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Brian Osmond

osmond_brian.jpgBrian Osmond was a freshman at Grove City College when he first met CCO staff worker Dave Guthrie. “A buddy of mine and I got to know Dave—he was really cool, and he had this interesting angle on religion. He was also a good salesman. I remember him telling us, ‘Hey, there’s this Jubilee conference down in Pittsburgh in February, and you guys should come!’”

Brian accepted the invitation that first time, and returned every year until he graduated. “I remember the Hilton ballroom full of students—over 1,000 kids who were just like me, terrific music, and terrific messages. And I remember thinking, ‘If we all got together, we could change the world!’”

Today, Brian is a camera man, working on local commercial projects and traveling to Los Angeles to take on big-budget film projects (from Rocky VI to Bedtime Stories). He points back to the Jubilee conference as the place where he got his first big break.

A computer science major at Grove City in the mid-1980s, Brian was more interested in the one video production class that was offered than in the classes he was taking in his major. “Grove City was not a film school and there was no media program, but that’s where my interests were,” he remembers. So in between computer science classes, Brian tried to figure out how to learn more about film-making. He got into photography, radio and theater lighting, and then he pursued classes and internships in Pittsburgh, an hour away.

“I had this drive to do something, for my own confidence, learning, whatever, so I decided to just do my own project. I had taken classes, watched the process of putting together a daily show at my KDKA internship with Evening Magazine. Now I wanted to produce my own video. I wanted to do it all, have that full access.

“I asked somebody about Jubilee—do you have a video? I talked to folks at the CCO office. I just felt a tremendous drive to do the whole thing, because I hadn’t had that opportunity yet. I thought, ‘They should have a promotional video.’ People were just starting to have them, and technology back then was much more expensive and complicated than it is today.” He prepared a proposal to submit to the CCO leadership, and he was hired to produce a 10-minute video—which took him months and a lot of creative time and money management to finish.

Today, Brian’s initiative and hard work have paid off, as he and his wife, Laura are raising four children and Brian is pursuing the career God clearly called him to. The Osmonds are active members of their church, where Brian plays in the worship band. And he continues to point back to his college years and the CCO’s influence as foundational for what has happened since.

“It was about the relationships,” Brian says. “Being around Dave and other Christian college students made all the difference. Dave was an adult, but he was young and approachable—different from the older guys in my church. He had a way of laying things out that was very enduring, enlightening and engaging. He was easy to talk to, and he was very inviting. You wanted to have coffee with him so you could talk to him about things that mattered.

“People in those staff positions may not realize how much of a difference they’re making. The CCO’s ministry set me on the right path and pointed me in the right direction, and that’s made all the difference.”