Richard y Hope Feredinos
Universitarios
USA – Noroeste
FIELD
Richard leads several Bible studies at Willamette University, including Potter’s Wheel, a freshmen Bible study, and Tactics in Defending the Faith, an apologetic course designed to teach students how to handle objections to Christianity and how to positively impact others for Christ. They have prayer meetings with several Christian groups, service projects and Richard volunteers with an organization called the International Justice Mission, which focuses on ending oppression in third-world countries.
He helps with one or two retreats a semester, focused on revitalizing students’ focus on Christ mixed with fun. He speaks at Koinonia, the weekly fellowship meeting with 40 plus students, once or twice a semester. The most important part of Campus Ambassadors ministry is equipping students to engage other students on campus with the Gospel and training them to be future leaders in God’s Kingdom.
FAITH
Richard grew up in a semi-Christian home in California before his mother, sister and he moved to Salem, Oregon. Growing up he began questioning the legitimacy of religion and eventually decided that religion was only for those who needed it. This led him down an intellectual road where he rejected Christianity, or what he thought was Christianity. He began partying and drinking, but he eventually asked himself, “What is the point of my life?”
That was when he met the area director of Campus Ambassadors, who invited him to study the Bible with him and challenged some of Richard’s assumptions. Over the next couple of months Richard began an intellectual journey, trying to answer some of life’s toughest questions, and finally realized that only Jesus Christ could answer all of them sufficiently. This led Richard to give his life to the God of the Universe.
A year later he ran into one of his old drinking buddies. This guy was shocked and couldn’t believe Richard was the same person. He exclaimed, “What happened to you, man?” And Richard started to tell him about Jesus. Hope came to know Christ as her personal Savior when she was 16, after realizing that Jesus was not just a story, but a real person. They are both excited to faithfully serve their Lord, Jesus Christ, while ministering to the Willamette community, now and in the years to come.
EDUCATION
B.A. in Rhetoric and Media Studies
