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Jennifer Baily

Baily-Jen.jpg“The CCO presented a different way of looking at life than how I’d grown up,” says Jennifer Baily. “For me, following Christ had always been about following a set of rules: don’t drink, don’t swear and so on. Before I went to college, I didn’t think about how God cared about every area of life, or about how God cared about the poor. I think God was pretty small for me when I went away to school. The CCO helped me to realize there was a lot more to being a Christian.”

Jen was surrounded by CCO staff people during her four years at Malone College (now University), but she didn’t realize it until she was almost ready to graduate. She babysat for Steve and Marcia Everett, and she went backpacking with Tanya Hershberger. She met Kendall and Dennis Barbee when she signed up to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, where Kendall was her roommate.

“Kendall got me to read the book Knowing God,” Jen remembers. “She invited me to dinner at her house, and to the Jubilee conference, and she encouraged me to apply to work for the CCO. The CCO’s ministry touched my life through all of these people, even though I didn’t really know they were CCO at the time.”

Jen joined CCO staff herself in 1996, and during her five years on staff, she ministered to students at Waynesburg University and Carnegie Mellon University, and helped administrate the CCO’s annual Jubilee conference. It was at Waynesburg that she met her future husband, David Baily, whose father Chuck was the first CCO staff worker at Waynesburg.

“My decision to marry the son of a CCO staff alum meant that I didn’t have any worries,” Jen remembers. “We share a common understanding of what it means to pursue our faith together. We share an intentionality about opening our home to others, teaching our kids that God cares about every part of their lives as we homeschool them. The all-of-life-redeemed vision encourages me to be more thoughtful about my life in all areas.”

One of the biggest areas is how she and David choose to raise their five children. “I’m sure I parent differently than I would have if I hadn’t had the experience of watching CCO staff people at Malone parent. My kids would be watching TV all the time, like I did. I don’t think I would wrestle with life the way I do if not for the CCO. I wouldn’t consider how we spend our money, our time, what we watch on TV. I never thought before about how many pairs of black shoes I have. I’m grateful for that—it helps me to work out my faith with fear and trembling, with the implications of God caring about every little piece of life.”

After several years of living in Pittsburgh, the Bailys recently moved back to the Waynesburg area, where they are actively involved at Greene Community Church and seek every opportunity to get involved in the community.

“We’ve hosted the Sunday night Bible study, and we would love to have more college students over,” Jen says. “One of the things that drew us to this church is how intentional the congregation is about reaching out to the community, engaging people where they are. There are unbelievers there every Sunday because they feel a genuine love of Christ.

“I learned how to be hospitable when I worked for the CCO. Christ cares about everything and encourages us to share our lives with others. Our lives are not meant for ourselves alone.”