Hey Has-Beens!

Today is a big day in the life of your very own Alumni Coordinator... my baby's due date! Of course, she shows absolutely no signs of wanting to come out so I guess we'll keep waiting. Patiently. Or not.

In September we had a fantastic Tailgate party at Grant & Allison McCreary's house  (thanks McCrearys!) and I got to meet lots of alums I've only heard of in legend... like the great Lauren (Garifalos) Hintz, "Sexy Susan Sexton" who totally lives up to her name, AND Melissa Threadgill and her sweet kid John. I also got to hang out with some alums I've known for years, such as the Fiamingos (Fledge, Julie, and kids) and the Lowes (Scott & Hayley). Even though the game went on for HOURS (it's no secret that football is not my favorite sport) it only felt like ... ONE hour because it was so fun hanging out with everyone. My husband begs to differ though... I think the time that the kids spent squealing at each other and running in circles from the kitchen to the living room and back was half a lifetime to him.

Current CCF news that's awesome:
Beach Retreat a couple weeks ago - plus a baptism!!! Thanks for all your prayers for safety and for the retreat to be incredible!
Beau's Wedding - plus Ivy's wedding!!! At the SAME TIME! Now they're hitched! They're currently floating around on a boat in the middle of the ocean probably being chased by sharks and whirlpools.
And Coming Soon:
Homecoming Tailgate 2012 (Nov. 3 @ CCF!)
our first ever Alumni E-Newsletter
and another Graduation in December to add to the ranks of awesome CCF Alums.

See you guys at the Homecoming Tailgate (remember, gametime hasn't been announced yet so double check the Evite for updates)!

Love forever and always,
Becca Crowe

Post-Cookout Information Overload

The Alumni Cookout was awesome!!! There were about 30 of us there, ranging in age from less than a year (Baby Carter McCreary!) to .. well, grownups. It was really neat meeting some alums I had never met before AND seeing some of our more recent alums who I really miss! I'm glad that this is my life! Thanks to everyone who came and thanks for the delicious sides and desserts you guys brought!

I asked everyone at the cookout to fill out a questionnaire, some of it was boring contact info stuff, but I also got to find out what people miss most about CCF and what kinds of alumni stuff they want to come to... please enjoy their answers:

Thing you miss most about CCF:
GRANT MCCREARY [way to go, Grant!]
being surrounded by friends
trivia night [editor's note: trivia night will never die... it's STILL popular!]
Everything - people always around @ CCF - Fat Mondays!
people
Angela [ohhh yeah!]
being there [i hear you]
Thursday nights [i guess they've always been awesome!]
hanging out with folks [written in but marked out: "living in the house :) lies"....]
Becca [hey, i miss you too!]
Hanging out with friends
Fellowship & Intramurals & Fun 'til Four
Friends, DAAM!, Intramurals
people
friends
Friends, creative group
community, friends, Becca Crowe [woohoo!]

Future alumni events you'd like to attend:
EVERYTHING
picnics/tailgates/roadtrips
not sure
Any!
Cheap ones
I like food
Any! kayaking! tubing, camping, outdoors things
all
Kayaking! (SRosWhite) picnics, outdoor stuff, tailgates
All if possible
picnic/softball/flag football
picnics, games
Anything!
Any that I can
ALL

So it looks like we'll continue doing Thursday Nights/Dinner and a Message at CCF, we'll continue to allow people to come. As for future alumni events, I guess we're going kayaking??? And beyond that anything that involves food and football sounds like a winner... so we're doing at least 3 football games together this season! There's always homecoming but we're adding a couple of fun extras, so stay tuned for an official events calendar with our Fall 2012 tailgate parties to be released soon! 

Much much love,
Becca Crowe

Becca's first ever Has-been event ... AHHH!!!!

What's up Alums/Has-beens!!! Here's the quick news:

I'm no longer working full-time at CCF as the Associate Campus Minister. Yes, it's SO sad, but in awesomer news I get to be the part-time Alumni Coordinator!!! Many thanks to the Board for believing in me and giving me a chance to do this! It also allows me to stay home and take care of my baby, who is due at the end of October. Hooray for babies and jobs!

This means that even before I officially started my new job I decided to plan a big event - go me! :) We're having our first ever Alumni Cookout THIS Saturday on August 11 IN ATLANTA!!! (This link should work if you didn't get it: http://new.evite.com/#view_invite:eid=013FMDVWTUTCHIKMCEPBZHIA2S22JA) I know it's weird to have CCF events not at CCF, but more Alums live in/near Atlanta than anywhere else so I decided to go where they are. We're going to have burgers on the grill (mmmmmm) and everyone who is attending is asked to bring their fav picnic side, or any side at all.

Our current guestlist is BLOWING MY MIND... check this out:
Becca Crowe & Charles Carter
Grant & Allison McCreary + 2 kids!
Sean Chiang
Wendy & Shane Strickland + 2 kids!
Jennifer McLary
Clay Rushing
Klyde Kim
Mary Elizabeth Sprague (who is on our board, woot) plus her hubby & kid
Lauren McKimmy
Sheri Bowser
Kristin Bowser
Sarah & John Erwin
Abe Westfall and his 2 kids

That's over 30 awesome human beings/has-beens/CCF lovers who are coming to celebrate all the fun stuff going on at CCF the past few years... whew! I can't wait for it to get here! But in the meantime I have to....

1 - shop (Bubba burgers and Boca burgers anyone?)
2 - find a dogsitter (it's going to be a long day for my furry family!)
3 - call more alums!
4 - figure out how to haul tables and chairs to Atlanta in my Maxima.... ugh
5 - finish unpacking my house (we just moved... yay!)
6 - eat a snack (always stuffing my face)
7 - count how many times the baby kicks ... mostly just for fun since she's constantly kicking the tar out of me
8 - breathe.... aah.

In other fun CCF news, our new interns have started getting ready for fall, our student leaders have had their leadership retreat, and the staff is taking a deep breath before August 13 hits with a vengeance. It's going to be an incredible year! Another thing that's going to make it even MORE incredible is a fundraising initiative we're doing called Project 25... straight out of the brain/heart of Angela Denton-Rachel and inspired by the holy spirit, this is going to ensure that CCF is able to continue doing ministry at the level we have been. Here's what it is:

25 days of intense prayer and fundraising
Began on July 25
25 fundraising team members (staff, board, alums, and former interns)
$6,250/month ongoing support is the goal to keep CCF going strong

So far we've raised about 10% of our goal which is AWESOME!!! What this money is going to fund is a new part-time staff member (ME!), a new lead pastor (hopefully!), and the continuation of all of CCF's awesome programs. The big one that's on the line is Fat Mondays, which is our weekly on-campus outreach lunch where we feed over 200 UGA students who may never otherwise go near a campus ministry. We've already impacted so many people at Fat Mondays but it is EXPENSIVE!!! It's like $300 every week and the bigger it grows, the more it costs. Project 25 is going to keep Fat Mondays alive, so we can keep telling people how much God loves them!

For more CCF updates, check out www.ugaccf.com, to find out how Project 25 is doing (and to give money if you can!) go to http://www.ugaccf.com/#!project-25/cqbx. Make sure you're in the UGACCF Alumni group on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/groups/31510752927/) and keep me updated if any of your contact info changes!

Thanks Hasbeens! I hope to see lots of you at the cookout on Saturday and to hear from all of you at some point in the future!

Looooooooooooooooove,
Becca

"What an AWESOME night!"

 “What an awesome night!!!  I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about the upcoming year and spending it with CCF!!”  - New freshman Meredith's Facebook status after the first Dinner and a Message last week. 

Wow. That’s all I can say. We ended last spring’s semester with momentum, on a high, and the summer just seemed to keep us moving. All summer we worked on “beautifying” CCF, growing deeper through Bible Studies, reading books together, and preparing for this year. 

But, things really picked up at the end of July when the Interns started. Adrian, Elizabeth, Josh and Laura have added a tremendous amount of energy and effort and love to CCF. They are amazing. They have propelled our ministry forward and are helping take it to the next level of excitement and excellence. The house looks incredible both outside AND inside now– it’s clean, neat, creatively painted, hospitable, and fun.  And you should see their flyers! If we gave out medals for good flyers – they would all win!

We are so excited about this year. It’s off to a fantastic start. We are meeting lots of cool and interesting people and our student leaders are working hard to make CCF a loving, wonderful place. And people are responding. In the last week we have had a Muslim student, a Buddhist student, multiple students who are “unsure of their faith” or “not very religious”, and a bunch of other “non-traditional” (in the Bible-belt-Christian sense) students attend different events – and have a great time. We LOVE it!

Numbers aren’t everything, but they are exciting because they represent souls. So, let me throw some numbers out from the last 2 weeks.

9 - residents at the Campus House.

22 - leaders at our Leadership Retreat.

20 - new freshmen at CCF for our freshmen ice cream socials (before school even started).

50 - students at our welcome to school party.

130  - at our first Fat Mondays.

90 - at the first Dinner and a Message (30 of them were new. Many of those were the same freshmen I noted above!).  

65 - at Fun til Four. (20 until 4am!)

195 - at our 2^nd Fat Mondays.

Yea baby!!

Our Kickoff Retreat is this weekend and already 20 people have signed up. We’ll let you know how that goes. We want 50. After all, who wouldn't want to come hear Ric and Sarah White?!

Our theme this year at CCF is “Authentic Christianity” and that’s what we are trying to do – live out our faith. Things are going really well! There is excitement in the air. God is doing great things in people’s lives, already.  We’re tired, but so so happy for all that God is doing! Please keep us in your prayers, it’s just getting started!

I hope you are well and I hope to hear from all of you soon!

In Him,

Angela

CCF is a GREAT Matchmaker!

What's up Hasbeens!

Initial Thoughts: As you know, CCF is a really fantastic place to meet people when you're a student. In fact, one of those people may have turned out to be YOUR SPOUSE! Angela, Beau, and myself (Becca) have ALL met our significant others at CCF and we go to "CCF Weddings" all the time. We LOVE them. We love that people find someone at CCF who is worthy of their lifelong love and is someone that God created to fit beautifully with them in the holy covenant of Christian marriage. It's freaking cool! This summer alone we've witnessed 2 CCF weddings: the wedding of alums Scott Lowe & Hayley McNash, who met at Fat Mondays (our weekly on-campus outreach lunch) about halfway through their respective college careers. They grew in faith here at CCF and served God in love and are a couple that our current students look up to. Also just this week we saw current student Kim Vongo and alum Shaun Polston commit their lives and marriage to God. As Shaun said in his self-written vows, they met while playing 4-Square on campus (which is, by the way, a super-fun way to do outreach!) with a bunch of CCFers. As a staff, we really feel like God is moving when students come as students and meet the person they were created to be with, even if sometimes it takes a while for them to realize it :) Any of you two or three faithful Hasbeen blog readers have a similar story? We've love to hear it! Leave comments and tell us how you meet your spouse through CCF!

Weekly Update: INTERNS ARE COMING on Thursday! Elizabeth Davidson, Josh Rogers, Adrian Perez, and Laura McDonald are gonna be our fantastic four this year and we are SO stoked to get them on board with us. Keep praying for them and their incredible upcoming year of growth and service!

Exciting Thing Happening Today: We had our last summertime half-Monday today and we were pretty sad to see it go. (Yes, you read it right - we take Monday mornings off in the summer to further our extreme summer rejuvenation period. It's awesome!) Angela spent her morning hanging out with her kids, Abby & Dylan. Beau slept until lunchtime. Becca played video games with her husband and took her dog to play the IM fields. Now we get back to the craziness that is Fall in Athens - pray for our sanity!!!

Other CCF News: We have our leadership retreat coming on August 6-7. Pray for our student leaders as they learn about their roles for next year and start seeking God's will for CCF.

That's it for this week, folks! Look for some awesome ramblings from my esteemed coworkers Beau Mason soon, and tell your friends to subscribe to our blog! 

Yours,

Becca

P.S. For your enjoyment:Polstons on the left, Lowes on the right.

Walk the talk, sucker!

So, lately the idea of being an authentic Christian has been constantly on my mind. I’ve been asking myself, Gary (my husband), our staff and leaders to think about what that means, what that looks like in our lives. It’s our theme for this summer and likely for this fall as well. Do people see something different, something Christ-like when they look at me? Am I really walking the talk?

Well, these questions led to me start a small group on James this summer. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean James is the “do what it says” book, after all. In our first week, I challenged our students that we shouldn’t just read to learn more, but also to evaluate our lives and try our best to live out what we find – to apply these truths and really live more authentic Christian lives. And with that we dug in to the first few verses of this crazy challenging book. Here’s what we found:

James 1: 2-4 (NIV) “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Good stuff, right? So, we discussed trials in our lives and how we actually face them. The common answer I got from the more churched students was, “I try and persevere and get through.” That’s good, no doubt. But, I wanted them to go further. James says not just to persevere, but to consider it “pure joy” whenever we face trials. “How do we do that?” I boldly challenged them.

And, I have to admit, I was pleased at myself. I got them digging deeper, challenging their status quo answers and faith, etc. But, God was just getting started with me, He’s so sneaky. Because that night after waking up when my 6 year old Abby woke up to go to the bathroom (always around 4am!), I couldn’t get back to sleep. My mind started racing about things, specifically, the trials we are going through at CCF right now. (Incidentally, it’s been a great year at CCF. We’ve seen incredible spiritual growth in our students, 4 baptisms, a great closeness in the group, so many good things.) Our one big trial right now, and it’s a biggie, is money. How are we going to get more money? How can we make ends meet? And, how am I going to help do this, since I’ve never done serious fundraising and really hate all things financial? I stayed awake for hours praying and worrying.

I awoke the next morning feeling tired, but a little better. My worry had been replaced by my typical thoughts: “I know God will provide, it’s just tough right now. We just have to keep praying, trust Him, get the word out. We can get through this, all we need to do is, persevere”… aw man! I couldn’t believe it. Not 24 hours since I had taught and tried to drive home the point that James makes (that, if we have real faith in God, if we have the wisdom to accept that He is in control of circumstances and will work them out for the good, then we should not just get through trials, we should have JOY as we face them), bam! In my face. Thanks a lot God.

Now, I know I can’t complain, it’s what I asked for, but the timing… really God? His ways are never quite as we expect, are they?

So, I’m trying to learn better how to walk the talk. My evaluations so far have shown I have a ways to go. I’m challenging and encouraging our staff and students to try and live authentic Christian lives as well. I really believe it’s the only way to make a difference in this world and glorify God. (If you want some good reading on this subject, check out the book UnChristian by David Kinnaman).

I challenge you to join us and do the same. We’re all in this together anyway. Look at your life: how you spend your time, how you spend your money, how you handle trials, how you treat those outside the church, etc. Does everything reflect Christ? Does the world see something different in you when they look at you? Is it something they want? Are you living an authentic Christian life? Pray about it and act. I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. It’s just, well, sometimes we get inundated with everything that surrounds us and we kind of start to blend in too much. Or, maybe we just don’t take the time to think about it, to evaluate, to make changes. We need to.

Thanks for reading my crazy thoughts (I know I write pretty stream of conscious and that drives some folks nuts). I love you guys! Please keep in touch – I love hearing from you, we all do. Please shine like lights in this world. Please let other CCF alums know about our blog, our Facebook page for alums (uga ccf alumni association), and our needs. Again, we are all in this together.

Oh, and if you have the means, we need more money, could you help? (I’m asking you with a joyful smile upon my face :).

Trying to live like Him,

Angela

(p.s. if you want to know more about our finances, or just to catch up, please don’t hesitate to send me a message or call.)

summer, marriages, and field day

Hello CCF Has Beens!

Welcome to my first ever blog! I have to say I feel so young, so hip, so... at a loss for what to say. :) I've read one or two blogs of people and it seems that random rambling is the norm, so I'm not worried about my blogging ability. Who else has more randomness potential than me? If you know me at all you will know the answer is clear: very few if any.

So, lets jump in. We'll start with the relevant. We just finished what was an incredible year. Lots of spiritual growth, great students, and millions of events that many of you will remember and love: Costume Corn Maze, Open Mic Nites, Mexico Mission trip, retreats, a Semi-formal, Parents Banquet, Field Day, Year End Steak Soiree (what was our annual Steakout has gotten all fancy), game nights, frisbee at Herty Field, Dinner and a Messages (formerly TGiT, formerly Tuesday night worship), Bible Studies, great worship, etc. etc. It was great and it was a lot of fun. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. They made a difference. Seriously, we couldn't do this without your support because this year, like every year was a lot of work. Thank you!

As a staff, we are tired, but, now it's summer, and I am one happy camper. I mean did you ever spend a summer in Athens? Do you remember what it's like? It's amazing! The perfect unwind, kick your feet up, refresh yourself time. I LOVE it! First, there are almost no cars! The 5 points traffic - gone! The other random traffic spots around town - empty. Want to eat at any restaurant on a Friday night - just walk right in. I can be home in 8 minutes (it usually takes me a whopping 15 - sorry all of you Atlanta people :). It's really a refreshing break from the chaos that we enjoy and love for most of the year. The only thing I don't like is not having students constantly in the Campus House. Oh, they'll be here by Through Session in June, but for now it's Maymester  - just listen to the wind howl, my co-worker Beau burp and sing, and watch the tumbleweeds roll. I love it and I hate it. Of course, part of the problem right now is that Becca is gone. She's about to get married and felt it important to "have a day or two to get ready" - whatever! :) I'm so happy for her, but honestly, she should have taken all of us with her and not left us here to be bored. I mean, I'm really helpful in the hair and dress department. Right?

Of course, today I wasn't bored because today, with CCF being deserted and Athens being a ghost town, I thought I would volunteer my morning and help at my daughter Abby's first Field Day. I mean, I remember Field Day vividly and used to love it. The 3 legged races, the 50 yard dashes, the long jumps, tug of wars, the blue ribbons. Some of you may say I am a bit overly competitive (whatever ;), but has anyone been to Field Day lately? Abby is 5 (almost 6, she would want me to say) and finishing Kindergarten. Old enough for some good, healthy competition in my book. Well, Field Day was NOTHING like I remember. I manned the all-important "Bubble Station". That's right, we gave them bubbles and they blew them. Where's the competition in that? I tried to make it more competitive by seeing who could make the biggest bubble and who could blow the most, but there were no awards or ribbons and one girl actually told me it wasn't nice to say someone had blown a bigger bubble than someone else. I quickly corrected her, letting her know that there was nothing wrong with recognizing and acknowledging a huge bubble. Did I make a difference in her life? I hope so. Some of the other stations included hippity hopping - which was a relay race, o.k. I could get into that except there was no official start and end, no winners or losers. There was a Moonwalking bouncy place, a snack station (really???), chalk drawing - again with no one judging these things, a jump rope station - which was just a place for them to jump ropes, and a "rocket launch" station where they got to "shoot" a foam rocket. Where is the competition in any of this? Where are the ribbons? What has happened to Field Day people? Where is the competition that has obsessed and controlled my life for so long?  I felt a little cheated, but I did feel better when one of Abby's teachers told me I should put her into sports because it was clear she didn't just want to hippity hop, she wanted to WIN. Sigh, there's always a silver lining somewhere. I love that girl!! 

Well, I guess I'll wrap this up. Looking back through this, I think my first attempt at randomness succeeded. Who knows where we'll go next? Commentaries on the mice living in the campus house (its a problem because they use more than their fair share of toilet paper)? It's likely. A look at how good I have gotten on Mario Kart? I think that may be necessary. Maybe a report on things we actually do? Unlikely. Of course, my co-workers may never let me do this again, but since they aren't here, I'm sending it. :)

If you are a CCF Alum and reading this, know that I love you. I miss you and I love to hear how you're doing, so keep in touch. Also, know that I am sorry. Really no one should have to read this, ever. Maybe I'll get Beau to blog next....

Angela out!