I first heard of Logan from his roommate and best friend, Silas. Through story after story, Silas painted a picture of a stellar young man trying to figure out who he is and what he believes. After months of hearing about Logan, I tracked him down and scheduled a time to get lunch. As we chatted, I was taken back by how open he was with his journey in the faith. His willingness to learn more, ask questions, and explore what he believed led to another lunch and another and another. A year and a half later, Logan and I still meet weekly.

Logan’s story is a testament to collegiate ministry's power, beauty, and importance. I am honored to be able to be a part of it and share all that God has done in his life.

Logan grew up in the catholic church and came to know right and wrong but felt like something was missing. Logan learned to act “Christian” but didn’t have a relationship with God. Logan felt God was distant and uninvolved.

Freshman year, by God’s graciousness, Logan’s room was just two doors down from a young man named Silas. Between their crazy antics, intermural sports teams, and late-night FIFA games, a deep friendship was born. As they lived together, they talked about the men they want to be and their beliefs. Over time their conversations led to Logan starting to think about what he believes. As the school year ended, Logan started attending large groups and even joined a small group.

As sophomore year began, Logan started looking even deeper in his faith. He started attending Younglife and Collective, a Woodside young adult ministry. Logan’s charismatic personality, humor, and tender heart helped him develop close friendships with leadership and others. As his friendships grew and conversations about God continued, Logan began taking his faith walk seriously.

As Logan explored who God is, he struggled to understand how the faith he came to know growing up aligned with what he was learning now. Logan turned to friends and commentaries as he wrestled with the differences between denominations, theology, and church traditions. These “barriers” hindered him from going all in. It was in this season Logan, and I started meeting.

As we met, we explored Church history, theology, and the foundations of the faith. Every week Logan came with new topics to be discussed. Over time the “barriers” stopping him from going all in faded away. Logan came to understand that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God   not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9). Our conversations shifted from “How do I know what’s true?” to “How can I live out Gods call? Logan’s life began to look different as he entered the amazing process of sanctification.

Logan’s junior year can only be described as transformational. He has taken huge steps in learning to hear from the Lord, living in obedience to the Spirit, and how to live missionally. In October 2022, Logan was baptized at his home church, Woodside Bible Church. As he grew in faith Logan took a step into leadership and began co-leading a small group of high school students for Woodside’s high school group. Over the last six months Logan has developed deep relationships with his students and has had the opportunity to have more than a few deep conversations with them about their faith.

In the fall of 2023 Logan will enter his senior year at Oakland. With one year left Logan has no intention of slowing down! Logan is pursuing a mechanical engineering degree and is excited to see where the Lord takes him next. I am incredibly proud of Logan and am so excited to see how God continues to move in his life. Below is a quote by Logan about his time in Cultivate.

The Lord has truly blessed me by providing a mentor, friend, and brother in Christ with Kyle. He displays a love and persistence towards pouring into others that can only be modeled better by Christ. The impact he has had on my life will extend far beyond my time at OU. He has been there to talk through any and every hesitation or wall that I have. Kyle’s biblical wisdom has been able to seep into many aspects of my life, where I know see myself applying the very things we talk about daily. I appreciate Kyle’s intentionality and look forward to our continued relationship.

Written by Kyle Vens, Director of Cultivate