I was fortunate enough to grow up in the church my entire life, but I truly did not have a relationship with Christ or have any recollection of what the Gospel truly meant. During my middle school and high school years, I thought I could earn favor with God by doing enough “good” to make Him happy.

When I got to Troy my freshman year, I began living the party life, but thought I was still “good” with God. By the grace of God, he used a man on staff with Campus Outreach named Jeff to intervene in my life. Jeff helped me to see what the Gospel truly meant and what it looked like to surrender my life to Christ. Jeff and a handful of other men began investing in my life, showing me how to study the scriptures, pray, and share my faith. Over the rest of my time in college I continued to grow in these disciplines and invest my life into other young men. I saw that I was able to show them the same things that I had learned and point them to Christ.

I grew up believing that I could earn my way into a relationship with God. I found my identity in trying to be “good enough” for everyone around me. It left me exhausted and unsatisfied because I could never be perfect. I began to learn about Jesus more clearly through my friend’s youth group, which led me to start reading the Bible on my own in high school. God eventually softened my heart and showed me my sin, and at the same time the realization that Jesus had already paid for it on the cross. I came into a relationship with him in this season. 

As I entered college, I was looking for a place to grow spiritually alongside others. God led me to Campus Outreach the first day of classes and he used this ministry to help me grow in knowing him and making him known in and through my life. Now I have the privilege to continue to help more college students come into a relationship with Jesus and multiply their lives because he is worthy of our worship.