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Barbara Courtney

courtney_barbara.jpg“If I had not been connected to the CCO as a student, I would not have the theological grounding and the depth of faith I have now,” says Barbara Courtney. “I would have graduated college with a high school-level faith. The CCO’s ministry provided a foundation for the rest of my life.”

Barbara’s first contact with the CCO was at the beginning of her freshman year at Westminster College, in the fall of 1983, when she signed up to participate on a whitewater rafting trip that was run by CCO staff members. A month later, she attended the CCO-sponsored fall retreat at Mrs. Patterson’s house in Chautauqua, New York, and she remained involved in the CCO-advised fellowship group for the remainder of her four years at Westminster.

“That trip and the retreat connected me to a community of people who supported my growth throughout my college career and showed loving acceptance of me even when I made bad choices as a student,” Barbara says. Staff people Andi Ellis Schrader, Paul Organ and Don Opitz were big influences on her during her college years. She also became involved at Neshannock Presbyterian Church, with which CCO staff partnered to reach out to Westminster students, attending worship services and Sunday school classes. She also attended the Jubilee conference all four years of her college career.

“I still have my notes from keynote addresses by John Stott and Os Guinness at Jubilee,” Barbara says, “and I actually pull them out and reread them occasionally. Jubilee completely reframed my thinking about vocation and calling. I got a reformed, all-of-life perspective for the first time.”

Barbara also points to a Jubilee break-out session on education, led by Natalie Thomas, as transformational. As a math major, Barbara got her teaching certification, and was inspired by the vision Natalie cast of an integrated Christian curriculum that was foundational for Pittsburgh Urban Christian School. Many years later, Barbara and several other CCO student and staff alumni founded Cornerstone Community School in Kent, Ohio, and Barbara points to that Jubilee workshop as the place where she caught the vision for such an endeavor.

After her 1987 graduation with a degree in mathematics and secondary education, Barbara joined CCO staff and worked at Thiel College from 1987 through 1990. From 1990 through 1995, she served as Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian Church in Akron, Ohio, and in 1995, she rejoined CCO staff as an Area Director, supervising campus staff and developing positions. She left CCO staff again in 2002, and today, she and her husband Robb are raising a daughter, Hannah, in Greenville, Pennsylvania.

Barbara works as an independent management consultant and as executive director of an after-school program funded by a coalition of local churches and social service agencies. She is also pursuing a master’s degree in organizational leadership at Geneva College. The Courtneys are active members of First Baptist Church of Greenville.