Christian Campus House

:A Short History of Christian Campus House

On weekends in 1969, a man named Bob Owens made weekend visits to Charleston, IL. Bob was a student at Lincoln Christian Seminary, and a product of a campus ministry at the University of Illinois. His visits to Eastern were the informal beginnings of what the area churches saw as a real need for Eastern's campus. On September 1st of 1970, a number of concerned Christians at Central Christian Church took steps to formalize the campus ministry at Eastern and Lakeland College at nearby Mattoon, IL. The formal name chosen was "Eastern-Lakeland Christian Campus Ministry."

Soon after that meeting, Bob Ross was called as a full time campus minister. Bob came to Charleston from Alabama A&M University where he was an instructor of philosophy, among other things.

The only property available in the beginning of this ministry was a small office rented from the Episcopal Campus Ministry, but in February of 1971 a house was leased which provided an office, a meeting room, lounge, kitchen and one room for student rental. Sunday worship services began on Campus in 1972 in Booth Library Auditorium.

In August of 1977 a building which had been a fraternity house was purchased. This eight bedroom building, which came to be called "Covenant House," soon housed sixteen female students. The growth of the fellowship continued, and in 1980 when Bob Ross resigned, plans were well under way to construct a building which would be adequate for the new growth concerns.

In January of 1980 Gary and Javonda Barnes became the campus ministers at Eastern Illinois University. They had been song evangelists in churches in the Midwest, before which Gary had ministered with the Cornerstone Christian Church in Northridge, California. In 1981 the new, much-needed facility was constructed, and Gary and Javonda continued at Eastern until 1984.

In 1984, Roger and Sue Songer came to Charleston from ministering at Oklahoma State University. Roger and Sue Songer are natives of Illinois, both growing up on small farms near Newton. Roger and Sue continued the diversified program that had been developed at Eastern by Bob Ross and Gary Barnes, adding some distinctive elements. Sunday morning worship services, Wednesday night Bible study, student-led small groups, short-term mission trips and a regular prison ministry marked a new era in Christian Campus House's ministry. With the addition of the new building, it became possible to house up to twenty-four students - sixteen women and eight men.

In the mid-‘90s we began to see the need to add more full-time staff in order to meet the needs and demands of ministering to a rapidly growing core of students. In 1996 we were blessed to add Tammy Melchien, from Parma, Ohio, to our staff as our first female associate campus minister. Tammy brought unique gifts and talents of administration and leadership development to accentuate our ministry. Soon afterwards, in 1998, Ben Miller (an alumnus of our ministry) also joined the staff, specializing in worship and men’s ministry.

After 6 years Tammy left us to plant campus ministries in the greater Chicago area, Danah Himes joined the staff in 2002, bringing with her a passion for administration and small group ministry. Two years later, Ben and Joanne Miller also left us to take the associate campus minister position at our sister ministry at Illinois State University. In 2004 Matthew Thomas, a graduate of Purdue University and a native “Hoosier,” joined our staff as our worship and men’s ministry specialist. In 2005 we began to add new staff in the form of full-time graduate interns. Now each year we are privileged to have multiple full-time interns serving on our ministry staff.

In 2005 the much needed and long-awaited new large addition to our building was completed allowing us to have ample room (seating for 400+) for our Sunday morning worship, our Wednesday Night Bible Study as well as a Student Lounge and Conference Rooms.

Ministry here continues to morph every year, as God continues to give new vision and fresh ideas to those following him here. Roger affectionately calls the Campus House a "living laboratory" - something dynamic that changes to fit the students, who also are in a continual state of change. The times change, but the gospel remains the same. What does the future hold? We'll continue to look forward to what God reveals to us!