Click here to read Peggar’s story.

Today, Peggar works as a financial advisor and operates her own catering business. But after her 1979 graduation from Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia, she served several years on CCO staff herself, and even directed the Jubilee conference for several years.

Peggar was a sophomore at Alderson-Broaddus when the CCO first arrived on campus—all five staff workers. Jeff Winter and Gail Heffner served as resident directors, Judy Winter was the school nurse, Ken Heffner was the Director of Student Activities, and Ken Wagoner was Associate Dean of Men. While there had been a student-led Christian fellowship group on campus before the CCO arrived, it didn’t draw a huge number of students. The CCO staff expected maybe 30 or 40 students to attend the first Celebration Circle fellowship meeting they hosted. They were completely unprepared when hundreds of students showed up.

For the rest of her college career, Peggar immersed herself in the CCO-led ministry. She served as an RA in the freshman women’s residence hall where Gail was the RD. She spent a lot of time with Judy Winter, and spent a summer with Jeff and Judy in Wildwood, New Jersey for a Christian beach outreach. A few years later, in 1983, Jeff Winter initiated what became the CCO-sponsored Ocean City Beach Project which takes place every summer, and which Peggar herself directed for several years.

“I really grew in my understanding of calling during my college years,” says Peggar. “I came to understand that when God calls you as a Christian, you can serve God wherever you are—not just as an ordained minister or a missionary. I learned that my faith had implications for my vocational life, whatever it may be. I’m grateful that these staff people came into my life to open up the fullness of the gospel.”

Today, Peggar lives in Pittsburgh and is an elder at Beulah Presbyterian Church, where she serves on the Fellowship Committee and regularly teaches adult Sunday school classes. She recently completed a class on prayer for the over-60 adults, and she is starting to co-teach a class which will equip adults to study Scripture more fully.

“I made life-long friends as a result of being a part of the CCO’s ministry, and I still carry that vision of changing the world,” Peggar says. “I have a strong sense of my calling to be faithful where I am. God is going to change things, and I am called to be faithful in what I say, how I live, and everything I do.”

—John Henne is owner of Henne Jewelers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Click here to read James’ story.

A simple desire to find a spring backpacking trip served as the catalyst for connecting James Whitacre with the ministry of the CCO. While a student at Ohio Wesleyan University, James asked a friend from one of his classes if he knew of any backpacking opportunities. That friend suggested he contact Ohio Wesleyan’s Assistant Chaplain, Scott Gabriel, a CCO staff member. The two began meeting on a regular basis, and Scott asked James to be a leader on the backpacking trip.

Although James had grown up in the church, he says that he didn’t really take his faith seriously during his first year and a half at college. Soon after meeting Scott, James remembers wanting to follow his lead, describing Scott as “one of the most gifted teachers I’ve ever met. He drew you in and could feel your desire to learn. I wanted to learn everything he could teach me.”

Initially, James was interested in learning more about backpacking and other outdoor skills, but Scott eventually began to teach him more about Jesus, faith in general and how to live that out.

Without the CCO’s ministry, James thinks his faith probably would have remained superficial, not the kind of depth he believes Christ calls us to. He remembers looking at friends in high school and thinking that there had to be something bigger and better in life. When he met Scott and got to know him, Scott affirmed that Christ is the something bigger. James considers Scott’s ministry with the CCO as the means Christ used to draw him to Himself.

James currently serves as a CCO staff member at Geneva College in the position of Challenge Course Coordinator. Through his work, James invites students into the process of discipleship, calling them to a deeper level of knowing Christ.

James considers his years working with the CCO as truly transformative, reflected, he hopes, in the way he lives. Newly engaged, James says that what he has learned from the CCO has a huge impact on how he and his fiancée relate to and serve one another. “I’m continually being transformed in my personal life, in working with students, and in whatever I’m doing.”

The CCO’s mission is to fulfill God’s purpose through the lives of college students by showing them the approach, authority and attitude to transform, thus transforming the world. For me, supporting this ministry is a privilege and a blessing.

—JT Thomas is a former defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers during the team’s Super Bowl heydays in the 1970s, and he is now the owner of Red, Hot & Blue, A Southern Grill & Bar at The Waterfront in West Homestead, Pennsylvania.

Click here to read Jeff’s story.

Jeff remembers that the CCO sponsored a number of seminars and activities on campus when he was a student. He especially remembers listening to CCO staff member Pete Steen talking about developing a Christian worldview. He considers what Pete represented and taught as being the biggest influence in his life. Jeff says that being involved with the CCO during his college years made him a more serious student than he might otherwise have been. He had always wanted to be a teacher, but the things he was learning from Dave and staff members Terry Thomas, Bill Painter and Ted Schumacher gave him more of a sense of mission in being a student. He began thinking about why he was in college and what his purpose was, and Jeff says there was a sense of excitement in seeing the connection between his life as a Christian and what he was chosen to do.

Jeff and his wife Donna live in Spring City, Pennsylvania with their son, Sam, and daughter, Iris. Jeff is active at the First Presbyterian Church of Phoenixville, where he serves as an elder, coordinates and teaches adult Sunday school, and is active on the missions committee. He has been a part of three mission trips to Guatemala where his church has been able to make connections with local teachers and schools.

In his work as a college professor, Jeff finds that the way he teaches often reflects what he learned through the CCO’s ministry. As he talks with students, he encourages them to connect what they believe with what they want to do. Jeff challenges his students on the first day of class to identify the worldviews shaping their thinking. The most important thing for students to do in college, Jeff believes, is to clarify what they believe. For Jeff McLaughlin, developing a Christian worldview through the ministry of the CCO has been “more of a powerful theme than I probably know.”

Click here to read Heather’s story.

Heather, who graduated from Malone College in 2008, was introduced to the CCO’s ministry at the end of her junior year, when CCO staff member and Malone’s Director of Campus Ministry Linda Leon invited her to participate in the CCO-sponsored Ocean City Beach Project.

“I went to the Beach Project seeking to live in community and learn how to be a more effective kingdom leader,” says Heather. As a commuter student, this was her first opportunity to really live with other college students, and the experience of living and learning with fellow Christian student leaders was transformative.

“I got to spend quite a bit of time with [CCO staff member] Derek Melleby, who talked to us about academic faithfulness and what it means to allow your Christian convictions to overflow into the world of academics. I listened to him talk about a topic that I hadn’t really heard discussed before. It was challenging and further pushed me to pursue my classes with a passionate desire to learn and gain kingdom knowledge.”

Part of Heather’s drive to grow in her faith and her leadership abilities was to be able to more effectively lead the ministry she founded as a first-year student at Malone. Love the Children Ministries was born out of a paper Heather wrote for a freshman English class on the difference between pity and compassion. She concluded that “pity is when you feel sorry for someone, and compassion is when you feel sorry with someone and it compels you to action.” Heather was compelled to action, and in response to what she understood as the needs of the Canton, Ohio community, she hosted what would be the first annual Love the Children Ministries Christmas Celebration.

Today, in addition to her work as a reading teacher at Lexington Elementary School, Heather serves as Executive Director of this inner-city youth mission that she founded as a college student. “Our hope is to transform communities through the radical love of Christ one child at a time,” she says. “In 2008, we are celebrating our fifth year of service in the Canton community. During the first four years, we offered two new Christmas gifts, personal time with Santa, live entertainment, and a catered meal to more than 700 children. We are now in the process of offering our families year-round services, including school supplies, a community library, and a sports ministry program.” Heather is currently running the ministry out of her church home, Crystal Park United Methodist Church, as she awaits 501c3 status.

“One of the things I loved about the Beach Project was the central focus of relational evangelism,” says Heather. “People are seeking community, love, and acceptance. I choose to share my faith by building relationships with those who need Jesus the most, and meeting their physical needs in the hope of meeting their spiritual needs at the same time. I have the greatest gift in the world, and it comes with unlimited supply and free of charge. So I give of myself, hoping that they will accept the gift of Christ by seeing him alive in me.”

As Heather continues to follow her calling to reach out to her community, she is grateful for her time at the Beach Project and the Jubilee conference. “The CCO helped me to support my ministry and grow into a deeper relationship with God that has allowed him to have an even more complete reign in my life. I treasure the time I spent at the beach. It is because of my experiences learning about myself that summer while living in community that I am a constantly growing follower of Christ in all areas of my life.”