Ohio Adventist Christian Fellowship: March 2011

About Ohio Adventist Christian Fellowship

Here’s a surprising fact: Did you know that 65% of Seventh-day Adventist young people attend secular colleges or universities? Studying at a secular college or university presents challenges to a student’s faith. Being at college may be his or her first time making decisions of their own, without mom and dad there to guide them. University studies are stressful, and social pressures are strong. The Ohio Conference has long hoped to minister to students—Seventh-day Adventists and others—on secular campuses. In September, we started a pilot program to place chaplains at three of our state’s universities: Ohio University in Athens, The Ohio State University in Columbus, and Wright State University in Dayton. Here are some of their experiences.

Monday, March 14, 2011

ACF 1 on 1's

Last week was the week before finals.... and the stress was definitely building on our campus and with our ACF students. This last week I met 1 on 1 with all our core members in order to discuss their life, leadership with ACF, spiritual gifts, and where they are spiritually right now in their lives. It was such a blessing to be able to really talk for about 2 hours with each student and it has really brought me and the students together. The leadership is beginning to pick up this quarter and it is exciting to see them coming to each other, as well as me more for prayer or simply someone to vent to. I'm excited to have:

Michael Davis take over as President

Stephanie McCain take over as Vice-President

Abigail Klipfel as our Secretary

Courtney Simon to continue as our Treasurer

Rachel McMahan as our Social Coordinator

Jessica Blaza as our Outreach Coordinator

Josh Cabay as our Boys Mentor/Network

Part of the meeting was the find each individuals strength and find a way in which they felt they could lead the organization and group in order to be successful.

1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Our college students have so much going on in their lives right now and for many of them, faith is such a huge question because they learn so many new "ideas" about Jesus Christ in a Public University. Just like I did, they question if what we learned our whole lives is just another myth. I know that only the Holy Spirit can really do the work in each individuals lives, but I challenge all our church members to take the time to hear our students out and allow them to speak their mind and sometimes just vent the difficulties of trying to be a Disciple for God and still questioning their own beliefs on a Public Campus.

Our Campus Ministries team

Columbus, Ohio is the home of Ohio’s largest university, and one of the largest campuses in the United States. There are 55,000 students on the campus of The Ohio State University. Gina and David Helbley were serving as missionaries in Kazakhstan, when they felt a calling to do campus ministry. David is an engineer, and Gina is a graduate from the ministerial program at Walla Walla College. Now in Columbus, they’ve made their home a center for campus outreach.

Wright State University is located in Dayton, Ohio. Many Seventh-day Adventist students are in the 20,000 student body. We’ve invited Sabrina Araiza, a young adult psychology graduate from Arizona, to become our campus chaplain at Wright State. Sabrina will be working with a team from the Kettering church, under the mentorship of Kettering young adult pastor Elliot Smith.

The state’s oldest university is located in Athens, Ohio, in the foothills of Appalachia. Although Athens is a small city, 20,000 students attend Ohio University. The church in Athens has a vision to reach out to the university community. They’re being assisted by Darrin and Cristine Thurber. The Thurbers come to Ohio from California. Darrin is a ministerial student, and Cristine (known to her friends as Beamy) is a social worker. With the help of other Seventh-day Adventist students and faculty, they’ve started a strong outreach program to students.