R.C. Sproul & the Ligonier Valley Study Center...
...now known as Ligonier Ministries
For many of us in the early days of the CCO, R.C. Sproul was our mentor and friend. And it wasn't just him. R.C's wife, Vesta along with three other couples who relocated to the Study Center, Tim and Marilyn Couch, Steve and Jan Gooder, Jim and Kathy Thompson, also welcomed us into their homes and into their lives.
WANT TO TAKE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH HIM?
This photo from RC's living room is a good start. That's Dora Hillman in the front left who provided the initial financial support to make it all possible. Also, crucial to the Study Center's early success was the commitment of the Gooder's, the Couch's, and the Thompson's, who moved their families to Stalhstown, PA just south of Ligonier, to provide additional leadership and support. Steve Gooder is sitting by the TV. If you were ever at the Study Center back then, you'll feel right at home watching RC in these videos. They are vintage RC.
I had only been a Christian for about six months when my CCO mentors, Dave Diehl and Ted Schumacher, first took me to spend time with RC Sproul at his "new" Study Center. From December 1971 until 1984, when RC moved his ministry to Orlando, several of us brought college students and friends to learn from him too.
He explained why good theology was vital to all of us. Also, that God's truth wasn't just true in the church, but also in the classroom and the marketplace. In the first years of the CCO, our training consisted of two weeks at the Study Center being taught by RC and a few others. And who can forget R.C.'s weekly "Gab Fest" in his living room (above), where he skillfully tackled any questions or issues.
THESE CLIPS ARE ALL VERY SHORT.
First, please click on the blue button to the right.. It is a very moving collage of R.C. Sproul clips I loved watching it, but it was also pretty hard for me to watch. If you have any comments after watching these, please share them at the bottom. Thanks.
NOTE: If you want to watch a little more of R.C., there are three links below. You'll need to press the <Back> button to return.
Enjoy and thank you Lord for R.C., who faithfully pursued his call. What a privilege it was to know him and be influenced by him.
Is Christ the only way? RC recounts being asked this as a young Christian himself while he was in college. (4:43) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bbH4Trojw
Reformed theology's unique treatment of freedom / free will compared to other views. (3:32) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0C8AArEk3E
RC proves that God does not "exist." He even uses a blackboard in this clip. (4:44).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVN5Vp58UJs
The Beginnings of Ligonier: R.C. Sproul through the Years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10YVG6g62-E
To Learn More About Ligonier Ministries...
...Visit their website https://www.ligonier.org
Here are two great tributes to the life of RC Sproul. After reading these tributes, click the <back> button to return here.
From Ligonier Ministries:
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/remembering-rc-sproul/
From Christianity Today:
If you knew RC, clicking this button will begin an emotional two minutes.
Pete Steen in a familiar scene...
...except the blackboard is less cluttered than usual.
Pete seems to be explaining his rounds on campuses with CES, Christian Educational Services. I see Waynesburg College and California University marked with an "X" at the bottom of his map. Regardless of its size, Pete usually filled up the entire blackboard. I pretty sure that's what he's done here. He never erased the board very well. If I am right, then this photo is actually kind of rare. Usually Pete would just erase a hole in the middle of his work and kept going from there.
MUST READ ABOUT PETE. It's Byron Borger's tribute.
https://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/343/pete-steen-legend-or-legacy/
NOTE: I got the picture from this site. It's a small summary about him.
Anyone have quality audio of Pete??
Even if it's 5-10 minutes of him making some key points, I'd like to put it up here.
Four mentors who personally invested in Shirley and Chuck
Dave Diehl
Bob Long
Dave Diehl
Dave, certainly Shirley and I owe our lives to Christ. He redeemed us. But in regard to understanding what kind of life God was calling us to live, we owe that to you and the CCO. What a foundation you gave us at IUP our senior year!! (Dave started a fraternity / sorority Bible study which grew from 4 to over 40 participants in one semester. When I finally got around to reading Acts 2, I realized I'd been part of a scaled-down modern day equivalent).
And your mentoring continued as our supervisor when we later joined the CCO ourselves at Waynesburg University. You've always been just a phone call away even after 46 years. Thank you for everything!!
Ted Schumacher
Bob Long
Dave Diehl
Ted, we will never forget our second semester at IUP when you showed up. And the rides with you and Dave to Ligonier Valley Study Center, and even once to St. Stephens to John Guest's office where we also met up with Chip Nix and Tom Phillips...what an impact that all had on me. And then getting to be on CCO staff with you and Dave was equally amazing. We all will remember each month at our CCO staff meetings when you pulled out your DayTimer and started sharing your kingdom highlights from the prior month.
And to you readers, Ted finally retired from the CCO in May, 2018, having started in 1972. No one will ever come close to his longevity!! And he still regularly excites and challenges me on the phone and in person. Thank you, Ted.
Bob Long
Bob Long
Bob Long
Bob, you were the perfect person to lead this rag tag (and I am being generous) bunch of idealistic young Christians into uncharted territory with the CCO. No one knew who we were and often why we were even there on our campuses.
What a privilege to have served under your guidance and leadership. I have read, "There is nothing new under the sun," but Solomon couldn't have foreseen the unique and constant challenges we all faced in those early years. And of course, your "empathy" was something very special too. "Problem? There's no such thing as a problem. It's just a spiritual opportunity!" Looking back after all these years, I guess you were right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3MApjLxys
Jim Welch
Bob Long
Chuck's reflection #1
In Luke 12:48b, Jesus warns, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Well, as you can see, Shirley and I have been given far more than our fair share of mentors. I'm secure in my faith, but I have fallen so short of what might have been. And I knew better. Praise God for His grace which has covered up my shortcomings! And it's out of His perfect love that I want to do all I can in response to it. Some days I get pretty close.
Jim Welch
Jim Welch
Jim Welch
Jim, in regard to discipling others, both in quantity and quality, I'm pretty sure you have us all beat. Shirley and I count it a privilege that we got to be two of them. I'll never forget our first exploratory meeting with Rev. Bob Cahn, the Dean of Students at Waynesburg, when it looked like my idea of becoming a Resident Director hired by a college, instead of being a campus minister working out of a church, seemed like it could actually happen. I can still take you to the spot where we parked my car and afterward, prayed together.
And when Dave was born, you were there with your "flying garch". (I forget what the "gern" did.) Thank you for your enthusiasm, encouragement, and your ever-present warm smile.
Jim Welch
Jim Welch
Chuck's reflection #2
God is so good. And He started in earnest when the first student that I actually met at IUP in the first hour I was there for freshman orientation, was another freshmen (one of almost 3,000), Shirley Reitz. It was raining and I wasn't sure where I was going. When I saw her, she had both a campus map and an umbrella. I had neither. And other than that day, in four years, we NEVER accidentally even saw each other on campus.
God was just beginning. Fast forward to September of my senior year. I'd just become a Christian in July, and CCO's first campus minister was Dave Diehl (above), who'd been hired by the church Shirley and I attended.
Yep, God has been so good. He later gave us three great sons, three wonderful daughters-in-law and seventeen (soon to be 18) very interesting grand kids.
A Brief history of the CCO
Here's our staff and a few spouses as the CCO begins its fifth year in the summer of 1975. I am trying to track down the original photo. (Shirley is not in it, but can you find Chuck?)
Here is part of Bob Long''s original CCO bio."In 1972 Bob Long comes on board as Executive Director of “the Coalition.” He is 31 years old and has been heading up a vibrant campus ministry program at Bellefield Presbyterian Church, reaching out to students at the University of Pittsburgh. At the CCO, Bob finds he has six staff people on four campuses, no office space, and virtually no money. Bob’s much celebrated drive and tenacity are key to the growth of the CCO.
(NOTE: As anyone including Bob would testify, his wife, Marilyn, deserves equal credit here).
The following is from an early newsletter one year later, in the fall of 1974. Our staff had grown to forty.
"Nearly three years ago, we started out with three people and a vague idea of our ideals. A recent survey shows our staff and their student leaders are in touch with nearly 6,000 students a week.
The Coalition for Christian Outreach was conceived by Reverend John Guest as a creative response to college-age youth who were disenchanted with the organized Church. Reverend Guest had come to realize, through extensive experience of his own in England and the United States, that college students had to realize the substantial impact that Jesus Christ could have on their lives, but in terms they could relate to. While striving for relevance, the Coalition for Christian Outreach was also designed to be a helping arm of the organized Church, attempting to draw young people to the active work of Jesus Christ in His Church."
What an amazing experience for Shirley and me to have a front row seat from the beginning being discipled by Dave and Ted as seniors in college. This brief summary with photos provides a nice glimpse of what we were privileged to be a part of. https://ccojubilee.org/am-site/media/cco-history.pdf