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Nick White

white_nick.jpgBecoming involved in the ministry at Westminster College with FCA was my turning point during my college years. It is part of my testimony of how God and my faith has changed the person I am today.

As I left for college in the fall of 2000 for my freshman year, I remember my mother telling me that it was now my responsibility to get to church and find Christian groups to attend. When you head off to college, you really start to make your own decisions and refine your own beliefs, taking ownership over your life in ways you never realized you could.

In the early part of my first year, I found myself going to church on Sunday nights, but that was about it. Over the course of the first two years, my attendance at church and Christian-type functions went down significantly and my attendance at non-Christian events and parties increased. It was not until my junior year, after a summer of working with the youth at my home church, and spending the entire soccer season on the bench with a broken leg, that God helped me to refocus and begin to take ownership of my faith like I should have two years earlier.

My first true CCO experience came on a Monday night in the fall of 2002 when I attended a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting for the first time. I remember being on crutches, feeling out of place because I knew no one, and simply yearning to get back into what I believed. I remember this overly-happy, goateed individual who came up to me both before and after the meeting. He was genuinely interested in me, asking questions about an array of topics, and he made me feel like I was in the right place. I truly believe this was God working through a servant to get me in the right place at college. The individual was [CCO staff member] Tom Rapchak, and the remainder of my college experience was shaped my attendance at that FCA meeting. Ultimately, I would become a two-year member of the leadership team for FCA, working closely with Tom and Brad Tokar.

I attended the Jubilee conference twice, and the conference was especially powerful my first year, in that it broke down a lot of barriers I had within myself. I had known about it and been reluctant to go for fear of what my other friends would think. I know it sounds childish, but I had established certain relationships at school and was afraid of jeopardizing them. Once I made it to Jubilee, I was able to let go of that fear and frustration and simply focus on God. In a strange way, I think I gained more respect in those relationships for putting my faith and things important to me first.

Today, as a teacher in a public school, sharing my faith is centered around being a person of character and putting my faith in action. By setting an example, living a life that is Christ-like, others should see your faith and see that you are different. I know I often come up short, but this is my goal. Faith should be innately a part of you, so that others can see it at all times.

I have been working with the youth group, particularly middle school students, at my church since I was 19. I work with them during youth programs, and I teach Sunday school and go on summer and winter trips with the kids. It is something I feel passionately about, and I know that it is extremely important to find your place within your home church. My place is with the middle school kids. After all, I’m a big kid at heart.

My involvement with the CCO’s ministry completely changed my experience as a college student, because it helped me put things into proper perspective. I became a better, more respectable person and ultimately was given many more opportunities because of my experience with the ministry. Without the CCO, I probably would have continued to stray off the path and moved further away from God.