CCO Campus Ministry

Home / Transformed Lives / Christine Olmeda

Christine Olmeda

olmeda_christine.jpg“The CCO challenged me in engineering.  It opened my eyes to different opportunities of what being a Christian engineer could look like,” says Penn State University graduate Christine Olmeda.  Christine has responded to that challenge by accepting a two-year call to join a team working with World Harvest Mission, serving a local church in the Sudan.  In an effort to bring holistic ministry to the Sudan, the team provides medical services, education, nutritional instruction, and biblical counseling, among other services. Christine serves on the project as an engineer in an effort to provide safe drinking water in the name of Jesus Christ.

During her first week at Penn State, Christine attended each of the fellowship groups on campus. She connected with the CCO at the beginning of her freshman year and became active in Bible studies, the shepherding team, and as the treasurer. She says that most of her best friends were part of CCO ministry—they were her “non-engineering people.” After participating in a mission trip to Belize, Christine began considering using her engineering skills to serve in overseas ministry. She believes God used conversations with her CCO friends—whether in large group meetings, during Bible studies, or just while hanging out in the HUB—to prepare her to serve in that way. Attending the Jubilee conference also gave Christine opportunities to talk to people who were living out their faith in different ways, especially in the field of engineering. Jubilee “gave me an opportunity to think about what different kinds of opportunities there were in engineering outside of corporate America.”

After graduating in 2006 with a degree in chemical engineering, Christine moved to Richmond, Virginia, and worked for DuPont. Working in private industry was great preparation for her to go to the Sudan, she believes. Leaving her position at DuPont has created opportunities for Christine to talk about the gospel with her coworkers. “Some people think I’m completely irrational—especially the engineers,” she says.  Those conversations have provided her opportunities to tell others that she can’t think of anything more rational than serving her Savior who died on the cross for her.

Christine is a member of West End Presbyterian Church in Richmond which will act as her sending church while she serves in the Sudan. In addition to the language challenge, Christine notes that she will be moving to a continent she has never seen and working in an area of engineering in which she has had little practical experience. “God called me to an area where I have to rely on Him.”