When Melissa Tevez’s roommate invited her to an InterVarsity large group meeting, she said no. “I said I had to study, even though I didn’t have any plans that night,” said Melissa, then a sophomore at City College in New York.
Growing up, Melissa had attended Catholic mass with her family, but she didn’t take religion seriously. “I thought I was a good kid. I didn’t drink or party, so I wasn’t a sinner,” she said.
During her sophomore year, Melissa lived with two InterVarsity students and saw how they placed their relationship with God first in their lives. Melissa respected their convictions, but she didn’t join them in Christian activities. “I didn’t want that to be what defined me,” she said.
Trading gods for God
Twice that night Melissa declined her roommate’s invitation. However, the InterVarsity chapter held their meetings in her dorm. As she walked to the lobby, Melissa bumped into her second roommate who also invited her. “I meant to say no again, but my body said yes,” Melissa recalled with a laugh.
She followed her roommate to the meeting and sat down. “I thought I knew who God was and who I was. I didn’t want to change,” said Melissa. Then the speaker talked on humanity’s sinful nature, God’s love for his creation, and his plan to save us through Jesus’ death. “I heard about the God who created the heavens, not the god I had created.” Melissa knew then that she needed God’s grace.
Later that evening, she prayed, asking God’s forgiveness for her sins and committing her life to following Jesus. “I was spiritually dead,” said Melissa. “But in God I’m alive.”
Growing in faith and in numbers
That was two years ago. Since then, Melissa has joined a Bible study, attended InterVarsity retreats, and began leading a Bible study for women. “In my walk and through InterVarsity, it’s been step by step learning to read the Bible, verbalize it, and apply it to life because it is alive and relevant,” said Melissa.
Her double major in psychology and Jewish studies have also given her training. “Having to study the Torah, the Old Testament part of the Bible, I started falling in love with God,” said Melissa. Many of her classmates are non-believers, secular Jews, and atheists. In classes and with her professors, she has often shared her Christian faith, learning how to respond to difficult theological questions and to articulate her beliefs.
Now Melissa serves as the small group coordinator in the InterVarsity chapter. Since the school year began, the chapter has grown from 70 active students and three Bible studies to 118 students and six small groups. The chapter plans to start three more small groups this semester.
The cause for such growth? Melissa believes it is due to the growing faithfulness of student leaders. “Christ desires us to grow in him and with him. Growth internally means growth externally,” said Melissa. She and the other 21 student leaders actively pray for their campus, trying to listen and discern God’s will for their lives and for City College.
No shame in Jesus
The chapter’s presence on campus is also growing. Leaders are building good relationships with Student Life Services, which helps them reserve rooms and advertise events, and the campus newspaper recently included InterVarsity in a list of top student organizations on campus.
“Before, I was often afraid to do outreach events. It seemed like the only people who showed up were the leadership teams,” said Melissa. This year she sees new faces at each event and students inviting their non-Christian friends. “We’re not ashamed,” said Melissa. “That is key. It’s not about InterVarsity. It’s about Jesus.”
One student from a non-Christian background was invited by a friend to Melissa’s small group on apologetics. The student did not believe in God and asked the group tough questions, but he continued to come week after week. He even joined another Bible study and attended large group meetings, where he said he is learning to love Jesus. Several times he told Melissa how glad he was to know the small group and to be loved and accepted by their community.
“That’s the most beautiful thing to hear,” said Melissa. “It means we’re not just ‘doing the Christian thing.’ We’re living out the gospel and caring for one another.”
Though she graduates in May and plans to attend seminary, Melissa joked, “Do I even want to leave this campus? It’s flourishing.” But she trusts that God will continue to work at City College and in her own life. She said, “In increasing measure as a woman of Christ, as a leader, in my studies, and in my purpose, God has strengthened me.”
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Greg Jao, InterVarsity's Regional Director for New York and New Jersey, reports the region has grown by over 1,200 students in the last six years, with at least 150 conversions in the region this past semester. You can make a direct financial donation to support InterVarsity’s work on New York City's campuses by following this link.
