Missionaries

Matt Dabiero

In 2015 God gave Matt a new love for Jesus and His church while sitting under the care and Christ-centered preaching through RUF at Penn State University. This propelled him into gospel ministry. After graduation Matt became a part of the RUF internship program, serving at Millersville University in Lancaster PA.  A few years later he married his wife, Joanna, whom he met through RUF-PSU and moved to Charlotte, NC to attend Reformed Theological Seminary. This grew his desire to serve college students and he and Joanna were thrilled to accept the position as the RUF Pastor at Penn State in the spring of 2024. Oakwood is very blessed to have them both amongst us again, serving alongside this body of Christ.

 

 

Richard Smith

Richard Smith is the Reformed University Fellowship-International (RUF-I) Campus Minister at Penn State University. Richard grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and attended the Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 1977 he started college at Winthrop College in Rock Hill and was involved with IVCF where he grew in the Lord and led a small group for three years; RUF was not there yet. He received a degree in Production Management in 1981, and was called to the ministry in 1981 at Urbana. He started seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson in 1983 and graduated with a Masters of Divinity in 1987.

Since then he has served three churches: Covenant Presbyterian in Fayetteville, Georgia as Associate Pastor (9 years); First Presbyterian in Florala, Alabama (4 years); and Northgate Presbyterian in Albany, Georgia (15 years). In the last 8 years he has led Northgate's International Ministry at Darton College, where he ministered to over 60 students every year. A year ago he and his wife, Lynne, started the process to join RUF-I, and he has just started a new RUF-I chapter at Penn State ministering to International students. Penn State has 45,000 students of which 8,400 are Internationals. Richard met his wife Lynne at Ridge Haven Conference Center in 1989 and they were married in 1990. They have two children, Rick and Evelyn. Richard enjoys reading, sports, gardening, people and exploring places of history.  Click HERE for more information about RUF-I.