GA08011

Florida group hops cross-country train to boost support for campus ministry

SAN JOSE, June 21, 2008 — Four people trekked cross-country from Florida to California to volunteer at the 218th General Assembly and voice support for a ministry that has changed their lives — campus ministry — and only two of them are Presbyterian.

 “I lived at the Presbyterian University Center (PUC),” said Sara Fairall, recent graduate of Florida State University in Tallahassee. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without it.”

Bruce Chapman of Tallahassee, Fla., assisted Megan Shank-Beebe, Sara Fairall and Matthew Chapman, members of the Presbyterian University Center of Florida State University, with on-site registration. Photo by Joseph Williams

Fairall and her companions are strong advocates for Presbyterian-related ministry in higher education. She’s Roman Catholic and Megan Shank-Beebe, an FSU sophomore, is United Methodist. The Rev. Bruce Chapman, Presbyterian campus minister, and his son, Matthew Chapman, an FSU sophomore, traveled by two cars and a train to share their passion at the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

“Outside of the Collegiate Ministries Open House at 3 p.m. Sunday, there is not much action for campus ministry supporters at General Assembly, so they forged their own way,” said Rev. Chapman.

The group plans to meet with Sylvia Wilson, PC(USA) associate for collegiate ministries.

Chapman’s son Matthew said campus ministry has provided a safe harbor.

“When you go off to college you just fall off a cliff,” he said of the transition from a comfortable youth group to entering a campus of 30,000 students.

“I had the opposite (high school to college) experience,” said Megan Shank-Beebe. “I didn’t fit in. But the Presbyterian University Center is the first place in five or six years where I felt like I really belonged.”

Sara Fairall said that this trip is a great experience and that she did it because the campus ministry has given her so much during the last two years.

“I felt like it was my time to give back,” she said, adding that campus ministry has broadened her faith journey and opened her mind.
All agree with Matthew Chapman, who said, “A lot of people know about campus ministry, but it needs an equal amount of focus as youth ministry (in the church).”

On Friday, the four will reverse their trip and drive a rented car to Los Angeles, take a train to New Orleans and drive from there back to Tallahassee. Students paid $350 toward their trip. The rest of the cost came from an annual fundraising campaign led by the PUC campus ministry board.