Campus Outreach

"I grew up going to church with my family. I started claiming to be a Christian when I was around 5 years old. But, I was never actually saved. It was just lip service and head knowledge. I just knew all the answers and could tell you what needed to be said. My life looked nothing like the Bible says a Christian’s life looks like. I was living just like the rest of the world. When I graduated high school it only intensified. I began to party all the time with my friends and this continued heavily. During my freshman year of college, I met a student in Campus Outreach named Brock Kemp. He started to invite me to Bible Studies and other Christian events. I was realizing that the life I was claiming to live looked nothing like what a real Christian’s life looks like. The Lord saved me sometime during the second semester of my freshman year. I continued to grow in my faith during my college years and came on Staff with Campus Outreach after graduation. I came on Staff because there are many people who come to college in need of Christ, like me, and I can give my life to raising up laborers for Christ."

Nate: "I grew up going to a small private christian school, but as I got older my faith meant less to me as my life started to mean less and less as I really did not understand what I believed. I held the Christian name, but I never really lived as a follower of Christ. My freshman year of college I met a guy who worked for Campus Outreach named Steve Lawrence. He helped me understand what I was claiming to believe. Throughout my years in college, it was a bumpy road but I really saw the Gospel change my heart. I could see a drastic difference between the beginning of college to the end of it. My freshman year, I could see my life was so much about me. I played college basketball at Bradley and realized that I was chasing my status, recognition, belonging, and happiness through being good at basketball. Basketball gave me everything I wanted in college. When I finally found my identity and recognition in Christ as God’s child, I started to see my purpose in life change. I am now finding purpose of life in Christ as I have developed a heart for the lost and wanting to see young men and women in colleges come to know Jesus as I have."

Jen: "From a young age, I was taught about God and believed in him. However, I always felt that I was pretty good on my own so I didn't fully understand why Jesus had to die on the cross for my sins. Around 4th grade, God began revealing more to me about how we all fall short of his glory and how Jesus is the only way to restore our relationship with him, not by doing all the right things. So I became more eager to learn about Jesus and seek forgiveness, but had little guidance on how exactly to grow. Throughout high school, I was confronted with my pride and sin and I was ashamed of myself going into college. I felt a heavier weight of my sin, yet at the same time I had renewed gratitude for God’s mercy, forgiveness and grace through Christ. I was then humbled and intrigued as I met staff and students involved with Campus Outreach, realizing that although I grew up in Christianity, there was so much that I didn’t know and wasn’t doing and I received spiritual leadership to help me grow. God grew a desire to share about Christ and the peace and forgiveness I had experienced myself."

Nate and Jen met in Peoria, IL and goty married December 12, 2020. They have a son, Zeke, born January 2022 and a daughter, Avery, born March 2024. 

"Although I could have told you a few things about the Christian message, it wasn't until college that God transformed my heart through His word. God placed faithful men in my life who intentionally invested in me that I might come to know Christ and the joy of making Him known! I decided to come on staff because I can't think of a more strategic place to get around the lost leaders of tomorrow than the college campus."