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Loving Through Food

https://twitter.com/thewholeshoe315/status/859480802282831872

NKU students enjoying free pancakes and socializing on Monday Night           

When students are looking to get some food late night on campus, normally their only choice is eating at Norse Commons, and either using a meal swipe or paying with their own money. This changes every finals week when the Baptist Collegiate Ministry does Pancakes for Finals.

BCM student, Josh Ferguson, helping to make pancakes

According to Josh Skipper, the Campus Missionary at the BCM, providing free pancakes for college students during finals week was a tradition that started long before he started serving in his current position. “I’ve been blessed to as the Campus Missionary for almost five years now, and I can’t claim the genius of coming up with Pancakes for finals. My philosophy with it is to check with the students that are involved with this ministry and ask them yearly if this is something that they think is effective in ministry, and so far, they have told me that they believe it is, and I have continued to support doing this outreach,” said Skipper. To Abby Tupman, a non-student at NKU who is attending pancakes for the first time tonight, this is music to her ears. “In the past, I attended a couple of worship services here, but for whatever reason, I didn’t stick with it. Then a couple of weeks ago, I randomly met a couple of students involved in the BCM, and they invited me to come to tonight, and I am so glad that I accepted because I genuinely feel loved. I feel like I am important, and I have gotten to meet some awesome people,” said Tupman. Responses like Tupman’s are the reason why Pancakes for Finals is something that the BCM still strongly believes in says Alex Burden, a junior at NKU and the President of the BCM. “At the very least, we want people to come into the BCM to get some free food and to be able to both physically and mentally be able to relax for a little while during a week which normally doesn’t allow for much of that. With that being said though, our larger goal is to build relationships with people that come into this building to get pancakes, and want to be able to show them that we love and care about them, and that God does as well,” said Burden. Burden, understands the purpose of outreaching through from both sides, because by his own admission, he was by no means a Christian when he first came to pancakes during finals. “During finals week of my first semester as a freshman, I came to the BCM for the pancakes, and I got to talk to several people that were involved in this ministry, and over the three days that I came, I got to hear what Jesus did on the cross for me, and how he defeated death, and the implications that that has on my life,” said Burden. “I didn’t immediately become a Christian then, but I got to talk with people who truly cared about me and loved me, and that made me want to learn more about Christianity.” For people like Burden and Tupman though, pancakes almost weren’t around to have this sort of impact on their lives. According to Skipper, when he first became the campus pastor at the BCM, loving conversations weren’t happening quite the way that they have in the past 2 years. “When I first started here, we had some awesome students that loved each other well, but when it came to loving non-BCM students who came here during finals week, they just weren’t doing that effectively,” said Skipper. “Our students tended to clump together and not be as loving to everybody who entered the building.” This lack of interaction lead Skipper to almost discontinue the tradition of free pancakes. However, he felt like God was telling him to be patient, and he is glad that he was. “Over the past few years, I have seen our students love for this campus and its people grow, and I have loved to see the interaction between students of all walks of life,” said Skipper. This fact is something that has made Burden very proud, and has lead him to continue to be an advocate for loving students in this way. “I’ve seen the impact that loving people where they’re at and just caring about them enough to share the Gospel with someone can have, because I was that kid who was just broken and looking for love as a freshman. I want to have that same impact on others and I believe that pancakes for finals allows me and this ministry to do that,” said Burden.

NKU students taking a break from studying to play some ping pong and Pacman in the BCM

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Growing in God

Growing up, Rob Norwood would tell you that he really wasn’t much different than the average kid. He loved playing sports, hanging out with friends and family, watching TV, and he enjoyed going to church.

“I grew up in a church home, went to church every week, was involved in youth groups, Sunday school and things like that,” said Norwood. “I guess you could say I had the standard faith background, I knew Jesus, would read my Bible.”

So when Rob graduated high school and came to NKU for college, he expected that he would stay strong in the Christian faith that he was raised in. This wasn’t always the case for Rob though.

“I was exposed to drugs, alcohol, women, and partying. And getting a taste of real temptation without my parents there. I struggled with all of that,” said Norwood.

For Norwood, the party lifestyle and temptations took precedence over his faith for the better part of his first couple of years in college. This all started to change when Norwood met and began building a relationship with Aaron Wilson, one of the leaders of Campus Outreach, a ministry that was new on campus at the beginning of Norwood’s junior year.

“When I met Rob and started to hear his story, I realized that this was a guy that I could relate to. He was a gifted athlete who had a love for Jesus, but this was a kid that was just struggling with the temptations that you face in college,” said Wilson.

Wilson, a gifted athlete in his own right who played college football all four years that he attended college at Georgetown University understood the temptations that Norwood was dealing with,”

“Being a college athlete and being sociable myself, I have seen the temptations that are present in college, and unfortunately, I also didn’t handle all of those temptations perfectly,” said Wilson.

It was this honesty and humility from Wilson that got Norwood to start attending Campus Outreach Bible Studies and allowed him to be around the Bible and a strong group of Christians for the first time in a couple of years.

“The more that I was building relationships with Aaron, the other leaders of Campus Outreach, and other Christian students, I really got to see how much they loved God, and even more importantly, how much God still loves us even when we make mistakes,” said Norwood.

It was this fact that God could still love Norwood even with the mistakes that he had made that really allowed him to start seeking after God again.

“I was trying to fill myself with things that I thought would satisfy me, things of the world, and they left me more and more broken each time,” said Norwood. “I found that there was something better out there.

That something better that Norwood is talking about is God. Now, a student leader in campus outreach, Norwood admits that he still isn’t perfect, but he wants others to know the love of Christ, and to know that it satisfies way more than the temptations.

“I do a Bible study in the Rec here on Friday’s and after that, all the guys we just get together and play basketball. Just letting them know that there is my to life than what you would think the good life is,” said Norwood.

DJ Sherman, a freshman here at NKU started attending Norwood’s Bible study on Friday’s and he has seen the impact in his life.

“Much like Rob, I grew up in a Christian household, but when I got to college, I let the temptations get the best of me during first semester, so becoming friends with Rob and learning from the mistakes that he made as well as diving into the Bible has lead me to really take my relationship with God and make it my own,” said Sherman. “Rob has just had such a huge impact on my walk with God and has really showed me that God loves me and that I can love God and be happy without the temptations that I have faced.”

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Jou 450 Event Story #2

Jeremiah Hines, Megan Anderson, Josh Ferguson, and Alicia Barfield leading Worship during the BCM’s Worship and Prayer Service

“Oh what a savior isn’t he wonderful sing alleluia, Christ is risen.” These were lyrics from one of the 6 worship songs that billowed out from the hearts and lungs of the 102 students who were present at the first worship and prayer night at the BCM this semester. As much as worship music played a key component during the worship and prayer night on Tuesday, the largest part of the hour and a half time slot was reserved for prayer. According to Jeremiah Hines, one of the worship leaders in the BCM band, there is something special about nights like Tuesday. “As much as I love singing and playing instruments to glorify God, there is always something special about those one to two nights a year where we really put a focus on just going to God in prayer and seeking out his will as a collective group. There really is a beauty within this silence because it allows us to remember that God is the one who has control of our lives, and not us,” said Hines. The same sentiment was backed up by Alex Burden, the president of the BCM. “These prayer nights are always a blessing because anybody can come to an event like this and feel totally comfortable and at ease, and know that God is in control,” said Burden. The prayer night has a significant place in Burden’s heart, because it was night’s like this that had a big impact on him becoming a Christian. “When I came to NKU two and a half years ago, I wasn’t a Christian. I never grew up in church and I never knew what it meant to have a relationship with God. One of the first ever real worship services that I went to was actually a prayer night here my freshman year. These prayer nights hold a special place in my heart because they really lead to one of the most important decisions of my life which was deciding to believe in God and have a relationship with him,” said Burden. Now as President, Burden really continues to stress that while nights like Tuesday are extremely honest and intentional nights of worship, they aren’t just for Christians. He sees them as nights where anybody can come and learn about God and really feel loved and accepted by people who are Christians. This idea isn’t lost on Hunter Miggelbrink, a freshman at NKU. “I’m not to the point yet where I’m one hundred percent ready to give my life to Christ yet,” said Migglebrink. “I have always felt welcomed while I learn about God, and tonight was actually awesome because I was prayed for for the first time ever.”

Hunter Miggelbrink, a freshman at NKU, is praying with other students at the Praise and Worship Night at the BCM

When Burden heard Migglebrink’s story about his first every prayer night experience, Burden couldn’t help but to smile because he sees a lot of himself in Miggelbrink. He also still sees the power of the worship and prayer night, and he is praying that they continue to have the same affect that they have had on him and Miggelbrink.

BCM students writing down their prayer requests on the chalkboard so other students can pray for them

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Trevor Holzschuh Preview Profile Assignment

1.) When it comes to this profile assignment, I am thinking that I could profile either Alex Burden or Rob Norwood. I think that both of these individuals would be good for this profile because  Rob is a student leader for Campus Outreach, and he seems to have really grown a ton in his walk with Christ. Alex would be a good person to profile because he wasn’t a Christian when he came into college, and now he was just elected as student president of the BCM.

2.) Either of these individuals would relate to my beat because they are student leaders of campus ministries, and they are huge figures when it comes to loving sudents and bringing the Gospel on campus.

3.) Both of these people would be newsworthy because I believe that they have grown a ton in their walks with Christ, and I think that they would be very open to telling their stories and sharing how they’ve struggled and how they’ve grown.

4.) The only challenge that I could think I might have in profiling someone like Rob would be if he wasn’t wanting to be vulnerable, but from what I know about him so far, I think he’d be willing to share his story.

5.) Alex Burden would be my fall back plan, and he’d be newsworthy because he just became the President of the BCM.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/sports/football/tebow-professes-his-evangelical-faith-carefully.html

This article is about how Tim Tebow is willing to show his faith, but he is careful to do it in a loving way that is God-honoring. 

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Jou 450: Three Weeks on the Beat

When it comes to my beat for this class, so far, I really do love it! Last semester, for Michelle’s class, my beat was sports, and while I did enjoy it because I am a huge sports fan, it wasn’t what I am most passionate about. For me, I believe my life is about growing in my walk with Christ, and evangelizing to others. And my beat perfectly allows me to do what I am passionate about!

It’s also not particularly hard to find stories for my beat because the BCM is involved with a lot of different activities on campus, and even if I couldn’t find a story there, I could go and talk with other on-campus ministries such as Cru or Campus Outreach and do a story about something that they are doing or are involved in.

Your Story Matters: Evan

http://www.kybcm.org/your-story-matters-evan/

This is a very short news story paired with a video about a guy named Evan, and how he found his faith on his college campus.

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Engage Event Story

Every Tuesday night, about one hundred college students at NKU descend on a one story, red roof building on campus called the Baptist Collegiate Ministry or BCM for a night of “worship, preaching, and fun,” according to Alex Burden.

Burden, a junior sports business major who is also on the leadership team at the BCM is there every Tuesday night.

“We call our Tuesday night worship times Engage, because that is what we want to be doing with every student that walks into this building as well as any student that we encounter on campus,” said Burden.

For Burden, his dedication and passion for Engage is something that he never would have anticipated when he first came to NKU.

“Growing up, I never went to church, or had a relationship with Christ, so when I first got to NKU as a freshman, I had never heard of the BCM. It wasn’t until I built some friendships with people that came here, and really had them evangelize to me for most of my freshman year that I accepted Christ and became a Christian,” said Burden.

Now, it is Burden who is wanting to reach out to college students who don’t have a relationship with Christ because that is what he is “passionate” about.

According to Burden, that passion is one of the reasons why he loves Engage.

“When anybody comes here, they see a genuine passion from our worship team, and they hear a message that comes straight from the heart of a fellow college student,” said Burden.

The worship band, as mentioned by Burden is led by Jeremiah Hines, a junior entrepreneurship major. For Hines, that passion is shown during worship is no accident.

“We are blessed to have a lot of talented musicians here, but what makes worship the awesome experience that it is, is that we recognize that we are all sinful individuals, so we use the musical gifts that God has given us to praise him for seeing past our sin and our shortcomings, so when we are leading worship, we aren’t just singing or playing instruments, we are genuinely worshipping the one who took the cross for us,” said Hines.

The other key aspect of Engage is the sermon. This particular week, Monica Molestina, a junior organizational leadership major was the one giving the message. For Molestina, having the opportunity to do that is a blessing.

“If you ask me, there isn’t anything terribly special about me except for the love that God has for me, so I take what I am learning in my relationship with Christ and get to speak on it, and that is such a blessing for me,” said Molestina.

Molestina spoke on the idea of not wasting your leadership. You wouldn’t be alone if you recognized that these three individuals, as well as the countless others at the BCM for Engage, are getting that message.

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JOU 450 Introduction

Hey everyone, my name is Trevor Holzschuh, and I am a Junior journalism major here at NKU. I am going to be using this blog for multiple classes this semester, but as it relates to JOU 450, I am primarily going to be using it to cover my beat which focuses on Christian organizations on NKU’s campus, with the greatest emphasis being the BCM. 

The BCM, or Baptist Collegiate Ministry, is an organization that I have been involved with for my 2+ years here at NKU. This organization has allowed me to make life-long friendships and has really helped to develop my relationship with Christ. Admittedly, the BCM has had a huge impact on my life, but I want to be as objective and journalistic as possible with this blog, so while I will be doing stories  on on-campus ministries here at NKU, they will be done as professionally as possible.

While the BCM is a big part of my life, it isn’t the most important thing in my life. To me, my individual walk with Christ is what most defines me, and this relationship with God has lead me to want to pursue a career in ministry, specifically with a focus on college students. Other things that really define who I am as a person are my love for sports, be it playing sports like basketball and ultimate frisbee, or watching sports like football, baseball, and basketball. I also love hiking and exploring places outdoors, and my relationships with my friends, family, and pets are also extremely important to me! I also routinely check my facebook, which is under my name, and my instagram which my handle is trevor_31596.

As far as where I am as a journalist, my definition of multimedia is news that crosses platforms. For most of the life of journalism, journalists have reported stories, and those stories have gone in newspapers or have been told through word of mouth. Now, with the huge advancement in technology, stories are still created for the traditional platform of a newspaper, but stories now also go on the news organization’s website, it goes on social media, and can go on the blogs of individual journalists. So to me, mutimedia revolves around reporting and telling a story that can be put in a newspaper, but can also be a good story in online platforms.

As far as what media looks like in the next 5 years, I can only hazard a guess. I think that media and technology are only going to move forward even more closely, and things like a traditional print newspaper will start to become objects of the past. To me, with the media world continuing to grow toward and with technology, stories will be posted and read almost entirely electronically, so journalists will need to learn how to market themselves, and how to best present their stories, because if you can’t grab the reader’s attention, they’ll be gone and onto a different story or website all together, and they’ll do this faster than ever before.

Lastly, one story that will probably be reflective of a story that I will do with my beat is a story from the Northerner. BCM Eases Transition for Freshman was a story run by the Northerner a year or two ago that tells about an event the BCM was doing, as well as informs the general public of what the BCM is, and it does it from an unbiased perspective. http://www.thenortherner.com/arts-and-life/campus-events/2015/08/22/bcm-eases-transition-for-freshman/ 

A second example of a story that I might do for this blog is a story that Cru did about students graduating from college and how to be successful in that transition. It talks about the importance of having a walk with Christ, but it also gives solid life advice that someone who isn’t a Christian would absolutely be willing to listen to and learn from. This story is called 4 Things You Need to Know About Life After College. https://www.cru.org/communities/campus/4-things-you-need-to-know-about-life-after-college.html     

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EMB 260 Blog #1

In reading chapter 1 of the Postman book, there is one point that is really driven home that is almost always true, but has actually been inaccurate recently. That point is that our culture is so big on Entertainment and looks of things, that for us to accept something as true, the person presenting it almost has to be visually appealing or attractive. On page 4, the text talks about how Richard Nixon believed that he lost his first run at the Presidency because of stylists not properly applying makeup, thus making him look a lot less attractive than his opponent, JFK. It also says that Nixon advised Edward Kennedy to lose 20 pounds before he ran for President so that he would be more attractive.

As a whole, even 40 or 50 years ago, Nixon was onto something. Our culture, as a whole, cares more about personality and appearance, than almost anything else; we want to be entertained. I think that to some extent, this theory was shown to be mostly true, instead of a proven fact, this past November. Donald Trump, a portly man, who many would describe as unattractive, was elected to the highest office in the United States. In making this observation, I suppose that I wanted to back up a big idea from the first chapter of the book that says that looks and personality are currently a big deal in society, but I also wanted to pose the idea that American culture might be starting to change again. As stated, even Trump’s biggest supporters would admit that he isn’t the best looking man in the world by a long shot, and that his personality is polarizing. These facts make me wonder how a man who goes against a couple of important measuring sticks for people in our culture was able to be elected by the American public. Is this just a fluke, or does this election point to something bigger, a change in what is important in the American Culture?

Trevor