Cedarville Magazine Fall 2019

them again till spring.” He looked for a way to get to know his advisees, while building into their lives and making sure they got off to a good start at Cedarville. Two years ago, he started purchasing copies of Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle to hand out to his approximately 10 new advisees at their initial meeting the first week of freshman year. Then, he schedules informal sessions at Stinger’s, Cedarville’s casual dining option, and encourages students to meet with him to discuss the book. Not all students come, but for those who do, they discuss topics from how to live godly lives to finding and getting involved with a local church. Nathan O’Neel ’ 21 was part of the first year’s group of students. “At first I thought all professors did that,” O’Neel said. “Then I realized Professor Dudenhofer chose to go out of his way — waking up early even — just to spend some time getting to know students and teaching us how to mature over our four years at Cedarville. I still remember a lot of the lessons I learned from those sessions.” For Dudenhofer, it’s a way to try to make an impact immediately. “The truth is,” he explained, “we don’t know for sure how long we have these students. Every year I have students who change majors or transfer to another school. I want to make sure I’m building into their lives right away.” MENTORSHIP AS TO THE LORD The first day that Donna Fifer, Manager of Stinger’s, began her job at Cedarville’s snack shop, she hung Colossians 3:23–24 in her office: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” It’s the foundation for how she treats her work, and a lesson that she daily passes on to her student- workers. “I work with the students to show them to always work their hardest at whatever they do,” Fifer explained. Many of her workers, especially international students, have not worked much before. “I want the students to see what it looks like to use your work as a service to the Lord,” she continued. In the process of daily working together, she has built into the lives of her student-workers by her example of strong faith and commitment to doing everything she does to bring glory to God. “She is an example of what it is to have joy in your work,” Sarah Benko ’ 21 , a student-worker in Stinger’s, commented. “Even when things aren’t going well — workers don’t show up or food doesn’t get delivered on time. She’s an encourager, a cheerleader. She doesn’t just do her job well; she does it with joy.” Fifer prays for and with her students, and they talk about what God is doing in their lives. When she reaches out to encourage a student, she does so with sound scriptural wisdom. “I think they impact my life more than I impact theirs,” she said. “I just want to be as good of an example to them as I can be.” GRACE UPON GRACE For many years, Nathan Lane ’ 08 , Student Supervisor for the University Bookstore, and his wife were part of a church community in Nashville, Tennessee. “We saw the Gospel of Christ take hold of people in wonderful, unsettling, and undeniable ways,” Lane recalled, “and I count myself among them.” One summer, the entire church body was led through The New City Catechism (a series of 52 doctrinal questions and answers) to openly discuss, wrestle with, and explore what the orthodox doctrine of the historical church was and what that meant for a believer and the Church. Nathan recounted this experience with Bob Sirko ’ 20 , a student-worker at Cedarville’s bookstore, last winter, explaining how impactful it was in his life. Sirko asked Lane if they could go through the catechism together. Lane was more than happy to oblige. “God had been BOB PARR LYNN ROPER 16 | Cedarville Magazine