Christ's Church @ VT Christian Student Fellowship

Food and Fun Friday Night

2012-01-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

It was great seeing so many of you at Oasis tonight. The beginning of a new semester is always such a great time, before everyone gets so weighed down with homework, group projects, tests, and stuff later in the semester. "College would be great if it wasn't for all the classes."

Hey, if you haven't already heard, this Friday we are going to go out to eat together at Mike's Grill -- home of the best hamburger in Blacksburg, hands down. They also have good calzones, and a lot of other stuff like pizza and sandwiches and stuff.

Please meet at the campus house at 6pm so we can carpool over together. If you are driving, please come to the campus house first so you can offer a ride to somebody who doesn't have a car.

Afterward we'll get dessert at the campus house and hang out. Several people have volunteered to bring a dessert. If you want to bring something, feel free.

We might play some games or something. If you got some great new game for Christmas or something, feel free to bring it. Maybe somebody will be interested in playing it with you. You can teach us how to play it or whatever.

So grab a friend and come join us 6pm Friday night at the campus house. Burgers, brownies, and belly laughs will follow...or something like that.

Hope to see you then.
Steve

Food, Fun, Worship and Prayer, More Food and Fellowship, Bible Study and Friends, and the List Goes On

2012-01-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, welcome back! Hope you had a great break and are rested and ready for a new semester.

Here's what we have planned for the beginning of Spring Semester. Hope you can join us:

January 18, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

January 20, Friday, 6pm -- Out to eat, then dessert at the campus house

January 22, Sunday, 7pm -- Women of the Word Bible Study

January 23, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

January 25, Wednesday, 6pm -- Worship Team meeting

January 25, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

January 29, Sunday, 7pm -- Women of the Word Bible Study

January 30, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

February 1, Wednesday, 5:30pm -- Core Group Team meeting

February 1, Wednesday, 6pm -- Worship Team meeting

February 1, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

February 5, Sunday evening -- Super Bowl Party

February 6, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

February 8, Wednesday, 6pm -- Worship Team meeting

February 8, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

February 12, Sunday, 7pm -- Women of the Word Bible Study

February 13, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

February 15, Wednesday, 6pm -- Worship Team meeting

February 15, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

Please make a note of these on your schedule and plan now to attend. We look forward to seeing you. Don't overlook the special events planned for January 20 and February 5.

Thanks, and hope to see you soon.
Steve

A Special Christmas Oasis/Party

2011-12-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

With the semester rapidly coming to a close I won't have many opportunities to say "Merry Christmas" to all of you, so let me say it now -- Merry Christmas!

This Wednesday will be our last Oasis of the semester (we don't meet during exams) and since you all will be busy with exams the rest of the time you are in town, we are taking the opportunity to gift wrap our final Oasis of 2011 and a CCVT Christmas Party all into one this Wednesday night! The Oasis part will be abbreviated and lead into our Christmas party for which we have some fun Christmas games and yummy Christmas food planned, among other Christmasy things. Stacey is making some Christmas deserts, but if you have time to make some more to share, or even just buy some ready made Christmas snacks to bring, that would be great. Otherwise, just bring your Christmas spirited self and come celebrate the birth of our Savior with some of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

This special Christmas Oasis/Party will begin at 7:15pm at CCVT's campus house.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

ACC Championship Football Party

2011-12-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

The score was an ugly 23-3 last time Clemson and VT met, but our Hokies hung in there, didn't give up, worked hard to improve, and kept winning games. So now they have a second chance to beat Clemson and win the ACC Championship! Pretty cool story line. This is part of what makes collegiate sports so much fun.

What might be even more fun would be to go see the game in person in Charlotte, but since most of us will not be able to do that, we thought it would be the next best thing to watch it together with friends on the big screen in the campus house.

So Saturday night we are having a Football Party. Besides the game, we will have football food to share. If you would like to bring some traditional football fare to share, please do. If cooking is not your thing, maybe just bring a 2-liter of soda or bag of chips or something. Can't make it to the store in time? Don't worry about it, just bring yourself, and bring a friend if you want to.

The game starts at 8pm, so feel free to arrive a few minutes before that.

Let's recap: 8pm Saturday, Dec. 3, at CCVT's campus house to watch VT redeem itself against Clemson.

Hope you can join us.
Steve

What's Coming Up

2011-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here's what's coming up after Thanksgiving Break:

November 28, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

November 30, Wednesday, 5:30pm -- Core Group Team Meeting

November 30, Wednesday, 6:30pm -- Worship Team Meeting

November 30, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

December 3, Saturday, 8pm -- ACC Championship Football Party

December 4, Sunday, 7pm -- Women of the Word Bible Study

December 5, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

December 7, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Christmas Oasis/Party

December 8, Thursday (Reading Day), 4:30pm -- The 8th Semiannual Reading Day Dinner at The Homeplace! Meet at the campus house at 4:30pm to carpool to The Homeplace restaurant in Catawba, VA.

VT vs. GT Football Party

2011-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow night (Thursday) is the football game against Georgia Tech that will probably determine which of the two teams will be going to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte. This match up always seems to lead to an exciting and close game in recent years. It would be great to be able to see it in person in Atlanta, but since most of us will not be able to do that, we thought it would be the next best thing to watch it together with friends on the big screen in the campus house.

So Thursday night we are having a Football Party. Besides the game, we will have football food to share. If you would like to bring some traditional football fare to share, please do. If cooking is not your thing, maybe just bring a 2-liter of soda or bag of pretzels or something. Can't make it to the store in time? Don't worry about it, just bring yourself, and bring a friend if you want to.

The game starts at 8pm, so feel free to arrive a little while before that.

Let's recap: 8pm Thursday, Nov. 10, at CCVT's campus house to watch VT beat GT.

Hope you can join us.
Steve

Food, Fun, Worship and Prayer, More Food and Fellowship, Bible Study and Friends, and the List Goes On

2011-11-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a heads up about some upcoming events we wanted you to know about so you can plan ahead to be a part of them:

November 4, Friday, 6:30pm -- Dinner at Squires Food Court and Bowling in the BreakZONE

November 6, Sunday, 7pm -- Women of the Word Bible Study

November 7, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

November 9, Wednesday, 6pm -- Worship Team Meeting

November 9, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

November 10, Thursday, 8pm -- VT @ GA Tech Football Party

November 13, Sunday, 7pm -- Women of the Word Bible Study

November 14, Monday, 7:15pm -- Guys' Grow Group Bible Study

November 16, Wednesday, 5:30pm -- Core Group Team Meeting

November 16, Wednesday, 6:30pm -- Worship Team Meeting

November 16, Wednesday, 7:15pm -- Oasis Worship

November 18, Friday night -- Thanksgiving Break begins!

Food and Fun Friday Night

2011-11-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Just wanted to give you all a heads up in case you haven't already heard about it: we are getting together this Friday night to eat dinner together and then go bowling. Should be a lot of fun. Maybe we'll do something else after bowling, too, but we'll leave that open to decide on later.

We are meeting in front of ABP (Au Bon Pain) in Squires at 6:30pm. If you don't want to eat what ABP is offering, you can always get something right next door in Squires Food Court at Sbarro, or even bring your own food to eat with us in the food court.

When we are done eating we will walk right over to the BreakZONE where we have a couple bowling alleys reserved. That's convenient, but wait, it gets better -- the bowling is already paid for. All you have to pay for is your bowling shoes: $1.50 for VT students; $2 for anybody else. Well, you have to pay for your own food, too, but you get the idea. The alleys are already paid for.

So grab a friend and come join us 6:30pm Friday night in front of ABP.

Hope to see you then.
Steve

A-maize-ing Corn Maze and More

2011-10-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

Make plans now to join us this Friday night for an a-maize-ing adventure through a huge maze of corn, after dark. (Please pardon my corn-y joke. Oh, wait, I did it again. I just can't stop myself.)

OK, enough with the bad puns. Here's the scoop:
The corn maze is about a 20 minute drive from campus and there is this really cool little family owned Italian pizzeria just down the road from it, so we are going to meet at CCVT's campus house at 5pm Friday and carpool to Aly's Family Italian Restaurant and enjoy some delicious Italian food -- your choice of anything from pizza and calzones to lasagna and chicken parmigiana, or if you actually aren't into Italian food, they also have good ol' hamburgers, Philly cheese steaks, subs and all kinds of stuff. Also, the prices are very reasonable. It's a really quaint little place. I love it.

After that we'll waddle over to the corn maze around the time it is getting dark. Bring your student ID. Groups of 10 or more with student IDs get $1 off the regular $6 ticket price. By the time we enter the maze it should be dark, making it a significant challenge to find your way out. Believe me, this isn't just a maze for little kiddies. It's big and complex.

Be sure to bring a flashlight, and please bring an extra, if you have one, to share with someone else who might need it.

And ladies, please leave the high heels at home. Remember, this is a corn field we will be walking in, so it's pretty bumpy from the furrows the plow has made, and the corn stalk stumps that are still sticking up where the corn has been cut down, etc. So flip-flops and sandals are a bad idea, too. Let's say tennis shoes are a minimum, and boots would be even better.

So to recap:
5pm at the campus house (directions on the right side of your screen)
$5 for the maze, plus about $5 or more for food (you can get a nice hamburger, fries and drink including tax and tip for under $5)
student ID
flashlights
appropriate footwear
warm attire appropriate for cool October nights

Hope you can join us. And bring a friend!
Steve

Spaghetti Dinner before Oasis

2011-10-11T11:08:00.001-07:00

One of CCVT's own shining culinary stars will be in the campus house kitchen preparing a delicious spaghetti dinner just for you this Wednesday before Oasis. The star I am referring to is Joe Starr, to be exact.

Since we knew many of you would be out of town for Fall Break last weekend, and we expect many more to go home this weekend since there is no home football game, we haven't planned any special events for either of those weekends, but decided instead to provide this special pre-Oasis spaghetti dinner. Many thanks to Joe for volunteering to be the chef.

The dinner is free and will start at 6pm this Wednesday at the campus house.

As always, you are encouraged to bring a friend. Maybe you have a friend who has said they would like to come check out Oasis sometime, but has never gotten around to it yet. This might be the perfect time for them to come.

Hope to see you Wednesday night for dinner.

Steve

Friday Night Campfire

2011-09-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
For this Friday night, now that the temperatures are getting cooler and the weather is turning more fall-like, we thought it would be fun to get together and have a campfire and roast some marshmallows, make some smores, and sit around the fire and tell stories and stuff. We'll also have some apple cider (and water if you prefer) to quench our smores induced thirst. Kenny is going to bring his guitar, too, so we can even sing a few songs to complete the whole campfire experience thing. Many thanks to Matt and his parents for letting us have the campfire at their place. (They have a nice place out in the country but still only about a 10 minute drive from campus.)

Meet up at CCVT's campus house at 7pm to carpool out to Matt's house.

As always, it would be great to bring a friend.

Hope to see you 7pm Friday.
Steve

Football Party for Marshall game Saturday

2011-09-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

As you probably already know, VT's football team is playing at Marshall this Saturday at 3:30pm. Since most of us will not be in any danger of being trampled by the "Thundering Herd", being a safe distance away back here in Blacksburg, we thought it would be fun to watch the game together on the big screen here at CCVT's campus house. If you can't be at the game, the next best thing is watching it with a bunch of friends on a big screen while enjoying some delicious "football food". So that's what we'll be doing this Saturday.

We already have some generous volunteers planning to bring some ham rolls, sausage balls, chicken bites, sausage pin wheels, brownies, and of course, chips, dip, and drinks, and several people volunteered to bring something but hadn't decided what yet. So we have plenty of good food in store. If you would like to bring something to chip in, feel free, but if not, we've got you covered. So just bring yourself and maybe some friends if you want to, and come enjoy the game with us.

The game is scheduled for 3:30 so feel free to come a little while before that if you want to catch some of the pregame coverage or whatever.

Hope to see you Saturday afternoon.
Steve

P.S. -- If you haven't been to our campus house yet, it is very conveniently located right by campus. 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. 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.

Hokie Scavenger Hunt -- Take 2

2011-09-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Our last attempt at our Hokie Scavenger Hunt two weeks ago got rained out, so this will be Hokie Scavenger Hunt -- Take 2. Our prospects look better this time around as the forecast is calling for beautiful fall weather in the 50's with no rain.

Hokie Scavenger Hunt -- Take 2 will be this Friday at 7pm at CCVT's campus house. We will be searching all over campus for items of special Hokie significance and competing in teams to see which team can come up with the most points before time runs out! It's going to be a lot of fun!

Since we will be starting the hunt soon after everyone arrives, try not to be too late, so you don't miss out on the scavenger hunt. But if you can't make it by 7pm, you should still come later, because after the scavenger hunt we will be having some snacks, playing some games, and basically just hanging out at the campus house having a good time. So that'll probably be sometime around 8:15pm.

As always, feel free to bring some friends with you. Everyone is invited.

If you haven't been to our campus house yet, 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.

Remember, 7pm Friday at CCVT's campus house.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

Friday Night Get Together

2011-09-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
If you weren't here last Friday, you missed out on some real excitement. Right after it started raining and we had to come in out of the rain, lightning struck the tree in the front yard of the campus house. Talk about a startling experience. It was LOUD and blew a big chunk of wood and a bunch of bark all over the yard, and then there was the smell of burning wood. It burned out my ethernet card, Danny's router, and Kenny's X-box, too. Ouch! So, regrettably we had to postpone the Hokie Scavenger Hunt until next week, Friday, Sept. 16. But it all turned out OK because we still had a great time just hanging out and playing games and a little guitar and stuff at the campus house while it rained outside. Everybody seemed to have a blast, and I can think of at least two really funny stories to tell you that happened that night, but I'll have to tell you in person sometime because it would just take too long by email. Ask me about it next time you see me.

So, since we had so much fun just hanging out last week, we thought we'd keep it simple again this weekend. We're going to have the volleyball net up and probably play some other games, and then pick a movie to watch a little later. I'll get us some popcorn and your choice of toppings for the popcorn, although probably not quite as many as the plethora of choices you had for the banana splits the other week. Pray for no rain so we get a chance to play outside for a while. Better pray for no lightning while you're at it!

We'll start at about 7pm this Friday at CCVT's campus house.

As always, feel free to bring some friends with you. Everyone is invited.

If you haven't been to our campus house yet, it is very conveniently located right by campus. 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. 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.

Remember, 7pm Friday at CCVT's campus house.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

Oasis Worship and Arkansas State football tickets

2011-09-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like the rains have finally subsided and maybe we won't need to rebuild Noah's Ark after all. That's good, because it will make it easier for all of us to get to CCVT's campus house for Oasis Worship Wednesday night at 7:15. Hope you will be joining us.

If you won the lottery and have a bar code for tickets to the Arkansas State game and would like to sit with your fellow CCVTers, bring your bar code with you to Oasis. Tiny has again won the lottery and again volunteered to handle getting our tickets together. Thanks, Tiny! If for some reason you won't be able to make it to Oasis but want to get your ticket with us, get in touch with Tiny and arrange a time to drop off your bar code to him. Tiny82@vt.edu 434-258-2483

If you want to come to Oasis Worship but haven't been to our campus house yet, it is very conveniently located right by campus. 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.

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.

Whether you walk from on campus, ride the bus, or drive, any which way you can get 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.

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

Hope to see you there,
Steve

Hokie Scavenger Hunt!

2011-09-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Happy September, everybody! Guess what.

You are invited to a very special Hokie Scavenger Hunt this Friday starting at 7pm at CCVT's campus house. We will be searching all over campus for items of special Hokie significance and competing in teams to see which team can come up with the most points before time runs out! It's going to be a lot of fun!

Since we will be starting the hunt soon after everyone arrives, try not to be too late, so you don't miss out on the scavenger hunt. But if you can't make it by 7pm, you should still come later, because after the scavenger hunt we will be having some snacks and we have some more games planned. So that'll probably be some time after 8pm.

As always, feel free to bring some friends with you. Everyone is invited.

If you haven't been to our campus house yet, it is very conveniently located right by campus. 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. 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: 540-552-8292.

Remember, 7pm Friday at CCVT's campus house.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

Guys' Bible Study Tonight 7:15

2011-08-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-08-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-08-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

Finish Strong

2011-03-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

We are finishing the semester strong here at CCVT with a packed schedule. Make plans now to join us for these events, and hey, invite your friends. Here's what we have planned:

March 28, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

March 31, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 2, Saturday, 6pm -- "Iron Chef: Mystery Edition" Event

April 3, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

April 3, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

April 3, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 4, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 7, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 8, Friday, 5:30pm -- Friday Night Bluegrass/Gospel Jamboree at The Country Store in Floyd, VA (back by popular demand). Meet at the campus house to carpool there.

April 10, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

April 10, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

April 10, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 11, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 14, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 15, Friday, 6pm -- Cookout and Volleyball

April 17, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

April 17, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

April 17, Sunday, after Fellowship Dinner -- Core Group Team meeting

April 17, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 18, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 21, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 23, Saturday, 11am -- Brunch at the campus house, then about 12:00 walk over to the stadium for Spring Game (football) which starts at 2pm.

April 24, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

April 24, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

April 24, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 25, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 28, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 29 or 30, Friday or Saturday -- Special event planned for girls by Guys' Gel Group. Details currently being developed.

May 1, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

May 1, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

May 1, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

May 2, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

May 5, Thursday (Reading Day), 3:30pm -- Worship Team meeting

May 5, Thursday (Reading Day), 4:30pm -- The Homeplace restaurant. Meet at the campus house to carpool there.

May 8, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

May 8, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

All of these events take place at the campus house, or at least start by meeting at the campus house, unless stated otherwise. If you need directions to the campus house, that's easy, just look at the top right side of your screen.

See you soon.
Steve

Food, Fun, Worship and Prayer, More Food and Fellowship, Bible Study and Friends, and the List Goes On

2011-03-12T17:52:00.001-08:00

Here's a heads up about some upcoming events we wanted you to know about so you can plan ahead to be a part of them:

March 14, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

March 17, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

March 18, Friday, 6pm -- Mystery Event -- out to eat, then a surprise activity afterward, planned by the girls.

March 19, Saturday, 7pm -- vtONE Worship Event in Squires Commonwealth Ballroom

March 20, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

March 20, Sunday, after Oasis -- Free Fellowship Dinner

March 20, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

March 21, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

March 24, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

March 25, Friday, 6pm -- Guys' Night Out -- Driving Range, Batting Cage, and Mini-golf

March 25-26, Friday, 2:15pm - Saturday, 3pm -- "Desiring God: A Heart like Josiah's" Girls' Retreat at state park

March 27, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

March 27, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

March 27, Sunday, after Fellowship Dinner -- Core Group Team meeting (CCVT's student leadership team)

March 27, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

March 28, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

March 31, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 2, Saturday, 6pm -- "Iron Chef" Event

April 3, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

April 3, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

April 3, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 4, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 7, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

April 10, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

April 10, Sunday, after Oasis -- Fellowship Dinner

April 10, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 11, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

April 14, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

All of these events take place at the campus house, as usual, or at least start by meeting at the campus house, unless stated otherwise. If you need directions to the campus house, that's easy, just look at the right side of your screen.

Be sure to mark these dates on your calendar, and hey, invite your friends to come with you.

See you soon.
Steve

Friday Night Festivities

2011-02-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

For this Friday night the Core Group Team has planned a trip to The Country Store in the charming little town of Floyd, VA to experience the toe tappin' fun of the Friday Night Jamboree. The Jamboree attracts some of the best Gospel and Bluegrass bands in the world -- seriously. Every week it includes over 4 hours of Gospel and Bluegrass music and flatfoot dancing (your participation optional) all for only $5. Some of you went last spring and really enjoyed it. Sarah suggested we go again. Ross just went with his family a few weeks ago to celebrate his birthday and endorses it. With a celebrity endorsement like that, how can you go wrong? Danny has been so full of anticipation for the Jamboree he pressed his cowboy boots into service last Sunday just to get ready. They're all shined up and ready to go.

If you're as ready to join us on this adventure as Danny's boots, meet at the campus house at 5pm this Friday. We will carpool for the 45 minute drive to Floyd, VA and get to the Country Store early so we can get some great seats and enjoy some delicious food before the concert. They have all kinds of sandwiches, hot dogs, and BBQ sandwiches to eat, and a large selection of ice cream, milk shakes, homemade pies, cakes, and other desserts, and old fashioned candy to buy.

So that's 5:00pm Friday at the campus house. And bring $5 for admission. Bringing a friend would be good, too.

If you need directions to the campus house, just look on the right side of your screen.

I really hope you can join us. It'll be an experience you won't soon forget.

Steve

Food, Fun, Worship and Prayer, More Food and Fellowship, Bible Study and Friends, and the List Goes On

2011-02-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a heads up about some upcoming events we wanted you to know about so that you can plan ahead to be a part of them:

Feb. 18, Friday, 5pm -- Friday Night Bluegrass/Gospel Jamboree at The Country Store in Floyd, VA

Feb. 20, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

Feb. 20, Sunday, after Oasis -- Free Fellowship Dinner

Feb. 20, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Feb. 21, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Feb. 24, Thursday, 5pm -- Worship Team meeting

Feb. 27, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

Feb. 27, Sunday, after Oasis -- Free Fellowship Dinner

Feb. 27, Sunday, after Fellowship Dinner -- Core Group Team meeting (CCVT's student leadership team)

Feb. 27, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Feb. 28, Monday, 7pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Mar. 5-13 Spring Break

All of these events take place at the campus house, as usual, except the Jamboree. But we're meeting at the campus house to carpool to that. If you need directions to the campus house, just look at the right side of your screen.

Be sure to mark these dates on your calendar and invite your friends to come with you.

See you soon.
Steve

Super Bowl Party

2011-02-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,
I hope you can join us for our Super Bowl Party this coming Sunday. We are going to watch the game (and, of course, the always much talked about Super Bowl commercials) on our big screen at the campus house. Kickoff is at 6:30pm so be sure to get here a little while before then.

We will have some delicious Super Bowl food to enjoy during the game, too. Stacey is bringing her famous Chicken Buffalo Dip, Danny is contributing some Mexican Dip, Ross has the drinks covered, Linda is providing the chips and dip without which no Super Bowl party would be complete, and Kenny is signed up to bring "a little sump'n sump'n" -- whatever that means.

If you would like to bring something to contribute too, feel free. We would be happy to help you eat it. But don't feel like you have to bring anything to come.

Also, please invite your friends. This is not just for CCVT regulars. Everyone is welcome.

Whether you are coming to watch the game, or the commercials, or just for the food and friends, we look forward to seeing you.

See you about 6:15pm Sunday at the campus house. If you need directions, just look on the right side of the screen.

Thanks.
Steve

Guys' Gel Group Kicking Off New Study of 2 Timothy

2011-01-31T12:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,
Our small group Bible Study just for guys, which we call "Guys' Gel Group", will be kicking off a new study on 2 Timothy tonight at 7pm at our campus house. Whether you were a regular last semester or this is your first time ever, we would love to have you come join us. Now would be a great time to start coming since we are starting this new lesson series, so you won't be coming into the middle of something feeling lost or anything like that.

If you've never been to Gel Group before, our purpose is to support one another spiritually, and the way we do that is by being good friends for each other, and gaining wisdom and insight from the Bible. Both parts are crucial to living a life that glorifies God, so please don't deprive yourself of the spiritual support we all need to stay strong in the faith.

If you need directions to the campus house, we are only a stone's throw from Lee Hall. Just look at the directions on the right side of this screen. You can always call me, too: 552-8292.

Hope to see you tonight at 7pm.

Steve

Friday Night Food & Fun

2011-01-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, I have some good news. CCVT's "Core Group Team" has planned a special night for us all tomorrow night (Friday) at 7pm at the campus house.

Jodi and Sarah are making a delicious dinner for us -- your choice of potato or taco soup with tortilla chips, or both, and for desert, brownies with ice cream.

Besides dinner, we are also going to watch some movies and play some games. We will have a bunch of each to choose from. Personally, I'm looking forward to playing some games I've never played before, including "Scene It", which I guess is a movie trivia game, and "Dicecapades". But if those are old hat for you, we'll have a bunch of others to play, too. Bring one of your own if you have discovered the next big hit and you want to teach us how to play.

Hope you can make it. We'd love for you to join us whether you've been here before or if this is your first time.

If you need directions just look on the right side of this screen. We're right by the Washington Street tennis courts.

Remember -- 7pm Friday at the campus house.

Steve

Remembering CCVT's 2010 Christmas Party

2010-12-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

Emily

Fun Playing "Catch Phrase"

Katherine

Stacey

Two teams work on the "Christmas Quiz"

Surprise! Hi, Steve.

Spending Time with Friends

Chris

A Nostalgic Game of "Life"

ACC Championship Football Party

2010-12-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who will not actually be at the game in Charlotte this Saturday, we are having a Football Party at the campus house to cheer our Hokies on to victory over Florida State while we watch the game on ESPN.

The game is scheduled for 7:45 Saturday night, so feel free to arrive a little while before that. Some of us are going to be bringing some of our favorite "football food" to enjoy while we watch the game. If you want to bring something too, you are welcome to, but there will be plenty for everyone, so don't feel like you have to bring anything.

Invite your friends to join you and make plans now to be here. This should be an exciting game to watch.

Hope to see you Saturday night.
Steve

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

2010-11-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

Do you believe in The Great Pumpkin? Me either, but I do believe "The Great Pumpkin Hunt" we are going to have at the campus house this Friday night at 7pm is going to be "great big" and great fun.

We have a number of games planned, but the main one is an Easter egg hunt style search for candy filled pumpkins hidden all over the campus house property. Prizes will be awarded to those who find the most pumpkins. We may do some team competitions, as well as individual hunting, just to add to the fun.

We will also have some "fall food" on hand to enjoy -- things like pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, and apple cider. But most of all we will be enjoying having fun with old friends and making some new ones.

So start inviting your friends now to come with you this Friday night to "The Great Pumpkin Hunt" at the CCVT campus house at 7pm.

Need directions to the campus house? Just look on the right side of your screen.

Looking forward to seeing you then.
Steve

Amazing Corn Maze and more

2010-10-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Make plans now to join us this Friday night for an a-maze-ing adventure through a huge maze of corn, after dark. (Please pardon my corn-y joke. Oh, wait, I did it again. I just can't stop myself.)

OK, enough with the bad puns. Here's the scoop:
We're meeting at the campus house at 6pm to carpool to the corn maze which is part of a big annual "Pumpkin Festival" at Sinkland Farms about a 20 minute drive from here. By the time we enter the maze it will be dark, making it a significant challenge to find your way out. Believe me, this isn't just a maze for little kiddies. It's big and complex.

The cost is $6, but if you bring your student ID, assuming we have at least 10 people, you will get a $1 discount.

Be sure to bring a flashlight, and please bring an extra, if you have one, to share with someone else who might not have one.

And ladies, please leave the high heels at home. Remember, this is a corn field we will be walking in, so it's pretty bumpy from the furrows the plow has made, and the corn stalk stumps that are still sticking up where the corn has been cut down, etc. So flip-flops and sandals are a bad idea, too. Let's say tennis shoes are a minimum, and boots would be even better.

Finally, bring a little extra money in case we get some pizza or something like that on our way home afterward. Maybe just appetizers or dessert or something. We'll see.

So to recap:
6pm at the campus house (directions on the right side of your screen)
$6, plus maybe more for food
student ID
flashlights
appropriate footwear

Hope you can join us. And bring a friend!
Steve

It's Time to Go Bananas

2010-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Come go bananas with us this Friday night at 7pm at the campus house. It's going to be "Build your own Banana Split night" where you get to put together whatever combination of ice cream flavors, and toppings you want on your split banana. Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry? Hot fudge, or caramel? Whipped cream with a cherry on top? What'll you have? Is your mouth starting to water?

We also have some fun games planned, so make plans now to join us Friday night, and invite some friends to come hang out with us, enjoy some delicious food, and have some laughs and a lot of fun.

Hope to see you then.

Steve

PS -- For directions to the campus house just look on the right side of your screen.

Special Guest Speaker this Sunday

2010-10-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Even though it is Fall Break and a lot of you are going home for the weekend, we are still having Oasis this Sunday for those of you who will still be in town. In fact, it is going to be an extra special Oasis because we are having a special guest speaker this Sunday!

All the way from Indiana our special guest speaker, Dr. Ken Goble, is coming to share his wealth of knowledge and insight with us. He has spent most of his career as a professor of Psychology at Cincinnati Christian University, and Atlanta Christian College, and for most of those years has also done marital counseling part-time as a licensed professional counselor along with his wife, Moni. (They find that this team approach is ideal for marriage counseling.)

We are very blessed to have such a highly qualified guest speaker. There is one particular reason we are able to have him speak: he also happens to be Stacey's dad, and my father-in-law. It always helps to have connections, doesn't it?

I regret that the timing of Dr. Goble's visit turns out to be while so many of you will be out of town, but we'll just have to make the best of it we can. So for those of you still in town, don't miss this opportunity!

Hope to see you 11am Sunday at the campus house, same as usual.

Steve

Olive Garden

2010-09-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

"So I took her to the garden, where I guess they grow the olives."

That's a line from an old rap song I like about a guy who takes a girl on a date to -- guess where? Well, I guess I kind of gave it away in the subject heading, didn't I? Anyway, we're going there tomorrow night, Friday, and it's such a fun place to go as a group, we really hope you'll join us.

We're meeting at the campus house at 6pm to carpool there. If you need directions to the campus house, just look on the right side of your screen.

And feel free to bring a friend with you.

Again, 6pm Friday, at the campus house.

Hope you can join us.
Steve

76 and Sunny -- Cookout Anyone?

2010-09-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

This Friday at 6pm it is supposed to be 76 degrees and 0% chance of rain. Sounds like a good time for a cookout. As it happens, we have one planned!

Come join us for some grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, fries, mac & cheese, Boston Creme Cake, and more.

We're gonna have croquet and volleyball available for those interested in playing, too. But mostly this is just a chance for you to come hang out with some of your new friends at CCVT and get to know them a little better, and maybe make some new friends, too.

So feel free to bring some friends along, but please come join us at 6pm Friday at the campus house. And remember, this is totally free, of course.

If you need directions to the campus house, just look on the right side of your screen.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

Guys' Gel Groups Kick Off Tonight!

2010-09-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Hope you are getting a chance to enjoy the great weather out there this afternoon.

Hope you are planning on joining us for our first Guys' Gel Group of the semester, too. We are kicking it off tonight (and meeting every Monday night) at 7:30pm at the campus house.

This semester we'll be studying the parables of Jesus, but as many of you know, Gel Group is about much more than just learning some more things about the Bible. What good is more information about the Bible if we are not applying what we already know to our lives? What is most important is that we live out the kind of lives God wants us to, and one of the best things we can do to help ourselves do that is have some good solid friends who are trying to do the same thing, so we can support each other and help each other stay on track.

The Bible says, "Bad company corrupts good character." The opposite is also true: Good company promotes good character. When we take the time to invest in building good friendships with other guys who are trying to follow God, we will not only avoid some of the bad influences we otherwise might have surrounded ourselves with, we will also find that we are picking up some great attributes from the character strengths of they guys we hang out with. That is what I know can happen through Guys Gel Group, and I want you to be a part of it.

I hope you will make time in your busy schedule to be a part of Guys' Gel Group, not only because I believe it will be an even bigger blessing for you than you expected, but also because the other guys in the group need what God can give them through you. If you can feasibly make it on Monday nights, I encourage you to pray and ask God if he would like to use you to be a blessing to some other guys through this group, and be blessed yourself, too.

By the way, if you have some female friends who would be interested in something like this, too, our Girls' Gel Group meets every Sunday night at 7pm at the campus house. They are more than welcome to join the girls then.

Hope to see you tonight.

Steve

Golf Balls, Staples, and Hoola-Hoops

2010-09-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ever built a "railroad track" for a marble using only staples and erasers? When was the last time you were able to stack three golf balls on top of each other, with nothing but the table supporting them? Think you can blow a soap bubble through a hoola-hoop 15 feet away? If so, you may have a good shot at becoming the next champion of CCVT's Minute-to-Win-It inspired games.

Come try your hand at these incredibly fun and quirky, yet challenging, games.

And don't forget you get to "Build Your Own Pizza" with your choice of pineapple, bacon, mushrooms, black olives, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon, whole grain or regular crust; and don't worry, we haven't forgotten the pizza sauce or cheese. Whatever you want on your pizza, that's what you can have tonight at CCVT. And of course, this is all FREE!

So come join us, and bring some friends with you.

It all starts at 7pm tonight (Sept. 10) at CCVT's campus house.

If you need directions to our campus house, just look on the right side of the screen.

Hope to see you tonight.
Steve

Food, Fun, Worship and Prayer, More Food and Fellowship, Bible Study and Friends, and the List Goes On

2010-09-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a heads up about some upcoming events we wanted you to know about so that you can plan ahead to be a part of them:

Sept. 10, Friday, 7pm -- Build Your Own Pizza Night
We will have the pizza crusts ready for you to flatten out yourself and put whatever sauce, cheese, and toppings you want on your own pizza. While those are baking we'll play some fun games we have planned that I'm pretty sure you have never played before.

Sept. 12, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

Sept. 12, Sunday, after Oasis -- Free Homemade Dinner

Sept. 12, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Sept. 13, Monday, 7:30pm -- Guys' Gel Group Kickoff (small group Bible study)

Sept. 14, Tuesday, 5:30pm -- Worship Team meeting

Sept. 17, Friday, 4:45pm -- Core Group Team meeting (CCVT's student leadership team)

Sept. 17, Friday, 6pm -- Cookout, and volleyball or croquette, etc.

Sept. 19, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship

Sept. 19, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Sept. 20, Monday, 7:30pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Sept. 21, Tuesday, 5:30pm -- Worship Team meeting

All of these events take place at the campus house, as usual.

Be sure to mark these on your calendar and invite your friends to come with you.

Hope to see you Friday.
Steve

Did You Feel That?

2010-09-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

You can almost feel it in the air -- the tension, the suspense, the anticipation of tonight's game against Boise State. Hokies everywhere are looking forward to what will surely be one of the most important games of the entire season tonight. We know we've got a team loaded with talent this year, but we're all eager to see just how very good they can be, and we're hoping they will show the world tonight on national television that they are even better than anyone dared hope for.

Watching this game tonight is going to be fun for anyone interested in Hokies football. But watching it on an 84 inch big screen with a bunch of fellow fans cheering and celebrating every time the Hokies make a big play is just going to make it even more exciting. I think it's going to be a night to remember -- the night a very special year in Hokies football history began.

So don't miss out on sharing this special moment with us. Join us at the campus house at about 8pm tonight for our football party and cheer the Hokies on to victory with us.

We'll be enjoying some delicious "football food" while we watch the game -- Apple Dumplings, Bojangles, pizza pockets, cookies, etc., even some Gatorade to, like, "be there" with our team.

It's going to be a lot of fun, so bring yourself and bring your friends, too.

Remember, our campus house is right on the edge of campus by most of the dorms, over by the Washington Street tennis courts -- probably closer than most of your classes if you live on campus. If you need directions, they are on the right side of this screen.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm.

Steve

Friday Night Fun

2010-09-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Don't forget this Friday night, Sept. 3, we are getting together to go out to eat and then play a mean round of mini-golf.

OK, so maybe "mean" and "mini-golf" don't really go together, but the point is, we're going to have a lot of laughs playing that version of golf that often makes the experienced golfers look like beginners, and the novices look like pros. That's part of what makes it so much fun.

We are meeting at the campus house (directions on the right side of your screen in the side bar) at 5pm.

Originally we were going to golf first and go out to eat afterward, but given the heat, we are switching the order and eating first in air conditioned comfort, then mini-golfing when the weather is going to be a perfect mid-70s. Nice.

The golf will cost $5. (It's normally $6, but we'll be getting the group discount. Yipee!)
Check out how pretty the course is: www.coxgolf.com/Putt-a-Round.htm

We'll decide where to eat based on what everyone is in the mood for tomorrow, but it will be someplace around downtown Blacksburg since the golf course is just outside of town on Price's Fork Rd. No sense driving all the way out to the mall and back.

We hope to see you here whether this is your first time at CCVT or you've been here 5 years. We want to welcome you to CCVT and make this a "home away from home" like it has become for us. So please come join us even if you've never been before. And feel free to bring a friend!

Recap:
Friday 5pm
At the campus house
$5 for mini-golf plus money for supper

Hope to see you then!

Steve

Adventure and Exploration on a Saturday Night

2010-08-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Hunt is On!
Saturday, Aug. 28, 7 pm
at CCVT Campus Ministry!

What's Going On?
The Hunt for the Holy Grail

A Scavenger Hunt of Biblical Proportions!

A Campus Wide Search for True Treasure!

You won't want to miss it!
Prizes will be awarded to the best scavengers!

Discover your inner Indiana Jones!

When Is It?
Saturday, Aug. 28 @ 7 pm

Where Is It?
We will begin the scavenger hunt from CCVT's campus house.

Look in the right side bar for a map and directions.

It's only one block from the dorms -- on Clay St., one block over from Washington Street.
We overlook the tennis courts and are next door to VT's Cranwell International Center.

Who Is Invited?
Everyone's Invited.
Bring a friend or two!

Never been here before?
Perfect! That's why we're inviting you -- we want to meet you!

You have been here before?
Perfect again! That's why we're inviting you -- so we can get to know each other better!

Do I need to bring anything?
The only thing you need to bring is -- your appetite for adventure
and a digital camera if you have one!
(Not everyone will need one -- we only need one per team.)

See you Saturday!

Welcome to VT!

2010-08-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

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 willing to 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 Sunday mornings at 11am at our campus house for our weekly worship service called "Oasis".

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

Aug. 26, Thursday -- Dinner at Steve and Stacey's house. Space is limited so, sorry, but this is by invitation only. Are you one of the lucky ones?

Aug. 27, Friday, 3-8pm -- Gobblerfest/Student Organization Showcase around Squires Student Center (Come see us at our display)

Aug. 28, Saturday, 5pm -- Core Group Team meeting (CCVT's student leadership team)

Aug. 28, Saturday, 7pm -- Scavenger Hunt -- Indiana Jones style, at the campus house.

Aug. 29, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship, at the campus house.

Aug. 29, Sunday, after Oasis -- free home cooked dinner!

Aug. 30, Monday through Sept. 2, Thursday -- "Gel Groups" (our small group Bible studies) kickoff. Details TBA.

Aug. 31, Tuesday, 7:30pm -- Worship Team meeting

Sept. 3, Friday, 5pm --Mini-golf, then out to eat. Meet at the campus house.

Sept. 5, Sunday, 11am -- Oasis Worship, at the campus house.

Sept. 6, Monday, Labor Day, 8pm -- Football Party at the campus house. VT vs. Boise State in D.C., televised on ESPN.

Oasis Moves to Sunday Morning

2010-08-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

CCVT is excited to announce that our main weekly worship service, which we call "Oasis" is moving from Wednesday nights to Sunday mornings at 11am at CCVT's campus house.

This change will be a blessing in many ways, but there are a couple of especially notable ones. First, more students will be able to participate on Sunday morning than were able to on a week night which often presented schedule conflicts with exams, study sessions, homework, and other events. Second, this solves the problem of transportation to Sunday morning worship for students who don't have vehicles. Many of the local churches are too far away to walk and are not served by bus routes. CCVT's campus house is one block from the dorms and the nearest bus stop.

Our first Oasis at the new day and time will be Sunday, August 22, at 11:00 AM. And afterward we are going to enjoy a home cooked dinner together. It's all FREE, so please come join us in this exciting new chapter in the life of CCVT.

Steve Wilkin

God Speed Class of 2010

2010-05-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of some of our graduates this May.

Thank you, Lord, for how you blessed CCVT with these good friends, and how you used us to bless them. Please guide them as they enter the next stage of their lives, especially the ones who are moving to new places. Please help them to find a solid, Bible believing group of Christians to worship, serve, and fellowship with. In Jesus' name, Amen.

CCVT's 5th Semiannual Homeplace Outing

2010-05-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be CCVT's 5th Semiannual Homeplace Outing. This delicious tradition started two and a half years ago on Reading Day and we've been going to The Homeplace restaurant every Reading Day since. We're doing it again tomorrow, Thursday, and we hope you will join us.

If you don't know about The Homeplace restaurant, you are missing out. Most people I know would say it's the best restaurant within an hour's drive of Blacksburg. It's out in the country in a very small town called Catawba, about a half hour from here, near Roanoke. They make the most delicious country style food like country ham, fried chicken, roast beef, and pulled pork BBQ, with sides like green beans, mac & cheese, corn, and more, and apple butter for your biscuits, and really good sweet tea and lemonade, and fruit cobbler for dessert, and lots of other stuff. All of this is served "family style" where you all sit around a huge table and pass the food around and put however much you want on your plate and pass it on to the next person. And the servers just keep bringing the food out until everybody has had as much as they want to eat.

All of this only costs about 14 dollars -- all you can eat, remember, and it even includes your drink, dessert, and tax. The only thing that makes it any more is the tip.

So please come join us, and feel free to bring a friend with you. Just meet at the campus house at 4:30pm and we'll carpool from there.

Again, 4:30pm Thursday, at the campus house. 14 dollars plus tip.

Hope you can join us.
Steve

Time Travel

2010-04-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to travel back in time? Wouldn't it be cool to invent a time machine and be able to just go wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted...literally, when-ever you wanted?

Well, I can't quite promise you that much freedom of choice where and when to go, but I can offer you a trip back in time to a pretty interesting place I've taken students to before which we all really enjoyed. It's a trip back in time to the early to mid-1900's here in the Appalachian Mountains where bluegrass and gospel music came of age and people from all over came together to have a good 'ole time flatfoot dancing. It's a veritable cultural experience that takes place every Friday night in Floyd, VA, just 45 minutes from Blacksburg, in The Floyd Country Store which is 100 years old this year! It's hard to describe just how much fun you are going to have if you go, but almost everybody that does always ends up pleasantly surprised how much fun they end up having regardless of how they felt about bluegrass music before they went. You just can't help but smile within minutes of walking in the door, and after that it's pretty near impossible to wipe the grin off your face, although I don't know why you would want to.

If you're ready to join us on this adventure, meet at the campus house at 5pm this Friday. We will carpool to the quaint little town of Floyd, VA and get to the Country Store early so we can get some great seats and enjoy some delicious dessert before the concert. They have all kinds of ice cream, milk shakes, pies, cakes, and other desserts, and old fashioned candy to buy. (You'll need to eat supper on your own before meeting at the campus house, though. They have a lunch menu, but I'm not sure if those sandwiches are available on Friday nights.) Tickets for the Jamboree (concert) are just $4.

So that's 5:00pm Friday at the campus house. Eat supper before you come, but save room for dessert. And bring $4 for admission.

I really hope you can join us. It'll be an experience you won't soon forget. We'll have a "toe tappin' good time".

Steve

Spring Game

2010-04-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

If you are interested in going to the Spring Game this Saturday in Lane Stadium, we are meeting at the campus house at a little after 11:30am to walk over together early so we can get some great seats. The scrimmage doesn't start until 2pm, so we will be waiting over there a long time, but if you love football and hanging out with friends, then it will be worth it.

Hope you can join us.

Steve

Cookout Tonight!

2010-04-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Hey, everybody. Hope you are having a great day today -- enjoying the day off classes and the fantastic weather, while respectfully remembering the events of April 16 three years ago and praying for the families of those lost and the survivors.

Here at CCVT we are going to celebrate the hope we have in Christ, and the strength we can draw from one another, by having a Cookout together tonight (Friday) at 6pm at the campus house.

We already have people lined up to bring all the food, so all you need to bring is yourself, and maybe some friends. You can bring some food to share if you want to, but it's not necessary.

We will have the volleyball net set up for anyone who wants to play some volleyball, too.

If you are planning on going to the candlelight vigil on the Drillfield after sunset, you will certainly be able to do that. Maybe some others will want to go with you, too. I'm thinking about going myself.

Hope to see you tonight.

Steve

Camping this Weekend

2010-04-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

CCVT is planning a camping trip for this Saturday night, April 10, and you are invited to come with us. The rain is forecast to stop late tonight, and things will dry out Friday and Saturday. The forecast looks good for camping Saturday night -- 0% chance of rain.

The campsite we have in mind (Horseshoe Hollow) is only about 20 minutes away and is FREE. We will be meeting at the campus house at 4:45pm Saturday to carpool to the site. We will be heading back to campus early enough Sunday morning for everyone to make it to church.

We have plenty of cars going so we have plenty of extra seats. Come join us, and bring some friends. Just make sure you have enough tents and sleeping bags for yourselves, that's the only thing we don't have a lot of extras of. You can rent some at very reasonable prices from VT's Venture Out office.

We will have everything we need for a campfire, and to make some delicious hot dogs and smores together! However, please eat some supper before meeting at the campus house because the food at the camp is intended to be more like a big snack than a full meal. Of course, you can bring some more food along for yourself, or to share, if you want.

Also, this is a Bring Your Own Breakfast event. So pack some pop tarts or granola bars or something to eat for breakfast in the morning.

Here are some suggestions of other things to pack:
besides tents and sleeping bags,
sleeping pad
pillow
flashlight
water bottle full of water
pocket knife
warm clothes, including coats for cold weather at night time
maybe some insect repellant, a camping lantern, and other camping equipment you might have.

Hope you can join us!

Remember, meet at the campus house between 4:30 and 4:45pm, Saturday.

Steve

A Truly Eventful Day

2010-04-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

Lend me your imagination for a moment. Imagine you are suddenly able to cross space and time and you mysteriously find yourself in a casual conversation with Jesus. Jesus says, "Hey, how you doin'? What have you been up to since this time yesterday?"

You say something like, "Well, last night I worked all night on my group project until 2am, but it was worth it because I think it is going to be really good -- I think we'll get a really good grade on it. And then I got up at 7 and went to classes until noon, and ate lunch at Owens, but then the weather was so awesome today I decided I couldn't pass it up, so me and some friends played Ultimate Frisbee on the Drillfield for a couple hours, and then made a drink run to 7-11 for Slurpees, and then went over to one of my friends' apartment to hang out for a while, and then we decided to top off this awesome day by going out to Olive Garden for supper. We ate soo much. It was so good! How about you?"

Remember, you have mysteriously crossed space and, most significantly, time. So based on this particular day in Jesus' life that he has just completed, he answers, "Well, last night I fed 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and then hiked up a mountain to pray until 2am, but it was worth it because it really helped prepare me for what I had to do the rest of the day. Next I walked down the mountain and across the lake on water until I caught up with my disciples in their boat. At first they were scared, but then I told them it was me, so they let me in the boat and I teleported the whole boatload of people to shore (literally, including the boat). Then I went from the peak of my popularity to possibly my lowest ever "approval rating" by purposefully alienating the crowd that was chasing me everywhere I went by telling them that 'unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.' They thought I was advocating cannibalism. But I had told them, 'you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.' They needed to shift their focus from the things of this life, to the things that lead to eternal life."

You say, "Oh....wow." That's all you say, because what else is there to say after hearing that? You thought you had a pretty eventful day until hearing about Jesus' day. Then yours kind of paled by comparison. You walk away from the conversation not quite knowing what to think, but you vaguely feel that hearing about Jesus' day has definitely caused you to see your own day from a different perspective. And you wonder, how much of MY focus has been on "the things of this life", and how much has been on "the things that lead to eternal life".

Tonight at Oasis we'll be studying John chapter 6 which covers the one day in Jesus' life which you just got done talking to him about in your imagination. Please come take just an hour or two with us to focus on "the things that lead to eternal life".

We start at 7:30pm at the campus house. If you need directions, they are right over in the right sidebar.

Hope to see you tonight.

Steve

Dinner & Music

2010-03-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,
Hope you are having a good day. The beautiful spring weather has temporarily fled, but the good news is there is 0% chance or rain tonight, which is good because we are planning on meeting at the campus house tonight at 7pm to walk downtown to one of the restaurants to eat dinner together. We'll decide which one based on what everyone is in the mood for tonight. Maybe Gillie's, Souvlaki's, Mike's Grill, Backstreets...anything downtown is in the running.

Afterward we will have karaoke and games available at the campus house. We've never done karaoke here before, so I'm looking forward to seeing (or hearing) how that goes. Should be a lot of fun. Don't worry, we won't make you sing if you don't want to. But I know we already have some volunteers who do plan on singing for us.

Feel free to bring your friends.

Hope you can join us tonight -- 7pm at the campus house.

Steve

PS -- If you need directions, just look at the right sidebar. We'd love for you to join us even if you've never been here before.

Free Pasta Dinner & Oasis

2010-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to Blacksburg! Hope your Spring Break was great, and your first couple days back in classes are going just as well.

Here at CCVT we are getting back in the swing of things with a free Pasta Dinner Wednesday night before Oasis Bible Study. The dinner starts at 6:30pm. Oasis will start at 7:30pm as usual.

The dinner comes complete with home cooked pasta, breadsticks, shrimp scampi, drinks and dessert! It'll be a good chance to catch up with everybody on what they did over break, and get to know some new people, too. If you haven't been coming to CCVT recently, now would be a great time to start. Please come join us for dinner on us, and give us a chance to introduce ourselves.

It's all going down at CCVT's campus house, as usual. If you need directions to our campus house, just look for them in the side bar to the right.

All of us at CCVT are really looking forward to seeing you at Oasis, and we really hope you can join us for some great food, too, so I hope to see you there.

And feel free to bring some friends with you.

Don't forget: Pasta Dinner at 6:30pm, Oasis Bible Study at 7:30pm (Wednesday, March 17)

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday night,
Steve Wilkin
Campus Minister

What is Faith?

2010-03-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

Is it an irrational leap that goes against the force of the facts? Or is it a firm conviction which was actually created by the force of the facts?

If one does not have faith, is it simply because there is insufficient evidence to lead them to that conclusion? Or could it be that there are reasons why some people don't want to believe, and would rather not believe?

We will be discussing this and more at Oasis tonight. I hope you can join us, whether you are here every week or if this would be your first time.

7:30pm at the campus house, same as always.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

PS -- If you need directions, please just look at the sidebar on the right. Thanks.

How well do you know your way around campus?

2010-02-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

How about Squires? How well do you know your way around there?

A bunch of us are getting together at 8pm tonight in Squires to play a little game we've played before that was a lot of fun. It's kind of like that old game we used to play when we were kids, hide-and-go-seek, but on a "grown up" scale. Everyone hides pretty much anywhere in Squires, and whoever is "it" has like 20 minutes to find you, and whoever is found helps find who is left. If you are not found before time is up, you score a point. Most people get found, so don't think it's easy to score points. It's really fun. There are so many good places to hide in Squires, and it's like a labyrinth, but it's still hard not to get caught.

Think you are up to the challenge? Meet us inside the front doors of Squires on the College Ave. side which faces Donaldson Brown at 8pm. Bring some friends with you, too.

Oh, and be sure to bring your cell phone or watch to keep track of time. You'll need that to know when time is up.

Hope to see you there.
Steve

Inspiring Stories

2010-02-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Ah, the snow is back. But at least it's not sticking this time. So come join us tonight at Oasis where we are going to be inspired by some really great stories. We've got inspiring stories from the Olympics, the life of John the Baptist from the Bible, even a favorite children's book, and, perhaps most shockingly of all, stories from your own family! Can you believe it? Yes, it's true. Come and hear for yourself.

7:30pm at the campus house, same as always.

See you there.
Steve

Iron Chef: Mystery Ingredient Edition

2010-02-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

Don't forget -- Saturday night is Iron Chef: Mystery Ingredient Edition!

You got the email a few days ago explaining what to do if you want to bring food to compete, but you don't have to bring food to come. We already have several people that are bringing food. What we still need is more people to help us eat it all!

So make plans now to come tomorrow night, Saturday, at 7pm, to the campus house, and bring some friends with you.

We will enjoy the amazing deliciousness of some great food, with the added fun of trying to figure out what the secret ingredients are in the competitors' dishes.

Come to compete or come to eat -- either way you're a winner.

I hope you all can join us! It has really been a blast in previous years.

Steve

Oasis Tonight -- Dedicated

2010-02-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

Dedicated --
That's how I would describe the students I just got done talking to on the phone about whether or not we needed to cancel Oasis tonight due to the blowing snow, high winds, and single digit wind chills. All five of them said if we had Oasis tonight, they would be here, and some of them knew of others who felt the same way. So we are not canceling Oasis tonight. We already have a confirmed core of students who will be at Oasis tonight.

Just to make sure you read that right, that means we are still meeting tonight at the campus house at 7:30 as usual.

Because the snow is blowing around so much, we are not able to keep the driveway clear, so we do have a little bit of a parking problem, but a lot of you can walk from on campus, or take the bus, or drive a 4-wheel drive vehicle, or catch a ride with someone who has a 4-wheel drive vehicle. So I think we will be able to accommodate the 4-wheel drive vehicles, but I do recommend that you either walk, take the bus, or take a 4-wheel drive. And drive carefully -- even 4-wheel drives slide on ice.

Hope you can make it tonight. Stay warm and be careful out there.

Steve

Ice Skates, Cross Country Skis, Dog Sleds, and the Super Bowl

2010-02-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

What do all these things have in common? All of these modes of winter transportation are acceptable ways to arrive at CCVT's Super Bowl Party Sunday starting at 6:30pm.

The snow storm may make it impossible for some of you who live further away to make it to our Super Bowl Party, but for those of you who can make it here, the party is still on! The guys who live right here in the campus house will certainly be here, and plenty of you live right here on campus so it's just a short walk through the snow for you, so I'm sure we will still have a good turnout for the party. By Sunday night the BT will probably be running again, too. So warm your mittens and prepare your parka and come on over Sunday night.

If you have some "football food" you can bring to share, that would be great, but it's not required. You could just bring some soda or cookies or something, or just bring yourself. Feel free to bring a friend with you, too.

Oh, ya, and if you didn't know already, we have a big screen with a projector to watch the game on, so come cheer your team on to victory on the big screen. I think our group is pretty evenly divided between Colts and Saints fans, so you are bound to find some fellow fans to pull for your team with you.

Hope you can make it.
Steve

Jack Frost puts Iron Chef on ice

2010-01-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

Breaking News:
Witnesses report Iron Chef has been severely iced by Jack Frost. Never before has the usually red hot Iron Chef taken such a dramatic setback. But don't count him out. He's been known to make dramatic comebacks before.

Translation:
Our Iron Chef event originally scheduled for this Saturday night has been postponed due to the forecast of 10-15 inches of snow for Blacksburg by Saturday evening. We currently plan to allow Iron Chef to make his comeback Saturday, Feb. 20, so keep your secret recipes on simmer.

In the meantime, if you are able to get out and about Saturday afternoon and feel like having some fun in the snow, join us at the campus house at about 3pm. We'll make a CCVT snow man, or get in a snow ball fight, or go sledding down the hill by the tennis courts, or somewhere else, or make a snow fort, or play snow football, or whatever snow games everybody feels like playing. Afterward we can warm up inside with some hot chocolate, and maybe order some pizza and watch movies or play games or whatever everybody feels like doing. We'll see. Just come at 3pm and we'll figure it out.

Hope you can join us.

For more upcoming events, just scroll down two posts, or search "events". Thanks.

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."
Steve

What's It All About?

2010-01-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

What is being a Christian all about? Is it about going to church once a week and getting your "frequent worshipper card" punched enough times to get one free trip to Heaven when you die? Is it about being such a good, moral person that when you die God will not find it necessary to send you to Hell? Is it about being a nice person who is always smiling and never makes anyone feel anything unpleasant in any way, but constantly exudes nothing but sweetness and light? What do you think? What's the right answer?

Tonight at Oasis we'll be studying what the Bible indicates the Christian life is really all about. I hope you will join us -- especially if you are not very sure you know the answer.

It all starts at 7:30pm tonight (and every Wednesday during the semester) at CCVT's campus house. (Directions to the campus house available in the side bar to the right.)

Hope to see you soon,
Steve

Upcoming Events

2010-01-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Jan. 27, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Jan. 29, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Jan. 30, Saturday, 3pm -- Snow Games at the campus house -- make a CCVT snow man, or get in a snow ball fight, or go sledding down the hill by the tennis courts, or somewhere else, or make a snow fort, or play snow football, or whatever snow games everybody feels like playing. Afterward we can warm up inside with some hot chocolate, and maybe order some pizza and watch movies or play games or whatever everybody feels like doing.

Jan. 31, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible Study)

Jan. 31, Sunday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Feb. 3, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Feb. 3, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Guys meet to plan Valentine's Day Banquet for girls Feb. 12.

Feb. 5, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Feb. 7, Sunday, 6:30pm -- Super Bowl Party

Feb. 10, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Feb. 10, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Core Group Team (student leadership) meeting

Feb. 12, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Feb. 12, Friday, 7:00pm -- Game Night -- Play a little Charades-in-a-Box, maybe some foosball, or X-box, or whatever you're in the mood for.

Feb. 14, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible Study)

Feb. 14, Sunday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Feb. 17, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Feb. 19, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Feb. 20, Saturday, 7:00 to 11:00pm -- Iron Chef -- Come to compete or come to eat -- either way you're a winner.

Feb. 21, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible Study)

Feb. 21, Sunday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Feb. 24, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Feb. 26, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Feb. 27, Saturday, 8pm -- Hide & Seek in Squires Student Center -- bet you've never played Hide & Seek on this scale before

Feb. 28, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible Study)

Feb. 28, Sunday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Mar. 3, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Mar. 3, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Core Group Team (student leadership) meeting

Mar. 5, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Let's Celebrate!

2010-01-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

Have you survived the ice storm without any broken bones or other serious injuries? Did you get out of any classes when they were canceled yesterday afternoon and evening, and this morning?

If your answer is yes to either of these questions, then let's celebrate by going out to eat at Red Robin Saturday night. OK, even if you answered "no", you can still come with us. We'll help you with your crutches and pillows.

We are meeting at the campus house at 5:30pm Saturday to carpool to Red Robin over by the New River Valley Mall.

There is some talk of possibly going to see a movie afterward since we will be right over there by the movie theater, so if you are interested in doing that, you might want to bring some extra money along.

Hope to see you Saturday night.
Steve

(If you need directions, check the sidebar to the right on this screen.)

Free Spaghetti Dinner & Oasis

2010-01-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to Blacksburg! Hope your break was great, and your first day back in classes is going just as well.

Here at CCVT we are getting back in the swing of things with a free Spaghetti Dinner Wednesday night before Oasis Bible Study. The dinner starts at 6:30pm. Oasis will start at 7:30pm as usual.

The dinner comes complete with home cooked spaghetti with marinara sauce, garlic bread, drinks and dessert. It'll be a good chance to catch up with everybody on what they did over break, and get to know some new people, too. I know of at least one new transfer student who I'm expecting to meet at the dinner, and if you haven't been coming to CCVT recently, now would be a great time to start. You won't be the only new person, and we are starting a new study, and it's still early in the semester when your homework load is not as heavy as it will be later in the semester. So please come join us for dinner on us, and give us a chance to introduce ourselves.

It's all going down at CCVT's campus house, as usual. If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 Clay St. SW, Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes! If you need any more help with directions or have any questions, please give us a call at 552-8292.

All of us at CCVT are really looking forward to seeing you at Oasis, and we really hope you can join us for some free spaghetti, too, so I hope to see you there.

And feel free to bring some friends with you.

Don't forget: Spaghetti Dinner at 6:30pm, Oasis Bible Study at 7:30pm (Wednesday, January 20)

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events on our last post (below).

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday night,
Steve Wilkin
Campus Minister

Upcoming Events

2010-01-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Jan. 20, Wednesday, 6:30pm -- Spaghetti Dinner & Oasis (large group Bible study)

Jan. 20, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Core Group Team (student leadership) meeting

Jan. 22, Friday, 2:40pm -- Worship Team meeting

Jan. 23, Saturday, 5:30pm -- Out to Eat at the Red Robin -- Meet at CCVT's campus house to carpool to Red Robin.

Jan. 24, Sunday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible Study)

Jan. 24, Sunday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

A Special Christmas Oasis

2009-12-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday, for our last Oasis of the year, we will be having a special Christmas Oasis.

We will enjoy some delicious Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, and various "Christmas snacks" by the fireplace while the sounds of some of your favorite Christmas music fill the air. I'll have a Christmas devotional to share, and we'll continue one of CCVT's most beloved traditions -- the always entertaining, often hilarious, "White Elephant" gift exchange.

What's a White Elephant Gift Exchange? Well, I have no idea where the name comes from, but it's a really fun, yet inexpensive, way to celebrate Christmas by exchanging gifts.

Here are your instructions: Bring a gift worth only about 2 or 3 dollars. This keeps things affordable. It doesn't even have to be brand new, as long as it is in good condition and is something that someone might enjoy and is worth about $2-3. You might be surprised how cool some gifts can be even while they are that inexpensive. It just takes a little creativity and imagination.

Students in past years have found some great gifts combing the isles of dollar stores, and thrift shops like Good Will, or the YMCA thrift shop on North Main Street. Sometimes the shopping part of this game turns out to be almost as much fun as the game itself. (Picture yourself in the toy department of the dollar store reliving your childhood. This time there's no parent telling you you can't buy it.)

Besides toys, some other popular ideas from years past are: cool Christmas ornaments, some nifty gadget, or yummy food, like maybe some homemade cookies, or just some candy, or Little Debbies or something like that. Use your imagination. What would you enjoy getting?

Now that you have your gift, there is one more very important thing you need to do with it. You need to wrap it, and you need to wrap it well enough that nobody can tell what it is. This is part of what makes the game fun. We're all going to put our gifts in a big pile and take turns picking a present out of the pile. There is more to it than that, but this mystery is part of what makes the game fun, like when you were a kid and couldn't wait to open your presents under the Christmas tree and kept shaking them and tapping them trying to figure out what they might be. So wrap it well enough that it's not obvious what it is.

If you don't have wrapping paper, use newspaper or paper grocery bags or something. It doesn't have to be pretty, just a mystery. Besides, I've seen gifts wrapped in these that ended up looking surprisingly good.

We'll explain the rest of the rules on Wednesday. Suffice it to say, we always have a lot of laughs with this game.

After the gift exchange, we'll probably play some other games, enjoy some Christmas snacks, and maybe watch some Christmas movies for all who want to watch!

Hope you can join us. 7:30pm, Wednesday, at the campus house, as usual.

The next day is Reading Day so you've got no homework! Yippee! So come blow off some steam before you start cramming for exams. And bring a friend with you!

Steve and the student leaders of CCVT

Upcoming Events

2009-11-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Dec. 1, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Dec. 2, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study) Last lesson in the Storm series

Dec. 2, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Core Group Team (student leadership) meeting

Dec. 4, Friday, 8pm -- Decorate Your Own Christmas Cookies & Game Night -- We will have the cookies and everything you need to decorate them. Just bring yourself and maybe some friends and blow off a little steam in the middle of this hectic time between Thanksgiving Break and final exams. We will also have indoor games of all kinds -- party games, board games, card games, but most of all, fun games. You've been working hard. It's time to take a break and relax for a little while. Come join us.

Dec. 6, Sunday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Dec. 8, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Dec. 9, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Special Christmas Oasis & Christmas Party -- to include, of course, Christmas carols, the hilarious annual "White Elephant" gift exchange, and lots of your favorite Christmasy snacks.

Dec. 10, Thursday, 4:30pm -- Out to eat at The Homeplace -- meet at the campus house at 4:30pm to carpool to The Homeplace for as good of eats as you will ever find in a restaurant!

Thanksgiving Dinner

2009-11-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

You are invited to CCVT's annual Thanksgiving Dinner which will be, as usual, the last Wednesday before Thanksgiving Break. That's this Wednesday! It is always so much fun and the food is always so good. So please make plans to come join us.

We are going to have turkey, of course, with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, sweet potato casserole, rolls, corn bread or biscuits, cranberry sauce/relish, pumpkin or sweet potato pie, and more, including a lot of desserts.

Stacey and I are hosting the banquet at our house this year. We will carpool from the campus house, so if you need a ride, don't worry about it. We'll get you a ride. Just meet us at the campus house at 7:00 PM.

I hope you can make time to join us. Like I said, it is always a lot of fun, and your taste buds will enjoy it, too.

Looking forward to giving thanks to God with you,
Steve

Ping-Pong Tournament

2009-11-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

CCVT is hosting a Ping-Pong Tournament Saturday, Nov. 14, starting at 8pm. People of all skill levels are invited to join.

This has become a semi-annual event at CCVT because everyone always seems to have so much fun, and no matter what your skill level, there is always someone else who is just as good as you, or just as much of a beginner as you, so everyone always ends up enjoying some good close games. So please come join us. We will also have some other entertainment available while we wait for our turn at the table, although some of the games become pretty interesting to watch, especially between the better players.

There is no entry fee, it's totally free. Just bring yourself and some friends to the campus house. You don't have to be a member of CCVT to enter the tournament. Everyone is welcome.

Hope to see you Saturday at 8pm.

Keep your feet dry.
Steve

VT vs East Carolina Football Party

2009-11-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,
Just wanted to let you know that CCVT is planning a Football Party for the game against East Carolina Thursday night. The game starts at 7:30pm. You are invited to come watch it with us at the campus house, and we are going to have some "football food" to enjoy as well.

Feel free to bring some food to share, or just bring yourself. We might order some pizza or something, too. We'll see how hungry we feel.

Hope to see you at 7:30pm tomorrow night. Bring a friend.

Steve

What Next?

2009-11-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we get so caught up in the busyness of this life -- working hard to get good grades, trying to find time to exercise to take good care of our bodies, looking for a job, and all kinds of stuff -- sometimes we really don't stop to think about how soon this is all going to be over for us, and then what? What is going to happen to us after this life?

We are going to spend a whole lot more time in the next life than we spend in this one, but what we do in this life determines what happens to us in the next life, so if we are smart, we will make time to think about the next life, and make plans accordingly. We might find that we need to make some changes in our order of priorities in this life.

Tonight at Oasis we'll be taking time to study what the Bible has to say about our next life. I hope you will join us.

It all starts at 7:30pm tonight (and every Wednesday during the semester) at CCVT's campus house (directions below).

Hope to see you soon,
Steve

Directions to CCVT's campus house: If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

Lost & Loving It

2009-10-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Normally lost and loving it don't go together, but this Friday night you might find that they do for you, for a little while, because we are going to go get lost in an amazing maze cut out of a corn field, and it's a little bit of a challenge to find your way out considering you will be doing it in the dark. (You do get to use a flashlight, though.)

The farm is only about 15 minutes from campus and it only costs $6, or $5 if you bring your student ID.

It's a lot of fun, so bring your flashlight and student ID and meet us at the campus house at 6pm Friday. And be sure to wear some boots or something like that. After all, this is a cornfield we're talking about. Corn does grow in dirt, you know, so your shoes will get some dirt on them, and it is a little bumpy from where the plows have been, and the corn stalks on the ground and stuff. It all adds to the effect and makes it more fun. Can you tell I've been there before?

Anyway, bring some friends with you, and if you have any extra flashlights to share, bring those, too, please.

Don't forget: 6pm Friday at CCVT's campus house -- we'll carpool from there.

Hope you can make it.
Steve

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

Know Your Enemy

2009-10-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

"Know your enemy." Have you ever heard that proverbial saying? It is a well known saying that holds a lot of truth in it. If an army is going into battle, they had better know their enemy well enough to know what to expect them to do, so that they can be prepared to counteract it. In sports, a team needs to know what the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent are so that they can defend against their strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

The spiritual realm is no different in this respect. Satan is our enemy who seeks to destroy us. He knows what our weaknesses are and takes full advantage of them. The questions is, do we know his strengths and weaknesses? Do we know how to defend against his attacks, and counterattack him?

Tonight at Oasis we'll be taking a look at what strategies Satan uses to defeat us, and how we can defend against his attacks and even fight back.

It all starts at 7:30pm tonight (and every Wednesday during the semester) at CCVT's campus house (directions below).

Hope to see you soon,
Steve

Directions to CCVT's campus house: If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

Football Party -- VT vs. Georgia Tech

2009-10-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Do you love watching football? Do you love eating delicious food while you watch football? Do you love eating delicious food while watching other people watch football, because you really don't like watching football, but you like hanging out with friends? If any of these is true of you, then you should come join us this Saturday night to watch the VT vs. Georgia Tech football game.

It starts at 6pm this Saturday and we are going to watch it on our 84 inch screen at our campus house. A bunch of us are pitching in to bring all kinds of traditional football party snack food to share and we need your help eating it. Feel free to bring some food to share, or just bring yourself and a friend. We'll have plenty of food so don't feel like you have to bring anything to come.

We're hoping to meet some new people besides enjoying the game with old friends, so please come whether you are a fixture at CCVT or coming for the first time. Maybe this is your first year at Tech and you are just now adjusting to classes and a new campus enough to feel ready to leave your homework behind for a few hours and kickback and relax and checkout our campus ministry.

At any rate, CCVT's student leaders who planned this party are really hoping you'll join us this Saturday at 6pm at our campus house. I am too.

Remember, our campus house is right on the edge of campus by most of the dorms, over by the Washington Street tennis courts -- probably closer than most of your classes if you live on campus. If you need directions, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps.

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

See you 6pm Saturday.

Steve

Beautiful Views and Great Food

2009-10-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

Beautiful views and great food is what we have planned for Friday afternoon this week. Since Friday is Fall Break and you don't have any classes, but you are probably not going home for the weekend because you have tickets to the Boston College game Saturday (does this sound like you?), because of all that, Friday afternoon is the perfect time for a hiking trip we've been wanting to take for a while.

Here's the plan: We meet at the campus house at Noon and carpool to Dragon's Tooth trail about 30 minutes from here. We take about 1 1/2 hours to hike up the trail to the top where these huge white limestone slabs of rock are sticking straight up out of the ground about 40 feet into the air. They really do look like huge dragon teeth. You can climb around on them if you are careful, which is really fun. The view is fantastic -- miles and miles in many directions, especially this time of year, of course. We usually spend about a half hour climbing around on the rocks up there at the top and enjoying the view before heading back down the trail.

The hike is not too hard and not too easy. It's just right. You don't have to be in great shape -- it's only about a 3 hour hike round trip -- but it's not just some level, boring trail either. You are hiking up a mountain and you are going to be rewarded with a mountain top experience once you get there.

By the time we finish hiking back down the mountain you will have built up a big appetite. Perfect, because we are going to drive about 5 minutes over to The Homeplace restaurant and eat our money's worth of all-you-can-eat delicious homemade food served family style. That means they bring out a big platter of fried chicken, and another platter of roast beef or ham, and a big bowl of mashed potatoes and a gravy boat, and everyone in our group sits around one big table and we just pass the food around and you get what you want and pass it on like you do when you eat with your family at Thanksgiving or something like that. You also get homemade biscuits, green beans, corn, pinto beans, homemade cinnamon apple butter (everything is homemade, I'm just not saying it in front of every single word), sweet tea, lemonade, coffee, and cobbler for dessert! You get all of this for about $13 which even includes the tax! It is so worth it. And after all that hiking, you will definitely be able to eat your money's worth. The food is so good!

Oh, and the weather is so right for this. It's not supposed to rain, and it's going to be in the 70's all afternoon. Perfect.

So bring a friend and meet us at the campus house at 12 Noon this Friday (October 9), and bring your car if you have one and don't mind driving. We might need it for the carpool.

Don't forget to bring some water with you for the trail, and wear your hiking boots or something comfortable for hiking. (Flip flops are definitely not recommended for this trip.) Also, don't forget to bring money for the meal at The Homeplace restaurant.

Hope to see you at Noon, Friday.

Steve

Here's directions to the campus house in case you need them:
Probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

2009-10-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever asked that question? Probably just about everybody has at some point in their life. But did you get any good answers?

There are good answers to that question. Some people have never heard them because they haven't asked the right people. But even if they have asked the right people and gotten some good answers, they were probably still left with some lingering question marks in their mind. That's because this question of suffering is one of those very big questions in life that goes to the very heart of what life is all about and what our purpose in life is and why we are here, so the subject is so vast, you can't possibly expect to sum it all up in 5 minutes or less, or even several hours. So does that mean we shouldn't even try to answer these questions? Of course not. That would be foolish. The most important questions in life are exactly the ones we should invest the most time into seeking answers to.

Tonight you will have an opportunity to spend about a half hour getting some of the best answers you can get (in such a limited time) to some of those most important questions.

Seek the answers with us. Seek them for your own good -- if you don't feel the need for them now, there's no doubt the time will come soon enough when suffering will enter your life and you will feel the need for them then. Be prepared. Seek them for the sake of your friends, too -- you may be the only one some of them know who could give them a good answer, a biblical answer, a true answer. Are you ready to rise to the occasion when you are called on to do so? It may be you who God wants to work through to meet that desperate need for hope in a hurting friend's life some day, sooner or later.

Answers and exploration at Oasis, 7:30pm tonight (Wednesday).

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

It all starts at 7:30pm tonight, and every Wednesday (during the semester).

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events below.

Hope to see you soon,
Steve

Whatever You Like

2009-09-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

Whatever you like on your pizza, that's what you can have Friday night, because CCVT is having a Build Your Own Pizza Night!

We will have all the ingredients ready to go for you, including the pizza crusts. All you have to do is decide what you want to put on it. You get to put the sauce, cheese, and toppings on your pizza just the way you've always wanted.

And it's all FREE!

While we wait for the pizzas to bake in the ovens, we'll play some fun games we have planned for the night. It's going to be a lot of fun.

So come join us, and feel free to bring some friends with you.

It all starts at 7pm, Friday (Sept. 23).

If you need directions to our campus house and live off campus, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts.

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

Don't forget: Build Your Own Pizza at 7pm Friday at CCVT's campus house -- 413 West Clay St.

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events three posts down.

See you Friday night,
Steve

Was Jesus really God, or just a good teacher?

2009-09-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

If he wasn't God, then how could he be a good person while he was making the outrageous, and blasphemous claim to be God? This middle ground idea of Jesus not being God but being a good teacher won't hold water. Either he was who he said he was, or he was a despicable con man, or just mentally ill. But would a con man stick to his story all the way to his death, without even trying to run away? And even more importantly, would his teachings be so wise, cogent, and coherent, and would his life have lived up to his teachings so well?

Maybe the reason most people find it so easy to claim Jesus was a good teacher, but not God, is that they have never even read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John enough to know he himself claimed to be God, let alone enough to see for themselves the cogency and wisdom of his words.

Maybe they are too quick to swallow what the majority of people around them believe, hook, line, and sinker, and too slow to think through it and examine the evidence.

Or maybe they don't want to know the truth, if it isn't what they already believe. Maybe they are afraid of what they might find, and the change it might require of them.

What about you? Do you really want to know the truth? If you think you know it, could you explain it to one of your friends who doesn't already know it? If you can't, what is going to happen to them?

"It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.... Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:10-12)

1 Peter 3:15 says, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Are you prepared?

Come and learn. Be prepared.

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

It all starts at 7:30pm tonight, and every Wednesday (during the semester).

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events two posts down.

Hope to see you soon,
Steve

Nebraska, Football, and the 3G Network

2009-09-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a post just for the men:
Hey guys,
Are you still reveling in the last minute victory of the Hokies over Nebraska? I am. I can't wait for Miami this Saturday. I just hope we get a lot more offense going this time.

Speaking of offense, how much ground are you gaining in your spiritual life? If you will play along with my metaphor, are you racking up yardage, or are you actually losing ground like Nebraska going from scoring a touchdown, to not even being in field goal range because they had so many penalties and made so many mistakes? It was such a bad run of events for Nebraska that I almost couldn't believe it, but sometimes we don't do any better when it comes to living our lives the way God intended us to. Are you honoring God with your life, or are you moving in the wrong direction?

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Look, we all make mistakes. We all screw up sometimes. But the question is, when you screw up, what are you going to do? Are you going to keep doing what you are doing, which will result in you continuing to move in the wrong direction, or are you going to get some help from some people who care, which will result in you changing direction and beginning to make progress again?

That's what the 3G Network (aka Guys' Gel Group) is about. It's just a small bunch of guys getting together once a week to support each other, talk about how their week has been, pray for each other, and study a little bit of the Bible together to gain insight into what God's will is for their lives. It's simple, and it is exactly what everyone needs, and few people find.

This semester 3G is meeting Tuesday nights at 8pm at CCVT's campus house and is studying 1 Peter -- How to Cope When the World is Against You, Faith that Works, Hope, Caring for One Another. Those are some of the topics that will be covered over the next several weeks.

If your offense could use a little help (and since there is always room for improvement, who couldn't?) then come join the guys meeting Tuesday nights at 3G.

That's 8pm at the campus house.

If you need directions:
Remember, our campus house is right on the edge of campus by most of the dorms, over by the Washington Street tennis courts -- probably closer than most of your classes if you live on campus. If you need directions from off campus, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps.

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here!

Finally, to borrow a phrase from EA Sports, "Get in the Game." You won't regret it.
Steve

Upcoming Events

2009-09-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Sept. 19, Saturday, 1pm -- Tailgate with grilled corn on the cob before the game vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers (grilled hamburgers and hot dogs will also be available)

Sept. 22, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Sept. 22, Tuesday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (3G network) small group Bible study

Sept. 23, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study) -- Questions about Jesus

Sept. 25, Friday, 7pm -- Make Your Own Pizza Night & Games -- Ingredients supplied, just choose your toppings and pop it in the oven. We have some fun games lined up to play while they bake.

Sept. 29, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group

Sept. 29, Tuesday, 8pm -- 3G (Guys Gel Group)

Sept. 30, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis -- Questions about Jesus (part 2)

Oct. 2, Friday, 7pm -- Out to eat at CiCi's Pizza & a Movie

Oct. 3, Saturday, 7pm -- vtONE -- VT campus ministries unite for worship and prayer

Oct. 6, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group

Oct. 6, Tuesday, 8pm -- 3G (Guys Gel Group)

Oct. 7, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis -- Questions about Suffering

Oct. 7, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Core Group Team (student leadership) meeting

Oct. 9, Friday, 12 noon -- Dragon's Tooth and The Homeplace -- No Classes, Fall Break!
Meet at the campus house at noon to carpool to the trailhead. Hike Dragon's Tooth trail, building up a big appetite, then eat all you can eat family style at The Homeplace restaurant. Delicious!

Oct. 13, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group

Oct. 14, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis -- Questions about Prayer

Tailgate -- Corn on the cob...

2009-09-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

As most, if not all, of you know, VT is playing the Nebraska Cornhuskers tomorrow at 3:30pm in Lane Stadium.

What you might not know is that CCVT is having a Tailgate starting at 1pm.

We are having grilled corn on the cob to foreshadow what the Hokies are going to do to the Cornhuskers on the field. Of course, we will also have grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and sides like potato salad, etc. And it's all FREE!

You are invited! Feel free to bring some friends with you to hang out and enjoy a great tailgate before making the short walk on over to the stadium from our campus house. (It's only about 300 yards away!)

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts.

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

Don't forget: Tailgate at 1pm Saturday at CCVT's campus house -- 413 West Clay St.

Hope to see you there,
Steve

Who wrote the Bible -- God or men?

2009-09-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Did God write it all on stone tablets? Did he write it on gold plates? No? If most of it was written with ink by the hands of men, then on what basis can we say that it is more than just different men's ideas? How can we say it is from God?

There are good answers to these questions. Would you be able to give a good answer to a friend who asked you one of these questions?

1 Peter 3:15 says, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Are you prepared?

Come and learn. Be prepared.

This is what we will be studying and discussing at Oasis tonight.

For those of you who may not know, "Oasis" is our main, large group gathering that we have every week. It's kind of the center of our life as a campus ministry and includes Bible Study, group discussion, sharing with friends, prayer, & celebration through heartfelt worship. It all happens at our campus house every Wednesday night at 7:30 during the semesters.

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

All of us at CCVT are really looking forward to seeing you at Oasis, so I hope to see you there.

Don't forget: Oasis Bible study at 7:30pm every Wednesday (during the semester).

See you soon,
Steve

Back by Popular Demand

2009-09-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ever play Flashlight Tag when you were a kid? If so, Friday night is your chance to play a nostalgic game of it by Duck Pond. If not, Friday night is your chance to enjoy what you missed out on as a kid!

We did this last year and it was sooo much fun. I think it exceeded everyone's expectations. There are so many great hiding places over by Duck Pond. So we are doing it again this year, by popular demand. Come join us!

Bring yourself and a flashlight, and maybe some friends too. If you have any extra flashlights you could lend to somebody who doesn't have one, please bring it.

Meet at CCVT's campus house at 8pm and we'll go over to the Duck Pond together. Or, if you live over towards Duck Pond and just want to meet us there, meet by the gazebo on Duck Pond at 8:15pm.

When we are done playing, we might go get some ice cream or something at Deet's or someplace, so you might want to bring your Hokie Passport with you, or whatever. We'll see what everyone is in the mood for.

Hope to see you tonight.

Steve

Evolution

2009-09-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Are you evolving? Do you believe in evolution?

There is at least one kind of evolution I believe in. I believe that you and I should be evolving and improving in our spiritual growth every day. I believe that if you are not growing and strengthening your faith on a consistent basis, your faith is destined to be extinct by the time you graduate college. I just read "There is a 42% drop in weekly church attendance from high school graduation to age 25" in America. How about you? Do you want to be one of the 42%, or one of the 58%? It's your choice. No one can make it for you.

Am I buggin' you? Don't mean to bug ya. I just feel responsible to God to tell you the truth and not let you become one of the 42% without ever even being warned about the spiritual dangers that seem to be part of the college years.

So how do you avoid becoming one of the 42%? Make good habits now, at the beginning of your college career. If you quit being involved in church now, you are likely to continue in that pattern indefinitely. If you make time to be with other Christians studying the Bible a priority now, even when you feel like you have too much homework, you will probably continue to make it a priority the rest of your life. (You will always feel like you have too much homework, so it is futile to wait for a time when you think you are fine on your homework. Ask any Senior.)

Think I'm just saying this to get you to come to CCVT campus ministry? No, actually it's the other way around: CCVT exists because what I have said is true. CCVT is a place where you can make friends with other Christians, study the Bible together, worship God together, pray for each other, have fun with each other, support each other, be there for each other in good times and in bad, and basically just be what Christians are supposed to be for each other so that they don't end up as lunch meat for that lion that is always prowling around looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.")

By the way, you won't experience that just going to a local church, sitting in the back pew, and leaving right after services without talking to anybody. You don't make any friends that way. For your Christian faith to be real, you need to be in community with other Christians -- real friendships. Going to church is not about having your ticket punched enough times so God will let you into heaven. That's not the way it works. Go somewhere where you can make real Christian friends.

Are you still with me? Or have I become your enemy? (In Galatians 4:16 the apostle Paul says, "Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?")

CCVT is a great place to make real Christian friends, because that is what we are all about. It is our focus, and we are here specifically for college students. Why not start tonight by making some friends at "Oasis"?

Tonight's "Oasis" Bible study is about evolution and creation, and what Christians believe about those. To find out what CCVT believes you'll have to come tonight. It's going to be pretty interesting.

For those of you who may not know, "Oasis" is our main large group gathering that we have every week. It's kind of the center of our life as a campus ministry and includes Bible Study, group discussion, sharing with friends, prayer, & celebration through heartfelt worship.

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

All of us at CCVT are really looking forward to meeting you at Oasis, so I hope to see you there.

Feel free to bring a friend.

Don't forget: Oasis Bible study at 7:30pm every Wednesday (during the semester)

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events on the post below.

Looking forward to seeing you,
Steve

Upcoming Events

2009-09-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sept. 8, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group (small group Bible study)

Sept. 8, Tuesday, 8pm -- Guys' Gel Group (3G network) small group Bible study

Sept. 9, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Sept. 11, Friday, 8pm -- Flashlight Tag @ Duck Pond

Sept. 15, Tuesday, 7pm -- Girls' Gel Group

Sept. 15, Tuesday, 8pm -- 3G (Guys Gel Group)

Sept. 16, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis

Sept. 16, Wednesday, after Oasis -- Core Group Team (student leadership) meeting

Sept. 19, Saturday, 1pm -- Tailgate with grilled corn on the cob before the game vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers (grilled hamburgers and hot dogs will also be available)

Food, Football, Friends, and Alabama vs. VT Saturday night

2009-09-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Do you love watching football? Do you love eating delicious food while you watch football? Do you love eating delicious food while watching other people watch football, because you really don't like watching football, but you like hanging out with friends? If any of these is true of you, then you should come join us this Saturday night to watch the Alabama vs. VT football game.

It starts at 8pm this Saturday and we are going to watch it on our 84 inch screen at our campus house. A bunch of us are pitching in to bring all kinds of traditional football party snack food to share and we need your help eating it. Feel free to bring some food to share, or just bring yourself and a friend. We'll have plenty of food so don't feel like you have to bring anything to come.

We're hoping to meet some new people besides enjoying the game with old friends, so please come whether you are a fixture at CCVT or coming for the first time. Maybe this is your first year at Tech and you are just now adjusting to classes and a new campus enough to feel ready to leave your homework behind for a few hours and kickback and relax and checkout our campus ministry.

At any rate, CCVT's student leaders who planned this party are really hoping you'll join us this Saturday at 8pm at our campus house. I am too.

Remember, our campus house is right on the edge of campus by most of the dorms, over by the Washington Street tennis courts -- probably closer than most of your classes if you live on campus. If you need directions, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps.

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

See you 8pm Saturday.

Steve

Want some Good Answers to the Tough Questions?

2009-09-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

How about that? First day of September and all of the sudden it feels like fall is here and summer is gone. It's like the weather was watching the calendar closely. Well, I hope you have been able to enjoy the cooler temperatures between classes and homework, and that you will be able to enjoy some time meeting and talking with some other Christian students here at CCVT's "Oasis" Bible study tomorrow night.

If you weren't able to make it out last week for the free spaghetti and Oasis, well, I'm sorry we won't have any spaghetti for you this week, but we will have Oasis, this week and every Wednesday, at 7:30pm. We understand that the first week of school is always extra crazy and you may have had a hard time finding time to come out and join us, but now that things are starting to settle down, we expect there will be a lot of people who are coming for the first time, so you won't be alone. Don't be shy. We are still looking forward to meeting you and welcoming you to CCVT. Only don't put it off too long or you will make a habit that you may regret later on when you realize how much easier life would have been on you if you had taken the time to make Christian friends in CCVT early in the semester. Students I've talked to in the past often express regret that they didn't get involved sooner.

Those of you who were here last week, we are definitely looking forward to seeing you again and getting to know you better.

For those of you who may not know, "Oasis" is our main large group gathering that we have every week. It's kind of the center of our life as a campus ministry and includes Bible Study, group discussion, sharing with friends, prayer, & celebration through heartfelt worship.

This week we are starting a new lesson series, "Storm". We will be discussing a lot of the tough questions people ask about Christianity and what we believe. This series will help you be better prepared to answer those questions in the future. It would also be a great place to bring your non-Christian friends, or your friends who are from a Christian background, but have really been doubting their faith recently. This series could really help answer a lot of their questions and revive their faith, or maybe bring them to faith for the first time. Please bring your friends.

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.

All of us at CCVT are really looking forward to seeing you at Oasis, so I hope to see you there.

Don't forget: Oasis Bible study at 7:30pm (Wednesday, Sept. 1)

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events by scrolling to the bottom of this page. Thanks.

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday night,
Steve

Free Pancake Brunch & Mini-golf

2009-08-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! You finished your first week of the semester. I hope you are still excited about it and not feeling too overwhelmed by the three year's worth of assignments your professors told you you would be doing this semester. Don't worry, you can do so much more than you think you can. You'll do fine. Just pray for God to help you manage your time well, and study when it's time to study, and take a break when it's time to take a break so that you can hit the books again fresh, later.

And since the weekend is here, Saturday would be a great time to take one of those breaks! That's why the student leaders here have planned a FREE Pancake Brunch for tomorrow (Saturday) at 11AM at our campus house. We want to give you a chance to blow off some steam and relax and enjoy some delicious pancakes and sausage, and get to know each other better, or maybe meet you for the first time.

Afterwards we're thinking about going miniature golfing if the weather cooperates. So if that sounds like fun, plan on doing that with us, too. The mini-golf place also has batting cages, and a driving range if you want to do that while we're there.

Bring some friends if you want. Everyone is welcome.

If you need directions to our campus house, one of the best ways to get them is to type "413 Clay St. SW, Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes if you are on campus!

If you are walking from on campus, when you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaugnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall -- cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple.

Don't forget: FREE Pancakes and sausage, 11AM tomorrow (Saturday, August 25) at 413 West Clay St.

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events at the bottom of this page. Just scroll down. Thanks.

We are really hoping to see you Saturday.

Working up an appetite,
Steve

Free Spaghetti Dinner & Oasis Bible Study

2009-08-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, hope your first two days of classes have gone great and you were able to find all of them without getting lost or anything like that. Here at Christ's Church at VT campus ministry (CCVT) we are excited about having our first "Oasis" Bible study of the year tomorrow, Wednesday, which is our main large group gathering that we have every week. It's kind of the center of our life as a campus ministry and includes Bible Study, group discussion, sharing with friends, prayer, & celebration through heartfelt worship. We are really looking forward to welcoming everyone who is new to VT to our group, like you maybe! So please plan on coming.

To help us get to know each other, we have planned a free Spaghetti Dinner for before "Oasis". Just come on over to our campus house at 6:30pm and we will enjoy some home cooked spaghetti with sauce, garlic bread, sides, drinks and dessert.

Oasis starts at 7:30pm. Jesus said, 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' So we are going to hear a little bit from God's word during Oasis, particularly from a parable Jesus (the "bread of life") told us.

If you need directions to our campus house, probably the best way to get them is to type "413 Clay St. SW, Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

All of us at CCVT are really looking forward to seeing you at Oasis, and we really hope you can join us for some free spaghetti, too, so I hope to see you there.

And feel free to bring some friends with you.

Don't forget: Spaghetti Dinner at 6:30pm, Oasis Bible study at 7:30pm (Wednesday, August 25)

Check out our schedule of other upcoming events by scrolling to the bottom of this page.

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday night -- Steve

Your Last Homemade Dinner

2009-08-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so hopefully it won't be your last homemade meal ever, but it will probably be your last homemade dinner until you go home for a weekend. So don't miss out on this chance to enjoy some good home cookin' and make some new friends at Christ's Church at VT campus ministry (CCVT).

The menu includes pork BBQ, chicken, cheese and potato casserole, and for those of you who are more adventurous, deer roast! If you've never had any, it's time you tried it. I think this will be my first time trying it, but I like to try new things, so I'm looking forward to it. Call it your first cultural experience at VT.

It's all FREE, so come join us at our campus house right on the edge of campus by the dorms at 413 Clay St. SW, Blacksburg, VA. (Copy and Paste that into Google maps for great directions.) Here is a photo of the house:

It all starts at 6pm Saturday! (August 22)

Come find your campus ministry before you get busy with classes next week. And feel free to bring a friend with you, or many friends. See you soon. -- Steve

Fall 2009

2009-08-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Fall Events -- Save the Date
(check back soon for details)

August 20, Thursday, 10am -- Campus House Work Day

August 20, Thursday, 6pm -- CCVT Reunion Dinner

August 21, Friday, 6pm -- Cookout with Volleyball (and maybe Badminton!)

August 22, Saturday, 6pm -- "Your Last Homecooked Meal"

August 23, Sunday, 7:30pm -- Worship Team Meeting

August 26, Wednesday, 6:30pm -- Spaghetti Dinner & Oasis (large group Bible study)

August 28, Friday, 2-7pm -- Gobblerfest/Student Organization Showcase (Come see us at our display)

August 29, Saturday, 11am -- Pancake Brunch & Mini-golf (bowling if it rains)

Sept. 2, Wednesday, 7:30pm -- Oasis (large group Bible study)

Sept. 2, Wednesday, after Oasis -- First Core Group Servant Team meeting of the semester

Sept. 5, Saturday, 8pm -- Football Party, Alabama vs. VT (away game)