Summary of CBF

At the end of each month, we are going to be meeting with the other religious advisors on campus about our groups- how we can work together and talk about what is going on. Nicole, the directory of Diversity at WPI, which religious life falls under, is putting together a bi-annual newsletter and asked us to write up something about CBF (Christian Bible Fellowship). Here is what Nate wrote which sums up what we are part of pretty well:

"Each Friday night, at seven o'clock, thirty to forty members of the greater WPI community--current students, alumni, a staff member or two, and occasionally a faculty member--gather together on campus for Christian fellowship, worship, and biblical teaching. WPI Christian Bible Fellowship is a non-denominational, evangelical group that sponsors many events and holds weekly meetings, but the focus of CBF is to facilitate opportunities for people to learn about and worship Jesus Christ.

For our weekly large-group meetings on Friday nights, CBF selectively invites adults connected to the greater WPI community to come share thoughts on God based on the Bible. One of our speakers this past semester was Chuck Vogt ('76). Along with former WPI students, Craig Parker and Chuck Dickert, Vogt started the WPI Christian Bible Fellowship in 1972, during their freshmen year. During his visit, Chuck seemed rather apologetic about the name. In a document entitled "A Brief History of the Christian Bible Fellowship," Vogt writes, "I have to let you know that the name 'CBF' was my idea. The thought was very simple, we were Christians, we were totally committed to the truth of the Bible and wanted that to be the basis of whatever we did, and we wanted Fellowship because it was pretty tough going and we needed Fellowship to encourage and help each other out in this journey we called Following Christ on a campus that wasn't overly sympathetic to our cause." He went on to say we could change it if we want to, but it seems that the name "CBF" is here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. After all, it is amazingly practical and descriptive, and how could people remember it if it were not an initialism or an acronym?

While the current members of CBF do not hold five A.M. Bible studies as did the founding members, CBF continues to hold several regular small group Bible studies at various times throughout the week. During the past semester there were five such meetings in addition to our Friday night Fellowship (FnF) and weekly prayer meeting. On Tuesday, senior Ben Gilde led a discussion on the book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by controversial pastor and author, Rob Bell. On Wednesday nights alumnus Nathan Smith ('00) and his wife hosted a Bible study at their home called "The Radical Story of Redemption." On Thursday mornings in A term, Adrián Mejía ('11) led a study to help Christians communicate clearly what we believe, and there were two Thursday night studies--one for women only led by Caroline Daman and Amanda Pollack ('09), and another for men only lead by Joshua Davidson ('11) and Nathan Horvath ('11). Each of these studies had between two and ten people in regular attendance.

We have made some adjustments to the Bible study schedule for this spring. The new studies and times are as follows: On Tuesday nights from eight to nine, Matthew Carey ('11) and Erik Carlson ('10) are leading a Bible study on the gospel of Matthew. The Smiths are hosting a study which meets in their home on Wednesday evenings. This semester they are taking an in-depth look at the book of James. Also on Wednesday nights, beginning at eight thirty, are both the women's and men's Bible studies. The women are examining the book of Colossians, and the men are analyzing the lives of biblical leaders such as Joseph. At ten o'clock, several of us gather to pray for each other, for WPI, and for other needs and concerns that are brought to our attention. On Thursday afternoons from three to four, Paul Moran ('08) and Katya Moran ('10) are leading a study on the Ten Commandments. Thursday evenings are kept free, and CBF members are encouraged to attend Ignite, an intercollegiate Christian worship service sponsored by the Worcester Collegiate Christian Network (WCCN). We continue to hold our large group meetings on Friday nights beginning at seven. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Early in B and D terms, CBF members head north to Andrew's Farm for a weekend retreat in Vermont. Nathan and Caroline Daman (on staff with The Navigators) spoke at this year's fall retreat, and the presentations and discussions were inspired by The Insider: Bringing the Kingdom of God into Your Everyday World, a book by Jim Petersen and Mike Shamy. About thirty students attended the fall retreat. Planning is currently underway for the spring retreat which is scheduled to be March 20-22, 2009. The speaker(s) are yet to be determined.

A new initiative is underway in CBF. A small group is getting together before our Friday night meetings to plan community service and outreach events. Our faith is meaningless if it is only confined to meeting rooms. Our belief in Jesus Christ should motivate us to love God and love all people. Jesus himself came "not to be served, but to serve" (Matthew 20:28), and we are exploring ways we can also serve right here at WPI and in Worcester, Massachusetts. If you care to learn more about the WPI Christian Bible Fellowship, we invite you to visit our website at www.wpi.edu/~cbf ."

Its been 3 Months...

Since I last wrote on the blog. Maybe this is not working out so well. But I think I will keep it for a bit longer still. Part of the problem is that it is through our joint email account, that I never check! So despite being logged into my own email account almost all day, I tend to forget what the password is for this one, well, at least I misspell the one for this one, and hence dont log in and never bother to type out what I am thinking about.

So today I am working on our newsletter, which is good cause we haven't sent one in almost four months. Hopefully you did receive our Christmas card, but we didn't send any news along with it. So unless you have seen us or sent us a personal email, you may not know how we have been- Good!

A lot is going on as we continue to figure out this whole marriage thing:) We had a GREAT Christmas- two full days of celebrating which was wonderful- with all our families. Next year is sure to be different as my brother heads to the Czech Republic and my sister was accepted to grad school in London. And more changes to come in Nate's family as well- but official updates on that later:)

We also got to go to Florida with my family to see my brother run his first marathon ever! It was SO great- he did SO well- qualifying to run in the upcoming Boston Marathon- I cant wait to cheer him on again! Nate also got to star in High School Musical and the Jesus Film- ask me more about that if you can:)

And since all that, we have been busy on campus- this semester has been off to a great start- we just feel like we are doing way more of the "right" stuff with our time- hanging out with students one on one as well as on Friday nights, socially, and in bible studies. Its been great. I am having lots of fun getting to know the women and trying to figure out what they struggle with as women at a majority male school, studying a male dominated field. Very different from my time at Wellesley:)

And our weekly training times with Jeff have been good too- a bible study and a reading through a book called "the Fuel and Flame." I love renewing my vision for college students- giving them an outward looking heart for the rest of thier lives.

Well, that is all for now. I will have to decide whether to let you all know about the blog soon in our newsletter or not... then maybe I will be more compelled to keep it and you updated on our lives!!!

Heart to Heart

The last couple months I (Caroline) have been reading more and more blogs and really enjoying it as a way to keep up with people- both those I know, and those who I don't know so well. So this morning, as Nate and I were discussing how to keep up with people, we both decided to follow the trend and start a blog of our own :)

We already have a joint email account, thedamans@gmail.com, but we were asked to come up with a "title" for our blog. Nate is typically very witty and good at playing with words so I asked him when the option came up. Eventually we thought of "Heart to Heart."

As you may or may not know, Worcester is the HEART of the Commonwealth- MA- which Nate is only too excited to tell anyone who asks and is growing on me. I quickly noticed when I moved here that major street signs in Worcester actually have large red hearts on them as indication of this fact. Our HEART is for this city (mine is growing for it at least:)- Nate's has been here for awhile)- specially for students in this city and this can be place for us to share our hearts for the heart of this city with your hearts:) Isnt that totally cheesy and true at the same time?