MOOSEHEART – Casey Beckley began his tenure as Mooseheart’s coordinator of campus ministries in January, a role that has him coordinating Sunday Protestant worship for the campus’ children and staff as well as a variety of other ministerial duties.

Included will be a campus Christian education class at Mooseheart school. A St. Louis native, Beckley said he has enjoyed meeting Mooseheart’s students and his initial opportunities to preach to them, according to a news release.

“I want them to have a feeling that they can have life with God,” Beckley stated in the release. “It’s more than that they’re taken care of for eternity. In my first sermons, I am preaching on Acts, and the message is that God says He will come and live with us. Whatever ups and downs they experience, God is with them.”

Beckley earned a Master of Arts in educational ministries at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, the release stated. He worked for InterVarsity Faith Christian Fellowship at Northern Illinois University for 17 years.

“The needs here are the same,” Beckley said in the release. “We want to know that we have a place in this world and that God created us on purpose, that we can be part of fulfilling that purpose and that we can have life with God. Those are the ultimate questions that they are asking at all ages.”

All Mooseheart children attend church on Sundays when they are on-campus. Beckley said this creates challenges as well as opportunities for the campus pastor.

“I know some of them will be more than happy when church is over, but I know some are glad to be here,” Beckley said in the release. “Some of these kids have never been asked to go to church or would never have been brought to church otherwise. I’m almost more excited to work with that kid who has never opened his or her Bible. Introducing them to Jesus and the Scriptures for the first time is an honor.”

Beckley and his wife, Karen, have three children and reside in Sycamore. Catholic worship at Mooseheart continues to take place under Mike Zak.