Nathan Peterson is a writer on InterVarsity's Communications Team in Madison, Wisconsin. He formerly was the Urbana 18 writer. When he’s not at work, you can find him working on his book, at the gym, or watching movies at home. You can support his ministry at donate.intervarsity.org/donate#21293.
Zelma had some joyful and some traumatic childhood moments. She was baptized as a kid, but turned away from God as she grew up. When she attended College of the Muscogee Nation, she struggled with nightmares, sleeping, and drinking. But eventually, she accepted Jesus transferred schools, and stumbled upon the InterVarsity chapter, making friends, reading Scripture, praying, and having her many questions answered. By the next year, she was leading a Bible study.
Inherently, we know that the act of breathing, blinking, existing isn’t enough. We were made for more. We want to feel alive. And whether we’re aware of it or not, the way we go about our lives shows what kinds of things we believe will give us life.
Zacchaeus’s story is no less a miracle than the feeding of the 5,000 or the healing of the paralyzed man. For it’s the story— the miracle of a changed heart—that still resonates with us today.
Over 40,000 students on eight campuses with only one known campus ministry in the most post-Christian city in the US. That was the situation InterVarsity Associate Area Director Jessica Pafumi found herself in when she felt God calling her to plant campus ministries in her hometown of Springfield-Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 2019.
What if we had more childlike wonder in our lives? How would our interactions with God be different? How would we interact with family and professors and classmates differently? What would we talk and dream about?
Hey man, could we talk soon? As a campus minister with Greek InterVarsity at Indiana University (IU) for six years, Jimmy had received texts like this before. But never one from someone like Matt, who’d been gone from IU for five years.
I’ve begun to see how fundamental hospitality is within God’s DNA. And since we’re God’s kids, called to follow his example (Eph 5:1), I see how hospitality needs to be a high priority—whether that’s how we approach freshmen on campus, the new person at work, or visitors to our congregations or small groups, just like Scripture says in Hebrews 13:2
This strong blend of butterflies, anxiety, and excitement that accompanies a freshman’s first day on campus has always been there. But COVID took things to a whole new level. Many freshmen never even had the chance to tour campus.
I would like to start an InterVarsity group on campus. How do I go about doing that? Michelle, InterVarsity’s North Florida Area Director, had to reread that message a couple times.
