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Joe Crawfis

crawfis_joe.jpg“The CCO’s ministry helped me to strengthen my faith and really see that God cares about our whole life, not just what we do on Sunday morning,” says Joe Crawfis. “This has made me a more faithful believer and follower of Jesus into my adult life. I don’t think I would be in the same spiritual place today if I had not been a part of CCO’s ministry at Kent.”

Joe was looking for Christian fellowship when he arrived as a freshman at Kent State University, and he connected to the CCO’s ministry almost immediately. It wasn’t long before he was serving on the student leadership team for Late Night Christian Fellowship, and during his junior year, he lived in the CCO-sponsored discipleship community, called Kairos House. He spent two summers working as a camp counselor at Ligonier Camp & Conference Center, and he regularly attended the Jubilee conference.

“Jubilee had a great impact on me and really taught me how to embrace whole-life discipleship,” Joe says. “It also gave me some great insights into how my future career and faith intertwined.”

Joe graduated from Kent State in 2000 with a degree in business finance, and today, he and his wife, Jodi, continue to live in Kent. Joe serves as President of the Kent Credit Union, and Joe and Jodi are active members of Riverwood Community Chapel. They host a weekly “life group” in their home, a Bible study gathering of couples close to their age.

“My faith has made a great difference in how I look at life decisions,” Joe says. “It influenced who I would marry, my job decisions, everything. I try to weigh each decision on how it can advance God’s kingdom instead of my own agenda. I am called daily to share my faith. The main people I am in contact with on a daily basis are my co-workers. As the leader of my company, they look to my example. I try to reflect the light of Christ to them in our work environment.

The CCO’s ministry really encouraged me to see my whole life as belonging to Christ, instead of just ‘church’ type things. It broadened my view of the world and my place in it. This means that Christ is Lord of my relationships, career, family, church, and everything else. It is a constant battle to surrender and give God the control, but things always work out better that way. I find if I get out of God’s way and submit to him, I can live in the freedom of knowing that God is in control and working through me, instead of taking that entire burden upon myself.”