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Jay Bennett

bennett_j.jpg“My experience with the CCO was so formative that all of my decisions, relationships, interactions, and career choices have been affected by it,” says Jay Bennett who is currently living in Argentina while he and his wife Patti are awaiting assignment as Peace Corps volunteers.

A 2005 graduate with a degree in Biochemistry, Jay transferred to Messiah College after his freshman year.  There, he got involved with the CCO’s ministry at Issachar’s Loft and was influenced by staff members Tim Bogertman, Dave Tanis, Alece Nauck-Heisey, and Jeremy Stoltzfus.  At the Loft, Jay participated in Who’s Zooming Who—a fellowship and Bible study group dedicated to learning about cultural issues in order to formulate a faithful biblical response.  “All of the transformative experiences I had as a college student were Loft/CCO experiences.  The Loft enabled me to make sense of what I was doing as a student.”

Jay remembers hearing Byron Borger, associate CCO staff member and owner of Hearts and Minds Bookstore in Dallastown, Pennsylvania, speaking about integration of faith and learning.  Byron challenged him to think about Christian education as something deeper than simply praying at the beginning of class and then learning pagan ideas from pagan textbooks and accepting them as truth.  Jay says, “I think in no uncertain terms the CCO saved my faith in college by demonstrating how to be thoughtful, scholarly, critical, and still a committed Christian.”  Without that influence, he believes he would have graduated with a watered-down Christianity or a watered-down understanding of Biochemistry.

Most of Jay’s experiences with CCO ministry at Messiah came through his involvement with the Wilderness Team at Issachar’s Loft.  In 2004, Jay participated in the CCO’s Leadership and Discipleship in the Wilderness (LDW) program with staff members Ryan Carlson, Jeremy Stoltzfus, and Jamie Jennings.  After graduation, he led LDW trips for the CCO and then moved to Pittsburgh to work with the CCO’s Outdoor Leadership Team.  He says that concepts taught by the LDW curriculum come to mind nearly everyday.  In addition, Jay remains close friends with those who were in his life as a student and says, “These are people that are and will be deeply connected to my life for a long time.  That trip gives one a glimpse of what relationships are supposed to be like in a broken world, and after living that way for just a moment, it’s impossible not to think of it when your day-to-day life doesn’t reflect that.”

Once he receives his assignment from the Peace Corps, Jay says that his only job will be to serve the community in which he lives.  Even before Jay attended college, he knew he wanted to serve others in some capacity, but the CCO helped him to build a much better framework for understanding the work he will be doing with the Peace Corps.  Prior to his experience with the CCO, Jay thinks he may have felt that the only way to really serve was as a missionary or pastor.  He believes he would have signed up with a mission organization but sees himself as much better equipped to serve in his capacity as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Jay credits his experience with the CCO as having provided the framework or lens through which he evaluates all of his decisions and interactions.  That framework serves to shape decisions regarding how much energy he uses, the type of car he chooses to drive, his decision to live abroad and serve as a volunteer, and his involvement in political campaigns and in biodiesel projects.  “The CCO focuses on faithfulness in ALL areas of life, and I try my best to do that.”