StuCo ALL ACCESS

Hey Student Community. We need your stories! We recognize following Jesus is much more than showing up to StuCo on Sunday night. Instead, it is about growing, serving, and sacrifice. We want to use this blog site to capture the stories of life-change that are happening in our community. If you (or someone you know) has done something or experienced something that you think our community needs to here. Please write up the story and drop it here in the comments section.

Also note, that you will be able to find information about upcoming events, calendars, and other important information on this website. Thanks for helping make Student Community the Best Place on Earth!

Comments

[Sean Jaskiewicz]

How is god challenging me?..."many people havent found out the answer to that...many people also miss it when its right in front of there eyes"...thats what my dad told me right before i started worship leading about a year ago...so how has god challenged me over this past year...well ill start by saying before i started coming to stuco i was no role model and i knew it i saw my cousins and even just younger kids would emulate the things i did and do what i did and not what i said...i was a hypocrit...and i saw them becoming like me over this past year i have come closer to god thanx to many factors the love and support of my family, friends, and stuco leaders (brad prunty&Jake kirchner) also trips like 06-07 summer trip, big stuff where god was calling me to be a christfollower, before that i barely believed in god,i felt like God was saying im here do u believe i love you follow me...so i did and i have been and now adays im proud and happy that younger kids try to imitate my actions i have been worship leading at romeoville and i feel god is calling me once again calling me to make a couple more steps up the ladder of my life...a step towards baptizm...and another step to a trip to africa, all to help out as a christfollower...with everyones support, once again, i believe i will accomplish these goals for this year, given to me from god.

[Kayla]

During the Christmas season, it is far too easy to overlook the reason for the season, to shrug it off and say "I already know all about that, I hear it year after year." This season, I was in bible study at my school, and for some reason, it just hit me. I started to actually see the struggle that Mary went through in having Jesus. If you walk through the halls of your school today as a pregnant girl, you may get weird looks or people may talk about you differently, and you may loose some friends. But if you were to really step back and put your self into Mary’s shoes, you would see that she had it a million times worse, she could have easily been stoned to death on top of all of the looks and snickers and lost friendships, and all of this for going through with Gods plan. So I guess that what I’m trying to say is this Christmas season, really take a step back and think about what a miraculous time it is.

[Moe]

Growing up I never really believed there was a God. I grew up in a bad neighborhood in the city of Chicago with gangs and drugs. My birth father cheated on my mother long before I was born. I remember growing up in a nasty bug infested apartment with my mom and 2 older brothers. I had roaches running across my plate while I ate. On the other side of town my father, his new wife, and his stepson lived in a nice house without the bugs. I ask why any real God would let that happen to me, an innocent child. As I got older my faith drifted farther away, I got involved with gangs and drugs. I have seen people die horrible deaths. I always stopped and thought to myself if there is really a God out there, why would he let us suffer for something we have no control over? Drugs, drunk drivers, stray Bullets, abortions, or any other unnatural causes of death. Just recently I was injured at work and was told I will never be able to return to my hard earned career. My niece and 2 nephews were having a hard time with life due to bad home situations. My wife and I were trying to get their mom to let them live with us; once we had her convinced she backed out. Legally, we had to return them to a life they should not have to live, again I asked why god why? I have had many reasons in my life not to believe in god, too long for this testimony. Up until March of 2006 I may have been in a church maybe 5 times, one being my own wedding. My lack of faith has caused problems in my marriage. We never went to church, and our children were never baptized. In November of 2005 my wife was invited to CCC during the ignite campaign by our good friend Kerry Marshall. After my wife started attending, she could not help but to tell me how wonderful & useful the messages were every week.
The band blew her away as well!! Something felt right to her & she knew she had finally found a church home. Then back in March of 06 my 7 year old daughter decided to get baptized here at CCC. I went to church to see the ceremony, and soon after my wife decided to be baptized on Easter Sunday. Since then I have been very open minded and attending Sunday service pretty faithfully. I just felt comfortable. I remember sitting up one night thinking to myself “maybe if I Lie to myself for a long time, maybe I will start believing in God”. You know they say if you lie long enough in time you will believe it yourself but I couldn’t do it. I could not lie to myself and say that I believe in God. So that night I sat up and said (pray if you will) if you are out there give me a sign. I am not asking for a million dollars, to lose a 100Lbs or even for the pain in my arm to go away, just something to show me you are there. 2 or 3 days went by before I thought about it again, but when I did, I realized there were signs all over. I witnessed soon after, the first of many different signs to come. After a while of fighting, my ex-sister in law came to her senses and gave us guardianship of the kids. They are now starting their new lives here in my home. My lawyer has called me to tell me the insurance company wants to start in the settlement process of my claim after 2 years of being injured. I have gotten involved in small groups, met new people and I have also been volunteering. I have found a great group of friends in the church that I will do anything for. We have a special friend who is a teacher at Creekside , a member of CCC , & is giving us her services to help my youngest nephew with his reading problem. . We have struggled for many years many different ways. My wife is getting more clients for her at home day care just since I asked god to show me his grace, and I discovered Jesus. In my heart I found faith. I could no longer tell myself that I didn’t believe in God. My family’s lives have change for the better. I now know that there is a god. I am very thankful for him sacrificing his son and showing me grace. Now it is time for me to say thanks by finally accepting and following Jesus. On September 17th 2006, the day after I turned 28 I committed myself to Christ & was baptized. The church has changed so many things in my life words cannot even express how grateful we are. We can only do our part in the Community Christian Church mission.

[Jacob Christoforakis]

Well when I was a kid I really did not care about God at all. Personally I just thought God was another person. And at that time I would do stupid things...very stupid things. And the more I got into trouble the more I got farther away from God to the point I dispise him. So then when I moved here to Romeoville me and my family went to many new churches and then my mom heard about CCC. And when I started going to CCC I was thinking that this church is just another new church. But then my mom started to like CCC and brought me and everyone else back. And from the point I entered 6th grade and now graduating from 8th grade I realized how important God is and the mission that he has planned for us to accomplish. I my goal for this summer is to go and help more and more with the mission God has for us.