CCO Campus Ministry

Bill Slease

At the end of my freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University, I met some students who were going to Shadyside Presbyterian Church and a college fellowship there run by Dan Moss. I’d always believed in God and tried to do the right and reasonable thing, but that was about as deep as it went.

I met these guys and then went off to repair hot tar roofs for the summer at minimum wage. Cut off so quickly from that amazing thing I’d seen, and thrust into a job so back-breaking—and hot and miserable—I came back in my sophomore year with a thirst for God that the CCO didn’t disappoint.

I learned that Jesus redeemed all of life, that work and school matter, that people matter because God loves us. I went on to help lead the college fellowship at Shadyside, the CMU Navy ROTC’s Officer’s Christian Fellowship with a Bible study that grew to some two dozen people, and chose to continue living in my fraternity as a witness. I then worked with the CCO on associate staff and then full-time for three years at Shadyside.

I attended Jubilee for the first time during my sophomore year. The conference was clearly the kingdom of God in action in a way I’d never imagined. I attended Jubilee every year for the next 10 years. I had the opportunity to chair the CCO’s Jubilee committee while I served on staff, and two years ago, I got to speak at Jubilee in two sessions about video games and the video game industry.

I continue to wrestle, both internally and externally, with what it means for God to be Lord of the industry I’m in, the job I have, and the people he puts in my life. Lately, God’s been teaching me not to discount simply being salt and light in a cubicle and in a home apart from that grand, ideal vision of redeeming an entire segment of creation. In addition to speaking at Jubilee, I got to speak at Calvin College about video games and the industry. The framework the CCO gave me for my faith, and the examples of how to live out your faith continue to ground my everyday actions and my dreams.

Working in an extremely secular industry provides no end of opportunities to start conversations about meaning, faith and God. I make an extra effort to connect with people who are searching. I talk about what’s going on at my church. I jump at every chance I get to share my experiences and knowledge with people interested in video games. But in the end, I think it’s the daily presence, walking alongside people in the muck and the dredge, that makes the most difference. Simply being salt and light, showing the joy of knowing God in the midst of a painful and broken life—it’s that model of ministry that keeps me going.

We haven’t been in Phoenix very long. We recently found a vibrant church steeped in reformed theology so I’m just soaking it all in—attending classes and trying to find a good connection point in this church that’s about ten times bigger than what we’re used to. I am looking for an opportunity to teach at some point. In Spokane, I served on various committees, including the youth committee, at the small Methodist church we attended.

The CCO inspired me to live out my Christian faith in every area of life through education and example. Dan went out of his way to find Christian thinkers and doers in our fields of study and in life in general. Those studies and models changed how I think about and spend my money, my time, my energy and my talents.

One of the best ways to learn anything is to try to teach it to others. My time on CCO staff deepened and solidified my faith and gave me a basis to try to work out what a normative view of video games might look like. The practical experience of organizing and leading volunteers, being a Christian leader, and mentoring didn’t hurt either.

The meaninglessness of life with a shallow, non-immanent God was weighing on me more and more heavily my freshman year. Life had become very, very difficult. I honestly think I might not be alive today if God hadn’t connected me with those people. The faith that God gave me and nurtured through the CCO shaped and gave meaning to everything else and still does to this day. The depth and breadth of the CCO’s ministry—the willingness to come alongside and work through the muck and dredge, and the inspiration and vision of the Jubilee conferences—was the difference between a meal that sustains and a diet that nourishes.

Transformed Lives