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By Linda T. Gracey Special Sections Editor
Altoona Mirror
Paul Stauffer thinks the teen and young adult years can be confusing, and a time of searching for many young people. He wants to make the picture of life clearer by relating biblical principles through graphics as well as words.
Stauffer, Altoona, is an artist as well as staff member for DiscipleMakers, a college campus evangelical outreach based in State College. The former youth pastor for Community Bible Church in Juniata hopes to work with students at Penn State Altoona this fall.
Bob Ford, Vice president for Administration and Development at DiscipleMakers, said Stauffer first came to their attention when he was serving as a board member on the Altoona Collegiate Outreach. “We were impressed with Paul. He is a gifted graphic artist. He is a committed Christian who loves to communicate Bible truths to young people,” Ford said. DiscipleMakers is based in State College and was founded by President Bill Dripps 20 years ago. It has a staff of about 40 people and has a presence on about eight campuses in Pennsylvania and New York.
In addition to working with college students, Stauffer will use his graphic artist skills to create brochures and other materials for the ministry. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphics and Drawing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He has served as a graphic artist for Midstate Tool and Supply, the Learning Media Design Center for Advanced Technologies at Altoona Area High School and the Media Design Learning Center for News Printing Company.
During college, he worked with a professor to develop a computer graphics learning programs. Today, he creates three-dimensional and animated characters in the computer to tell a story. Using a laptop computer, to project images on a screen, he has created a program called, “Hearing with Your Eyes - Visual Imagery of the Bible.”
In the presentation, he asks, “Is the God of the Old Testament the same God of the New Testament?”. He draws a parallel - between God’s presence in the Tabernacle, from the Old Testament, and God’s “indwelling” in people today”. He said, “The tabernacle was a tent of made of (animal) skin with frame and was in the center of the Israelite’s camp. It is an image of how God wants to dwell in our lives - in a tent of living human skin”.
Stauffer said, “Today’s twenty-somethings and teens are visual-oriented. Media and colorful graphics in publications and online have always been part of their culture”. “Sometimes it is difficult to get teenagers to read anything,” he said. “Sometimes, I get them books on tape or a video, whatever I can find to help them”.
After college graduation, Stauffer worked for Paragon, a multimedia ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. He and another team member were responsible for showing a program on love, sex, relationships to youth groups. The program was often run after high school football games during a social time known as, “The Fifth Quarter”. The program was called, “Love in a Twisted World”. “We had three racks of computer-controlled slide projectors that projected on to three huge screens,” Stauffer said. “It was a program with a story line that followed two couples and the situations they encountered in their relationships”. “It also talked about having a relationship with Christ”.
Since his time with Paragon, Stauffer has continued to work with youth. He returned to Altoona and served as youth pastor and volunteered as a staff member for the Student Christian Organization for Prayer and Encouragement at Penn State Altoona.
For the past five years, he has been a board member of the Altoona Collegiate Outreach at Altoona Campus. ACO’s goal is to help bring biblical Christian ministry to the Altoona Campus by providing oversight and financial resources to ministry staff on campus. He intends to continue to serve on the volunteer board as well as being on the DiscipleMaker staff.
He said he thinks today’s teens and college students, “Are nice kids who are trying to do what is right, but are not sure what that is”. “They are trying to sort out life in college and are coming to grips with being responsible for their own actions for the first time, too.” “I want to help people decide where they are going in their lives.”
He said that during his college days at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he met some staff members who were working for Campus Crusade for Christ who helped solidify situations in his life. He also attended a church that had a great campus outreach.
As a staff member for DiscipleMakers, Stauffer hopes to be able to explore questions that Penn State Altoona students have and to work on the answers together using the Bible as a guide.
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