The aroma of barbecue, wafting across campus, creates a mouth-watering attraction that is difficult for students to resist. Some InterVarsity chapters use a barbecue event to meet new students at the beginning of the school year. But John Cheng decided the chapter at the University of California-Davis was going to scrap the barbecue last year.
Reprioritizing Evangelism
John decided to start the first semester with open-air evangelism instead. He trained his student leaders to use Proxe stations, image-based display panels that create conversations that lead to spiritual discussions. They met just as many new students using proxe stations as they had before. But there were other changes.
“We have seen a culture of inviting seep into our fellowship,” John said. “It’s created a mind-set that inviting and reaching out is something that’s rewarding. And it’s not scary.” At the chapter’s first Large Group meeting of the year, four students stood up to indicate their decisions to follow Jesus.
Casting a vision to challenge students and doing evangelism are two of John’s favorite parts of being on staff with InterVarsity. His participation in InterVarsity’s Chapter Building Cohort is an ideal outlet for his creativity and allows him to experiment with innovations. He’s pleased that his UC-Davis students have responded so energetically.
A Turning Point
A turning point for the UC-Davis chapter came in 2010, after some of the students had attended Urbana 09 and heard the powerful message by Brenda Salter-McNeil on the importance of racial reconciliation. At the beginning of the spring semester about 90 students came together, including students from BCM (Black Campus Ministries) and LaFe (InterVarsity’s ministry to Latino students).
At this meeting, John and the other speakers challenged the students not to be complacent about the size of their comparatively large chapter of 200 students. “The campus has 30,000 students. Where are we in that?” he asked. Posters hung on the walls in the room where the students met, surrounding them with the names of the various communities on campus that needed to hear the gospel. “Prayerfully consider going to these groups,” John entreated.
The students responded as he had hoped. “This was the first time I felt like we were becoming the fellowship that I wanted to see,” John said. As the students reached out to other groups on campus, one of the outcomes was an opportunity to engage in interfaith dialogue with Muslim students.
John encourages InterVarsity students to develop relationships with other students whenever possible. “I tell them, ‘Stay in the dorm room, and if they have food to share, take it and eat it and just hang out there,’” he said.
Sticking With It
John graduated from UC-Davis in 2009, so his own student days are not far behind him. He led Bible studies for all but his first year on campus. He saw the studies grow from a handful of students his first year to 25 or more by the time he was a senior.
He learned a lot through the challenges of leading the Bible study. But the opportunity to go on an InterVarsity Global Project to China after his sophomore year was formative.
“That was the most incredible experience, because my life had never been so in tune with the Spirit on such an everyday level,” he said. “It really transformed what I thought living a Christian life would be like. I’ve never depended on the Spirit so much, and I’ve never seen Him work so clearly on an everyday level.” That was the first time that John thought about going on staff with InterVarsity.
Today as John works with UC-Davis students, he tries to offer them skills that they can use for the rest of their Christian lives. Wherever God places them, he wants them to pursue the purposes of the Kingdom of God. “I think that is how Jesus would have us live as Christians,” he said. “I don’t think serving Jesus is a seasonal thing, and I hope they don’t think so either.”
This past school year 24 students became followers of Jesus at UC-Davis. John sees how students are being transformed by their faith in God. He believes transformed students can change the world.
