Mitchell Baumgartner

If I had to say what my life was like before Jesus, I would say that I was in need of something.  I am blessed to have an amazing family, good role models and a community that cares, but something was wrong.  I had everything except what I was truly searching for.  So, naturally, I started looking for what the world says would fulfill this emptiness in my life.  

I attempted to fit into the cool crowd, tried to succeed in sports, make my name known in school, all which was unfulfilling. I was still empty and in the wake of the failure of these behaviors I shifted my focus again to selfish actions. This is when I started my long stretch of being addicted to pornography.  I went through this in stages, I first found out about it while I was hanging out with my “friends” in 6th grade…6th grade!  All through my high school years, I struggled with addiction and fear that if anyone found out, I would lose my status as the good boy. Sin had such a strong hold on me, and I tried everything I knew how to change, but in my own strength I could do nothing.

I came to know Jesus on a Sunday night my first freshman semester of college.  After weeks of listening to messages about purity, repentance, and this amazing life in Jesus, I broke down and realized I had been searching for success, love, fame, power, and wealth my whole life and continually came up empty. Even in the midst of all my sinning, Jesus died for me.  My decisions to choose myself constantly nailed him to the cross and he willingly let me. I stayed up that night until 1 o’clock writing out and confessing my sin, fully knowing that I didn’t have to carry it anymore. It wasn’t mine and Jesus had made me clean. I knew that I was going to be changed, and that it was time to seek help. Finally, I knew where to look for it.

After deciding to follow Jesus my heart has found satisfaction far more than anything the word could bring.  I realized however, that this was not a one time commitment, I had to be ALL IN!  I have made a choice that I will daily choose Jesus and he will be the center of my life. I have started breaking free from the chains of pornography, and have found community that I know I will walk with my whole life. In my searching I chose myself, but now I am found and belong more than I ever thought possible.

Dominique Slack

Dominique’s eyes radiate joy. Her gentle and quiet spirit draw people to a place of comfortability. However, the eyes that sit in the confidence of purpose and the steadiness of belonging have not always lit up Dominique’s face.

As a 10 year old girl in the confusion of moving a lot and her mother getting a divorce, life had a consistent way of simply getting in the way. High school was just another example of life not going as planned and when her family moved to Colorado she found herself lonely. Being shy and not fitting in resulted in Dominique feeling like she had to be someone else to have friends to hang around with. These friends were not who she wanted to be and in these moment she began to wonder if there was anything else to this life.

College was the same song, second verse. First semester was plagued with loneliness and aching to be back with her mom and sister. The point of walking each day was beginning to become hazier and hazier. Questions filled Dominique’s mind as she wondered why she was even here. Was there any purpose to this life? Why try? And so when she went home for Christmas break, the logical thing to do was quit and not come back to K-State.

Nevertheless, Dominique found her way back for a second semester. It was this semester that Emma and Gabby, friends in her dorm, began to invite her to Challenge. Her whole attitude shifted. No longer was she fighting the truth that she was hearing but she even wanted to understand who God was. As the curiosity grew, Dominique and Gabby started reading John together.

Amazement with the person of Jesus began to invade Dominique. His sacrifice and love was enough to answer the questions she had been asking her whole life. But her thinker mind and intellectual skepticism kept her at arms length.

It wasn’t until he spoke gently to her that he was her purpose that she started to shed the hesitancies of giving him everything.  His reasons for her existence was far greater than any lie she could conjure up to believe.

He has begun to rewrite her story. Breathing purpose and truth into every day. The emptiness and loneliness of life melts away as he makes Dominique whole. The stretching of community and being vulnerable with those around her are a whole new experience walking with friends. Even though the days are still tough and there is still heartbreak in her family, he is the reason to choose joy today. He is the purpose in living. He is worthy to rest in because he is in control.

God is my purpose. He makes me whole, I am here because of him. Problems in my family. Before I would have given up and I would have gone back home. But now I know he has me here for a reason and I will stay because I know he has a plan and it's going to work out because he is in control.

Britta Carr

Those who know Britta know her Minnesotan accent sometimes slips out. And to those who really know her, the endearing drawn out ‘bags and eggs’, although an easy target to poke fun, are a beautiful reminder of a journey of grace.

On the last day of high school, Britta found herself in a cabin of only girls about to break the only parental rule of no booze and no boys. Although never a fan of drinking in itself, Britta’s striving to seek acceptance and friendship through a liquid that made her life numb, left her alone and sick on the floor as her choices were exposed by morning light. In this small moment she began to wonder if this was all to life? Was a beautiful life out there that would offer more than emptiness? And if this was true, could it ever be offered to her?

Although the community known by those who follow Christ was seen through her sister’s time in college, as an incoming freshman the desire to simply find friends was greater than finding truth. The first night of college could have gone either way; into an endless scene of partying and back into the monotonous nights of emptiness or into a new community of hope, holding out purpose.

It was this first night she met the two older girls at the end of the hall with the crappy, breaking, black futon. Little did she know this futon had been bathed by prayers, asking the Father for a hurting girl to sit on it and meet Him in fullness. It was on this futon she found community in a Challenge Freshman Lifegroup, that drew her heart to know there was more.

The first couple of months of college were hard. She saw the way others around her in this community were living and the freedom they found in Christ but believing that it could be offered to her without her doing something for it was foreign and awkward. Grace was a concept for those who were cleaned up, and clean she felt not.

In the everyday choices of surrender to walk with open hands, in the late nights of processing truth on that broken futon and in the understanding that His faithfulness is greater than that of humans, the characteristics of a graceful, gentle Father was found. In humility, it was known that Britta had nothing and could offer nothing to earn her salvation. And in working through the shame of the past and replacing it with grace that was held out, He began to redefine her identity into something so much better.

No longer marked by a girl yearning to fit into the popular crowd, Britta is now a daughter of the King. A daughter unable to imagine life without this community but more importantly without resting in the arms of her Heavenly Father, who wants all of her, not just the clean and whole but the broken and dirty.

Breanna Day

Surrender. A topic that we don’t always want to discuss but we know when we actually give our life to him, he has plans that we could never even imagine. Surrender is like holding up both hands, palms facing up declaring you are God’s servant and that where he is you want to be. I remember asking God to use me in ways that I never thought He would.  Before I came to Challenge I never thought I would be a part of an outreach to internationals.  I never thought I would move to China.  I never thought that those prayers would show me many incredible and life-changing things. God never ceases to amaze me by the ways he has used me.  

One thing that my life group and our leaders in Challenge taught me was how to ask intentional questions. I was amazed at the depth these questions could reach and pull enlightening responses out of people. An observation I’ve had since being in China is the lack of intentionality in relationships. The people here have friendships but they don’t always seem to know what is really going on in each other’s hearts. One night I had a few friends over to hang out. We had been baking and having a great time. Afterwards, I pulled out some pictures and began to ask questions. The girls had to choose a picture to answer the question. They began to be vulnerable and to really share how they felt. Some said things like “I don’t think people know how much pain I’m in” or “I’ve never had someone ask me this before”. After the girls left I had one girl specifically say she had never been asked many of the questions we talked about. She told me it meant a lot to her and gave her so much to think about. This same girl is now a part of a Bible study we started and if I had not learned to really ask questions I wouldn’t know the pain, the depth, and the beauty of their hearts. This has helped me in knowing how to share with them, pray with them, and to love them overall.  

Another thing that Challenge taught me was to demonstrate and be an example of the Gospel to others. Little daily things that we do as believers can be a testimony or even baffling to those who don’t believe. Numerous times I have been to dinner with people and I simply ask if I can pray for the meal. This has opened so many doors to sharing the Gospel. Suddenly people want to know why I pray, if I pray often or how I learned to pray. It’s a simple way to reach out to them and to identify with Christ.

In addition to this, developing natural friendships with girls just like I would in college has been huge in inviting people to learn about the Lord. One girl in particular had no idea about Jesus but she began to do things with us and other believers. She started asking questions and wanting to know more about this Savior we loved. Before long she started praying, and finally committed her life to following Him. That began because we invited her to be a part of our lives and a part of our daily worship.  

Challenge taught me many things that I believe shaped me into the follower I am today. I mentioned; serving, intentionality and being an example of the Gospel. When I think of Challenge I think of awesome people, great leaders, and amazing disciples. I miss the sweet community, the Bible studies, the messages, but I am grateful to be using so many of the valuable things that I have learned.  I am using these great lessons as I now serve in China.