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University of Washington Honoring Peter Allen

March 19, 2012 By

Peter with his mom and dad

On Friday March 23rd, the University of Washington Athletic Department and the Husky Crew Team honored Peter by naming their Varisty Boat after him.   Peter was a loving disciple who rowed for the UW Crew Team.  He lived as a faithful Christian and left many people touched and inspired by his life.  Thank you to all who joined us from the church for the dedication at Conibear Shellhouse,  at the University of Washington.   Peter lives on in our thoughts and our prayers, and we can’t imagine a more appropriate way to honor him.   His family and friends agree, it seems fitting that Peter’s memory will live on with the sport he so dearly loved.

Filed Under: Announcements, Campus Ministry, Event Reports, Good News!, News
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SPU – Blessed Are The Eyes That See What You See

January 23, 2012 By

If I told you that 5 years ago, when we didn’t have a campus presence at SPU, that it wasn’t an ideal place to begin a campus ministry, many people would have agreed. I saw many efforts made to help start a ministry there in the past and there were times when I began to doubt whether we would ever see a campus presence of disciples.  It’s a small college that has deep religious traditions, which makes bringing in new ideas and approaches to Christianity difficult. Many thought it might take a full time intern on the campus to provide the students with daily leadership and direction.   And most obviously, there were many complexities of starting a campus ministry in a school where many students and faculty might feel threatened or offended by the differences in our perspectives on conversion, baptism and practical Christianity.

Today there are 13 brothers and sisters at SPU (and 16 in their two bible talks), thanks to a series of little miracles that helped us see a restoration of biblical relationships and faith lived out there.

The first miracle was that we had children that grew up in our group of churches, who decide to attend school there: Ali Winje, Audrey Hoffner and Fabricio Turcious were among the first.  Ali Winje was the first disciple to start attending classes at SPU.  With a scholarship to play soccer, she was all alone her Freshman year and really fought hard to stay faithful, having to attend a UW Bible Talk and be a part of a ministry on the other side of Montlake.  The next year, Audrey Hoffner enrolled at SPU.  Fabricio enrolled the folllowing year, and brought a lot of faith and a strong desire to start a ministry.   With Fabricio, Ali and Audrey together, the 3 of them formed a cohesive core group that made the Bible Talk attractive to other students.  Along with Jake Tacher and Hannah Templer, who attended different schools, we finally had enough students to start an SPU Bible Talk.  And if one of those pieces was missing, I doubt it would have worked.

The second miracle was the City Region purchasing the Queen Anne building.  Situated less than a half mile up the hill from SPU, the Queen Anne Church building provides a very inviting and welcoming place for SPU students to worship.  I think the stability and permanence of the building has made evangelism at that school a little easier because students come and see something familiar, a permanent place to worship and grow in their faith.  The Queen Anne building is a place where they can have events, watch movies, hold dances, pray all night and of course, worship on Sundays.  The city region of the Seattle Church sacrificed in dollars, and the SPU ministry is reaping in souls being saved.

The final miracle was the conversion of strong spiritual men: Aaron Badilla, Jens Brenestead and Brian Fisher were the first three brothers converted there, and they have all grown into faithful, spiritual leaders who have helped convert other strong men of character.  They use their talents by leading Bible talks and small groups on that campus, outreach, and even singing and performing on Sundays. Those brothers have provided a sense of stability and maturity beyond their years and have opened a door that has made it safe for other students to follow.

Fabricio, Josh and Jens

This past week, in sub freezing temperatures, Josh Heinke was baptized into Christ at Golden Gardens.  Josh was the 16th SPU baptism in the past 2 years!  The whole moment was pretty overwhelming for me, so I stayed afterward and prayed.  When I closed my eyes, all I could think of was Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Luke 1O. So many of us have longed to see something like this, a vibrant ministry at SPU. I believe that SPU is one of the largest campus ministries at a faith based school in our movement of churches. What an incredible blessing for us to see God working like this, and I pray that the miracles happening here can inspire faith in students on other difficult and hard to reach campuses.

Filed Under: Articles, Campus Ministry
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Grads Reconnect at Alumni Dinner

January 8, 2012 By

The past 3 years, we’ve hosted an alumni dinner to give students who have graduated from our ministry a chance to reconnect and meet graduates from other years.  The event isn’t formal, but the fellowship is always enlightening, especially when disciples are able to connect with disciples who graduated years apart, yet shared the same common experiences while a part of the Seattle Campus Ministry.

Angela and Andrea both in the Seattle Marrieds Ministry

This year it was great watching Adrienne Kishimoto and Jackie Ahrens ( UW and SPU ’11) get to know Casey Scheopflin (UW ’01) and Katie Mitchell (UW ’05), meet for the first time.  ”Wow, I didn’t even know they were in campus.” Adrienne confided.   “This is great, I feel like I got to know people and see how similar our experiences were.  It was really inspiring.”

Todd, Kenan and River

As people dropped in an out all night, we were treated to seeing campus graduates thriving in all the different ministries in our church, singles, young marrieds and the married with kids ministry, West-side, East-side;  they were all happy and faithful.  At one point, there were 30 alums in our house and 15 children, or future alums, as I like to call them.

When the evening came to an end, I was exhausted, but moved by the connectivity and beauty of  how strong our common bond still is. The only thing that has to change is next year, the event must be held at the Church…15 future alums are a bit too energetic for 1 house!

Katie and one of the “future 15″
Filed Under: Campus Ministry, Event Reports
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Husky Defensive End Makes An Impact

November 29, 2011 By

Last Spring, Husky Defensive End, Andrew Hudson, was baptized into Christ. In the past year, because of  his faith and his hard work, he has made an incredible impact for the Huskies both on and off the field. Andrew has been a blessing to the University, his teammates and his ministry. If you spend a couple of minutes with him, you’ll immediately notice his humble demeanor, unassuming humility and a big contagious smile.

In an age when athletes are put on a pedestal and where sports can be considered one of the most noble pursuits in life, it seems that Andrew has a great perspective on his life and what things outside of football matter to him. Especially, what he enjoys about being a part of a Campus Ministry. “What I love most about our bible talk is how we have all come so close to one another. Though we are in school and it can seem busy at times; living together with Christians and having daily contact with them has helped me grow and encouraged me through the tough times, especially when school and football aren’t going well.”

Andrew’s faith has helped him stay grounded. No matter what the outcome of the game, Andrew comes to Church with a smile and some faithful words. When I asked him how he stays positive, Andrew talked about his time with God. “Usually, on Monday morning and either Friday night or Saturday morning, I get to have a legitimate quiet time without rushing or going through the motions. I feel that prayer is half the relationship.  Reading the Bible and getting a golden nugget out of the scriptures is also fulfilling. Though that sounds good and easy, its something that I often can set aside and at times forget. It is easy for me to be around the spiritual family and encourage others. But my personal relationship with God is something that I would like to see get stronger.   I feel that I have had my best weeks when I’ve lived a balanced life. When I don’t put off actually reading the Bible, then I feel that I am able to perform at my best. When all 4 phases of my life being school, football, my social life, and my spiritually are in balance, I reach Saturday focused and ready to preform.”

This summer, Andrew lived with us for a month and my family got to see his commitment firsthand. He was up at 4:30 am 5 days a week to make morning workouts. He was gone most of the day at practice and class. His evenings were spent with his Bible Talk and teammates, and yet he still found time to be an active part of our ministry and family. Sometimes its easy to forget just how much time one has to sacrifice in order to be a successful athlete. When asked about his daily schedule, Andrew shared just what his routine looks like during the season, “Typically I have to be up early and have few hours to myself where I have to find time to eat and share the Gospel, usually with a brother like Mike or Mick. From 1:20p.m. to 8p.m. I have meetings, practice, dinner and tutoring. I try to get to tutoring early so I can leave in time for bible talk.” Then you have to add in homework, lifting, and extra time studying plays and schemes; and yet no one has ever heard Andrew complain about all this. In fact, he calls it a blessing and eagerly embraces it. Like many athletes, Andrew has sometimes showed up to Bible Talk with his dinner in hand, excited to participate in the discussion.

What might be most refreshing to hear, is Andrew’s faith and spiritual aspirations to see others impacted by his life and friendship. When you see him around his teammates it becomes evident that he is a true friend and genuinely supportive. He shared about the type of teammate he tries to be, “One way for me (to encourage my teammates) is simple complements. Noticing someone’s hard work when they feel no one else does. That’s what I do. Even just motivating someone by having a great attitude is important. The season is long, and everyone hits a wall at some point or another and needs a push. But the best thing you can bring to any team is energy, passion and of course, some laughter. Practices can be repetitive at times and it can be easy to just go through the motions. We have an energetic coaching staff but they can only meet us half way, if we as players can bring the same enthusiasm and make practice fun, then we come closer as a team and become more accountable.”

This past year, we started an athletes Bible Talk Wednesday Evenings at the Shell House. There are a number of Husky Athletes studying the Bible and we hope to continue the Bible Talk throughout the Winter and Spring. Off the field Andrew is committed to helping others come to know Christ and a number of his teammates are studying the Bible as well. This type of humility is uncommon in many athletes, but Andrew shares honestly about his struggles finding this inner peace. “Last year while red shirting I had a lot of uncertainty about myself and how my image appeared to others.  I cared a lot about what others saw in me. Much of what I thought about myself was completely based off my performance on the field. So as you could imagine, there were some highs, but plenty of lows. Having a family in Christ and having a purpose in my life that far exceeds that of football, helps me realize what matters the most.”

This season, Andrew’s hard work was rewarded and he has earned a spot in the starting rotation on the Husky defense. In his past four games he’s beginning to come into his own with a 3 sacks, a fumble recovery and a near interception. It’s faith building to have a brother who brings as much joy and energy into our fellowship as Andrew. We hope to see him continuing to make an impact at the University of Washington for years to come, both on and off the field.

Alex Whitaker, Seattle Campus Minister

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Remembering the inspirational life of Peter Allen

May 12, 2011 By

On Friday, September 9, there was a memorial service at the church building honoring the life of campus student Peter Allen, who died in a hiking accident on September 5.  Friends, family and members of the church all gathered to remember the amazing life of a young man who had devoted his life to helping others find the same hope he found in Jesus.  It was a moving time, and Peter will be remembered by all of us as an inspirational young man who took his walk with God seriously.  We love you Peter, and we’ll see you….in just a little while.

Filed Under: Campus Ministry
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A Home Away from Home

December 28, 2009 By

By Danielle Whitaker

The holidays are upon us once again. The older I get, the quicker they seem to come! And with them come all the traditions we look forward to. Sometimes the word tradition seems like an unspiritual word to talk about. Especially if you just read Mark 7 for your Quiet time this morning which warns us about “setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.” That is why in the campus ministry we make sure our campus traditions put into practice the word of God instead of setting it aside! For example:

Holiday Tradition #1 “Campus Thanksgiving”

In this tradition we put into practice such scriptures as Acts2:46 “They broke bread together and ate with glad and sincere hearts…”, and 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” (Ha ha!) Each Campus student, male and female, brings part of an early Thanksgiving feast to our house (we used to do it on Campus….but having an oven makes the meal so much warmer and more enjoyable!) We place it on the table and pray and start eating….it is amazing how quickly 3 turkeys are eaten along with everything else. The students amaze me. We usually always have some sort of cooking story to laugh about….like when Grant Moen made a pumpkin pie and baked it for 5 hours because it still looked runny…..it still got eaten! Or when Dave White cooked a 20+ lb.turkey on 500 degrees for 2 hours…..it still got eaten! Or this year when Darius and Tim were supposed to bring a ham to the gathering, yet after 30-40 minutes in the oven, they smelled a very bad smell and found a very burnt ham on the outside that was still uncooked on the inside….I still do not understand how that happened….it did not get eaten or even brought over to stare at, but we had mercy and let them eat anyways! It was so much fun to see everyone and their friends. It was a packed house and we will continue to enjoy this campus tradition for years to come!

Holiday Tradition #2 Brother’s Encouragement Night (BEN)

I wouldn’t call this a tradition yet….but after seeing the effects I think it should be. It was sandwiched between the Thanksgiving and Christmas parties and I thought it was so amazing that it deserved some attention. At this event, the campus sisters put into practice Hebrews 3 :12-13, “encourage one another daily…”. They surprised the campus brothers by throwing them a party. At his party, they had candles lit, lights turned low, and a carpet rolled out as the men entered the fellowship hall on December 4th. They had baked goodies and drinks. They had armor for them to put on and take pictures with distinguishing them as the warriors of God they are. They were treated to a slideshow and were serenaded by a small band…singer, guitarist, pianist and even Adrienne Kishimoto on the harmonica…singing Stand by Me! And that is not all! Each sister had a gift for each brother and shared about them in front of the group. I think this tradition is very repeatable based on the looks on our amazing brother’s faces!

Holiday Tradition #3 The Campus Christmas Party

The next day, December 5th, was our annual Christmas Party. At this event we put into practice such scriptures as Psalm 126 “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.” We believe in having a lot of fun. Our amazing hostesses such as Megan Caraway, party planner extraordinaire, had candy, candy corn, candy canes, and syrup at our snack table….I was wondering what the syrup went on when told that Will Ferrell on the movie Elf considered these the 4 essential food groups. We have many comedians in our group. Darius is the one who spearheads the “most obnoxious Christmas sweater you can find and wear” contest. He always wins….as you can tell by the photo. We have a white elephant every year….even though the limit is $10….they usually cost much less than that and are always very unique…..new shoes that didn’t fit one of the guys, little stuffed animals, a ‘Pretty, Pretty Princess’ game I stole for my 3 year old daughter! (she wants to play it everyday, so it is getting used). A trick pen that made one sister scream and my husband a little upset till they saw the ink disappear off their shirts. The laughter, and memories go on…..40 people musical chairs (Adrienne won that challenge for the second year in a row!), group building of gingerbread houses in less than 5 minutes….The nativity house won. (My group’s looked like Hurricane Mike had just blown through.) And my favorite tradition of all…..group singing and acting out of the 12 days of Christmas! I wish we could have got that one on tape.

I feel so privileged to be a part of the campus ministry here in Seattle. These students inspire me every day by their love, their laughter, and their lives. In Mark 10:30, Jesus promises us a home away from home….”a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” when we put him first. I am so happy to be able to use our home and our new church home for our campus traditions. I am so happy to have a larger family than I ever dreamed possible to spend this life with on earth and someday our home away from home in heaven.

Filed Under: Campus Ministry
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