Felix Vasquez

Millersville University 2013, elementary education major

From the moment I met him, Felix Vasquez has been a guy who’s enjoyable to be around; he’s always been kind and generous. As his relationship with Christ has been renewed, I’ve seen a newborn passion for Scripture and asking questions. He’s a deep thinker and he hungers for God. He loves Jesus passionately and he pursues that relationship relentlessly. Felix has grown from a guy who had a nominal relationship with Christ to someone who has really allowed it to penetrate his entire life—work, school, relationships, even the way he plays basketball.

I first met Felix four years ago when I was starting up the ministry at the York campus of Harrisburg Community College. He had committed his life to Christ as a child at an inner-city day camp, but had wandered away during adolescence. When he showed up for one of our open events, he was exploring coming back to his faith.

Felix started attending a regular Bible study that I was doing, and ended up becoming a major part of every event that we did at HACC. He started leading Bible studies and became an officer in our club, and eventually became president.

Felix’s dad died when he was young, so he is, in a sense, the head of his household. He is the kind of person who is always looking to serve, to figure out where God wants to use him, looking out for the needs of other people. Because of his responsibilities, it took me a long time to convince him to apply to participate in the Ocean City Beach Project, that he needed to be in a place to allow God to pour into him so that he could be equipped to do what God is calling and preparing him to do.

The Beach Project was a great experience for him—from living in Christian community to connecting with people in his workplace and in the Ocean City community. Felix is an others-centered person—he’s that guy who knows someone wherever he goes. Felix was a leader within the OCBP community, setting an example for the other students of how to reach out. As he and the other students at OCBP got to know the international students next door, they took the extra step of purchasing a Turkish student a Bible in his native language.

This fall, Felix transferred from HACC York to Millersville University, where he is living on campus for the first time and is adjusting to being a full-time student as he holds down a job in a restaurant as well. He’s sort of a non-traditional student—he’s 24 years old—and his roommate is an 18-year-old freshman whom he’s taken under his wing. Felix is ministering to his fellow students and his co-workers. He really gets what it means to do ministry in every area of life, and he has a great impact on people.

—Billy Ferrell, CCO Partnership Coordinator and CCO staff at Harrisburg Area Community College, York Campus