Friendship, Leadership, and Legacy

As student leaders, Dez and Jay-La recognized that, more than anything, students  desired authentic friendship and community. They said yes to creating a legacy by  raising up leaders themselves after they graduated and continuing to invite students  into deep friendship with each other, and also with God.

Growing up, Dez attended church with her grandmother  but never knew you could have a relationship with God. As she began college at the University of Northern  Colorado (UNC), she didn’t have friends, was in a traumatic  accident, and went through a horrible breakup. 

“I was like, ‘I’m done with God,’” she said. But then, Dez met Jay-La at the perfect time.

Jay-La was a student leader of her InterVarsity Black Campus Ministries (BCM) chapter. When she befriended Dez, she always involved God in their conversations, eventually inviting Dez to Bible study.

“I didn’t go initially because of wanting to build a  relationship with God . . . I went because [she was] my friend,” Dez said. As Dez continued going to Bible study, her trust with Jay-La grew and so did her trust in God. And at a conference later that year, Dez finally dedicated her life to Jesus.

Leading Through Friendship

Later that school year, their InterVarsity leadership team met to choose who to invite into leadership.  Jay-La immediately thought of Dez. “I told them about her willingness to learn and lead Scripture. When God speaks to you about a calling on somebody’s life, I’m passionate about that!”

So Jay-La and Dez began leading BCM together, wanting it to be a space for students to be proudly Black and Christian. The deep friendship they had built with each other was attractive and contagious to other students who longed for the same thing — so much so that their community grew from four students to over twenty, and even led to a student at another campus planting a BCM small group.

“We pour into each other. When they see that, they see what a good friendship that has God is like,” Dez said.

As Dez and Jay-La’s group grew, they served their city at soup kitchens, met for daily 7 a.m. prayer, learned more about Jesus in Bible study, and showed others on campus his love.

“We were like running after students!” Dez said about how she and Jay-La invited and welcomed others into their ministry.

Saying Yes & Passing The Baton

In 2022, as Dez and Jay-La were graduating, they both had a strong desire to not leave BCM without leadership  as had happened when Jay-La was a freshman. So, they said yes to becoming volunteer InterVarsity staff.

As they learned to bring the kingdom of God into their callings after graduation, like the schools they work at as teachers or grad school classes, they continued building up leaders in BCM.

Now, Dez and Jay-La are passing leadership of their BCM community to two students, Jade and Angelica.

Jade and Angelica are intentionally working to cultivate the legacy Jay-La and Dez started. But hearing about Angelica and Jade’s dreams for the future, Jay-La and Dez think they’ll take the ministry even further, producing  even more world-changing alumni themselves.

“It’s beautiful to know that we can leave, and the door isn’t going to close behind us,” Dez said.