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Allie Mollenkof

mollenkof_allie.jpg“I know from first-hand experience how effective the work of a campus minister in a student’s life can be,” says Allie Mollenkof. “I know how God can use this work to change a student’s life forever.”

Today, Allie serves the CCO as Director of Recruiting. Ten years ago, she was a Gannon University student who had never heard the Gospel message, let alone been encouraged to live her life according to its implications.

During her freshman year, Allie became friends with some girls in her residence hall who were Christians. When they were sophomores, a few of them moved into the Kirk House, a community living opportunity for Christian students, owned by First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant and staffed by CCO workers.

“My friends introduced me to Tara, the new campus minister, and we hit it off right away,” Allie remembers. “We had similar personalities and just got a kick out of each other. We started having coffee pretty regularly, and Tara provided space for me to ask any question I wanted about Jesus without making me feel like there was a wrong answer.”

Allie met with Tara twice a week throughout her sophomore year. “It was a profound time for me,” Allie says. “Tara painted a picture of the Christian faith and who Jesus was that made me recognize what was missing in my life. I really wanted this.”

In November of 1998, Allie made a commitment to Jesus, and her life was changed.

Allie dove into campus ministry activities from that point on. “From the minute I was a Christian, I was doing campus ministry,” she says. She attended the Jubilee conference, moved into the Kirk House, and co-led a discussion group for students who would not call themselves Christians. When Allie graduated in 2001, she joined CCO staff to work with students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and later at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, before she started recruiting for the CCO. She and her husband, Phil, who works in the CCO’s marketing and communications department, live in Pittsburgh and worship at Church of the Ascension.

“Everything would be different today if I hadn’t encountered the CCO’s ministry when I was in college,” Allie says. “The CCO’s ministry modeled a Kingdom lifestyle for me. I’m certain that nothing in my life would be the same without it.”