Eric and Kayla Serving Chi Alpha in Edinboro

We spent the last couple days camping with some students. It was so refreshing to be surrounded by students face to face again.

This weekend, we saw students in person that we haven’t seen since March, went on a hike, a swim in the river, and sang songs around the campfire. One of our students gave a small sermon this morning about God’s faithfulness and how we should respond.

We are seeing lives transformed on Edinboro’s campus. Thank you for your investment in the lives of these students!!

Good Afternoon!!

We have been very busy launching our first week of virtual ministry and God has been on the move in very mighty ways!

Last night we hosted a virtual game night and had about 30 students in attendance! We have had a chance to meet some of the 175 students living on campus and they are so very hungry for community. We are blessed to be here for them!

Tonight, we are having our first Thursday night worship of the semester. Even though it is going to look vastly different than what we are used to, we know God is still going to move and touch the lives of students across this campus.

Here are some things you could be praying for:
-Against loneliness and isolation for all of our students no matter where they are
-God to open doors to meet the 175 students here on campus
-Thursday Night Worship and the people that are attending

If there is anyway we can be praying for you please let us know!
Have a blessed day, The Tobergtes

GOOD MORNING!!

Yesterday we started meeting as a staff in person again. It has been so nice to reconnect and start planning for the fall semester. This summer will be focused on growing closer as a team as well as gearing up for the fall semester.

We are prayerfully expecting our students to be back on campus come this fall so we are excited to prepare events and services for them!

We wanted to encourage you this morning with a song. We know times are unpredictable, but God knows each and every one of our individual needs. If there is anything we can pray for please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

https://youtu.be/OCml3JWRoGM

I’ll Give Thanks Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group I’ll Give Thanks · Housefires · Kirby Kaple I’ll Give Thanks ℗ 2020 Housefires Released on: 2020-04-17 Associate...

Each Thursday after our large group services we usually "take-over" a local fast food place to hang out and fellowship together well into the night. However, since everything has been virtual, we have not been able to hang out after services.

But, the Lord has blessed us with such great students that saw the shut down as an opportunity instead of a hinderance and took it upon themselves to cultivate a "take-over" after our last Thursday service! About 20 students and staff gathered together over a Zoom call to play some games, chit chat, and just hang out. It was such an encouraging time to see our students and still gather together despite these difficult times.

God is still moving on this campus and in the hearts of our students even in an untraditional manner! Thank you for partnering with us to spread the love of Christ on this campus! Hearts are being transformed and God's name is being known on the campus because of YOU!

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Chi Alpha’s from all over the nation are gathering together to pray for our campuses, students, and our nation. Would you join us in praying?

“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28:6‬

HALLELUJAH HE IS RISEN!!

Happy Easter y’all! Easter this year is looking very different than what we are all used to, but be encouraged that Christ is still risen from the dead and no thing can stop Him! We serve such an amazing God!

We are spending Easter watching the Sight and Sound production of ‘Jesus’. If you would like to watch it, it’s free on the TBN app only through today!

We are praying you all have a very blessed Easter Sunday and we can’t wait to see y’all very soon! How are you spending your Easter Sunday?

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Happy Palm Sunday!

Our Sunday routine has certainly changed over the last couple weeks. We have been missing the community we are surrounded by every Sunday morning, but we’re grateful for long morning walks and a late breakfast. We are so thankful for live stream church services to still worship together!

What does your Sunday routine look like during this time?

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Hey y’all! Eric has the honor of preaching tonight at Chi Alpha! If you would like to tune in, here is the link to watch! Hope to see you there 😄

U P D A T E

Hey y’all! We wanted to give you an update on what God is doing on this campus through all the craziness going on.

Highlights:

• We’ve had a great turn out each week to our Thursday Night Live services!

• Our student leaders have take such an initiative to encourage each other and help each other out during this time of transition Into online ministry 

• We’ve had an awesome turn out to life group each week and our one on one meetings are THRIVING with great conversations.

• Our guys and girls are very eager to dig into the Bible, learn about God’s truth, and how to increase their faith.

Prayer Points:

• That God would continue to strengthen us as leaders during this time

• That our students would walk away from this year with a deeper relationship with Jesus

• That God would continue to “till the soil” on this campus while students are physically gone.

God has been moving in such a mighty way here. We are beyond blessed to have a great team behind us! Thank you for joining us in the journey! Lives are being changed because of YOU!

How can we be praying for you this week?

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

MOBILE DISCIPLESHIP

This afternoon, we had our monthly student leadership meeting via Zoom. It was so nice to reconnect with our leaders, encourage them, and answer some questions about online discipleship. We are so blessed to have an amazing group of students who are onboard for whatever life throws at us during this time.

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes.

Hey y’all!

Here is the link to our service tonight! A pre-show starts at 6:50 and service starts at 7! We would love to see you there as we start a new series today! 😄

If you’ve ever wondered what our services look like tune in tonight for a glimpse!

Tonight, one of our staff members, Bri, will be speaking on what the Bible has to say during all this craziness! Follow our page, Edinboro Chi Alpha 🙂

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

WE’RE GOING LIVE TONIGHT (& every Thursday for the rest of the semester)
••••
Tune in to our page or Instagram to watch our live service! The broadcast starts at 6:50pm with our message starting at 7! Make sure you tune in tonight to hear bring the Word!

H E L L O!

We have some updates from our trip and info about moving forward for you!

As you know, we got to lead an amazing team of students to the University of Delaware. The students walked away with an amazing experience and encountered God in an amazing way. Alex walked away with a call into student leadership and Ged and Allie walked away with a newfound boldness to do outreach. This trip opened their eyes of how important campus ministry is and reminded us of why we do what we do.

At the end of the week, the University of Delaware closed as did Edinboro University and many other universities across the nation-many of which have Chi Alpha. What does this mean for campus missionaries and Chi Alpha's across the nation and here at Edinboro?

First, 2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." God is not surprised by this and is working all of this out for His good! We are resting in His truth and His word and going about this with a security in Him. Second, We are in the process of transitioning to a digital delivery of our services (thankful for technology!). Weekly life groups will be held over video chat and meetings with students will also be over video chat. We will still be doing our classes and learning valuable information to move forward in our ministry.

We are beyond blessed and excited to continue to serve these students and pastor them through a confusing and chaotic time.If you have any questions about what this transition looks like or how our delivery of ministry is changing please message either one of us, we would love to chat with you!

Thank you for your support and being with us through this chaotic time. How can we be praying for YOU during this time of uncertainty?

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Day 4:

Yesterday, the guys attended a life group in the morning then we spent some time in Philly. We got authentic cheesesteaks, visited the Rocky Steps and ended the evening with Temple University Chi Alpha. At Temple, we were waiting for Chi Alpha to begin then a group of students from Fairmont State walked in!! It was such a pleasant surprise to see people from back home and share in the experience together!!

Last night we got word the the University of Delaware will be closing beginning this morning. Luckily, we have flexible students and we will most likely resort to prayer walking on campus today instead of doing what we had planned. We believe prayer breaks down walls and strongholds and we will pray circles around this campus despite the unexpected circumstances.

Please join us in praying for this campus. A few prayer points are:

1. The the stronghold of darkness would be broken
2. God would use this school closure as a ‘reset’ for the students and this would open students’ eyes to the love of Jesus
3. Our prayers over this campus would impact the students for many years to come.
4. Continued flexibility of our team as we are up in the air with our schedule right now

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Day 3:

Yesterday, our team set up a table in the student union to spread the word about Chi Alpha and invite people to our Thursday night service. We have a team with a heart of outreach, let me tell you! Our students ROCKED IT and really stepped out of their comfort zone to invite people to Chi Alpha.

Today, we are heading to Philly to pray for the city before going to Temple University’s Chi Alpha service.

Please pray for our eyes to be opened and a sense of safety as we pray around Philly today.

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Day 2 of ministering on this campus.

Yesterday, our students felt the weight of the lost souls on this campus and want to make an impact. God is doing such a mighty work in the lives of our students.

Today, we are continuing walking around the campus and praying specific prayers over the buildings.

Please join us in praying for this campus, that God would touch every corner of this campus and students would come to know his mighty name.

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Day 1 is full of prayer walking and talking to students. Continue to pray for our team as we spread the gospel on this campus! We are so blessed to have such willing students to be with us!

Be blessed,
The Tobergtes

Delaware bound!!

Please pray for traveling mercies as we make our way to an amazing week of ministry! ☺️

Good afternoon!!

As you may know, we have been busy preparing our team for our trip to the University of Delaware. It’s crazy to think we leave in FIVE DAYS!! God has been so so merciful and gracious to us and has proven that He is our provider time and time again.

Would you join us in praying for our trip this week? Some specific things to pray for:

-Strength in us and our students
-The God would speak through us to the students on this campus
-That the students would receive the message of the Gospel well and we would have divine encounters
-Pray for Eric as he prepares to speak to the Chi Alpha at the University Delaware

We are so excited to serve and pour into these students at Delaware.

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Eric and I had the honor to be apart of a panel last Thursday for our service talking about relationships. We had the opportunity to share the lies we believed about love and how those lies impacted our marriage.

We love being able to encourage and walk alongside students as they grow!

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

WORLD CHANGERS.

We have been very busy preparing for our trip to the University of Delaware the last couple of weeks. The students on our team have grasped the vision of why we are going and are very excited to serve the missionaries on this campus.

Below you can see the students praying over specific needs for the campus. Would you join us in praying for the university? Specific things to pray for:

*Seeds to be sown on fertile soil
*Doors to open within the University so the group could have a smooth transition into new things that are happening
*Strength as we prepare to spread the gospel to the most strategic mission field in the world

Thank you for your prayers! If you would like to hear more about our trip and how you could partner with us while we go please send one of us a message!

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

Delaware, here we come!!

We are beyond excited to be leading our first mission trip to the University of Delaware. Here, we will be assisting the Chi Alpha there and teaching their student leaders how to disciple effectively on their campus. We will also be prayer walking and interacting with students, hosting a game night and reaching the campus in a way that may have not been reached before. We have a great team going with us and we are excited to see how God is going to move in and through them on this campus!

Our team is required to raise $2,400 total for this trip and one of our students had the great idea, "why don't we sell shirts to help fundraise?!", so, we are selling shirts!!

The shirts are a soft material that comes in sizes S-XXL! They are $20, the deadline to order one is Feb. 22, and we can ship them to you!! If you would like to buy a shirt comment below. We can take venmo, cash or check!

This isn't the only way you could support us! If you live in the Erie area, we are having a support night at Blaze Pizza in Erie THIS SUNDAY from 12:30-3:30! All you have to do is show the flyer below and our team will receive 20% of the total proceeds.

If you don't want a shirt and don't live in Erie, but still want to give comment below and one of us will contact you and talk about how we can make that happen!

It is such a blessing to be able to serve and lead students here at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Thank you for your prayers and support to make this possible!

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes

*T O U C H D O W N*

Yesterday we celebrated two great things: Groundhog Day and the Super Bowl with a room full of people, lots of food and great commercials!!

Students were invited to come to the church before the game to prepare a food dish of their choosing. We had a wide array of food from pizza, to chili, hotdogs, buffalo chicken pasta, chicken noodle soup, pizza burgers, and there was even a nacho bar! While cooking, the students were crammed into a very small kitchen and got to practice some true communication and cooperation skills...haha! At about 5:00pm students started to flood the building and before we knew it the line for dinner wrapped around the dinning hall! In total, about 60 students drive 30 minutes to celebrate, hang out and watch a big game on the big screen!

Thank you for partnering with us so moments like this could happen and our students could experience what it's like to have a family of believers surround them!

Good morning.

We come to you this morning with a heavy heart and a prayer request for our community. On Saturday we tragically lost a beloved member of the community, Alex Cavanaugh. Alex worked at the Wendy’s in town and bravely protected his colleagues during an armed robbery.

Alex was studying to become a pastor and left behind a loving wife and an army of friends-many of which who are involved with Chi Alpha. This tragic lost has impacted our community in a mighty way and we ask for prayers for our students, his family, and our community.

God turns all things meant for evil for his good and we are trusting in that. Please pray for our community and the hearts of our students to find true peace and comfort during this difficult time.

‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn’ Romans 12:15

Enjoying our first big snowfall in Edinboro the right way-a spontaneous snowball fight. We had such a fun time and even got to share Jesus with a new face!

We hope you’re enjoying this cold weather as much as we are! 🥶

Stay warm and be blessed!
-The Tobergtes

Good Morning and Happy (belated) 2020!

We hope that this year has had a great start and we are praying for many blessings and growth for the year!

Our students have had an amazing start to the year. We traveled to Washington DC the first weekend in January to attend Northeast Region SALT. SALT is a winter conference that happens all across the nation for Chi Alphas in different regions. This year was the first time the Northeast region has had SALT in 20 YEARS!! We had over 600 students from across the Northeast gather together to worship hear from an amazing guest speaker and interact with missionaries all across the globe! Edinboro Chi Alpha had about 30 students attend and all walked away with an experience they will never forget! One of our students even got engaged!! What a testament of God's faithfulness.

This past weekend, all our student leaders came together to prepare for the upcoming semester. Here, they attended workshops hosted by our staff team. The focus for the weekend was going deep with God, self, and others. Our staff team spent many ours praying and preparing for this retreat. God moved in such a mighty way and we believe our students are well prepared to make a change, not only in their own life, but on this campus as well.

We cannot thank you enough for coming alongside us on this journey. Your investment is making such a difference on this campus. The magnitude of impact on this campus would not be possible without your help!

Please join us in praying strength and guidance for our students as they start back to classes this week!

Be Blessed,
The Tobergtes