Welcome to UConn!

Whether you are a freshman, transfer student or just moving back home to campus, we want to welcome you into our community here in the hilltops of Storrs. We hope you'll join us for our large group meeting at 7pm in Student Union Room 303 (third floor). We'll hang out, sing together and hear a message on our Fall '08 series on the Kingdom of God.

Hope to meet you soon,

Joey Pensak
Campus Minister
jpensak@ruf.org
860.465.7607 cell

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? -Woody Allen Whatever the question, begin here. R.U.F. is a Christian fellowship for the convinced and the unconvinced. Our group is unique in that we are known on campus as a place where skeptics and believers alike are challenged to THINK. We refuse to dodge or minimize tough questions and we long to be a place where Jesus becomes more beautiful and believable to you. Our desire is for both the believer and the skeptic to say of our community, "Where have I ever been loved like this?" Please join us this semester as we study the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 led by campus minister Joey Pensak. Tuesday Nights, 7pm Student Union, Room 303

When and where we meet

RUF Large Group | Tuesday nights @ 7pm Join us for worship and a Bible study on the Kingdom of God led by Campus Minister Joey Pensak in the Student Union, Room 303.

Small Fellowship Groups | Throughout the week The best way to make a deeper connection with our community. Click here to see a list of groups and to sign up.

Coffee and Conversation | Throughout the week Email or call Joey to set up a time to meet and talk (no topic is off limits). Click here for contact info.

News

5/29/08 Our hymn project | What started as a small session to record a few hymns our campus minister and his high school friend wrote together has turned into a national project with over 100 performers involved. Artists who have contributed to the project include Sufjan Stevens, David Bazan, Rosie Thomas, Damien Jurado, Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None the Richer) and many more artists who are believers but whose primary audience is the mainstream indie-rock market. The recording is now done and the record was just mixed by Charlie Peacock! The vision of Bifröst Arts, the new non-profit that Joey and his friend Isaac have started, is to enrich the worship music of the church but also to reach and engage those outside the church with the beauty of these gospel-rich songs. The music draws from many influences, including gospel, folk, ancient liturgical music, and baroque hymns. Several of these songs we have sung on Tuesday nights to "test them out" for their singability in a group setting, and we will be introducing many more in the Fall! Sign up for the "Bifröst Arts" group on Facebook here and listen to tracks on myspace here. The record will be released on a national independent label (TBA) this fall or winter.

1/29/08 RUF Winter Conference | Come join us for a weekend of fun on the frozen ocean of Cape Cod with fellow Connecticut RUFers from Trinity College and Yale University! Cost: Only $75 for the whole weekend! That includes food and lodging for the whole weekend. Full or partial scholarships are available, so please don't let money stop you from going. Click here to sign up! For a scholarship, enter the amount you can pay. We'll make up the rest! Please invite a couple friends along with you. After you register, RSVP here on facebook. Details: Ocean Edge Resort, www.oceanedge.com, has once again given us an amazing off-season deal. Food, lodging, a heated indoor pool and jacuzzi, and an ocean view all for $75! This year our speaker will be Tolivar Wills, associate pastor at Christ Presbyterian in New Haven, CT. Tolivar is a good friend of Joey's from seminary days at Gordon-Conwell in Boston, and will be teaching us what the Bible says about the Kingdom of God. Several cars will be leaving Friday afternoon and we'll get back Sunday afternoon. We will be attending church in Providence, RI Sunday morning at Trinity Presbyterian in downtown Providence. This is a great way to get connected to the growing RUF community at UConn and learn more about God in an incredible setting! The deadline to sign up is this Thursday, January 31st. Once you register and pay, you're officially signed up and there's nothing more to do other than hook up with someone for a ride. Invite your friends, it's gonna be a blast. Directions: Click here for Google maps directions. Schedule: The schedule for the weekend looks like this: Friday night: Arrive by 8pm (it takes 3 hours--do your best to get there on time, remember to leave time to stop for dinner) Games and snacks followed by our first large group meeting with Tolivar Saturday: Morning session with Tolivar Free time all day til dinner! Last session with Tolivar Sunday: Drive to Providence, RI for church Drive home, making it back around 3pm

8/17/07 RUF UConn presents "Signs of Life Night" with Derek Webb | We are thrilled to bring this concert to UConn! Here's all the info you need to know about the show. Who: Derek Webb (formerly of Caedmon's Call), with opening act Kelley McRae When:Tuesday, Sept. 4th at 7pm. The von der Mehden box office will open at 5pm. Where: The von der Mehden Recital Hall, School of Fine Arts, UConn Storrs Campus Tickets: $5 You can purchase tickets in advance of the show through our Paypal site by clicking on the banner in the side column above or here. Because of a generous grant by the Day Foundation, 100% of the proceeds from this show will go to the Hartford Rescue Mission, feeding the poorest zip code in CT. Links Directions to the von der Mehden (Google Maps, you'll need to enter your start address) RSVP on facebook Harford Rescue Mission DerekWebb.com KelleyMcRae.com

5/29/07 Entering freshmen and transfer students for Fall '07 | Welcome! Please send us an email, we would love to talk to you about how we can make your transition to UConn a comfortable one. We will have lots of events the first week of school including our kickoff concert with Derek Webb and a cookout at our house. This summer we will be having informal get-togethers throughout CT so if you're around, let us know! Contact info: Campus Minister Joey Pensak Cell: 860-465-7607 Email: jpensak@ruf.org Intern Jenny Orndorff Email: jorndorff@ruf.org