2010/2011 Third Year Master's Commission Students
Andromedia (Andi) Sweeney
Age: 21
Nickname: Andro, Sarge
Hometown: Fredrick, MD
Favorite Scripture: Joshua 1:9
Favorite Worship Song: Revelation Song
What I want God to do in me this year: This year during Master's I want God to prepare me for everything that's going to come next in my life. From the time I came into Master's it was clear to me that God really wanted to use the time that I was here as a training ground for whatever would come next. Slowly over the past two year I can see how God has been refining specific parts of me and shaping me into the person I need to be when I finally graduate. This year I want Him to continue in that process and really solidify all the things He's done in the past so that I can stand on those things when my time at Master's is done.
Future: As of yet my plans for the future aren't set in stone. Over the past year or so God has really been opening my heart to the mission field. Right now my vision is to be a part of a missions organization so that I can help enable other people to serve on the mission field. This year as part of the missions institute I hope to be able to spend some time working with an organization like that and exploring opportunities for my future. No matter what happens in my immediate future, I know that ministry will always be a big part of my life.
Arielle Arnette
Age: 20
Hometown: Richland, PA
Favorite Scripture: Zephaniah 3:17
Favorite Worship Song: You Are My Passion - Jesus Culture
What I want God to do in me this year: This year, I know that God is going to continue to ask me to lay down myself in order to follow Him and His perfect plan for my life. I know that there are still areas of my heart that I hold onto and I allow myself, my desires, and insecurity to get in the way of what God wants to do in me and through me. This year, I feel is going to be about continuing to learn how to deny myself in order to greater glorify God. I want to be a disciple of Christ, who has been changed by the love of God and allows that love to pour into the people around me. My prayer for this year is that I would give all of myself, for the glory of the Lord and for the sake of the other members on this team.
So far this year, God has begun to really deal with me in the area of selfishness specifically when it comes to my relationships with the other girls on the team, particularly when it comes to giving my time, money, and myself for the other girls on this team
Future: As of right now, I do not have a plan for what may come after this year in Master's Commission is over. I am trusting that God will lead me to whatever may come next, and I am seeking to follow Him today in preparation for whatever may come tomorrow. I feel that God is calling me to some form of ministry, be it full-time or part-time, but I have no expectation for what that may look like or where God is going to take me.
Christina Francis
Age: 21
Nickname: C.T., Franny, Francis, Sunshine
Hometown: Lumberport, WV
Favorite Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 5:18-20 and 1 Corinthians 10:31
Favorite Worship Song: I Need You More, by Kim Walker
What I want God to do in me this year: Wow, I can't believe it's my third year of Master's Commission already! It's hard to think that I will graduate from Master's Commission in about 9 months, but one thing clear, God is not done with me yet. I came into Master's my first year not knowing what was going to happen, how God was going to move and the things He wanted to strip away in me. But, as I began to open up my heart and allow God to do what He wanted, He started to move. My second year it was taking the things God did in me my first year and taking it to the next level. It was a lot of “pruning” and allowing God produce fruit in my life. That year was a lot of asking God to mature me and make me into the women of God HE wanted me to be. Now, I come to my third year, where God has done so much in just the last month or so. I came into this year not knowing what I wanted God to do, but I knew that I needed more of Him. And as I was praying the first week we were back, I felt like my year was going to be a lot of growth, depth and giving God control. I want my year to be about God and only about Him. Sometimes it’s so easy to allow distractions to get in the way of your Master's year, but I don't want that this year. I also want my year to be not about me. I want to be in the background of what God is going to do and what He wants to do. I don't want to get in the way of what God has for me and this team. Apart of that is letting go of myself and allowing God to take the lead in everything I do. I also want to be in constant communication with the Lord this year. I want my prayer life and personal time with Him to grow even more than ever! I know this is just a few of the things I want God to do this year, and there is more, but I know that no matter what I want, God knows exactly what I need! So I want to allow Him to do what He wants, and I want to be willing to follow and be obedient in that this year and for the rest of my life!
Future: This is a question that I am asked by many people, and I never fully have the answer to, but that doesn't scare me. I have learned through the years that even though I'm not exactly sure where God wants to take me after Master's, it's okay! I know that God knows, and He has it all under control and in His timing, but I do know that God has given me passions and desires. I know for a fact that God has called me into full-time ministry. I know that I have such a passion for kids, youth and young adult college women. I know that the little nudges that God keeps putting before me, is one step closer to Him revealing His plan for my life. I know that if I am obedient in the small things He has paced before me, He will give me direction. I just know that no matter what God wants me to do; I want to do it for His glory and walk in His leading!
Gabrielle Price
Age: 20
Nickname: Gabby
Hometown: Topsham, ME
Favorite Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3
Favorite Worship Song: Our God
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I want to be rooted deeper in Christ. In master's I have this amazing support system, but I don't know if I’ll have that after I graduate. This year I want to be rooted so deep that I'm not as easily swayed by circumstances or hard times that come my way. I want to be able to stand firm on Gods truth instead of the lies I believe. Because it's impossible to stand firm if my roots are in myself. And it’s impossible to stand firm if my roots are shallow - I want them deep. For the past two years I've put a lot of focus on myself and what I can do, what I can get me through, how I feel, etc. But this year is a lot of me taking the focus off myself and putting it on Christ; I'm amazed to find that he can take me deeper and make me stronger just by shifting my focus more completely onto him.
Future: I'm currently in the youth ministry practicum, and I feel called to some type of youth ministry. I would love to work at a camp or plan and run events, retreats, conventions, etc. for youth - especially in the New England area. However, I'm still learning about how God has gifted me and know and trust that he'll lead me exactly where he wants me.
Jacob Smalls
Age: 21
Nickname: Jake
Hometown: Swedesboro, NJ
Favorite Scripture: Proverbs 9:10
Favorite Worship Song: Our God by Chris Tomlin
What I want God to do in me this year: God has done so many things in my life already, and there are so many things that I want God to do, but I want to experience God more than I have before. This year God is showing me how to be guided and led by his voice, and that I need to step back and let God take control, and I can be the background. This year God is showing me why that I am unashamed for him, because before I said I was unashamed of Jesus, because I have Christ on my side, and nothing can stop that. Well now God is starting to mature this outlook that I had on being unashamed, and he is starting to show me that the reason I’m like this because there is a dependency I need to have on God, because without Him, I am nothing, but with Him, I am strong. God is digging his roots deeper into my foundation, and he is showing me that I can’t go a day without him, and that the more I draw near to Him, the more he will draw near to me. I see that God is taking me to that next step to be the man that he has called me to be, and it has been hard but its right.
Future: I feel God is calling me into Youth Ministry, right now I really don’t know where that is going to lead to right now. The only thing that I do know is that I’m walking in faith and right now God has called me to my third year of Master’s Commission.
Megan Haver
Age: 20
Nickname: Haver or Hav
Hometown: LaVergne, TN
Favorite Scripture: Ephesians 1
Favorite Worship Song: Revelation Song, Mended, Salvation Day
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I want God to take me into a deeper relationship with Him. I want to follow after whatever it is that God wants to do within me this year. I want to learn how to completely be in the background in my walk with God. I am starting to learn how much I really need to be in the background and how much God really needs to take the lead in my walk with Him. My one prayer is that I am so in tune with the Holy Spirit that He would take me and that I would walk in God’s will for my life this next year. I want God to be my rock that I can stand on for the rest of my life. That foundation has already begun to take place in the past two years, while I have been here at Master’s Commission and I want to walk in that with all of my heart.
These past couple of weeks I have begun to see how big God really is and how little I am. He has started to show me how much I need Him to take control of my life and how much I need to rely completely on Him instead of on my own strength and abilities. I have tried to juggle all of these different things on my own and I seem to lose grasp of all of them. This is because I have been losing sight of God and not allowing God to be a part of any of the tasks at hand or the opportunities that I have been given. I have just been doing them to do them and to get them done. So I have now realized, over the past week or so, that I need to seek God in all that I do and how important that truly is to walk with God instead of on my own.
Future: For my future plans, I want what God wants for me. I want to live for Him in every way that I can. I would like to one day like to open an orphanage somewhere and show people that there is another way that they can live. But ultimately whatever God wants me to do is what I want to do.
Michelle Lynn Cavanaugh
Age: 20
Nickname: Chelle
Hometown: Quarryville, PA
Favorite Scripture: Habakkuk 3:17-19
"Though the fig tree should not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines,
The produce of the olive fail
And the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places".
Favorite Worship Song: I have so many! That is like asking a parent who their favorite kid is! But if i must choose, right now I am loving the song God of My Everything by Bebo Norman.
What I want God to do in me this year: My third year has been something that is completely unfamiliar and I quickly found out how the dynamics of this year are way beyond me or any abilities I have. When I've tried to grab for control I ended up messing up or loosing focus on what's really important. So I have decided to take a back seat this year; I want God to take the leading role on this team and in my life. I am resolved to just follow Him, and whatever God wants to do in my life this year I am open to. I want Him to move and work and have the crafting hands to do what He wants. I want to look back on this year and see how God's power has changed me and how much I had nothing to do with it.
Future: I feel the call of full time ministry on my life. I am not sure where, when, or how but my God is big enough to handle all those questions. :)
Nancy Kemp
Age: 20
Nickname: Ace
Hometown: Valley City, OH
Favorite Scripture: Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Favorite Worship Song: Solid Rock
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I want God to have His way in my life. Whatever God wants to do, I am up for. I want Him to use me, stretch me, and even break me if He has to. This year is completely about God, and I am leaving it in His hands.
God has already begun to show me things in myself that he wants to change. He has started to shift my mindsets and change my though process. So far it has not been a very drastic change, but it is in the small areas, usually the areas that I don’t think are a problem.
Future: In the future I plan on being in some sort of ministry involving youth. Over the past two years, my heart for teenagers has grown immensely, and I feel a call to work with them, at least in the immediate future.
Rebekah McCrorey
Age:20
Nickname: Bekah, Bek, Beks
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Favorite Scripture: As always, there are TOO MANY to choose from! I looooove 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5, and lately I have been clinging to the Psalms. Psalm 16:7-8 says, "I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."
Favorite Worship Song: Currently, I have two... "Holy" by Jesus Culture and “Our God" by Chris Tomlin
What I want God to do in me this year: Every year this is one of the all-time famous questions that is asked, and each year I have been able to give a specifically detailed answer. Not this year. Before this year even began I was seeking the LORD and asking Him to reveal what it is that He wanted to do in me so that I may pursue Him in that and grow closer to Him through it. To this day is still don't have a specifically detailed answer like there has been in the past. God simply said something like this, "So far, I have done so much in you. I have taught you that your heart needs to be re-made in undivided devoted to me and that your mind is to be taken captive and made obedient to me. Although, we are still walking those roads together, why don't you back down for a change, let me take the lead, and see what I can do in and with your life without your suggestions." So, essentially that is what I have been doing day by day. In a sense, I realized that my suggestions to God of what I want Him to do in my life and the expectations that come with that, though they may be great and mighty in God's hands, they are limiting to what God actually wants to accomplish. This year is less about what I want, and more about what God wants. Therefore, I am determined to listen, follow, and abide every moment so that God can to what He wants to do.
This year, God is teaching me so much. Every day there is something new. He is redefining the way that I think and the way that I love. He has been shifting and broadening my perspective in the way that I see Him, the way that I see myself, and the way that I see those around me. The major theme in it all is a complete and utter dependence upon Him. I am constantly faced with the reality that without Him, I literally am nothing and can do nothing. I am becoming more aware of my desperate need of God, and every day I have to make the choice whether or not I am going to lean on Him and abide in Him or not. Each time I choose to depend on God, lean on Him instead of myself, I see more of Him flowing through me. Which makes sense when I think about how a branch abides in the Vine receiving nourishment and life through it. This is one of the most crucial lessons I think that I have had to learn so far, and I cannot wait to continue down this road even though I know that it probably means that whatever hardship I've faced so far is about to get harder. Whatever depth I've experienced is about to get deeper. Whatever challenge I have been confronted with is about to become more challenging. The difference is, this time I know I am weak. I know I can't do it, but my God can. Therefore I am excited to let God be God because there is truly nothing that is impossible with Him.
Future: In regards to my future, I know that I am called to full-time ministry in some way. Beyond that, I haven't got a clue where exactly God might be calling me. I pretty much have come to the conclusion that all I want to do for the rest of my life is share the hope, love, and truth of Jesus Christ with people. Those who need Him are everywhere, so I am willing to go wherever and do whatever God asks me to make that happen. I believe that as I focus on what is directly in front of me this MC year and learn to abide in the LORD more closely and deeply, I am confident that He will lead me in the direction that He is calling me to go.
Stacy Dunton
Age: 22
Hometown: Keene, NH
Favorite Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 40:31, Psalms 18:1-3
Favorite Worship Song: Your Name by Worth Dying For
What I want God to do in me this year: I want God to completely strip myself away. I want him to be my everything in every situation. I want him to be my first one I look to when I wake up and the last on I look to before I go to bed. I want him to be my healer in every area of my hart and my life. I also want God to do what he wants to do in me and I want to be completely open to what he wants to do in me. I just want him to be glorified in my life mostly.
What God has been doing in my life this year is he has be striping away the things that I have been holding on to like my insecurities and my wanting approval in what other people thinks of me instead of standing on the truth of what God says about me.
Future: feel like God is calling to work with special needs children after Masters. I am still not a hundred percent sure the details in that. I feel like God might want me to work in the school system with them but like I said I am not really sure yet.
2010/2011 Second Year Master's Commission Students
Joshua Marseglia
Age: 19
Nickname: Josh
Hometown: Bristol, Connecticut
Favorite Scripture: This is hard. I love Psalm 23, lately as we've studied the book of Acts, I have found Acts 2:4 which talks about the Spirit enabling us very encouraging and one that iI refer to a lot!
Favorite Worship Song: "Our God"
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I am excited to see what God has in store for me! I believe that God is going to put in me boldness like never before. This year also, God is working in me on trusting Him on a deeper level that I have in the past. In addition to this I also pray that the God's love will overflow in me and then pour out of me and into others like I never have before. I know that these are some great things and I am thankful for what God is and is going to do. I also long to grow closer to my savior than I have in the past!
Future: God has called me to children's ministry, at this point I feel specifically to children's music. But I love watching God unfold things in my life and see where He is guiding me become clearer. I do want to remain open and faithful to wherever and whatever that may be.
Maria Rickards
Age: 23
Hometown: Dagsboro, DE
Favorite Scripture: I have many, but right now it is Philippians 3:7-9 “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him”
Favorite Worship Song: Revelation Song by Kim Walker
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I want my relationship with God to go to a new level and depth. I want God to refine my character and make me into who He wants me to be, stripping away the things of myself. My prayer is for less of me and more of God in my life. I want God’s will to be done, even if that means that I have to let go of my dreams, plans, and expectations. I want to go after God, holding nothing back and giving all so that He may be glorified through me.
So far this year God has shown me that He is my strength and that I can’t live my life fully for Him on my own strength and wisdom. I need God more than I know and it is in my weakness that He can be strong and work according to His perfect will. God has also shown me that I need to fix my eyes on Christ. No matter what my situation is, no matter what my own capabilities are, no matter what others are doing around me, I need to fix my eyes on Christ. He is more than able.
Future: I’m not really sure what my future holds. I do know that God has called me to youth ministry but to what capacity that will be I really don’t know.
2010/2011 First Year Master's Commission Students
Ari Walton
Age: 21
Nickname: Ari-head, Mermaid
Hometown: Oak Island, NC
Favorite Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:9 "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."
Favorite Worship Song: “Blessed be your name” by Matt Redman
What I want God to do in me this year: Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The simplicity of this verse captures me. I am hungry, but often I’m consumed with the ‘what ifs’ through my past. What if I have already stomached the poison of this world rather than His glory, what then? Am I worth the blessing? Traveling for the last two years has made a lack of commitment to people easy to mask and, in turn, caused a lack of trust in God. It was easy to be anywhere else other than the present. This month I have started to learn that God wants me in the “here and now.” I cannot change my past. I cannot determine my future. But I can have God lead me in His will now and the blessings I have already received amaze me. Jesus Christ never provided us with a disclaimer in this verse. We are just blessed and we are just forgiven.
In the past, I was accustomed to leaning only on myself. Often, I would keep my head above water just long enough to convince myself I had control, but this was an illusion. This illusion became addictive and I never knew it to be an issue. God has promised change in that. Above all, God has declared this a time of sovereignty and provision in my life like no other. By God’s grace alone, I have never felt so taken care of than now.
Originally, I came into this year wanting only to be used by God, ignoring the healing that needed to take place—I didn’t realize God wanted to transform me first. Over the past month, God has shown me how much he wants to renew my mind and transform me into His daughter. For me, this year will bring change. This year I am finally learning what it looks like to be in love with Christ, to lean on God alone, and to trust. God has equipped me with the strength I need and now is the time to move.
Future: I would love to get a degree in Nonprofit Management and incorporate that in ministry somehow. I feel called to mission work inside the United States. I feel that, over time, God will reveal more of that plan to me.
Carolyn Van Ess
Age: 19
Nickname: C-Swift
Hometown: Pocomoke City, MD
Favorite Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a neew creation, the old has gone, the new has come!"
Favorite Worship Song: “When I Think About The Lord” by Shane & Shane
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I want God to completely strip away everything that is of me, so that I can grow closer to Him. Last year, I resisted and I didn’t allow God to do a lot of what He wanted to do. Over the summer, God revealed to me through many different situations, what he was trying to do in me through the year, but I didn’t allow him to. I know that I was supposed to be here last year as a first year and I know that I am supposed to be here this year as I first year, and I am completely humbled by that. And knowing all of this I am not going to allow myself to not be changed and transformed by Him. I do not know where that begins or how it is going to end but I am just excited for the journey that He has for me this year!
Future: I do not really have any idea for my future. All that I know is that right now I am supposed to be in GZMC. I mean I would still like to pursue a career in Audio Production, but I am open to anything God calls me to do.
Charqué Bacon
Age: 18
Nickname: Char, Qué
Hometown: Parkesburg, PA
Favorite Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11
Favorite Worship Song: How He Loves Us
God has already done so much in my life. I came from a life where failure was destined to be. A life of pain and sorrow, a life where I was not supposed to make it statistically. But god has sent people in my life who have shown me the value that I have through Christ. God has done so much already in my life but I know that this is just the beginning. God has already begun to show me a lot about myself that he wants to work on. God has showed me areas in my life that he would like to mold and shape into something greater. God has taken me out of situations and put me into them and through it all he has either showed me something about myself or showed me something I didn’t know about him. I have really been seeing the true sovereignty of God lately. This is a big deal because I have trust issues and God is saying to me how I could not trust him when he has had this all under control since day one.
Christina Trager
Age: 19
Nickname: LiL C
Hometown: Ocean VIew, DE
Favorite Scripture: Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
Favorite Worship Song: Amazing Love by Newsboys, Hosanna by Hillsong
What I want God to do in me this year: Coming into my first year of Master’s was scary. At first, I wanted to go home because I didn’t think that I could do this but I wanted to give it a try. I have already felt God working in my life. He is bringing things up about myself that I never noticed before and showing me that I can do this. He’s bringing up the dirt in my life and getting to the root of the hurts that I still hold on to. And He has not only shown me the love of the strangers that have become my family, but He has also shown me His true, unconditional love that I had never fully felt or understood until I opened myself up and sat before Him in a time of worship. God has already shown me how I live my life in fear and the comfort zone I keep myself in. This year I want God to totally strip me of the things that get in the way of Him. I don’t want God to heal me, but do what He sees necessary and walk me through my struggles. I want Him to work in me where I can rebuild my relationships where every step I take glorifies Him. I want Him to completely break me and put me together the way that He has created me to be. I already feel like He has stretched me, but I want to be more stretched than ever in the past because I know God has so much more in store for me. Before Master’s, I thought that I lived my life for Christ, but I have realized that I haven’t. This year I want God to work in my life where I answer to Him and fully give my life to Him where everything I do is in His name and for His purpose. I pray that I can build my trust in the Lord and that by the end of these nine months, I don’t recognize who I am today. I know that I will struggle this year, but I know that the outcome will be out of this world!
Future: I know God is calling me into fulltime ministry. I feel as if God has a place for me to work with kids or youth but not sure which area. I have a heart for kids and for helping youth with struggles they face and showing them the love of Christ that I have found. I pray that this year God will open my eyes and equipped me for what He has planned for my future.
Kara Leté
Age: 18
Nickname: Kara Jean
Hometown: Fort Meade, MD
Favorite Scripture: John 15:12-13
What I want God to do in me this year: I want God to make me new. I am looking for God to work in me and through me. I want God to dig down deep inside and take out what’s not of him. I want to build a stronger foundation on God. I want to learn through this environment to live with God in a day to day basis. I want God to show he is to be the light in my world.
I think and feel that God is defiantly stretching me. The stretching is good because I have built relationships with some of the girls I never thought I would have. I was really worried that I wasn’t called here for the first week or so but now I know I am in the right place. I am with people that can help me and I help them through situations we all are facing. I know I was meant to build lasting relationships with the other girls in Master Commission. God is seriously digging deep into place that I had buried inside that I even forgot about.
Future: I feel like I was called to be a missionary; though I am not quite sure if that is the case. I currently have no future plans just because God has already changed things in me. I will go anywhere God calls me though.
Kasandra Puffer
Age: 18
Nickname: Kay Puff, Kay sass, Puff, Puffer
Hometown: Clifton, CO
Favorite Scripture: Psalms 63: 1-8
Favorite Worship Song: I don’t have a favorite, but I’m really love “Overcome” by Desperation band, “Our God” by Chris Tomlin, “Strip me away” by Interface, and “Healer” by Hillsong.
What I want God to do in me this year: There are so many things I want God to do in my life this year! I really want to have a more intimate and real relationship with God. I want God to put a genuine desire and passion in me that is so strong that all I want to do is seek and serve Him. I know I have so many walls in my life that hold me back from giving God my all and I want Him to completely break them down. I want God to break me and shape me into what He wants me to be. I want God to search me and show me everything that I need to cut out of my life. I want God to change me and use me for His will. I know a lot of this year is going to be hard and even painful at times, but I know in order for God to do in anything in my life, in order for me to grow and have a deeper relationship with Him, I am going to have to go through those times. I want God to do so much and I know there is so much He wants to do in my life this year that I can’t even begin to imagine. I’m excited and nervous at the same time, but I’m pretty sure God knows what He is doing.
It’s only been about a month since I’ve been here, but I already feel like God is starting to show me things in my life that I need to change. God has started to show me that I let myself get in the way a lot. I let my fears and anxieties control my life and hold me back. I worry about what people are thinking about me constantly instead of what God thinks of me. Instead of focusing on God I focus on myself. Instead of praising God all the time I only praise Him when I’m comfortable or if I’m in the mood. If things are not the way I think they should be I hold myself back from giving God my all. God wants me to give up all of me and I only give up what doesn’t hurt to give up. My prayer this year is for God to break and to help me remove myself from the equation and let Him do what He wants.
Future: My plans for the future right now are to do a second and third year of master’s commission. I want to have a degree under my belt and I want to work in ministry, so I know masters is a good way to get the chance to try out several types of ministry work and to get a degree. I haven’t felt like God is calling me to do anything in particular yet, but I’m just trying to be open and listen to where God wants to lead me.
Matthew Reoli
Age: 19
Nickname: Matt, Ravioli
Hometown: Oxford, PA
Favorite Scripture: Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Favorite Worship Song: Grace Like Rain
What I want God to do in me this year: I want God to change me completely and fully; so much that I don’t even want to recognize me anymore. This isn’t to say that I was a bad person or anything of the sort, but I just want to be so close to God so that I may be a blessing to everyone I meet; a light that shines before men. I want God to instill such a passion for him that I have never known before. I don’t want to look back and asked if I had given God my all; I want to look back and know that I gave God all of me. I don’t want to question anything in my relationship with God, but rather put all of my faith in God alone. Scripture tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, so I want to do just that.
Future: I do believe that God has called me to some type of ministry, most likely youth ministry or just general ministry. I believe that teenagers need God the most out of everyone, especially those going through high school. Of course, God does love to through little curve balls, so who really knows except God alone?
Miranda Zeigler
Age: 18
Nickname: Panda, Ziggy, Zig-Zag, Ran
Hometown: New Cumberland, PA
Favorite Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”
Favorite Worship Song: How He Loves by Kim Walker
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I want God to completely change me. I do not want to leave Master’s being the same. I want God to strip away things in my life that He does not want to be there. I want Him to make me the me that He wants me to be. I want to step out from behind the shadows of my family and friends back home and just be me. I want to completely trust in God. I want all my life to be devoted to Him. And I think that while I am in Master's God is going to change me so that becomes real.
God has been moving in my life already and it has only been a few weeks. He is showing me that He loves, no matter what I do, He will still love me. And He is also telling me that I need to step out of the shadows of my family and friends back home and be me, be the person He created me to be. I have stepped out of my comfort zone a number of times, but one moment sticks out to me. At my Thursday night ministry I stepped out of my box and the MC bubble and talked to this seventh grade girl and had a really cool conversation with her. I think God is going to build a relationship there and I am really excited to see where He takes me in that relationship. I know that as I keep pushing my limits and keep pursuing God, He will to things in me and through that I never thought were possible.
Future: I feel like God has called me into the mission’s field. Most likely to a country that speaks Spanish, but I am open to wherever God wants me to go. But no matter where God sends me, I know I will be making trips to Managua, Nicaragua for the rest of my life. It holds a special place in heart.
Reneé Bohn
Age: 24
Nickname: Nay
Hometown: Milford, PA
Favorite Scripture: 1 Kings 2:2b-3 “So be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: walk in His ways and keep His decrees and commands, His laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,”
Favorite Worship Song: "The Stand"
What I want God to do in me this year: I have been going to church since I was six and sometimes I feel that my relationship with God is at a standstill. Also I have always been shy around people I don’t know and have rarely spoken openly to new people about Jesus. I know that by coming to Master’s I have the chance to get closer to God than ever before as well as shine the light of Christ in ways I never had the chance. I would like God to help me to overcome my insecurities in myself by helping me to be more secure in Him. I am hoping to learn to trust God in everything instead of just when I feel like it. I am open to anything that God wants to do in me and I would like there to be a change in me that is visible to those who know me.
God has recently been showing me things that I need to put more trust in Him and less in myself and my surroundings because ultimately without Him I can do nothing.
Future: I have worked many years in ministry and I have done a lot of ministries with children and youth from nursery to high school. I like working with all of them, but I am not sure yet where I feel God is calling me. I do know that God is calling me to do something in ministry maybe full-time.
Samantha Eklund
Age: 21
Nickname: Sam
Hometown: Addison, NY
Favorite Scripture: Isaiah 12:5 “Sing to the Lord, for He has done wonderful things. Make known His praise around the world.”
Favorite Worship Song: Mighty To Save by Hillsong
What I want God to do in me this year: I really want God to do whatever he wants to do in me. I am really excited though because I know that God has some awesome plans, along with it a lot of things to teach me. The only thing that I really know that I want God to do in me this year is that God changes my relationship with him to be even better than before.
I have really had some great experiences since being here; one of the things that I have found God doing is changing my perspective on some things such as understanding the concepts of love and trusting.
Future: I truly do not know at this point what I feel God is calling me to do after I leave from Ground Zero Master’s Commission. I am taking things one step at a time and keeping my focus where God wants it to be now, knowing that He will let me know where and what I am supposed to do when it is time.
Samantha Reynolds
Age: 18
Hometown: Elkton, MD
Favorite Scripture: Isaiah 54:10 - “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”
Favorite Worship Song: At Your Cross by Worth Dying For
What I want God to do in me this year: What I want God to do in me this year is that I want God to become my everything. There are so many times in my life where I go to things of this world to try and get satisfied but really what I should be doing is going to God and allowing Him to be enough for me. This year I want to lay my heart and my life at the altar and allow God to be the main focus of my thoughts and my desires. I want to fall in love with my Creator in such a deep and passionate way that no test or trial could ever shake my faith.
So far in Master’s God has been really challenging the way I view myself and others. He has been showing me the real definition of love and how I need to embrace what it truly means to love others and God. I feel like He is showing me that no matter what I am facing that He is faithful and sovereign and that He loves and cares for me in such a way that I have no need to worry about the future or become discourage with my circumstances because who He is, is more than enough for me to be joyful and to praise Him.
Future: I feel as though I am being called to youth ministry but where and what I’m not sure yet. I know that God has called me here at Master’s for this year but beyond that I am keeping my mind and heart open to whatever God wants to do with my life.
Sarah Diffenderfer
Age: 19
Nickname: White Chocolate
Hometown: Lancaster, PA
Favorite Scripture: Phil. 3:7-14
Favorite Worship Song: I Surrender All to You by Vineyard
What I want God to do in me this year: This year I really want to just know God so much more. I want Him to become my best friend, my “Papa,” my beloved, my everything. I want to truly have a relationship with Him. I want Him to teach me what it means to be His disciple and servant. I want to learn to completely trust God with every area of my life, and I want Him to teach me how to trust others as well. More than anything, I want God to completely break me this year, so that I can be remade into the child of God that He wants me to be. There are so many things in my life that need to be changed in order for Him to use me the way He wants to, and this year I’m praying that God begins the process of changing me and making me into the woman that He’s called me to be. I really believe that God has me here for a reason, and I’m excited for what He has in store this year. I know that it’s going to be hard and painful at times, but I know that God will be faithful to me, as He’s always been.
God has really begun to strengthen my faith in who He is. All my life I have pretty much let my feelings dictate my relationship with God, and now God is beginning to teach me that He is faithful, loving, and good whether I feel that He is or not. I’ve never been able to grasp God’s love and grace in my heart, and I think I’m finally just beginning to get it a little, and it’s amazing. He is worthy of my praise simply because of who He is, not how He makes me feel at the moment. How I feel does not change who He is. That’s the biggest thing He’s been teaching me recently. He’s also been teaching me that worshipping Him isn’t just about singing and raising my hands during worship and devotions every morning. Everything I do can be an act of worship if I do it as unto Him. Even though I’ve heard this message all my life, I think I’m beginning to actually understand it for the first time. God has already begun to do so many things in my life; I can’t imagine what He will do with a whole year of Master’s ahead.
Future: I know that God has called me into missions. Exactly how that looks and how that will play out, I’m not sure. My hope and dream is to be a missionary in South America and work with children, maybe at an orphanage, or a home for street children. But, I don’t know that this is God’s plan for my life, so I’ll have to wait and trust Him for direction.
Tyler Browning
Age: 21
Nickname: T-Sizzle
Hometown: Bridgeport, WV
Favorite Scripture: Proverbs 13:1
What I want God to do in me this year: I would like God to provide me with a direction this year. For so long I have felt lost and disconnected from God and His will. It would be awesome to be able to re-connect with God and be able to grow clser to him than ever before. So, basically i would like God to bring me back to him, so that i may know him more and show his love.
Future: At the moment do not have any plans for my future. Though i have felt God calling me towards youth ministry.
| |
| |
