A Dear Friend

Marc was a year ahead of me in college and we were on Intervarsity staff together for a year afterwards.

A GREAT FRIEND. Marc always had room for one more new friend or time for one more hour with an old friend. He was an inviter, a welcomer, a connector. If you hung out with Marc long enough, you were sure to make several new friends. When I began dating and eventually married my husband Brian, Marc was one of the first people to eagerly welcome him into our circle of friends. While many of us often joked about his slow speech, it symbolized the way Marc approached his relationships. As Dave L mentioned on this blog, he was never in a hurry when he was with you; he was always present, completely open with his own life and struggles, and genuinely caring about yours.

A FUN GUY. Flipping through old pictures, I was reminded of dozens of trips and activities that Marc organized to bring people together: backpacking, snow skiing, water skiing, ultimate frisbee. In all of these, it was never about the activity itself or about showing off his talents; it was about friendship. Even though he was a black diamond skier, he often stayed on the intermediate slopes so he could hang out with and encourage his novice skier friends, like me. I remember going running and even mountain biking with him. I could hardly keep up but he was always patient and encouraging.

A PASSIONATE FOLLOWER OF JESUS. The extent of who Marc was cannot be fully appreciated without realizing his greatest passion… the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those of us who knew him well, know that this was the driving force behind everything Marc did and cared about. He had a longing to see others come to know the richness of the gospel and to see God's kingdom manifest. He reflected Jesus in his compassion and love for people, his joy of life, and his faith that God still knows what He is doing even when hard things happen.

I'm sad that I haven't seen Marc very much in recent years due to distance and life circumstances and am so grieved by his death. But I am grateful to have gotten to know him and feel privileged to have called him my friend. He taught me much about what it means to be a true friend; he was so loyal and so generous… He is, and will be, profoundly and sorely missed.

-Susan Song Campbell