Buzz Roberts, senior campus minister of Christian Student Fellowship at Penn State for the past 28 years, invited me to lead their statewide campus ministry retreat Oct 1-3, 2010. What a great pleasure it was to travel to Pennsylvania to do a Son Safaris retreat for their students. Buzz and I met in August at the Association of College Ministries’ National Student Conference. I was there to teach a 3 day workshop and Buzz was there with his students. I want to thank Buzz publicly for the opportunity to speak to the CSF students of Penn State. Thanks Buzz!
The most wonderful part of the entire experience for me was having my family there with me. I view family as a ministry in itself, so I was extremely happy that mine was invited to come with me. Buzz and his wife Betty were the perfect hosts. Our kids had a blast! The 30 students present enjoyed playing football, Frisbee, and kickball with them. We all became one big family over the weekend!
Living here in the “Bible Belt” for the last 10 years, I have become used to Christianity being the norm here. It certainly is not the norm in the Northeast! I was struck by the hunger of the students at the retreat to find truth. The dynamics of living as a Christian are completely different there, and it was a real eye opener to see students seek truth with such passion. In fact, on the last night that I was speaking, a few students who had to leave before my final presentation the next morning were adamant that they wanted to hear how the series ended. So much so that they wanted me to keep speaking for another hour!
All in all, the Pennsylvania trip was a great experience! I got to share my love of Christ with even more people, to have my family with me and, by God’s grace, to bring these truth seeking students closer to the One who is “the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life.”!
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