The Campus Christian Center welcomes students inside with signs about their fireplace and big screen television. Jake Barber/Argonaut

Some deliberately avoid ever setting foot inside, some are too afraid of what they would find if they did and some don’t even notice its existence.
But to those who do choose to be a part of the Campus Christian Center, there is nothing scary or threatening about it, said CCC Business Manager Douglas Wood.

“What I want to do is just simply say that the Campus Christian Center is here for everybody,” Wood said. “I think our mission statement says it pretty well ‘come from anywhere and find the peace of Christ.’ You can call Christ anything you want to.”
Sharon Kehoe, director of CCC and teacher of The Sacred Journey class, said she believes safety and cooperation are universal ideals and the focus of the center.

“I have always called it my home away from home,” Kehoe said. “It’s really warm and open and inviting.  Some students today aren’t interested in denominations at all, but it doesn’t matter because anybody is welcome here.”
Since its founding to promote religious studies on campus in 1930, the CCC has been a place to express and explore your faith, said Lutheran Campus Minister Karla Neumann Smiley.

The center, located on 822 Elm St., is an outreach of the Idaho Institute of Christian Education and is owned by seven mainline Protestant denominations — Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian, American Baptist, Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ.
The CCC has served a variety of purposes over the years. It was the Dean’s house in the 1950s, and a coffee house and place of rest in the 1960s and ‘70s. Wood said it is a place to study, relax, find peace and quiet and as a general place to “hang out” on campus, Wood said.

“Understand it is a Christian area and some people may ask you questions of faith, but you are permitted to say ‘I’m not really interested in that’,” he said. “That happens all the time.”
In addition to being a safe place to put your feet up, there are numerous other events put on by the CCC, said President of Student Organizations Cynthia Rempel.
The Lutheran’s section of the center has a group dinner every Wednesday evening. The meal is often donated and cooked by volunteers.  

“It’s a family-style meal,” Smiley said. “So students have said that it’s really neat to be able to come here and sit around a table and have a well-balanced meal,” Smiley said. “We enjoy that time together.”
The Lutherans also host a Bible study session on Wednesday nights — the students pick the topic and Smiley said she does the preparation work required for each meeting.

The United Methodist section of the center also gets together every Tuesday for a group session called Religion and Ethics News Weekly. There, students watch a televised program put on by the Public Broadcasting Service.
United Methodist Campus Minister John Morse said it’s a 30-minute program and the session is followed up by a group discussion.  He said the discussions are objective and anyone is welcome to attend.

“We do have a special emphasis on our different church groups, but it’s not an exclusive student group from that denomination,” Morse said.

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