Hey hey hey!!! =)

I know I continue to say this, but it really is crazy to realize just how fast time passes by. Tonight is the last CSF before Thanksgiving, and then when we get back we only have two more! It still feels like the semester just began!!! Right now seems to be the hard part of the semester for me, because my mind is racing as I'm trying to finish out this semester and its curriculum, but I also want to start working on the curriculum for next semester in addition to working on classes for school. It's certainly a struggle, but God has been giving me the strength each day to get it done! =)

Next semester, my hope is organize the curriculum around the idea of what makes a "Christian" a Christian. First, we are going to be talking about what the core beliefs of a Christian are and should be. Then we're going to go into the reasoning of why we believe what we believe. It's going to be somewhat of an apologetic-based semester where we are going to really be digging deep and challenging everyone to really 'know' and talk about what they believe! I've talked with some students already and ran the theme by them and there is a buzz of excitement. I believe that this will also be a chance for the CSF students to invite people they know who have questions about Jesus and who/what a Christian really is!  My hope and prayer is that God will use Emily and I and the lessons/conversations/sermons/Bible studies/etc to help these students realize the potential of their lives' in Christ.

I've also set out the goal to pray and find two new financial supporters each week. I have a large list of churches throughout the area that I'm going to start contacting to see if I can meet and share with them what God is doing here at Lock Haven University, and hopefully they will want to join us in our work here. I know there are other ministries here at LHU that are quality and are serving God, so the challenge is to find churches who aren't already supporting ministries here to reach out to college students and help support CSF. I ask that you all would offer up prayers for us in the fundraising process as it will certainly be an ongoing process throughout this ministry, but is something that I know is certainly doable because God has called me here!

On to more life updates, I'm torn about the upcoming Christmas break. I'm going to miss working with the students everyday, but at the same time, I'm excited for the the break and for the time to prepare and study up for the new semester. I also will have more time to work on homework for classes, so I'm certainly excited for that as well!!! This update was a little short I know, but I hope to have more next time around! It's a little difficult to write these when students are messing with you, haha. ;) Until next time!!!

Pat

A Week in KY

Last week Emily and I were in the good ole state of Kentucky for a master's class. After sitting in class from 8:45am to 4:45pm each day last week, learning about the history of Christian Thought, one thing that really stuck out to me was just how similar denominations are to each other in the things that actually matter. Anyhow, I'm convinced that Kentucky hates me because I once again have a sinus infection since visiting the bluegrass state. This week has been nuts so far. I've been working on getting everything ready for our movie/outreach night tonight and this weekend is the CSF Fall Retreat. Emily and I are going to be going and are pretty excited for it!! I emailed out the fall newsletter for CSFPA yesterday to everyone who I had sent newletters to before. If you didn't receive one and would like one, let me know and I'll send it out to you! I'm going to be getting my own newsletter completed here in the next couple of weeks. I've decided that I'm going to be doing bi-monthly newsletters, so this one is going to be for Oct/Nov. All-in-all, life's busy and good. I would ask that you continue to pray for Emily and I as we continue to seek financial supporters and trust God with every aspect of our lives!

Grace and Peace,
Pat

A New Week

So last week at CSF, we had about 44 people once again. It's so cool to see God using this ministry and these students in the way that He's doing! This week is EXTREMELY busy! I have a lot of Master's homework to get done by Friday night, in addition to preaching tomorrow night. This week I'm preaching on prayer, which is certainly something that could be preached on for a full month. I'm praying that God will allow these students to see how powerful prayer is and can be, and that a passionate flame will begin to kindle within their hearts, leading the to pray for others, their enemies, this campus, and this country! Saturday Emily and I will be hitting to the road and traveling to the good old state of Kentucky for a week of class. I'm excited to be see old friends and to be able to be in class again, learning. Then next weekend, we come back on Saturday, just in time to lead two church services for two area nursing homes in the area on Sunday (30th). Needless to say, life is crazy for us right now, but I'm absolutely loving it!!! =) I'm starting to work on curriculum for next semester, but it's a little challenging to do that with everything else going on, so that might have to wait until things start easing up a little. Emily and I are going to try to get the October newsletter made-up and out to you all here shortly. Hope you all are doing well!!! Until next time!

Pat

...

Let me just say, time passes SOOO fast. I was sitting in Lower Bentley today, talking with one of my students, and he said he was reading my last blog post. It was then that I was reminded that I hadn't updated my blog. So I asked him what the date on the post was, and when he told me I was like "WHAT?!?!" So in saying that, I apologize that I'm not doing a very good job at keeping you all updated. I'm going to try to do better, so please hang in there for me. =) Last week was a fun week. I found out on Sunday evening of last week that the speaker that was going to speak in CSF had an opportunity to travel to Canada and to help out with revivals at some churches for the week. I told him to go for it, so last Monday I worked overtime trying to work out a sermon for Wednesday night. It turned out pretty well, in my opinion. =) I also wrote 12 1/3 single spaced pages of notes on a commentary for my Master's class on 1 Corinthians. This week I have an exam to take for that class and a paper to write for my History of Christian Thought Master's class. Even though it does involve work, I'm very happy that I have this chance to learn more and further my education. Yesterday Lock Haven didn't have school, so I went to the library to use the internet and work on budget stuff. Something that I have been thinking about since August was about what I was going to do after finishing with my Master's program. Even though I still have about 2 years left in this program, I found an opportunity as a CSF campus minister to get my MDiv for free from Cincinnati Bible Seminary. I was looking at the focuses that are offered within it at Cincinnati, and was very excited to find out that they have a church planting emphasis as one of the options for their MDiv program. This is something that I am certainly excited about, but that I am going to be praying about for the next 2 years to see if this really is something that God will let me do and wants me to do. In regards to the Campus Ministry here at Lock Haven, I'm loving it here. The opportunities that God has presented here in this ministry have been unbelievable. This weekend Emily and I will be taking some students out to work a concessions stand at the Penn State football game, in order to fund-raise for the campus ministry. Then coming up in two weeks, we will be in Kentucky for our in-class session of our History of Christian Thought Master's class. I'm excited to be back on campus to see friends and to meet up with people. I hope that it goes well and that Emily and I both enjoy it and learn a lot from the week. Recently we started getting plugged in at a local church. We are a part of a small group that meets every Tuesday night. So far we are REALLY enjoying getting to know the people and becoming a part of the body of believers here at Crossroads Community Church. Well, I guess I should probably get back to work now. I would ask for your continued prayers for the students here and for Emily and I as we continue to raise support and try to get fully funded. I appreciate all of your prayers! Until next time!!! =)

Pat

Wow

God is truly amazing! I know people say this a lot, but seriously, He is!!! Every week we've had more and more people come check out CSF. Last night we had the most that any of the longtime members can remember come check it out, 44. It was pretty crowded but that's a good problem to have I guess, haha. Last night was also the first Wednesday night that I haven't preached since the school year began. Instead we had a night of worship experience. We had various stations set up around the room where people could go to and interact with God in their own way. I was sitting on a side of the room and had multiple students come to me wanting to talk about stuff going on in their lives and I was able to pray with them. There are times in this position of Campus Minister where I definitely don't feel like I have the qualifications to do this job because there are somethings that I don't know the answers to right away. But the cool thing is, as Brian Baldwin once told me, I can't do this on my own and I'm not going to know all the answers. It's in situations like this where I feel the most used by God because there's no way that I can do anything on my own to help these students. I'm really excited about this school year. There have already been so many things that have happened and I'm sure that there will be many, MANY more things to happen! I'm also excited about something I'm doing in my personal walk. I just recently completed a 90-day chronological Bible reading plan. I've already started it, and let me tell you, I'm REALLY enjoying it! My hope is that every 90 days, I will have read through the entire Bible, chronologically. This way I can learn more about the historical progression of how everything happened and I will be able to piece together and tie in Scripture in my sermons and in my own understanding. This way, I'll be reading through the entire Bible 4 times every year! If any of you are interested in something like this or maybe you are just curious as to the chronological order of things, feel free to message me and I can send it to you! Well, I'm off to work on some Master's homework and take a test. Love you guys! Till next time!

Pat

Update

I'm SO sorry for not being up on this posting thing, haha. But a lot has happened since that last post. I kicked off the guys' d-group last Thursday! We only had about 4 guys show up for the first one, but it still went very well. Emily is kicking off the girls' d-group this Thursday night. I've gotten a few more people to join Emily and I in this ministry through supporting us, but I'm still looking for about 42 people who would support us with only $20 a month. If I can reach my goal of finding 50 people who would do that, I would jump to 89% funded. Last Wednesday Lock Haven had a club fair. A local CMA church, Commonplace Church, partnered with us and provided us with an ice cream cart and about 9 gallons of ice cream to pass out to people who came by and to help promote CSF. That night we had about 33 students show up, which was the most in a LONG time! Hopefully more people will be interested in coming out and checking out what CSF is and joining the community that we have here at Lock Haven. This week I'm going to be starting the 2nd unit in the curriculum that I have for "Like Jesus". I'm pretty excited about it and my hope is that the students will get a lot out of it and will encounter Jesus in a new, life changing way! Life's going well for Emily and I and we certainly appreciate the prayers that you all are offering up for us! We would ask that you continue to pray that God would use Emily and I to work with the students here and work to change lives! Till next time!

Pat

And So It Begins... =)

Well school has finally started! YAY!!! =) It seemed like it would never get here, but alas it has. The past few days I've gotten to 'set up' my 'office' in lower Bentley. In other words, hang out in the cafeteria so I'm where the students are. Yesterday was the first CSF service for the year! I spent the middle part of my day standing out in the middle of campus with a few of our students passing out flyers and candy, inviting students to come check CSF out. It was a pretty impressive turnout, with almost 30 people showing up!!! God sure is amazing! I began the semester-long series that we're simply calling "Like Jesus". It seemed to be a big hit and go over well! I've even had some students come up to me already asking deep questions about the Bible and about life and I absolutely love it! I appreciate the prayers that you all are giving and encourage you all to continue to pray for Emily and I and the students here at Lock Haven University. I should be able to update you all more frequently now that I'm all set up, have internet access, and the school years off to a start. I should be finishing up the first newsletter here within the next week or so. I'm going to be sending it out to people who's information I already have, but I still might not have yours. If you're interested in receiving the newsletter mailings either digitally or by hard copy, send me an email with your email address and/or mailing address. Thanks! Till next time!


Patrick