The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. shook the nation. Afterwards college students needed reassurance and comfort as much as the rest of the country. “Our staff and students were very active,” recalls Terry Erickson, InterVarsity’s director of Evangelism. “As universities planned events, they called on our students and staff to help people come to grips with their emotions.”
A story written at the time reports that the InterVarsity chapter at Winona State University in Minnesota announced a prayer meeting on campus on September 12, 2001 and ten percent of the student body attended. Eddy Ekmekji, a campus staff member at California State University Northridge, started planning a prayer prayer meeting after the campus shut down at noon. About 40 students attended. One student who discovered InterVarsity that night continued to be active in the chapter through graduation.
At some schools, InterVarsity took the lead in establishing ongoing dialogue with Muslim student groups. An article in the Boston Globe a year ago highlighted InterVarsity’s work at Wayne State University and West Virginia University
InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry has also been impacted by the effects of 9/11, particularly by increased government restrictions on visas for international students. “After 9/11 many students who planned to come to the U.S. stayed home or went elsewhere,” says ISM director Lisa Espineli Chinn. The population of international students in the U.S. has declined. “However, after 9/11 Christian students were more interested in outreach to international students,” she adds.
The memories of those events of five years ago have receded as students fill their lives with studies focused on their career aspirations. But the memories are too indelible to disappear and may easily resurface. In recent years, a number of InterVarsity chapters have engaged evangelist Sujo John to come to their campuses and talk about his 9/11 experience. He was working on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center North Tower on the morning of September 11th and miraculously made his way to safety.
This past week, InterVarsity students in Texas hosted Sujo John in a three-day, five-campus evangelistic outreach. “Watching people die changed my life forever,” he said, according to the i>Baylor Lariat report on on his appearance at the Waco campus. The i>Texas Tech Daily Toreador reported that he listened to students tell their own 9/11 stories before he told his. He also spoke at the University of Texas-Dallas; Austin College in Sherman; and the University of North Texas-Denton.
Area Director Jon Parker reports that turnout was down slightly from what he expected at the events, but the response was greater than anticipated. Twenty-five attendees made commitments to Christ and 25 others made recommitments. Students and staff are now following-up by contacting those who indicated that the message had touched them in some way.
When he spoke at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb and Rock Valley College in Rockford in 2004, Sujo John asked “Do you know where you are going after you die?” (the title of his book). InterVarsity campus staff member Casey Beckley reported that 600 students crowded into an auditorium at NIU that normally holds 495.
“He’s a very popular speaker,” says Terry Erickson. “He helps people reflect about crises, and then to reflect on their own life and death.”
As students go about their busy lives on campus it’s important for them to be mindful of their future beyond college, and to remember that decisions can have eternal consequences.
