Beth & Chet Radio Interview

Oneonta Radio Interview

R News/YNN News TV Interview // WHAM 13 News TV Interview

On February 17, 2010, I met the love of my life, Elisabeth Baldanza. Our story is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Elisabeth was a resident director at SUNY Delhi. Realizing that there were no Christian groups on her campus, she started a Bible study completely on her own. She sent an email to BASIC Central to see how we could help. Within a few weeks, a dozen students were attending. I stopped by her office since I was already traveling to SUNY Oneonta to speak.

As soon as I met her, I knew she was special. She was confident and smart (and ridiculously BEAUTIFUL). We briefly discussed her Bible study, which was about the last thing on my mind at that moment. I stepped outside her room to make some phone calls. Before I left, I paced outside her office for about five minutes trying to talk myself into asking her to coffee. I finally got up the courage and tried to play it cool…”So, uh, I was going to get a coffee before I left. Want to join me?” To my astonishment, she said yes!

That began an incredible journey for us with all sorts of exciting milestones: watching our first movie together (a documentary about radical Islam…in retrospect, a poor choice for a first movie), our first 2-hour phone call, holding her hand for the first time at Dunkin’ Donuts, watching my niece puke on her neck, etc.

The game is rigged. You can’t make it on your own. What do you do?

Enjoy this short video by my friend Derek Joseph. You can subscribe to his video podcast here. Thank your Father for His grace today! He did the hard work for you.

So you’re headed to college, huh? That’s an exciting time. There’s lots of things you’ll learn quickly, like:

• After you meet your roommates, you’ll realize why they told you to bring shower shoes.
• The “Freshmen 15″ is not a myth. Give those cuties you met at orientation a 16-week wait to see what 3 lbs. of chicken fingers a day will do.
• Your room does not clean itself. At home I have this thing that sweeps up, does laundry, and eliminates all messes automatically. I called it Mom. Turns out they don’t sell it at Wal-Mart.
• You want to be ambitious your first semester and wake up early and pick early classes. That lasts all of…one semester.
• That thing you were good at in high school? There’s about 3,700 people majoring in it who are better at it than you.
• You thought being 10 hours away from home wouldn’t be too bad until you watch your parents leave to make the trip home without you.

You’re going to be exposed to new faces, unfamiliar places, fresh ideas—yet it’s easy to get caught just following the crowd. College is tough sometimes. It can be a very lonely place, especially for a Christian. Several recent studies show that about 70% of Christian freshmen heading off to a secular college fall away from their faith in less than 16 weeks! They probably thought they had everything under control. But with new temptations, antagonistic professors, and unexpected peer pressures, they became just another statistic.

We believe you were made for something bigger than that. We want you to experience God in ways you never imagined. We don’t want you to just survive college; we want you to thrive. You have an opportunity to make a difference that will last for eternity.

Let me give you my top 3 tips for making sure college is a great experience for you:

Most colleges just started classes several days ago. Let me share with you 2 emails from Bill Haller, the advisor of one of our newest BASIC groups at Binghamton University.

Hey Todd,