Guys' Bible Study Tonight 7:15

Hey guys,
Hope you all had a good weekend. Saw a lot of you Saturday and/or Sunday morning. Hope the rest of you had a good weekend, too.

Just sending a quick reminder about our Bible Study tonight just for the guys. We'll be starting our study of Romans tonight. This is a lot of people's favorite book of the Bible, and for good reason. Some of the clearest teaching on some of the most important parts of Christianity are contained in Romans. It is quite inspiring at times.

If you missed last week, now would still be a great time to get in on this study because we are really just this week starting the study. Last week we took some time to get to know each other and talked about the vision for the group, so we didn't really start the study of Romans yet. So if you come this week, you'll be in on it right from the beginning.

I mentioned our vision for the group. Basically, the short version is that we have two main goals for this Guys' Bible Study: 1) we want to help each other make some good friends in this group so that we can be a support to each other in living the Christian life as best we can, and 2) we want to put some roots down into the Word of God so that we will know how to draw strength from it at those times in life when we need it. So this is more than just a place to learn more information about the Bible. It's a group of guys that is going to help you live out what you already know, and it's an investment of your time that is going to pay off big for you down the road, later in life, whether that is a few days later, or several years later -- probably both, actually. Invest your time wisely. It's a limited resource.

Feel free to bring a friend with you.

We meet at 7:15pm every Monday at the campus house.

If you need directions, that's easy. Just look at the top right part of your screen. The directions are very clear and our campus house is very conveniently located.

Hope to see you tonight.

Steve

Need a ride to Church?

Really enjoyed going to church with a whole bunch of you last week. We're going to carpool again this week, so if you'd like to ride with us, just meet at CCVT's campus house at 9:10am.

We have plenty of drivers lined up with room in their vehicles, so feel free to bring one or two friends with you.

Last week most of us went out to eat together afterwards, so you might want to bring a method of payment along with you, but if you have somewhere you need to be right after church, that's OK, too. We got Ethan back in time for his 11am meeting in Squires and dropped him off right at the door of Squires on our way home.

If you need directions to our campus house:
It is probably closer to your dorm room than most of your classes. We're right over by the Washington Street tennis courts, on Clay Street, which is one block over from Washington, and parallel to it. We are the last house on the end of Clay Street closest to the tennis courts. You could throw a tennis ball from our front yard onto the tennis courts. (Are you starting to get the idea how close we are, and how short of a walk this is going to be for you?)

You can get clear and easy directions on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us if you need to, too. 540-552-8292.

Where are we going? We'll be going to a non-denominational church, Belmont Christian Church, real close to the mall and Wal-Mart. They have three worship services but we're going to the middle one which is contemporary in style. In fact, Kenny, who many of you have met and is our Campus Ministry Intern and leads worship for us at our Wednesday night meeting, he will be helping to lead worship at this service at Belmont. So, kind of a neat connection there.

Hope you can join us.

Remember, 9:10am at CCVT's campus house.

Steve

Let's Go Bananas!

So how was your first week of classes? Hope you are adjusting well to your new routine and starting to get settled in and comfortable.

Just writing to invite you to our party Saturday night. It's a Build Your Own Banana Split party! This Saturday night you are the master of your own sweet icy treat destiny! You choose your ice cream flavors. You choose your toppings -- will it be hot fudge, caramel, strawberry? Do you want whipped cream on that? Cherry on top, or no cherry? And no one can tell you whether to split your banana lengthwise or in slices, because YOU are the MASTER ARCHITECT of your own banana split! Can you feel the exhilaration already? Can you feel the anticipation building?

Oh, ya, and we will have sprinkles for your banana split, too. If you were at CCVT's "Oasis" Wednesday night you know how much Chris is looking forward to the sprinkles on top. (We'll have lots of other stuff, too, but you get the idea.)

So save some room for dessert when you eat supper Saturday, and then mosey on over to CCVT's campus house about 7pm and we'll play a few games and exercise our culinary creativity seeing what kind of banana split masterpieces we can conjure up.

As always, feel free to bring some friends along.

If you haven't been to our campus house yet, it is very conveniently located right by campus. In fact, it is probably closer to your dorm room than most of your classes. We're right over by the Washington Street tennis courts, on Clay Street, which is one block over from Washington, and parallel to it. We are the last house on the end of Clay Street closest to the tennis courts. You could throw a tennis ball from our front yard onto the tennis courts. (Are you starting to get the idea how close we are, and how short of a walk this is going to be for you if you live on campus?)

If you live off campus and ride the bus, we are only about 100 yards from the bus stop on Washington Street. If you drive, we have parking.

For clear and easy directions just look on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us if you need to, too. 540-552-8292.

Hope you can make it Saturday at about 7pm.
Steve

Oasis Worship -- 7:15pm Wed.

It's been great getting to meet so many of you at our social events Friday and Saturday, and going to church together Sunday morning, and last night we enjoyed welcoming several new guys to our Guys' Bible Study.

Next, this Wednesday night at 7:15, we finally get to come together for CCVT's (Christ's Church at VT campus ministry's) main weekly event -- "Oasis Worship".

"Oasis Worship" is CCVT's large group gathering dedicated to Bible Study, group discussion, sharing with friends, prayer, & celebration through heartfelt worship.

Oasis meets every Wednesday at 7:15pm at CCVT's campus house.

If you haven't been to our campus house yet, it is very conveniently located right by campus. In fact, it is probably closer to your dorm room than most of your classes. We're right over by the Washington Street tennis courts, on Clay Street, which is one block over from Washington, and parallel to it. We are the last house on the end of Clay Street closest to the tennis courts. You could throw a tennis ball from our front yard onto the tennis courts. (Are you starting to get the idea how close we are, and how short of a walk this is going to be for you if you live on campus?)

If you live off campus and ride the bus, we are only about 100 yards from the bus stop on Washington Street. If you drive, we have parking.

You can get clear and easy directions on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us if you need to, too. 540-552-8292.


So come join us for Oasis. It's a great mid-week boost to your morale. You will be challenged to grow spiritually, and encouraged by all the Christian friends you will meet. And by all means, feel free to bring your friends.

If you've been to CCVT earlier this past week, now's your chance to see what we are really all about. We love to have fun enjoying good food and playing games, but now it's time to really worship God and dig into his holy word.

If you haven't been able to make it to any of CCVT's events so far this semester, now would be an excellent time to start. This is our first "Oasis" of the school year, so you will be in on it right from the beginning. Don't be shy, there will be lots of new people. You won't be the only one. We are a very friendly group and we are really looking forward to meeting you and welcoming you to CCVT. So please come join us.

7:15pm Wednesday at CCVT's campus house.

Hope to see you there,
Steve

Starting this Monday 7:15pm -- Guys' Small Group Bible Study

Hey Guys,
I pray that your first day of classes today will be blessed and will go well for you, that you'll have no trouble finding any of your classrooms, and that you will not be too nervous but will feel good about the upcoming semester.

I'm writing this post to guys only to invite you to Christ's Church at VT campus ministry's (CCVT's) Guys' Small Group Bible Study.

I know you are very busy with classes and other things, and especially if this is your first year at VT you are probably feeling very nervous about whether or not you are going to be able to get all your work done on time and do well. Under those circumstances many a college student has decided he doesn't have time for a Bible Study on top of going to church on Sundays. But Jesus issued a grave warning about that line of thinking. In Matthew 13:3-8 and 18-23 he said, "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.... Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Did you catch that? Jesus said that "the worries of this life" often choke a person's faith, "making it unfruitful." I see Christian college students' worries about their busy schedules choke out their faith all the time. And the thing is, none of them made a conscious decision one day to let that happen. It just happens by default when one day at a time they make little decisions to put worldly things higher on their priority list than the things of God, and pretty soon God has been nudged almost completely out of that student's life -- one small decision at a time.

But some of you are thinking, "Hey, my parents are shelling out thousands of dollars for this education and my future depends on it. I can't afford to blow this." To you I would say, don't forget, God knows what you need. He'll take care of you. You just need to trust him to do that. But don't expect him to do that for you if you are stiffing him. Or to put it in Jesus' words: "So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:31-33).

So don't think that you are doing yourself any favors by putting God on the bottom of your priority list. If you make God your top priority, he will make sure you have what you need. He can do that, you know. After all, he is the Master of the entire universe! Trust him.

I believe that if you make time in your schedule to join us on Monday nights for this Bible study, God will bless you for it, and you will be glad you did.

But why come to this Bible Study and not just spend the time reading your Bible on your own or something? Here's why:

"Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
10 If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!...

12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10, 12).

In other words, we need each other. God knows that we need each other. That's why he invented the Church! Because we are not designed to do this on our own! We need the support of fellow believers to live lives that glorify God. And that is at the heart and soul of CCVT's small group Bible study program. Our goal is not only to teach you more information about the Bible. We place equal emphasis on being a support to one another in living out what we already know. (What's the use of learning more if we aren't applying what we already know?) So we take the time to really get to know one another, and pray for each other, and support each other, and ya, we end up having a lot of fun and laughing a lot and hanging out and just being good friends for each other, too. I think that's what God always wanted his Church to be like -- a source of support and genuine friendship, in addition to being a source of learning God's word.

So does this sound like something you want to be a part of? Good. I look forward to seeing you tonight at 7:15pm at CCVT's campus house. It's only one block from Lee Hall. For a map and clear directions, just look on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us at 540-552-8292, too.

As always, feel free to bring a friend. Just remember this one is for guys only. The girls will be starting their own in a few days.

Hope to see you soon.
Steve

Church Sunday morning 9:15am

Hey everybody,
I've really enjoyed meeting so many of you the last couple of days, and I hope to meet the rest of you very soon. Tomorrow may be one of those opportunities because we are going to be carpooling to one of the local churches for Sunday morning worship. I hope you will come join us.

Our campus ministry's main weekly worship meeting is Wednesday nights at 7:15pm, but that doesn't mean we don't want you to go to church on Sunday morning. On the contrary, we very much encourage you to go to church Sunday mornings, and we want to facilitate that by providing you a ride if you need one, and a group of your fellow Christian college students to go with, too, because, let's face it, it's just more fun going to church with a bunch of friends than having to go all by yourself. So please come join us tomorrow morning as we carpool to church together.

We have a whole caravan of cars lined up to drive and every one of them has room for at least 3 more people, so we are ready and waiting for you to join us.

When are we meeting up to carpool? 9:15am

Where are we meeting up? Our campus house, the same place a lot of you came for the Pizza Party Friday, and/or the Pancake Brunch today. But if you haven't been here yet, our campus house is probably closer to your dorm room than most of your classes. We're right over by the Washington Street tennis courts, on Clay Street, which is one block over from Washington, and parallel to it. We are the last house on the end of Clay Street closest to the tennis courts. You could throw a tennis ball from our front yard onto the tennis courts. (Are you starting to get the idea how close we are, and how short of a walk this is going to be for you?)

You can get real clear and easy directions on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us if you need to, too. 540-552-8292.

Where are we going? We'll be going to a non-denominational church, Belmont Christian Church, real close to the mall and Wal-Mart. They have three worship services but we're going to the middle one which is contemporary in style. In fact, Kenny, who many of you have met and is our Campus Ministry Intern and leads worship for us at our Wednesday night meeting, he will be helping to lead worship at this service at Belmont. So, kind of a neat connection there.

Feel free to bring some friends with you.

Hope you can join us.

Remember, 9:15am at CCVT's campus house.

Steve

Pancake Brunch & Scrimmage 12:30pm Saturday

Being at 12:30 you might call it lunch, but if you slept in and just rolled out of bed you might call it breakfast. Let's compromise and call it brunch. The name doesn't matter, the point is we're going to enjoy some delicious breakfast food and then walk right over to the stadium to watch the VT football scrimmage together. (But if you're not into football [gasp] you're more than welcome to come only for the brunch.) Either way, we'd love to meet you and welcome you to Christ's Church at VT campus ministry. Come make some of the best friends you will ever have, and feel free to bring some of the friends you already have with you.

We're going to have buttermilk pancakes with your choice of blueberry, strawberry, boysenberry, honey creme, butter pecan, buttery maple, or just good 'ole fashioned maple syrup, sausage, fresh fruit, milk, coffee and OJ. (I'm not sure but I think I just listed more flavors of syrup than IHOP has!) Anyway, it's going to be delicious.

Like I said in the post about the Pizza Party, our campus house is probably closer to your dorm room than most of your classes. We're right over by the Washington Street tennis courts, on Clay Street, which is one block over from Washington, and parallel to it. We are the last house on the end of Clay Street closest to the tennis courts. You could throw a tennis ball from our front yard onto the tennis courts. (Are you starting to get the idea how close we are, and how short of a walk this is going to be for you?)

For real clear and easy directions, just look on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us if you need to, too. 540-552-8292. 

Looking forward to meeting you if I haven't already,
Steve

Pizza Party at 5pm Today!

Hey everybody,

Don't forget, our Pizza Party starts at 5pm today at our campus house (Christ's Church at VT). This is your chance to make friends with a lot of really neat students who share your values before you get busy with classes.

So come join us for some laid back fun playing a few games, enjoying some free pizza, and making new friends. Some of the games you've probably played before, like corn-hole and ladder-ball. Others will probably be new and novel to you, and we think you'll have a lot of fun learning how to play them, and making some more friends in the process.

Our campus house is probably closer to your dorm room than most of your classes. We're right over by the Washington Street tennis courts, on Clay Street, which is one block over from Washington, and parallel to it. We are the last house on the end of Clay Street closest to the tennis courts. You could throw a tennis ball from our front yard onto the tennis courts. (Are you starting to get the idea how close we are and how short of a walk this is going to be for you?)

You can get real clear and easy directions on the top right side of your screen. Of course you can always call us if you need to, too. 540-552-8292.

Feel free to bring some friends if you want to!

Hope to see you soon!
Steve

Welcome to VT!

If you are new to VT, we want you to know you are welcome to make CCVT campus ministry your home away from home, just like hundreds of students have before you. You see, CCVT is more than just another student organization, or place to go to church. For years, CCVT has been a place where students build some of the best friendships they have ever had with other Christian students, and in the process get the support we all need to make the adjustment to college life and get the most out of our college years. We don't just "clock-in, and clock-out" of church. We take the time to really care about each other and build one another up in the faith and in our walk with God. We want to do that for you, too, and we hope you will be a good friend to us, as well.

Since that is such a big part of what we are all about, we do a lot of fun events together, especially at the beginning of the school year, so we can all meet each other and get to know one another. Below is a list of the events we have planned for the beginning of the fall semester. Please make a note of these on your Google Calendar, Outlook, or whatever you use, and make plans to join us. We are really looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you.

Also, don't forget to join us Wednesday nights at 7:15pm at our campus house for our weekly worship service called "Oasis".

Hope to see you soon. Here's what's coming up:

August 19, Friday, 5pm -- Party at the campus house -- Plans include some laid back games of Corn Hole, Ladder Ball and such, plenty of free pizza, and a bunch of new games you've probably never played before that we think you'll have a lot of fun learning and playing.

August 20, Saturday, 12:30pm -- Pancake Brunch & VT Football Scrimmage.

August 22, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' small group Bible study

August 24, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

August 27, Saturday, 7pm -- Build Your Own Banana Split & games

August 29, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Gel Group

August 31, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

The girls will be deciding when the Girls' small group Bible study will meet based on what time works best for as many girls as possible, so that day and time is TBD (to be determined). Email WOWgirlVT@gmail.com if you are interested in coming to this Bible study and would like to say which days and times work best for you, or if you'd just like to be notified when the girls will meet once that decision is made.

All these events will take place at CCVT's campus house. Need directions? That's easy. Just look at the top right side of your screen.

Oasis on Wednesday Nights

CCVT's weekly "Oasis" worship is moving from Sunday mornings to Wednesday nights at 7:15pm. We'll still be meeting in the campus house. Our first Oasis will be August 24, during the first week of classes. 

Based on input from CCVT's staff and students, and taking many factors into account, CCVT's Board of Directors made the decision to move Oasis back to Wednesday nights for this year. There are many advantages and disadvantages to either meeting time, but for this year, the facts pointed to Wednesday nights as the best time for CCVT's Oasis. The decision has broad and overwhelming support from the students currently involved in CCVT. We are grateful to God for the strong unity around this decision. 

Of course, we still want to encourage students to attend church on Sunday mornings. Many of us will be attending various churches in Blacksburg or Christiansburg and you would be more than welcome to join us. 

If you have any questions, please let me know. In the meantime, be planning to join us on Wednesday nights at 7:15 at CCVT's campus house. 

See you soon! 

Steve

Summer Bible Study

Hey guys, 
If you are one of the many CCVTers who have been away for the summer, and haven't already heard, we have been having a great Summer Bible Study here this summer. Since Joe, Jodi, Katherine, Kenny, Matt, and Craig have all been in town this summer in addition to me and Stacey, we had enough people for a good little Summer Bible Study. We have had several others join us from week to week, too. And a really nice girl named Rebecca started coming about the second week, and has been coming ever since. She's a friend of Katherine's. So you can look forward to meeting her when you get back in town for Fall Semester. We had a great study on Titus, and are in the middle of a quick 2 week study on Philemon, which is perfect considering how short that book is. 


Just wanted to give you a quick update on what's been going on here this summer. We're looking forward to having you all back in just a couple weeks. I'll post an update here soon on our plans for the beginning of the Fall Semester, so keep an eye out for that. 


Enjoy the rest of your summer, and see you soon! 
Steve