Five Religious and Spiritual Trends for 2010

What do you think about this article about the spiritual and religious trend for 2010?
The spiritual A La Carte is certainly visible on many college campuses but what about the trend we see in Europe. A few weeks ago the Taize community held its annual meeting. 30,000 young people came from all over the world to attend. Take a look here.
How do you understand the response to the worship students find at Taize?

Year end reflection (V)

A little worse for the wear....
We head into 2010 looking forward to what God has in the plans for us including a exciting opportunity for the Outdoor Leadership Team to support the work of the CCO's development department. Check it out!

Thanks for all your prayers and support that make our work of equipping CCO staff possible. Through them, college students get a chance to discover a different way of living, the way of Shalom and abundant life.

Year end reflections (IV)

A little family vacation visiting Francois' dad.

Speaking of resurrecting traditions, in December Paul Harbison, Joy and Francois taught a classic four-day workshop called Working With Groups. The intensive training has been a foundation of CCO staff training for many years but had fallen off the radar. With 14 participants, we explore how groups work and how to facilitate groups from Bible studies to Spring break trips. (picture to come)

Which brings us to the end of the year. Francois defended his dissertation proposal.


A harrowing experience but not as hard as saying good bye to the best dog in the world just before the holidays. We miss her much.

Year end reflection (III)

Speaking of water (you kinda have to read these posts in order!), Francois took advantage of the last days of sun this fall to help CCO staff Becky Snow (on the left) take a group of Waynesburg University students on the water.

The university is looking to find more constructive forms of activities to engage the students and has asked Becky to resurrect the outdoor club. The Waynesburg Outdoor Experience (WOE!) was one of the original CCO outdoor programs 25 years ago!

What a tradition!

Becky was on the sea kayak training Francois led last year and she will leading this summer's Crossings trip for graduating seniors.

Year end reflection (II)

We already wrote about our wonderful visit to Bryce's Creek Church at the end of September here.
October brought staff seminar and the gathering of the Outdoor Leadership Team.


Sean Purcell (on the left) came down from Canada to teach our staff about the philosophical foundations of Christian outdoor education.


We welcomed 9 new staff to the Outdoor Leadership Team. Lots of training and administrative needs to get these folks up and running has kept Joy busy this fall.

November brought the ninth annual kayak-a-thon on the Pittsburgh rivers. A gorgeous day for a 25 mile paddle! Joy was in charge of this rather complicated event. Everything ran smoothly as all her planning paid off. She kept us the 20 paddlers organized and well-fed (Thank you Chick-Fil-A) during this dawn to dusk fundraising event.

End of year reflection (I)

It's hard to believe that the year had ended so quickly and all we have written is a few blog entries. The lack of writing may be a reflection of the busyness of our lives and ministry. Although it certainly does not excuse our silence to the folks who check in on us electronically. So I am going to do whirlwind tour of the last six months, plugging holes along.

Starting with last summer!

Francois taught two leadership classes at the University of Pittsburgh. Joy helped out with the teaching of the communication modules. We have really enjoyed training CCO staff and other students with the Core Communication material from Sherrod Miller.



In September, a few of us headed to Philadelphia to run an orientation program a new CCO partner, Williamson Free School of Trades.


We met some fantastic young men starting their next educational step. CCO staff Dan Hayner is loving these guys as the CCO staff at Williamsom. We look forward to helping them develop their leadership programs using wilderness trips.



A few weeks later, we gathered the outdoor ministry folks and headed to Erie to run an orientation for middle school students for another potential new CCO partner, Family First Sports Park. We spent the day with 200 students!

Where in the world is God?

Last month, Joy and I attended a mission conference held by a church that supports our ministry. Speaking to the congregation about what we do with the CCO, we were impressed with the effort the church made to welcome its missionaries and maximize face-to-face time with church members. This church has a global view of its mission and wants to hear about what God is doing through the folks whose work it supports.
It was such a mutually encouraging weekend. We were able to share that God is on college campuses and God is in the wilderness where college students go on spring break trips or summer discipleship programs. Others shared about how God is at work in other parts of the US and around the world.
I think this is how it is supposed to work. We are not all called to the ends of the earth. Some students are called to build God’s kingdom in offices, schools, laboratories, and courtrooms while others will be called to use their skills in places far, far away. Like the mission conference last month, the service-learning and wilderness trips offered by the CCO seek to expose students to new ways of seeing themselves, the world, and where God is at work so they might more clearly discern the call for their lives.
Thanks for being people who make it possible for us to be out there with students.