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Andy Harlan

HarlanA_transformed.jpg“Honestly, I didn’t want much to do with campus ministry when I was in college at Slippery Rock University,” says Andy Harlan. “But the CCO has a way of working in your life even when you don’t realize it. [CCO staff member] Josh Hayes invited me out to ice climb, let me borrow his tools when I needed to fix my jeep, and showed up at the climbing wall asking people if they wanted to read the Bible with him. Josh’s constant presence, combined with that of Julie Manfred at Gateway Church, and other CCO outdoor trips that I seemed to keep finding myself on—I was a goner. Only a few months after I graduated, I found myself working for the CCO at Gannon University.”

Today, Andy reaches out to Gannon students through his role as co-director of the Kirk House, a discipleship house for students owned by First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. He is glad for the opportunity to offer students what Josh Hayes offered him—a faith in Christ that makes a tangible difference in the world.

“I believe that God is sovereign over every inch of this world. I also believe that there are many in our culture who are embittered toward the church because of our common brokenness. This breaks my heart. I have a passion for meeting people where they are at, living alongside them and developing an authentic relationship. By doing so, I hope that I am able to model an authentic and contagious faith, and at the same time soften bitterness.”

Andy is grateful to have a solid church context from which to minister and model for students the importance of being connected to a church congregation. “I both work and worship at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Erie. The congregation feels like a family, and I am honored to serve the role of campus minister there. My continual hope is to bring college students into contact with the congregation and to bring the congregation into contact with college students.

He is also grateful that the CCO was available to him during his student years.

“I was heavily involved in the outdoor adventure culture at Slippery Rock, and I had great friends there, but not many Christian ones. The CCO’s presence on campus was what kept me tethered to the faith that I had come into college with. I am grateful that the tether remained.

“If not for that connection, I can definitely say that I would not have the faith that I do now, if any at all. In the relativistic culture of a college campus, it is so easy to reorient one’s life in a direction devoid of faith. It is painful to think about how many students experience this without even knowing the depth and richness of what they are giving up.

“My faith gives me confidence and a peace that comes from knowing God has directed my steps through college, and has directed my steps to where I am today. With this knowledge, what reason do I have to worry about the future?”