Katie’s spiritual journey started when she moved into the dorms at the University of California-San Diego and found herself in a suite with four Christians, who often invited her to InterVarsity activities. Even though Katie felt pestered by the invitations, when The Edge, a campus-wide event for seekers, came around in the fall, she decided to go because all her friends were going. Something surprising happened for Katie at The Edge —she liked it. She began attending InterVarsity’s Large Group meetings and talking about faith with her friends.
During the winter quarter, she agreed to do a GIG, Groups Investigating God, Bible studies for non-Christians, with two friends from the InterVarsity chapter. This was Katie’s first time studying Scripture. Katie continued to attend the GIG to discover who Jesus is and what his gospel says.
When Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ came out, she went to see it with InterVarsity students. “Jesus came alive within me that night. Everything that I had read in the Bible all seemed so real. Everything made sense,” Katie said. The next evening, Katie attended a discussion on the problem of evil hosted by InterVarsity. She sat there with sweaty palms as the speaker invited the students to receive Christ. At the end of the discussion, Katie found her friends and told them she wanted to give her life to God.
“We all went outside to pray, and there it was. I was home. People came up to me, some I had never met, and hugged me. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal to anyone else! I can’t even express how much I have changed since that day. I see everything with new eyes. Everything seems to make sense and I am home,” Katie said.
Katie’s story typifies what InterVarsity staff are seeing on campuses around the country. Students who appear indifferent to the gospel will come to faith if invited.
