Cardinal Life at Stanford

Easter Brunch crew
Photos from 2009-10

Spring Break Mission Trip to Pulcallpa, Peru


Men's Backpacking Trip



Freedom Run 2010 - Local run organized in the spring to raise awareness for human trafficking



Senior Night at the end of last year - praying for the seniors



To see more pictures of Cardinal Life at Stanford, click here
Why has Cardinal Life meant so much to me?

 Personally, the Cardinal Life community has become a family and home for me during my time here at Stanford. I have been blessed to make authentic, deep relationships within the community, sharing in a number of experiences that have forever changed my life for the better.  I know that it can be difficult to believe a statement like that coming from a stranger:-), but the encouragement, wisdom, peace, joy and truth I've received from this community during the storms of my life have caused my love for the Cardinal Life community to grow exponentially over the last three years.

As a freshman, I underestimated the importance of, and desperate need for, authentic, challenging, and life-giving relationships.  Having walked the last couple of years with folks in the Cardinal Life community, it is impossible for me to imagine navigating life at Stanford without a close walk with Christ and his body.  While Cardinal Life has become that community for me (as I hope it can be for you), what's really important is that you get plugged in somewhere.  If you spend some time with us at Cardinal Life and find that it is not a good fit for you, PLEASE check out the other Christian groups on campus, and make sure that you get deeply involved in a fellowship somewhere. 

Stanford can be a challenging place to follow Jesus, but with a strong community around you, your faith will grow stronger than ever before.  My prayer for you is that you would get plugged into a community as soon as possible, where you can grow in the most important ways, be encouraged, form meaningful relationships, and find the strength to live courageously for God and what you believe in. 

May God bless you and make you a blessing during your time here at Stanford!!  To Him be the glory!

Sincerely,

Liz Smith
Co-President
Cardinal Life
Greetings!
 
Just  as a reminder (or in case you missed it the first time across), I wanted to send this email over again:-).  If  we haven't heard from you, this is the last email you'll get from us, but we wanted to make sure you were aware of some of the upcoming events within the Cardinal Life Community, and ways in which you can get involved.  We hope to meet you soon, and pray that God blesses you as you transition to Stanford!

In Him,

Liz Smith
CL Co-President

--

Welcome to Stanford!  We hope and pray that things are going smoothly for you as you prepare for your upcoming transition!  My name is Liz Smith, and I will be a senior at Stanford this year.  Along with my friend Kelly, I will be acting as co-president of a Christian student group / community on campus called Cardinal Life.  I am writing in response to your indication on the religious preference card included in your housing packet that you were interested in being contacted by the Christian groups on campus.

 By way of a brief introduction, Cardinal Life is a community of faith seeking to grow in intimacy with God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and fellowship with one another, while creatively engaging the world around us with the life changing love of Jesus Christ.  As a fellowship, we love to worship, pray, study, serve and play together.  We desire to see God's Kingdom come and His will be done in our individual spheres of influence, on the greater Stanford campus, and in our world as a whole.

I've included more info on Cardinal Life below, in addition to a bit more about why it has been so important in my life (below and to the left), but just in case you don't read that far:-), here is a list of upcoming events, and ways for you to get involved. 

"Welcome Back" BBQ in The Park
Sunday, September 19th: 4pm-7:00pm
At Wellesly Park (5 minute bike ride from Campus)
Meet folks in the Cardinal Life Community in a casual and fun setting. As always, there will be lots of delicious food (I highly recommend the brownies:-), and games including Frisbee, backyard games, and maybe even a little dodgeball;-)!

Cross Training: Weekly Meeting
Every Monday, beginning September 20th: 7:00pm-9pm
At a house in Menlo Park (5 min bike ride from campus)
This is Cardinal Life's weekly meeting, and includes dessert followed by great times of fellowship, worship and study. 
Rides are always available!  If you need a ride, contact Natalie at nwiesen@gmail.com!

Freshman Dinner
Friday, September 24th: 6:30pm-9pm
Location to be determined
Get to know your classmates as you enjoy a home cooked meal, courtesy of the upperclassmen in Cardinal Life (location TBD).

 Pinnacles Adventure
Saturday, September 25th: 7am-7pm
Pinnacles National Monument
This is the first of many trips that we will take as a community to enjoy some of the incredible outdoor locations that California has to offer!

Beach Bonfire
Saturday, October 2nd: 4pm-10pm
Davenport, CA
First of many trips that we will take to the coast.  Future trips will include a chance to learn to surf for anyone who is interested!

Rides to Church
Sunday, September 19th: 8:30am, 11am, or 7:00pm
Members from within our community attend a couple of different church services in the area, and would love to help you find a church where you feel at home.  Let us know if you would like a ride to one of the services that will take place either before or after the BBQ in the park (see below).

Etc...
There's a lot of other stuff to get involved in regularly, like small groups, book studies, one on one discipleship meetings with advisors or older students, mission trips, backpacking trips, regular service projects, Friday night fun nights, worship and prayer nights, and more. If you would like to be kept up to date on upcoming events, let me know, and I'll make sure that you get on the Cardinal Life email list.  We hope to see you at any or all of these events, and as always, feel free to invite friends!

If you have any questions about any of these things, please feel free to contact Kelly McKitterick (kellym2@stanford.edu) or me (lizsmith@stanford.edu) at any time.   Additionally, we have a team of advisers who have all been serving the Cardinal Life Community at Stanford for a number of years, and are praying for you during this transition.  If you would like to connect with one of them, we could arrange for that as well.

May God bless you as you come to call Stanford home!  We look forward to meeting you soon!

Much Love,
The Cardinal Life team



Additional Info About the Cardinal Life Community

The following is a brief list of some other things that characterize the Cardinal Life Community...

A Desire To Grow...
We meet weekly for times of group fellowship, worship and study, gather in small groups for bible studies and book studies, participate in one-on-one meetings, community building events, times of retreat, and more.  Through each, we seek to reach our destiny of being conformed to the image of Jesus (Rom. 8:29) mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually, sharpening one another as iron sharpens iron (Prov. 27:17).

A Desire To Serve...
In addition to serving the Stanford community, we share a heart for service off campus, both locally and abroad.  We help organize and facilitate a number of service projects locally each year (visit www.2ndmile.org for more info), as well as taking trips abroad to serve the international community.  Recent trips have included 5 weeks in South Africa over the summer and 10 days in Honduras or Peru over spring break.

A Desire For Justice...
As members of Christ's body, we believe it to be our privilege and obligation to combat the brokenness, hurt, and inequality present in our world.  Most recently, members of our community became passionate about combating human trafficking and modern day slavery. Two years ago, we organized a conference called "The Freedom Summit" in order to create awareness about the issues and equip people to combat such atrocities, and this past year we hosted a "Freedom Run" in Palo Alto.  (For more info on the Summit and follow-up events visit www.freedom-summit.org and http://www.freedom-run.org/).

A Desire To Play...
Cardinal Life is a joyful, spirit filled group that loves to play, compete and explore together.  We share a love for games and sports, as well as exploring our local cities, wilderness areas, and beaches.  Additionally, we take a number of trips each year, backpacking through Yosemite National Park and the amazing wilderness areas that surround it.