CCO Campus Ministry

Home / Transformed Lives / Sarah Ansell

Sarah Ansell

ansell_sarah.jpg“During my sophomore year of college, I went through some pretty tough times,” says Sarah Ansell. “I was depressed and lonely. The biggest supports for me were not only other students, but also members of Bellefield Church, where the CCO partners. Women from the congregation came alongside me to share love, wisdom, and discipline during this hard time that my peers would not have been able to provide. I will always be thankful for that. I know that my integration into the body of the local church at this point in my life set me up for the ways I would participate in the church later.”

Today, Sarah and her husband, Chris, are active members of Bellefield Presbyterian Church, where Sarah attended as a student. She currently serves there as an elder, heading up a new small-group initiative and chairing the nominating committee. Both Chris and Sarah work for the CCO; Chris as a campus worker with University of Pittsburgh students and Sarah as an associate staff volunteer. Sarah spends her days caring for her infant daughter.

“I don’t know if I can picture what my life would have been like without the CCO’s ministry at Pitt,” Sarah says. When Sarah arrived as a freshman at Pitt, she knew she didn’t want to get involved in the “party culture” of college life, but she wasn’t really sure what the alternative to that would be. Even though she’d grown up going to church, she was never part of a youth group, and so Christian fellowship like the CCO-sponsored Cornerstone gathering wasn’t on her radar.

“I feel like I ended up getting involved in Cornerstone by accident,” she says. “During a freshman Intro to Performance class, I asked one of my classmates what she was doing that night. She told me that she was going to Cornerstone and explained what it was. Then she asked if I wanted to go too. Not wanting to be rude, I said ‘sure.’ I enjoyed my experience there, but I only attended sporadically for the rest of the semester.”

But by the end of her freshman year, Sarah had signed up for a small-group Bible study. “Becky McNutt (now Wainwright) was the leader of the group I joined and she did a fantastic job making me feel welcomed and involving me in the study. I had never actually studied the Bible before and it was a bit intimidating. I think she, more than anyone else, influenced the way the rest of my college years unfolded.”

Largely as a result of Becky’s encouragement and guidance, Sarah ended up leading a Bible study herself, and she participated in the CCO-sponsored Ocean City Beach Project the summer after her sophomore year. “This summer was like a year’s worth of growth in eight weeks,” Sarah says. “I returned from the beach with renewed enthusiasm to care for and disciple other students. My junior and senior year, I personally discipled two other women as well as continued to lead Bible studies. My senior year, I attended a CCO staff seminar. I knew that I loved the CCO and how they had impacted my life. I wanted to be able to make a similar difference in the lives of other college students.”

The Jubilee conference was also instrumental in Sarah’s faith development during college. “Still being pretty new in my exploration of Christianity, the early Jubilees were kind of like drinking out of a fire hose. There was just so much new information for me. What was most revolutionary for me were the breakout sessions. I had never been exposed to the idea that God cared about everything we do, including our academics.”

“I have no doubt that being involved in the ministry at Pitt set me up for a successful and positive college experience,” Sarah says. “The CCO introduced to me the biblical worldview that all things belong to God. This has allowed me to see the bigger picture of my life, relationships, work, and creation care. Having this view has allowed me to take focus off of myself. I view every person as a created being who is loved by the Creator and is due honor and respect. In work, what I do impacts the kingdom, whether it be ‘full-time ministry’ or a ‘secular’ career. As I prepare to leave full-time staff, I believe the CCO has prepared me well for whatever comes next. I eventually plan on continuing my education to become a high school science teacher. In this field, I hope to bring the truth of Christ into the classroom through my actions and teaching.”