more play, more conversations. There is a kind of anointing and presence of the Spirit of God that is more than just a conference. —Dan Allender, prominent author, therapist, professor, and Jubilee 2018 speaker
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HOUSANDS OF college students traveled from near and far to Pittsburgh on the last weekend of February for Jubilee 2018, and it’s clear that God is doing a new thing in many of their lives. They heard the powerful Gospel message of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration from gifted speakers like Andy Crouch, Trip Lee, Jackie HillPerry, Dan Allender, Danielle Strickland, and John Mark Comer. They attended workshops to explore what it could look like to serve Jesus Christ in
their fields of study—from education to politics, from medicine to journalism, from art to business. We have heard from students who now have a clearer picture of what it means to follow Jesus with their entire lives. We witnessed students worshiping together, praying together, and asking meaningful questions. A student from Florida heard about Jubilee a week before the conference and purchased his own plane ticket in order to join the CCO group from Indian River State College. A young woman from Clemson
University decided at 11:30 p.m. Thursday night to get on the bus to Pittsburgh at 6 a.m. the following morning. And a graduate student from Purdue University in Indiana accepted her staff person’s challenge to invite her non-Christian friend to Jubilee—and the friend said “yes!” All of these students and many more heard the Gospel and were invited into a deeper walk with Jesus—and many committed their lives to Him for the first time!
Jubilee casts a vision for college students to follow Jesus Christ with their entire lives. As the following pages will show, we are confident that a new generation of college students is being transformed for the sake of the Gospel.
Thank you to our generous sponsors who made Jubilee 2018 possible! Senior Compassion International Hope Through Healing Hands Memphis Teacher Residency Junior Creation Festival Lamar Advertising Team World Vision Freshman Methodist Theological School in Ohio Sojourners Trinity School for Ministry
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A few of the Jubilee 2018 speakers Dan Allender Writer, Professor, Therapist
“Jubilee helped me connect the dots between believing in Jesus and actually following Jesus.�
Andy Crouch Writer & Speaker
Jackie Hill-Perry Writer, Speaker, Artist
If the church is to flourish over the next 50 years
Trip Lee Writer, Teacher, Hip-Hop Artist
John Mark Comer Pastor, Bridgetown Church
and beyond, engaging the lost and discipling future generations, we must love Christ with our minds with the same
Haejin A. Shim Attorney, Shim & Associates
Darrin Grove Founder & CEO of TrueFit
fervor as we would with our hearts and souls.
Theresa Miller Vice President for Global Communications at Prudential Financial Inc. Phil Van Sickel Senior Consultant, CGI
Bethany Jenkins Vice President of Forums and Content at The Veritas Forum
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NEXT GENERATION LEADERS
KAYLA SMITH:
STANDING UP 5%
FEWER THAN
G
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ROWING UP, I remember my parents always telling me that God can use your stuttering but he cannot use your silence. That phrase held especially true for me when I began college. It was my second day of class in my first semester. I didn’t know what to expect and could barely even find my classroom. I sat down and tried to still the nervous shake of my hands. So it didn’t help my nerves when my professor opened up the class up with the question, “What is the meaning of life?” I knew right then and there that I would have to say something. The room was dead silent. I raised my shaking hand timidly. The professor looked my way and when I spoke, and my voice sounded stronger than I felt. “I believe that we were created to know God,” I answered. A few people looked my way. I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks, but I held my chin up. The room stayed silent. Finally the professor spoke. But rather than acknowledging my point, he used my answer to launch his next agenda, talking about metaphysical questions, questions that cannot be answered, and how we cannot
know if there is a god, let alone what that being would look like. A few people spoke, saying things like they believed god was whatever they wanted him or her to be, that no one knows the answer, and therefore you can make any assumption you want. I felt another tug in my gut and knew that I had to speak up again. “Well, actually we do know who God is because He tells us in the Bible,” I began. “Jesus is God…”
The professor cut me off.“Jesus isn’t God,” he stated matter-of-factly. The professor cut me off. “Jesus isn’t God,” he stated matter-of-factly. “With all due respect, sir,” I stuttered, “I believe what the Bible says and in the Bible, Jesus says He is God.” He stared at me with narrowed eyes. “I would like you to write up where he says he is God and give it to me next week,” he said. I vigorously nodded my head. “Of course,” I replied. After another tense silence, the professor launched into his lecture, giving me a chance to
catch my breath. I could still feel some of my classmates’ eyes lingering on me, but I didn’t care. The joy that filled me was worth every stare. At the start of the next class, I handed my professor a paper with a few verses I had typed up, showing where Jesus specifically says He is God. I told him if he ever wanted to know more about it, I would love to share.
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UNNY ENOUGH, this built a sense of respect and even friendship between us. In the weeks to come, he would call on me to answer questions much more frequently than other students. He would ask my opinion on topics we discussed, always wanting to know what I thought. My answers seemed to fascinate him, like he had never thought of the possibility that there could be something more to life than what he was living for. But through it all, he never mentioned the paper again. I thought he must have forgotten about it—until the last day of the semester. He dismissed the class for the final time, but as I turned to go, he called me over to his desk. Curious, I approached.
“Kayla, just so you know, I kept the paper you gave me, and I still read it and try to make sense of it,” he told me. Stunned but happy, I smiled. “I’m so glad you liked it!” I replied. “If you ever want to know more, I’m actually taking another of your classes next semester. I’d be thrilled to answer any of your questions.” He smiled back. “Thank you.” I think back often to that encounter and think that if I had never spoken up, my professor, and maybe even my entire class, would have never heard about Jesus or that there is more to life than what they were living for, that they were created for a purpose. As challenging and as hard as it was, I am so thankful for the experience and the lasting friendship I am able to have with my professor. I still pray for him, that the Lord would open his eyes, that he would accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
OF PROFESSORS at the 40 most highly ranked universities in the United States
ARE CHRISTIANS.
Kayla Smith, a freshman at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, is a student leader with the campus fellowship group led by CCO staff member Dan Terracciano.
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NEXT GENERATION LEADERS
ZACHARY LEE: I hope to write gripping pieces about the problems and tribulations facing the world. At the same time, I want to powerfully describe the redemptive and restorative work of the Gospel and its ability to speak to such issues and provide hope. —ZACHARY LEE Cornell University 2020, English Creative Writing First-place winner of the Evangelical Press Association’s Student Writer of the Year Award
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LEAVING ROOM FOR
HOPE EVERY YEAR IN CHICAGO, teams of high school students compete in the largest youth poetry festival in the world—a slam poetry competition called “Louder than a Bomb.” Two years ago, Cornell University sophomore Zachary Lee was among the contestants. It was a life-changing experience. Throughout the competition, Zachary listened to his peers articulate injustice and suffering in a “cascading cadence of lyrics.” He mourned with those who mourned. He joined his words to the others, calling out broken systems and the despair they left in their wake. Zachary was moved by many brilliant performances, but he was also saddened by what was missing. “I realized that while my competitors were quite apt at decrying the very real and broken systems of Chicago, their compositions were devoid of hope,” he says. “At Louder than a Bomb, I decided that I wanted to leave room for hope.” Zachary has made this search for hope “somewhat of an anthem” for his writing in college. “I strongly believe that the Christian not only speaks to but presses into the issues of suffering, identity, and
I am thankful for their challenge to not just go for the lazy way of talking about God in literature, but to be more creative, to write deeply into human suffering and emotion—and show how God could be present. longing,” he says. At Cornell, Zachary began to attend retreats, conversations, and lectures at the Chesterton House, a ministry facilitated by CCO staff members Nicole and Billy Riley. “Nicole and Billy showed me how to honor God with my mind,” Zachary says. “They encouraged me to try and find God in areas that I had previously neglected, like seemingly ‘secular’ books and films.” An along the way, Nicole and Billy moved from being advisors to Zachary to becoming beloved friends. This support is helping Zachary develop as a writer—a writer who moves toward the difficult questions and, through Christ’s love for all creation, makes room for hope.
“I am thankful for their challenge to not just go for the lazy way of talking about God in literature, but to be more creative,” he says. “They encourage me to write deeply into human suffering and emotion—and show how God could be present, to invite readers into a world that God will one day come to heal, a world where He uses His children now to do His work in the interim. This is the kind of writer I want to be. This is hope.”
53%
of college students feel
hopeless. —American College Health Association, 2017
CCO staff members Nicole and Billy Riley serve students through the Chesterton House at Cornell University. Chesterton House’s mission is “to facilitate the discovery of the intellectual riches of the historic Christian faith, thereby empowering more faithful Christian living.”
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NEXT GENERATION LEADERS
KAYLYNNE LONGMIRE: I hope to serve Jesus Christ by breaking down walls in international policy. I want to spread the light of Jesus in some of the darkest corners of our world and put God first in a field that often doesn’t consider Him at all. KAYLYNNE LONGMIRE Kent State University 2017, Political Science
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WHY SHE ALMOST GAVE UP ON
POLITICS D
URING HER senior year of high school, Kaylynne Longmire knew she was called to serve God through politics. She loved her government and law class and was moved by the struggles of people around the world. She studied the biblical book of Nehemiah and identified with his call to restore justice to the broken and defenseless. “Having faced discrimination of my own,” she says, “I felt the call to help those in need.” In the fall of 2014, Kaylynne was accepted into Kent State University as a political science and international relations major and began her course of study. By sophomore year, she was ready to quit. “I sat with my advisor and explained that I am not good at writing papers, and three out of my five classes required a 12-page paper at the end of the semester,” Kaylynne says. “And there were a lot of areas and concepts in politics that I did not understand.” She proposed switching her major to something that she could handle more easily.
Her advisor asked her questions about what she was learning and what she liked about her classes. And then, after listening carefully to Kaylynne’s responses, she asked another question: “What if your difficulties are not meant to break you, but to make you stronger?” Kaylynne paused. There were plenty of difficulties at college. In addition to academic struggles, she had been tempted to do things that, in her own words, “did not mirror the will of God.” But Kaylynne also attended Kent’s CCO fellowship group and met regularly with staff members Jenna Kertoy and Kaleigh Ritter. “I was never alone on my walk,” Kaylynne says. “I believe that with the help of campus ministry’s teachings and fellowship, and the support of my sisters in Christ, I was able to continue my journey and not give up.” Kaylynne found the strength to continue—and then, to thrive. She finished her sophomore year with a 3.8 GPA and went on to study abroad in Italy, intern for two political campaigns, assist members of the Ohio House of Representatives, and serve as the secretary for the Political Science Club.
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OON KAYLYNNE will begin graduate work at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, pursuing a master’s degree in international studies with a focus on South America and Africa. It is a program she chose, in part, because she found a church she loves near campus. She knows that she will need inspiration and fellowship on this next stage of her journey, just as she did during her undergraduate years. “The ministry at Kent State was part of the tapestry the Lord ordained for my life,” she says. “I believe that with the teachings and fellowship, I was able to continue my journey in Christ and not give up. This helped shape me to be the bold, confident, fearless woman I am today.”
We believe that if we are to see millions of youth come back to Christ, and millions more accept him for the first time… WE NEED TO REINVEST, like we once did, in LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PIPELINES that EQUIP EMERGING LEADERS to articulate the Gospel persuasively and with distinction in the world.
CCO staff members Jenna Kertoy and Kaleigh Ritter minister to students at Kent State University.
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NOT J
EFF SCHALLICK SITS in a small trailer on the windswept plains of Wyoming, tracking chemicals and sand. Life after college hasn’t been quite what he expected. The crew is busy outside, servicing wells that draw natural gas from deep within the earth. “Hydraulic fracturing is high-pressure work,” Jeff says, “mentally and chemically.” Shifts are twelve hours long, two weeks on and one week off, alternating days and nights. Worksites shift from state to state, depending on the client, but just about all of them are remote. Jeff spends lots of time in extended-stay hotels, wondering why God called him there. As a chemical engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh and a CCO student leader, Jeff led outreach for his fellowship group, attended the CCO’s Ocean City Beach Project, and participated in the CCO’s first Jubilee Academy cohort. He’s extroverted. He’s sharp. And he’s very thoughtful about the integration of his faith and work. “I really believe that work needs to be an act of worship,” Jeff says, “because when it comes down to it, what
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LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
WHAT HE EXPECTED
we do most of the time is work. If we don’t see God in that, we miss out on a lot.” However, Jeff has realized that “a big part of my first job has been finding out that this isn’t as easy as I imagined.” For example, Jeff cares deeply about God’s creation. He understands the controversies surrounding hydraulic fracking, but he also sees natural gas as a cleaner fossil fuel, a way to provide energy as we move toward renewable sources. But Jeff often feels like a small cog in a huge machine. “Sometimes I fall into the rhythm of just keeping my nose to the grindstone,” he says. “It’s hard to remember the big picture.” And if work hasn’t been everything he imagined, neither has his personal life. He works two out of every three weekends, so it’s been hard to connect with a church community. His friends and family are on the other side of the country. Compared to college, life can be “utterly lonely.”
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I lost my girlfriend,” he says. “It felt like God was taking everything away. I knew the ‘right answers,’ but you get tired of Christianese, of easy answers. I knew that people in the Bible prayed, ‘Why, God?’ So I decided to be honest with God.”
Jeff is determined to be faithful in his present calling. Answers did not come right away. Many have not come at all. Jeff still finds himself in a season of questions, but with honesty comes peace. “One day I read this Gospel Coalition article,” Jeff remembers, “and it was about trusting God as the ‘better dreamer.’ Like even when we have plans for our lives that seem to be trashed right now, they may not have been the best plans. In those moments, I turn it over to the better dreamer with the bigger view. God can dream a better future for me than what I can dream for myself.”
As he keeps an eye out for God’s big picture work in the world—and in his life—Jeff is determined to be faithful in his present calling. First and foremost, he aims to be incredibly competent. “Even if I can’t get answers to the big questions,” he says, “I’m going to be competent and bless other people with excellent work.” And when he remembers that God is with him and cares about the work he’s doing, Jeff knows that he can pray about the details of his day— about handling a challenging co-worker, filing the paperwork he needs, or finding the best solution to a problem. Jeff also prays about his interactions with crew members. As an engineer, he is secondin-command, but “I don’t hold it over other people,” he says. Instead he tries to ask questions, admit when he’s wrong, and help out when he can. “Engineers can sometimes get cocky or standoffish,” Jeff says, “but you can’t beat experience out here.” In all of this, Jeff continues to learn. When he gets frustrated, he calls his mentor, CCO staff member Andy Moore, or one of his best friends from college. “Having unbiased people to process with is critical,” he says. He’s also working his way through a
couple of books—Work Matters by Tom Nelson, and After College by Erica Young Reitz—learning and relearning as he goes.
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’M JUST BEGINNING to find God here,” he says. “The root of the word vocation is call, something you listen for. It’s easy to think that you just picked the wrong job and something is wrong with you, but what I really need to do is to maintain a posture of listening to God. That’s how I find my way forward.” Jeff Schallick graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2016 where he was involved with the CCO’s Cornerstone Fellowship at Bellefield Presbyterian Church. Andy Moore has served as CCO staff at Bellefield since 2007.
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WHY SAM AND KIM CHEZ GIVE TO THE CCO Samuel Chez works as a Professional Services Practice Leader for Dell Boomi, and Kimberly Chez is an RN at Bryn Mawr Hospital, working in maternity. Their daughter Bethany is a sophomore at Allegheny College, their son Andrew will start at Messiah College in the fall, and their son Nathanael is finishing his seventh grade year. The Chez family worships at New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, Pennsylvania, where Sam serves as an elder. Why do you support the CCO? The CCO helped shape our faith and gave us the perspective to seek the honor and glory of God in all things. We have been involved with the CCO most of our adult lives. As Messiah College students in the early 1990s, we were involved in the CCO’s ministry and attended our first Jubilee conference. Sam went on to serve with the CCO, first at Grove City College, and later pioneering the CCO’s presence in metro Philadelphia. Today, we are grateful that our daughter, a sophomore at Allegheny College, is involved in the CCO ministry on campus. We support the CCO because we firmly believe in its core purpose of transforming college students to transform the world. College is a formative time, and our participation with the CCO helped us understand that following Jesus is not just a Sunday morning and pray-before-you-eat activity. It’s an 16
all-of-life, mind-transforming and renewing, whatever-you-do-do-itall-to-the-glory-of-God activity. This is what the CCO espouses and what we are thankful for and want to support. We aren’t aware of other ministries that challenge believers to think holistically about faith and life. Why should others support the CCO? Supporting the CCO is a great investment—not just in ministry to a demographic that needs to hear the Gospel, but to a demographic with the capacity to take that Gospel message into all corners of the world and all spheres of culture and society. And having worked for the CCO for 14 years, we can attest to it being an efficient organization that pursues faithful financial stewardship. Would you like to remember the CCO in your estate plans or through another planned gift? To find out more, please contact Allyson Sveda, Director of Development, at 412.363.3303.
OUR BOARD Elizabeth Baker CEO Hot Metal Media LLC Vincent J. Burens President & CEO Coalition for Christian Outreach Kurt E. Carlson Executive Vice President Hefren-Tillotson, Inc. The Rev. Nancy O. Chalfant-Walker Rector St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church CCO Staff Alumna Jennifer Ciccone Vice President of Human Resources Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. Judith Herschell Cole President Herschell Environmental, LLC Ryan D. Deaderick, P.E. Senior Vice President, Production & Midstream Greylock Energy, LLC Joseph P. Diggins, Jr. Partner Ernst & Young LLP Louis A. Divers President Precision Abrasives Reggie Dulaney Owner Panthro Fitness LLC Daniel J. Dupee Chairman of the Board Coalition for Christian Outreach The Rev. Dr. William R. Glaze Pastor Bethany Baptist Church Darrin E. Grove CEO TrueFit John Holt President Holsinger, PC Harry Kunze President Sapienta, LLC
Amylyn Kyler Managing Director Kyler Professional Search The Rev. Dr. Robert R. Long Chairman Emeritus Coalition for Christian Outreach Brian T. Must Founding Member Metz, Lewis, Brodman, Must & O’Keefe Attorneys at Law The Rev. Richard Noftzger Executive Presbyter Redstone Presbytery CCO Staff Alumnus J. Paul Organ Founder & Certified Financial Planner Marathon Financial Services CCO Staff Alumnus James W. Rimmel Sr. Vice President, Investments UBS Financial Services, Inc. James D. Roberge Managing Director Staley Capital Advisers, Inc. Christopher D. Seidler Vice President, Sales & Marketing Simcoach Games Kenneth E. Smith President Simcoach Games Lori Stuckey Homemaker and Volunteer Henry B. Suhr III Adjunct Faculty Geneva College CCO Staff Alumnus J.T. Thomas Entrepreneur & Business Consultant Mary Martha Truschel Assistant Counsel, Southwest Regional Office PA Department of Environmental Protection James D. Young COO, Senior Vice President Crown Castle