The University of Pittsburgh’s Panther Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter, advised by CCO staff member Jonny Cagwin, won the March Service Madness competition in 2012, with 2,624 service hours completed during the month of March.

March Service Madness was a community service competition at the main campus of the University of Pittsburgh put on by the Student Government Board. The hope was to have one hour per undergraduate student on campus (17,000) and the hours reported totaled 19,078. Habitat for Humanity’s  2,624 hours were the most, by overwhelming amount, of any of the organizations.

They received a $500 service grant to help continue serving in the Pittsburgh area.

During his freshman year, the CCO hired John Hayes as a Resident Director (RD) for the men’s dorm on campus.  Because the RD room was not yet available for him, John was placed in a room with four freshman football players, including Andrew. John began a Bible study with seven freshmen, and Andrew met with that group every Thursday throughout all four years of his college career.

Click here to read Andrew’s story.

“Sarah was quiet and reserved when I first met her,” says Greg Sovereign, CCO staff member at Arcadia University. “She now emcees our Thursday night gatherings, and she recently started a new community dinner initiative at her home church. She came in with a lot of compassion and a lot of hope, but she didn’t know how to channel it. Through her time in the ministry, she has learned how to go into the world equipped with her faith and live out her call to compassion in the lives of the hurting and marginalized.”

Click here to read how God is transforming Sarah to transform the world.

Experience Peru is a 21-day service and adventure trip. Through serving in local villages, trekking through small farming and weaving communities and visiting historic landmarks like Machu Picchu, students will encounter the culture, history, politics, economy, and outdoor environments of Peru.

As they experience life in Peru, they will explore God’s design for relationships—relationships with God, with people of other cultures and races, with creation and with themselves. They will spend time learning about who God is, how He calls us to respond to issues of injustice, poverty, diversity and racial relations, and who we are as His beloved children, created in His image.

The students will return to the United States on June 1. Follow their journey as they take turns contributing to the Experience Peru 2012 blog.

And please pray for the Experience Peru 2012 participants:

• Tyler Charles, Bobbi Perkins, and Sam Van Eman,
  CCO staff instructors
• Joshua, Brookdale Community College
• Sarah, John Carroll University
• Hannah, Juniata College
• Makena and Mimi, Ohio Wesleyan University
• Christina, Dana, and Jenny, University of Pittsburgh
• Richie and Samantha, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
• Emilee and Jessica, Slippery Rock University
• Andrew, Waynesburg University

“The CCO definitely helped me make a transition from living at home and having faith to living on my own at college and making that faith my own. I pursued a business career right out of school, and I felt confident that I could serve God that way. It’s not campus ministry and it’s not missions, so how does it work to be a Christian and a business person? The ministry gave me courage and confidence to move to a new job in a new city and figure it out.”

Click here to read Sarah’s story.

Tim Hessels was raised in the church, but once he turned 18, he stopped going, because “I didn’t have to anymore.” When he began his freshman year at Penn State, Tim says, “I was really into the party scene. In college it’s easy to stray away, with all that goes on.”

The transformation started over the summer and into his sophomore year. “The summer after my freshman year, I felt God pulling me back,” Tim says. “When I came back to campus, I got connected to CCO and got an idea for what it means to live out the Christian life. I learned to apply my faith to what I’m studying and caring about the people I’m around, day to day.”

Click here to find out how God is transforming Tim to transform the world.

CCO staff members Kathy and Lamont both partner with Geneva College to reach out to students. Kathy serves as Director of Multicultural Student Services, and Lamont is Multicultural Student Services Coordinator, Director of The Academy.

When John started his freshman year at Westminster College, he was looking forward to the freedom that college life represented. “When I first got there, it was my first time on my own, away from the structured guidance of my family,” he remembers. Growing up in a small town, I could have run wild once I got to college. Who knows what would have happened had I not gotten to know upperclassmen who invited me to the fellowship group? I’m thankful that I got connected to Christians on campus as early as I did.”

Click here to read John’s story.

“I have seen Caitlyn grow from a quiet individual into a dynamic leader, hungry for the Word of God and hungry to grow in her relationship to Christ,” says Lindsay Reedy. “She is a student who will continue to do great things for the Kingdom of God in graduate school and beyond.”

Caitlyn and Lindsay arrived at Juniata College at the same time—Caitlyn as a first-year student and Lindsay as a first-year CCO staff worker. Lindsay invited Caitlyn to join a small-group book and Bible study, and their relationship has deepened since then.

Click here to find out how God is transforming Caitlyn to transform the world.