CCO Campus Ministry

Stacie Sespico

If the CCO had not been present on the University of Pittsburgh campus, I may have found another group of believers and been able to grow and mature in my faith. But I’m convinced that my compartmentalization of life into “sacred” and “secular” realms would never have been challenged, and I may never have seen the breadth of God’s Kingdom in ways the CCO made possible.

I met CCO staff member Kelly Knapp on my first day of freshman orientation at Pitt. I’d come to college hoping to find a strong fellowship group, and by a beautiful act of Providence, I wandered across the street from my residence hall, found an ice cream social on the front lawn of a church, and was embraced by the Cornerstone ministry from that day on.

I met with Kelly almost weekly, either one-on-one, or in a small group of Pitt women, for Bible study, to pray, and just to share our lives. She taught me how to bake apple pie, came with me to the Beehive to watch movies, and welcomed me into her home countless times. I learned about Christian hospitality from her, and how that is an important component of discipleship.

Kelly’s passionate love for Jesus helped to mature my young faith, and the incredible training I received as part of the Cornerstone leadership team my junior and senior years laid the foundation for the woman I am today. I eventually led Bible studies on my own, intentionally discipled younger students, and even partnered with another senior to plan and facilitate a spring break Habitat for Humanity trip to Patterson, New Jersey. No staff members accompanied us on this trip; it was an experience that stretched me beyond my comfort zone, was the culminating experience of my CCO college experience, and cemented my commitment to serving the poor, to being the hands and feet of Christ in broken places.

I attended Jubilee from 1993-2000, never missing a year, and was forever changed by the things I learned there. I attended seminars on consumerism, environmental stewardship, English education, feminism, popular culture, all from a thoroughly Christian perspective, all challenging students to embrace a Christian worldview and realize that all of life is redeemed by Christ.

My husband, Matt, and I met at Cornerstone, and it has been an ongoing joy to share my days with a man who is committed to living out faith in every area of life. We chose our community and home based on proximity to a Reformed church. We are raising our four children to be worshipers and critical thinkers with hearts for the poor and for justice.

We believe that everything we are and that everything we do falls under the Lordship of Christ, and so the way we decorate our home, the way we care for our pets, the way we recreate, the way we engage in local politics, the way do school work, the way we extend forgiveness and mercy (and receive forgiveness and mercy!), the way we are the Sespico family—it all matters.

Without the CCO’s influence on our lives, I cannot imagine we would have become the family we are, and I am grateful to God that he allowed us the gift of being loved and nurtured by CCO staff during our vulnerable undergraduate years.

Transformed Lives